Durango Diaries, the biweekly storyteller series hosted by
The event will be held at 6 p.m. at the Durango Public Library, 1900 East Third Ave.
Speakers will include:
Greg Hoch, former city of Durango planning director. Hoch worked for the Community Development Department for 35 years – from 1981 until his retirement in 2016. Hoch, a native of Denver, has lived in Durango since 1974. He graduated from Hamilton College with a bachelor’s degree and from Drew University with a master’s in urban and regional studies. Hoch describes his work for the city as “administering the public decision-making processes related to their physical forms and associated change within the city.”
Dr. Richard Grossman, a retired doctor and a columnist about population issues. Grossman practiced obstetrics and gynecology in Durango for 40 years. For most of that time, he was the volunteer medical director of the health department. He has written the column Population Matters! for The Durango Herald since 1995. Grossman said when he was in high school, he read an advertisement in Scientific American about overpopulation that said: “We believe that widespread, effective and voluntary use of medically sound and individually acceptable birth control is an essential factor in any humane design to raise world living standards and achieve international peace.” That hooked Grossman, he said, and he has worked to help every child born in Durango to be planned, healthy and loved. “In addition, I have learned about the limits to growth and learned that we humans have gone far beyond those limits. Climate change is a symptom of overpopulation and overdevelopment,” he said.
Sarah Lemcke, a forward-looking educator. Lemcke is a certified early childhood educator, advocate for children and passionate champion for progressive education. She is a preschool teacher for children 3 to 5 years old at Riverview Elementary School. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education with a focus on the Reggio Emilia approach, she moved to Durango. She has spent a summer training at a forest kindergarten in Zurich because she has always had an interest in alternative forms of education. She said her experience as a forest teacher “altered her paradigm around education for the better.”
Season 3 of Durango Diaries will continue at 6 p.m. Wednesdays at the Durango library through May. Upcoming event topics will be:
March 6: Adrenaline rush. Self-professed adrenaline junkies Sean Englund, Bee Alaine Mathis and Dave Farkas will talk about chasing the next natural high in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
March 20: Women breaking norms. Our speakers will talk about women working in professions that have long been dominated by men. They will be: Kerry Siggins, CEO of Durango-based StoneAge Inc.; Donna Emenegger, a retired Colorado Department of Transportation employee who maintained miles of highway in Southwest Colorado; and Leah Starr, a welder and fabricator for Ska Fabricating.
April 3: Second acts. Sometimes, we need a shift in life. Our speakers will talk about how and why they switched professions – and the joy and pitfalls that came with it. They will be: Nancy Utter, a former land-use planner and now naturopath; Sean Jackson, a former journalist and now car shop foreman for the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad; and Nicolas Cofman, former pilot and now dentist.
April 17: Bullying. Experts and victims of bullying will talk about how we as a community can work to prevent it. Speakers will be named at a later date.
May 8: People with a passion. What makes people join groups or play team sports? Our three speakers will talk about why they do what they do for fun – and how to get others involved. They will include: Daryl Hinderer, pickleball player; Scott Gibbs, train buff; and Gloria Macht, member of the Society for Creative Anachronism.
May 22: War veterans. Veterans of five U.S. wars will talk about their service. They will include: Wayne McGee, World War II; Eric Greene, Korean War; Stan Crapo, Vietnam War; Shoshona Burrows, Desert Storm; and Nathaniel Burford, Iraq/Afghanistan.
The podcast of each Durango Diaries, including past seasons, can be listened to or downloaded on the Herald’s website at durangoherald.com/durangodiaries.
To receive the Durango Diaries newsletter, email durangodiaries@durangoherald.com.
