You can listen to each installment of TICtalks on the Gunnison Valley Audio Journal podcast.
The Gunnison Valley Audio Journal was originally established in 2020, and the first season is
made up of literary works from local authors and creators around the theme of “winter.”
The Journal, now operated by CFGV and supported by the Resiliency Project, also contains
individual episodes of all of our TICtalks, beginning with the debut events in 2022.
You can find the Gunnison Valley Audio Journal by searching for it on Spotify
or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can also find previous installments of the TICtalks series below.
TICtalks: These Wild Lands
September 28, 2023 – Western Colorado University
Wisdom of the Elders
July 31, 2023 – Gunnison Arts Center
Find audio from the Wisdom of the Elders TICtalks on the Gunnison Valley Audio Journal podcast.
Learn more about the presenters:
Glo Cunningham
Glo Cunningham has lived in Crested Butte for over 47 years. She first got involved with non-profits in 1977 with the fight to Save Red Lady and High Country Conservation Advocates (then High Country Citizens’ Alliance). She has been a part of over 40 non-profits either through volunteering at events, on boards, being a member or helping to create or start many events and non-profits. She retired as the Executive Director of the Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum after 14 years but still gives tours as well as helps with events. Glo is a past Business Woman of the Year, and has been honored to be a Red Lady, a Harvest Mother, Flauschink Queen, Zombie Queen, and Mardi Gras Queen, and last year she was selected to be a Crone for Vinotok as a symbol of a Wise Woman of the community. She is currently on the 1% for Open Space Board and the Land Preservation Board.
George Sibley
George Sibley is a freelance writer and retired educator who has lived in the Upper Gunnison River valley most of the time since 1966 – in Crested Butte, in Gothic, in Gunnison (except for a few years in Crawford and then Ft. Collins.) Writing is the thread that runs through his life: as owner/editor of a newspaper in Crested Butte he realized that journalism is more interesting when you can write about things that could or should happen as well as what has happened, and he found himself collaborating with a number of local people making new things happen: the Crested Butte Arts Festival, the Crested Butte Mountain Theater, the Crested Butte-Gothic 4th of July half-marathon, and the end-of-winter Flauschink festival, all still happening. In Crawford, George wrote the centennial pageant and started the theater program that continues today. After returning to Gunnison in 1988, he worked a dual job for two decades at Western Colorado University teaching writing, journalism and environmental studies; and organizing and running community-interaction conferences. Following his retirement from Western, George served on the board of the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy for 13 years, and on the Gunnison Basin Roundtable (working on the Colorado Water Plan). He currently is working on a blog – www.sibleysrivers.com. His books include Water Wranglers; Dragons in Paradise (essays on contemporary mountain life), Long Horn & Short Tales (Crawford area history); Part of a Winter (memoir of years in Gothic and Crested Butte); and essays which have appeared in Harper’s Magazine, Technology Illustrated, High Country News, Colorado Central and the Mountain Gazette.
Ronda Connaway
Colorado-born Ronda Connaway’s time in the Gunnison Valley – to which she came in 1994 – has been marked by public service and community activism. She was a founder, and board member, of Habitat for Humanity, served on many Health & Human Service Department committees and task forces, was a founder of the Gunnison Congregational Church, helped start the hot meals program at Gunnison High School, and most recently retired from the Gunnison Valley Health System Board of Trustees. On that Board, she served for 12 years, including several years as Chairperson, and during that time led the Board in the design and building of the new Senior Care Center. She’s served as a STEP advisor for the Community Foundation of the Gunnison Valley and was a key researcher in the recently-published Basic Needs Resource Guide for the Gunnison Valley. All of this activism here has drawn from her work elsewhere: From 1974-94 she was Professor and Dean of the College of Social Work at the University of Kentucky in Lexington; she was Professor of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis; she’s been a Child Welfare Worker for the Division of Children’s Social Services in St. Louis and before that a Social Caseworker for Lutheran Children’s Services there. Ronda holds a BA in Sociology from Anderson University (Indiana), an MA with honors in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis, where she also received her Doctor of Social Work degree in 1964
Doug Tredway
A resident of Gunnison, Colorado for almost 60 years, Doug Tredway attended local public schools and graduated from Gunnison High School. After earning a degree from the University of Northern Iowa, he returned to Gunnison to begin a career in Education and for 35 years worked as a Teacher, Coach, Principal, and finally Superintendent of the Gunnison Valley Schools. Doug and his wife Kaylonn raised their children, Jansen and Tillie, in Gunnison, and as a family, they explored the world on yearly trips abroad. They were also fortunate enough to complete three, yearlong, overseas teaching experiences during their careers. When Doug retired from the School District in 2018, he was working in the same room at Lake School where he started as a kindergarten student. His grandchildren, Ellie and Sawyer, are attending Gunnison Elementary School and are living in the same house where Doug grew up. In retirement, Doug continues to reinvent himself and pursue his passion for, travel, building, and art. He and his wife, Kaylonn, live life large, they travel widely, are involved in the community, and enjoy the many activities available to them.