North Denver News

By Erin Olyer Rohlf, LCSW Lilacs are budding and grad party invites are rolling in. Summer is right around the corner. Whether you’re like me, gleefully bidding the winter months good riddance, or you already dread those scorching sunny days, let’s agree on this: Summer, as both a season and a concept, has much to teach us about how to proactively nurture our bodies, minds and spirits. Let me explain. Think back to summer break as a... Read more...

By Erika Taylor Happy Heart Month!  Does it seem ironic that many of the ways we celebrate Valentine’s Day involve things that are potentially damaging to our hearts? I’ve seen ads for wine yoga, cocktails and a movie, bike-and-brew. Alcohol occupies a throne at the head of nearly every social table. Intense and ubiquitous marketing, affordability, acceptability in most social settings and just the fact that it feels good have created... Read more...

By Erin Olyer Rohlf, LCSW Hello, readers! My name is Erin, and I’m a local mental health therapist. As a new columnist for The Denver North Star, I hope to bring you empowering wisdom and tips to look after your mental health and well-being. Let’s get this party started by talking about seasonal affective disorder, also known as the winter blues. We are blessed in Denver to have the occasional unseasonably sunny winter day, even in... Read more...

By Erika Taylor Spoiler alert! Eighty percent of New Year’s resolutions are broken by February. We come off of the holiday season full of motivation. We firmly, passionately resolve to swap eggnog for lemon water, stem Black Friday-inspired overspending for strict budgeting, and recommit to the gym we sign up for every January. But these grandiose plans dissolve to the lure of snooze buttons and Super Bowl nachos.  Why does this... Read more...

By Erika Taylor My mom was having a bad day. She had waited months to get her car scheduled for repairs after being rear-ended at a stoplight. She had nervously wound her way across town, missed her turn, found her way back, stomped through the snow and gone inside. Only to discover that she had mistakenly been scheduled for an estimate (which had already been completed weeks earlier) and not the repair. She explained that between the... Read more...

By Erika Taylor Last year, after Carmen Messina Janneck helped plan a retirement party for Denver’s departing police chief, she was inspired. She had secured the jazz band from North High School, the departing chief’s alma mater, to provide music, and being her charismatic, connected self, she struck up a conversation with the kids and their band leader, John Jonas, during the event. Erika Taylor In talking with them, Carmen... Read more...

By Erika Taylor When I started this column weeks ago, summer seemed a long way off. But last week, all of a sudden we reached that point we always do in July here in Denver; delayed though it was, the sun is getting hotter. The temperatures are rising, and many of us start to fret about being invited somewhere we need to wear a swimsuit. The body we’ve been wrapping in sweats all winter (even more than usual this year!) will soon be... Read more...

By Erika Taylor The Surgeon General has nothing on fifth-graders at Brown International Academy, a northwest Denver public school, when it comes to educating our communities. Erika Taylor Brown students Elizabeth Dolegowski and Mara Persaud have been studying the impacts of social media on young people for months and presented their findings in May at the school’s annual Fifth Grade Exhibition, a capstone project designed to give... Read more...

Erika Taylor Walking through the park with my husband recently, he said, “Remember bringing the boys out everyday to crawl around on those picnic tables?” Erika Taylor I sighed and smiled and remembered. We are often stopped in our tracks by a sweet memory of some lovely moment with our boys when they were smaller, full of joy at having found some new way to move their bodies or at discovering something new about their world.... Read more...

By Erika Taylor An ancient practice, Tai Chi may seem foreign and even intimidating. When you think of it you probably picture groups of people moving meditatively together almost as if swimming against the backdrop of a serene park in China. Erika Taylor That is where most of the Tai Chi in the world takes place. And that means a lot of Americans are missing out on the plethora of benefits that Tai Chi has to offer. Luckily, it’s... Read more...