State Mental Health Safety Net is “Failing” Coloradans
Dec 5, 2021
Will planned reforms fix or further the problems?
Marc Piscotty
Marc Piscotty is a commercial and editorial photographer based in Denver. Marc has covered everything from Super Bowls and the Winter Olympics to Columbine, the Aurora theatre shooting and the Democratic National Convention. He was also a part of the staff at the Rocky Mountain News that won two Pulitzer Prizes in breaking news photography and spent an entire year covering post-Columbine life in high school with reporter Tina Griego.
Three Bullets to the Back: The Striking Silence Around a Police Killing in Small-town Colorado
Mar 11, 2021
KIOWA COUNTY, Colo. – Nearly a year has passed since the local undersheriff and a rookie deputy gunned down handyman Zach Gifford in this Eastern Plains county where trust in law
After Wanting to Die, Learning to Live
Jan 29, 2021
Navee Essien has grown up keenly aware of her gifts. More times than she can count, people have reminded the senior at Aurora’s Rangeview High how fortunate she is to
For Tylan Jones, Anxiety is Also a Battle Between Optimism and Pessimism
Jan 21, 2021
Tylan Jones is not naive. He is a 20-year-old Black man living in the United States. This reality does not easily accommodate naivete. When he was in middle school, he
Veteran Paramedic Grapples With COVID’s Toll on His Lungs and Sense of Self
Jan 13, 2021
Even now, nearly three months after COVID invaded his body, Jason McGinnis cannot stop asking himself how he contracted the virus. On its face, the answer seems clear: He’s a
When Politics Feels Like a Moral Injury
Jan 7, 2021
Scott Zayatz upped his dosage of antidepression and antianxiety medication in early spring when the pandemic started clobbering the nation and the presidential race, post-primary, turned foul. The 43-year-old news
In the Wake of Furloughs, Closings, Suicides, a Mountain Town Businessman Searches for Balance
Dec 30, 2020
Dick Carleton came to Breckenridge from Virginia when he was 24. He had a business degree from Virginia Tech, a ‘69 Volkswagen bug, $100 and three friends willing to share
With Family Missing in Ethiopia’s Civil War, Denver Woman Says Her ‘Mind is the Hardest Place to Be’
Dec 23, 2020
Millete Birhanemaskel, a refugee, long-time Denver resident and businesswoman, grappled with 2020 as many others have: She tried to protect her family, her employees, her tenants from COVID’s reach. She
Colorado’s Behavioral Health Chief Opens Up About His Own Severe Depression
Dec 17, 2020
Some words fail us, and for Robert Werthwein, “depression” is one of them. The 41-year-old director of Colorado’s Behavioral Health Office prefers to say “everything turned to complete shit” when
For One Lakewood Family, Mental Health Difficulties Aren’t Just About 2020
Dec 12, 2020
They love each other. That should go without saying. They have, in fact, gone through hell and back for one another — and that was before 2020 rolled out its