HELLO HOMO: Breaking the Frame with Ryan Warner

Hello Homo,

 I need some queer hope. What do you have? The world is a dumpster fire. I need some light!

-Jonathan, East Colfax

Hello Jonathan,

I can relate to how you are feeling, and I have noticed that sentiment in many of the questions submitted by OFM readers. I want you and other OFM readers to check out last week’s HELLO HOMO with Anastasia Krystals where we talk about Pride as a Protest and Joy and Resistance.

I am also very excited that Colorado Public Radio’s Ryan Warner agreed to answer your question. Ryan Warner is the senior host of Colorado Matters, where he talks with Coloradans from all walks of life—politicians, scientists, artists, activists, and other community members. He is a great fit to answer this question because his show does exactly what you are looking for: It seeks out and showcases inspiring voices and perspectives here in Denver and across the state. 

So Ryan, what comes to mind in response to Jonathan’s question?

In general, for my mental health, I need road trips. I need to get outside the newsroom, and I need to get outside the studio which looks like a padded cell.

Get Outside

I need to get outside my bubble in Denver and travel, which I think applies to anyone who has the gift of some mobility. The story that has brought me joy since its creation is one about Colorado’s lowest point. Everybody is focused on the mountains, the fourteeners, and the highest altitudes, and our mission was to find the lowest point in Colorado.

Wait, physically?

Physically!

No way! Where?

The Lowest Point in Colorado

It turns out that it’s this spot on the Arikaree River near the Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska line. So, way out east, and I love the plains. You just don’t face the traffic like you do if you’re headed to the mountains. You have to look a little more closely, I think, for the gems. So we took a road trip out to the lowest point in Colorado, and it turns out, this is on private land.

A part of the joy of this story was contacting the woman who owned the land, who did not know she owned the lowest point in Colorado. The story had this built-in surprise, and I dragged a historian and a geologist with me. We went on a road trip together.

Now, maybe you don’t have the means or the time to get too far Eastern Colorado. I just think it’s evocative, demonstrative of the fact that we live in a state where, if you hop on a bike, bus, or in a car, there are spots of joy to be found.

Rocky Mountain Arsenal

Did you know that just north of Denver, there is a refuge that is the size of Manhattan?

I had no idea. What’s the story there?

It is called the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. It used to be a military installation that is now a national wildlife refuge. It’s got a whole necklace of lakes, a bison herd, great hiking trails, and even pelicans. It is just north of Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in the Commerce City area.

That is not far at all.

There is also an amazing park called Montclair Civic Center. It’s a Denver Park, which has a playground and beautiful trees for shade. Anchoring this park is this incredible quasi-mansion that is a vestige of our tuberculosis history. You know, Denver was very much shaped by tuberculosis because it was thought at the time that the “good air” was healing.

I did know that! That is how my in-laws made it out west to New Mexico.   

Though the “good air cure” was a dubious claim, it resulted in the Jewish Consumptive Relief Society, which became National Jewish, and we had a lot of these buildings. This is true throughout Colorado. Like, Hygiene, Colorado, near Boulder. It is a little town outside of Boulder, and so named Hygiene because of its connection to tuberculosis

Like Hygiene, a lot of the area around Colorado Springs, Montclair Civic Center had similar tuberculosis facilities. These were buildings, communities that had huge porches because you would roll TB patients out to breathe the fresh air. The Montclair Civic Center is this beautiful building in Denver, in this park. That is a symbol of this old tuberculosis history. I want to have my 50th birthday there.

Your sentiments around exploration and adventure bring back memories of art school. I went to art school before I became a therapist and a writer, and we used to be assigned to go out into the world in new ways, to “break the frame” of how we lived our lives. We had to do everyday things differently. Try new routes to walk around our neighborhoods, try new restaurants, and introduce ourselves to new people. Essentially, we were taught to challenge anything we did unconsciously to move through spaces and see things differently and create art about our experience.

Yeah! Make your old life new again!

It sounds like Jonathan needs to “break the frame” and see things in a completely different way, maybe even go to Montclair and visit Hygiene, or find what that would be for him.

Break the Frame

Go to a bar, a restaurant, or a state park you’ve never visited. Take a new route to work or the store. What are you missing that’s just a few blocks away? I urge people to step outside their daily routines and their usual spots. Exploring those new places is, to me, a form of joy both at work and personally.

How does your career and your role as an interviewer help you “break the frame” regularly?

Well, fundamentally, I am paid to satiate my curiosity, and I am a curious person. I’m curious about people, about where they came from, what shaped them, how they got to where they are, the choices they’ve made, the choices they haven’t made.

I’m also very curious about place, you know. I believe Coloradans feel a deep connection to their surroundings. Colorado is as much about identity as it is about geography. As host of a talk show, I get to explore my curiosity about places, history, geology, geography, and politics. I jokingly say I get paid to do something I would otherwise do for free.

I feel similarly motivated being a therapist and interviewer, too.

That exploration of the mind.

Absolutely.

How about in terms of your role with Colorado Matters? How has it shaped the way you see queer culture and LGBTQ+ community in Colorado?

Colorado LGBTQ+ History

Well, it’s opened my eyes to LGBTQ+ history that is not immediately visible.  I don’t think that many people know that we have an AIDS Memorial Garden down by Confluence Park.

Oh, wow! No! I didn’t know that.

Yeah or know about Phil Nash, who is a queer historian and who has a newish book about Colorado’s Queer history called LGBTQ Denver. Phil Nash is a really good source on that. There was so much focus on New York and San Francisco during the AIDS crisis. Colorado lost a lot of people, and so there is an AIDS Memorial Garden, not far from Confluence Park, that I think is worth visiting and meditating on.

Then it turns out there was a Colorado researcher named Dr. Evelyn Hooker who helped disprove the idea that there’s anything mentally wrong with queer people.

Ok work!

Dr. Evelyn Hooker attended CU Boulder and published some of the earliest research, proved that our minds were no different than the minds of straight people in terms of their health and capacity. It’s been my goal to seek out these stories, but also to just be open to receiving them from others.

Dang, I had no idea. 

You know I’ve gotten to be exposed to the work of Zach Kotel, who’s working on the Lavender Hill Queer district, here in Denver

I love the Lavender Hill Project. I used to live in Baker. I was so sad to move out of the district. It is so important to have that history preserved in relation to place, as you say.

This feels like social, emotional, and historical archaeology or historical archaeology through storytelling and verbal history. It seems like your curiosity and learning about local LGBTQ+ history really provides a sense of shared experience and community.

Again, it’s satisfying my own curiosity as a queer Jewish person and hoping that my exploration benefits others.

Acts of Service

What else gives you hope in hard times?

I think, other than adventures, being of service. Being of service gets you out of your head.

I encourage anyone reading to ask themselves how they can give back. For me, that’s making sure that I connect with young people who are interested in journalism. So, ask yourself, what is yours? What is your career? How can you inspire young people? How can you help connect them to a network? That’s a really good way to give back.

I agree! How can you use your existing resources?  What is in front of you already, so you don’t have to completely reinvent the wheel? Even if it’s just being present in community action, or showing up somewhere to help to lend a hand.

Yes, and who are you? Follow your interests and your passions, you know? How can you connect service to those things so that, as you say, you’re not reinventing the wheel?.

I thought that maybe we could highlight Gay for Good! Gay for Good is a volunteer group that does rotating volunteer gigs.

Gay for Good is a great resource for people like Jonathan who want to break their own frame, change perspective, and help others! They are not just in Denver, they are in over 20 cities.

Constant Curiosity

Yeah, I think that the darkness or the despair we feel is because we’ve given up on surprise. We’ve given up on novelty. We’ve given up on the idea that there can be joy and good, and that’s always within our reach. We need constant curiosity, and I just think we need to be open to surprise.

Thank you, Ryan. I have a feeling this will help and inspire many OFM readers. Where can people connect with you?

Well, this weekend I will be at the Colorado Public Radio booth at the Pride festival. Come say hi. I will be there from 3 p.m. – 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Tune in to Colorado Matters on CPR Monday-Friday: 9 a.m. – 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. – 8 p.m.; Sundays: 10 a.m. – 11 a.m.,

We also have a new daily podcast called Colorado Today. It’s available everywhere. Where you get podcasts. It’s about a 10-minute encapsulation of the day’s news Monday through Friday.

Follow Ryan on Bluesky @ryanhasaquestion and  Instagram @odrryhepburn.

Follow me on Instagram @holistic.homosexual for updates on my column, and stay tuned for the next HELLO HOMO! See you next week!

Have a question you would like answered? Submit your questions directly to me at hellohomo@ofm.media

Disclaimer: Hello Homo is for informational and educational purposes and is not a substitute for mental health treatment. Hello, Homo (Jesse Proia) is not providing mental health advice, diagnosis, or treatment to readers. If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis or emergency, please contact 911, 988 or go to the nearest emergency room.

Images/photos courtesy of Ryan Warner