Our COMMON Foundation

04/17/2026

April 26 marks exactly 40 years since the Chernobyl disaster.
What happened then did not end there. The impact of the Soviet Union on Ukraine did not end either. It still shapes lives, systems, and the reality people are living through today.

In collaboration with The Colorado Sun, join us for an evening of three films that trace this history, from the Chernobyl catastrophe to the present-day war, told through real footage, lived experiences, and firsthand perspectives.

The program includes:
• Chernobyl (HBO, Episode 1)
• Children in the Fire
• Ukraine Under Fire, a film project of Our COMMON Foundation
followed by a panel discussion.

🗓 Sunday, April 26 | 3 PM to 9 PM
📍 Rocky Mountain Public Media Center
2101 Arapahoe St, Denver, CO
🎟 $25 adults (includes all three films and 2 drinks)
🎟 $15 students (includes all three films)

All ages are welcome, but please note that some content may be difficult to watch. Parental guidance advised. Children attending must also purchase a ticket due to limited seating.

April 26 marks exactly 40 years since the Chernobyl disaster.

What happened then did not end there. The impact of the Soviet Union on Ukraine did not end either. It still shapes lives, systems, and the reality people are living through today.

In collaboration with The Colorado Sun, join us for an evening of three films that trace this history, from the Chernobyl catastrophe to the present-day war, told through real footage, lived experiences, and firsthand perspectives.

The program includes:
• Chernobyl (HBO, Episode 1)
• Children in the Fire
• Ukraine Under Fire
followed by a panel discussion.

🗓 Sunday, April 26 | 3 PM to 9 PM
📍 Rocky Mountain Public Media Center
2101 Arapahoe St, Denver, CO

🎟 $25 adults (includes all three films and 2 drinks)
🎟 $15 students (includes all three films)

All ages are welcome, but please note that some content may be difficult to watch. Parental guidance advised. Children attending must also purchase a ticket due to limited seating.

🎟 Tickets: https://buytickets.at/ukrainianscolorado/2168636
Also available through the link in our bio

26 квітня виповнюється рівно 40 років з дня катастрофи на Чорнобильській АЕС.

Те, що сталося тоді, не закінчилося в минулому. Вплив Радянського Союзу на Україну також не зник. Він і досі формує життя, системи та реальність, у якій живуть люди сьогодні.

У співпраці з The Colorado Sun запрошуємо вас на вечір трьох фільмів, які простежують цю історію від Чорнобильської катастрофи до сучасної війни через реальні кадри, особисті історії та досвід людей.

У програмі:
• «Чорнобиль» (HBO, 1 серія)
• «Діти у вогні»
• «Україна у вогні»
та панельна дискусія.

🗓 Неділя, 26 квітня | 15:00–21:00
📍 Rocky Mountain Public Media Center
2101 Arapahoe St, Denver, CO

🎟 $25 для дорослих (включає всі три фільми та 2 напої)
🎟 $15 для студентів (включає всі три фільми)

Подія відкрита для всіх вікових категорій, але зверніть увагу, що деякі матеріали можуть бути емоційно важкими для перегляду. Рекомендується батьківський контроль. Дітям також необхідно придбати квиток через обмежену кількість місць.

🎟 Квитки: https://buytickets.at/ukrainianscolorado/2168636
Також доступні за посиланням у шапці профілю

03/28/2026

Boulder protests and history was made! With over 10 million people marching nationwide today, this has officially become the largest protest in U.S. history.

03/05/2026

By Your Side by opens this Sat 4-6pm; join for fun chats, treats. Features pieces made from Dan’s own vintage SAABs.

02/14/2026

02/08/2026

Take a break. Enjoy some art. Learn something new! - Four women. Four centuries. One unforgettable conversation about how we learn to see.

Seeing these four portraits together at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid felt like more than walking through a gallery. It felt like watching a high-definition documentary on how art—and our understanding of women—has evolved over 450 years.

From the quiet dignity of the Renaissance to the electric confidence of the modern age, these paintings chart a powerful shift: from women being symbols to women being selves.

Here’s the lowdown.

1. The Noble Ideal — Giovanna Tornabuoni (Domenico Ghirlandaio, c. 1489)

Giovanna is shown in perfect profile, the most honorable way to be remembered in 15th-century Florence. She is calm, beautiful, almost untouchable. But there’s a poignant truth behind the image: she had already died at 19, likely in childbirth, when this portrait was painted.

Behind her is a Latin inscription that reads, in essence: “If art could capture her character and spirit, there would be no more beautiful picture in the world.” Here, the woman’s inner life isn’t shown on her face—it has to be written in words. She is an ideal, a memory, a monument.

2. The Turning Gaze — Portrait of a Lady (Hans Baldung Grien, c. 1530)

Just a few decades later, something changes. This woman turns her head and looks directly at us. Her expression is alert, thoughtful, maybe even skeptical. We don’t know who she is—but she feels real.

She’s no longer just representing family status or beauty. She seems aware of us, as if she has something on her mind she’s not quite ready to say. The portrait shifts from display to presence.

3. The Energy of a Person — Doris with Ruff Collar (Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, c. 1906)

Then the world jolts forward. Color vibrates. Lines pulse. Kirchner isn’t interested in perfection—he’s interested in sensation.

Doris isn’t posed; she exists. Her ruff collar, once a symbol of rigid formality, explodes into jagged color and movement. This is no longer about how a woman should look. It’s about how she feels. We’ve moved from the monument to the moment.

4. The Modern Self — Quappi in Pink Jumper (Max Beckmann, 1934)

Finally, we meet Quappi—Beckmann’s wife—and she owns the room. Cigarette in hand, dressed in modern clothes, she meets us with calm confidence. She isn’t being idealized or explained. She doesn’t need an inscription.

She is fully present, psychologically complex, and unmistakably modern. This is a woman who knows she’s being seen—and is perfectly fine with it.

What connects them all? It’s not style. It’s not fashion. It’s the evolution of how inner life is shown.

First, the “soul” is written in text.
Then, it appears in a gaze.
Then, it erupts through color and energy.
Finally, it settles into psychological self-possession.

Over centuries, art moves from treating women as symbols of family, beauty, or status—to portraying them as individuals with inner worlds of their own.

If you’re ever in Madrid, go to the Thyssen. Stand with these four women. They don’t just show us how art changed. They show us how seeing changed.

Matthew Wilburn King

01/30/2026

Creative expression and the arts are central to a vibrant democracy! Watch, read, and listen to Bruce Springsteen's Streets Of Minneapolis

[Verse 1]
Through the winter's ice and cold
Down Nicollet Avenue
A city aflame fought fire and ice
'Neath an occupier's boots
King Trump's private army from the DHS
Guns belted to their coats
Came to Minneapolis to enforce the law
Or so their story goes

[Verse 2]
Against smoke and rubber bullets
In the dawn's early light
Citizens stood for justice
Their voices ringin' through the night
And there were bloody footprints
Where mercy should have stood
And two dead, left to die on snow-filled streets
Alex Pretti and Renee Good

[Chorus]
Oh, our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Singing through the bloody mist
We'll take our stand for this land
And the stranger in our midst
Here in our home, they killed and roamed
In the winter of '26
We'll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis
You might also like
Streets of Philadelphia
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen - Streets of Minneapolis (Tradução em Português)
Genius Brasil Traduções
Born in the U.S.A.
Bruce Springsteen
[Verse 3]
Trump's federal thugs beat up on
His face and his chest
Then we heard the gunshots
And Alex Pretti lay in the snow dead
Their claim was self-defense, sir
Just don't believe your eyes
It's our blood and bones
And these whistles and phones
Against Miller and Noem's dirty lies

[Chorus]
Oh, our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Crying through the bloody mist
We'll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis

[Harmonica Solo]

[Verse 4]
Now they say they're here to uphold the law
But they trample on our rights
If your skin is black or brown, my friend
You can be questioned or deported on sight
In our chants of "ICE out now"
Our city's heart and soul persists
Through broken glass and bloody tears
On the streets of Minneapolis
[Chorus]
Oh, our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Singing through the bloody mist
Here in our home, they killed and roamed
In the winter of '26
We'll take our stand for this land
And the stranger in our midst
We'll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis
We'll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis

[Outro]
ICE out (ICE out)
ICE out (ICE out)
ICE out (ICE out)
ICE out (ICE out)
ICE out (ICE out)
ICE out

Directed by Thom ZimnyEdited by Thom Zimny and Samuel ShapiroProduction Footage: Pam Springsteen and Thom Zimny

01/27/2026

Ed Ruscha
Our Flag
2017
Acrylic on canvas
MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

Ruscha completed this painting one year into Trump's first term of his Presidency as he led the nation into tatters with a fascist vision that began to supplant democratic norms in America, leading to two impeachments before he became a convicted felon 34 times over - think about that, 34 felony convictions.

Trump followed his two impeachments with an act of sedition in a failed coup that he led on January 6, 2021, after losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden - literally bringing death and mayhem to the Capitol, which is straight out of a dystopian novel.

Ruscha might be a prophet with his image.

Shockingly, some Americans thought Trump's fascist cause was still a good idea, and now he's destroying the economy for the poor, working, and middle classes, while focusing on the greatest transfer of wealth to the rich in US history, murdering American citizens in the streets, and undermining the alliances that protect our national security.

Trump is the biggest threat to American lives, U.S. national security, and the American project set out 250 years ago.

Will it last?

How long will Americans tolerate his insanity?

01/25/2026

Standing before Francisco de Goya’s "The Third of May 1808" in the Prado, I was struck by how little the anatomy of state violence has changed in two centuries.

Goya didn't paint a battlefield; he painted a massacre. He captured the moment the Napoleonic "Enlightenment" curdled into raw, faceless brutality—Spanish civilians rounded up and executed without trial, a jury, or the hope of habeas corpus.

As I looked at the central figure in the white shirt—arms raised in a cruciform of both surrender and defiance—I couldn't help but think of the reports coming out of Minneapolis this week.

The killing of Alex Pretti (an ICU nurse at the VA, a lawful gun owner, and a man reportedly trying to protect another person) by federal agents is a chilling modern echo of Goya’s canvas.

When agents of the state—whether wearing the shakos of 1808 or the tactical gear of 2026—dispense with the rule of law to execute people in the streets, they become the faceless, machine-like firing squad on the right side of this painting.

Art exists to speak truth to power when the powerful stop listening to the law. Goya’s work is a 200-year-old warning: any system that abandons due process in the name of "order" or "security" has already lost its moral standing.

The right to be brought before a judge, the right to a trial, and the protection from extrajudicial killing are not "liberal" or "conservative" ideas—they are Constitutional rights and the only things standing between us and the soil filled bodies in Goya’s masterpiece.

Standing before Francisco de Goya’s "The Third of May 1808" in the Prado, I was struck by how little the anatomy of state violence has changed in two centuries.

Goya didn't paint a battlefield; he painted a massacre. He captured the moment the Napoleonic "Enlightenment" curdled into raw, faceless brutality—Spanish civilians rounded up and executed without trial, without a jury, and without the hope of habeas corpus.

As I looked at the central figure in the white shirt—arms raised in a cruciform of both surrender and defiance—I couldn't help but think of the reports coming out of Minneapolis this week.

The killing of Alex Pretti (an ICU nurse at the VA, a lawful gun owner, and a man reportedly trying to protect another person) by federal agents is a chilling modern echo of Goya’s canvas.

When agents of the state—whether wearing the shakos of 1808 or the tactical gear of 2026—dispense with the rule of law to execute people in the streets, they become the faceless, machine-like firing squad on the right side of this painting.

Art exists to speak truth to power when the powerful stop listening to the law. Goya’s work is a 200-year-old warning: any system that abandons due process in the name of "order" or "security" has already lost its moral standing.

The right to be brought before a judge, the right to a trial, and the protection from extrajudicial killing are not "liberal" or "conservative" ideas—they are Constitutional rights and the only things standing between us and the corpse-strewn earth of Goya’s masterpiece.

01/18/2026

Dear America, Greenland is Not on Zillow and it can't be bought and it definitely shouldn't be invaded.

Trump wants Greenland? Its previous colonizer has some thoughts.

12/27/2025

UKRAINE UNDER FIRE will broadcast on Rocky Mountain PBS on Tuesday, January 13 at 10:00 PM, airing just after FRONTLINE and right before Amanpour.

We would be grateful for your help amplifying this moment by sharing the broadcast date with your networks, friends, and family.

If you'd like to watch it now, the PBS link is in the comments.

UKRAINE UNDER FIRE world premiered in Washington, D.C. with the support of the Ukrainian Embassy and had its European premiere in Ferrara, Italy.

Since then, the film has earned nine audience, documentary, special jury, and impact festival awards, along with a prestigious national Anthem Award for Humanitarian Action.

Learn more at www.ukraineunderfire.org

If you’re interested in making a year-end contribution to help advance the project into next year, I'm inviting you to consider a tax-deductible donation through Our COMMON Foundation - https://www.ukraineunderfire.org/donate

On behalf of our impact and production team—and the heroic Ukrainians whose stories we were entrusted to tell—thank you for your continued support. I wish you all an auspicious and prosperous New Year!

UKRAINE UNDER FIRE is a project of Our COMMON Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit supporting the goals of Ramro Global® | Worldwide Humanitarian Action & Crisis Reporting®

In the wake of Russia’s all-out invasion, an American journalist and a Ukrainian news presenter embark on a series of interviews, chronicling resistance, war crimes and acts of genocide.

12/18/2025

Looking at the work of today as we prepare to celebrate Hanukkah and thinking of the terror unleashed on Jews at Bondi Beach in Sydney—a place I remember so full of light— during Hanukkah. It is unthinkable one of the victims was a Holocaust survivor…

Louise’s work subtly and sensitively explores the fate of her great uncle in the Warsaw Ghetto and relates it to the pain of persecuted communities everywhere.

If you need a place to process your thoughts, this is a gentle place to do so. Then join me and to light his menorah in Searsport at 4.30-5pm today.