It’s quiet at the house Shanti Toll shares with his wife, Coreen. The array of a few dozen masks that came from around the world hang prominently within immediate view of the front and back doors. They are silent but Read more…
KJ Becker pours freshly made coffee and we sit down in her home art studio with a view of Manitou Springs. She begins to make art, painting whatever she feels in each moment on vintage Austrian and German vinyl records. Read more…
With mountains, trails and mule deer just outside his window, Peter Maksimow pours water from a pot hot off the stove into a French press. We stand in the kitchen of the historic cabin he and his wife, Nora, have Read more…
Hannah Rockey’s stage presence is clear, even as we sit in the print shop of her father, artist Charles Rockey (“Rockey”), on Canon Ave. in Manitou Springs. It’s the clarity and strength of her voice, the punctuations and emphases. Rockey Read more…
Those who follow Humanitou on Instagram and/or Facebook know I was in Vietnam recently. It was the first international vacation my wife, Becca, and I have taken, and without our kids, in 10 years. Things have changed for us about Read more…
Nineteen chickens gather around Steve Oliveri in anticipation. He pours dry food onto the ground from a white, five-gallon bucket. The work of the moment is done. Steve, 29, is a caretaker of Flying Pig Farm in Manitou Springs, along Read more…
Returning readers of Humanitou will recognize some currents that run through the conversations. The line I use to describe the site’s purpose is: “Stories of Humanness + Creativity.” In the heart of that tagline is passion, the warm-blooded energy that Read more…
Spiraling down the iron stairs Kyle Frerichs installed in the center of his house, we enter a tightly organized workshop. It goes far beyond the common — peg boards holding the hand tools and a workbench with a vise mounted Read more…
Boiohaemum is back. My blue-and-white 1975 Volkswagen Type II … that is, a bus, van, camper, kombi, transporter … whatever you, personally, call these versatile icons. He has risen from the darkness of a storage shed. With him, the stories. Read more…
Layla Redding starts water to boil on the stove while we sit in her living room, awash with natural light. Art from her friends hangs on each wall. A bookcase next to the door includes books of yoga and nutrition, Read more…
Dustin Booth leans back in a chair in the Manitou Art Center, something he rarely gets to do while juggling many hats as manager of the MAC. He uses the word “fortunate” often as he tells his story. He laughs Read more…
Peggy Dlugos takes me to a back corner of her home, to a just-right cozy and tidy work space. A pair of full-sized windows on both walls let in light, awareness of nature, and views of Garden of the Gods. Read more…
Rhonda Van Pelt has a one-of-a-kind role in Manitou Springs. As Managing Editor of the Pikes Peak Bulletin since April 2015, she’s immersed in all things news and conversation-worthy in this mountain town, population 5,000+. Having grown up in Pueblo, Read more…
Jeremy Tackett leads biodynamic agriculture at Smokebrush Farm in Manitou Springs. He speaks to the history and philosophy of biodynamics, and his spiritual connections to it, with depth and eloquence, with passion. As Jeremy, 34, walks Smokebrush Farm, the earth Read more…
Melanie Audet turns off the rock polisher her young daughters, who now are at school, like to use. “My kids love to collect rocks. They take after their mother, I guess. I don’t know. I always collected a rock from Read more…
Jeremy Tackett’s intellect runs deep and is rooted in the science and spirituality of his work guiding biodynamic agriculture at Smokebrush Farm in Manitou Springs. He can and will talk at length about biodynamics and, probably, on many things that Read more…
I love my Humanitou work. Every conversation is an opportunity to connect with an individual creator/contributor and our community, and with something deeper. I learn. I ask questions that are of self-interest along the way, ones I think others will Read more…
Deborah Thornton’s imagination runs wild. The possibilities. A creative leader in Manitou Springs for 35 years, she grew up in the South. Then, she headed West. There were times she felt the tug to return to the land she loved Read more…
In a single-car garage on Manitou Avenue, Christine Costa carves out her career break. An architect by trade, she and her husband, Dominic Costa, a welder, moved to Manitou Springs from the Detroit area this past summer. Two motorcycles rest Read more…
When I asked Rockey, several months ago, about a sharing a series of his insights on life, art and Manitou Springs, he liked the idea. He is a man of messages, with love at the center, and giving. “I don’t Read more…