Jamie Lynn Miller's blog

A Sample FashionistaASPEN, CO -“All the things in Aspen are free! Hiking, being outside…even the bus is free,” exclaims Giselle Leaf, owner of Von Freytag, the latest and most affordably hip boutique in town. That’s not something you really hear about Aspen; we’re not known for our plethora of gratis fun. Yet Leaf has discovered one of Aspen’s greatest charms and, like a true local, she appreciates the splendor of her new backyard. Originally from Florida, the daughter of a Cuban doctor and an artist, and most recently transplanted from NYC, she brings her cosmopolitan sense of style and value and reminiscent of an eclectic big city boutique, with original looks and impressive prices, Von Freytag is changing the face of affordable fashion in Aspen.

Paddling around the WhitewaterASPEN, CO - Charlie MacArthur, Aspen’s all-around accomplished mountain man, has a new fascination. He’s taught kayaking for decades, and paddled first ascents through river waterways throughout both the Rocky Mountains and Hawaii; he’s taught telemarking, alpine skiing and snowboarding in Aspen and Snowmass for 27 years, and raced his surf ski through 36 miles of open ocean in the prestigious Hawaiian Moloka’i Channel Race. These days, he’s combining key elements of Nordic skiing, surfing and kayaking across Aspen whitewater, bringing the latest craze of stand-up paddling to local rivers, inviting locals and visitors to jump aboard.

Mahon on Capitol, at lastASPEN, CO On May 16, 2010, long-time Aspen local Christy Mahon became the first woman and the seventh person ever, to ski all 54 of Colorado’s 14,000 foot mountains, affectionately known as the Colorado 14’ers. It was a charmed last ascent, that final lap on Capitol, the mountain she’d been dreading the most. “Some tremendous skiers, like Chris Davenport, have skied Capitol and said it was one of the scariest things they’ve done,” says Mahon. “I remember thinking, am I good enough? Am I putting my partners at risk?”

She hiked the local Sunnyside trail last spring and gazed out at Capitol, with awe. “I had a little chat with the mountain. I said, ‘Hi Capitol, I’m Christy and I’m going to try and ski you this winter – if we could just get along for while, that’d be great.’”

Frolicking in the Fountain ASPEN, CO- It’s the most glorious summer in Aspen in years. There’s a slight smattering of clouds and only trace elements of the usual afternoon showers; this summer, the theme has been hot temperatures and thriving wildflowers, with the occasional puffy cloud adding a splash of texture to the endless blue horizon. Choose Aspen for a multi-faceted, adventurous and thoroughly engaging family vacation, with activities, sights and sounds to appeal to a span of ages and interests.

Author Kathryn StockettASPEN, CO -“That brook is…so loud. I can’t hear myself read,” said a student, just a little loudly, during the poetry workshop at AWF’s Aspen Summer Words. That pesky brook, also known as the Roaring Fork River, was indeed babbling far below the terrace outside the Aspen Institute’s Doerr-Hosier Center, home to this year’s “Crossroads: A Literary Intersection of the American South.” Even more distracting may have been the perfect Mediterranean climate and the abundant summer hillsides; it was a cloudless week of blue skies and dry, light breezes, vastly different from climate and landscape of the American South.

Thursday, two young men from today’s New Orleans spoke on their lives, pre and post-Katrina, captivating the audience with first-person accounts of violence, devastation, upheaval and ultimately, renewal. “I think there’s no such thing as a bad writer,” said James Jones, aged 17; “ as long as you put your heart and soul into it, it’s gonna be good. My uncle taught me that I shouldn’t use downfalls in life as a crutch; I should use them to move ahead, and become even stronger. After Katrina, I got to talking a lot about souls.”

Norm Gershman at the Aspen Institute ASPEN, CO -“I don’t take photos at things, I take photos of things,” says world-renown portrait photographer and humanitarian Norm Gershman, reflecting on his latest work, before a captive Aspen audience. “I don’t photograph war, destruction, murder…I photograph people. Good people. Many years ago, my wife and I were at dinner and she was talking about a horrible attack in Central Park the night before. I said to her, ‘You know what else happened last night? 3 million people made love. Which should we focus on?’”

Such is the hopeful outlook which fueled Gershman’s six year adventure and revolutionary new project, finding, photographing and documenting the stories of Muslims in Albania and Kosovo, who sheltered Jews from the Nazis during WWII. Gershman visited Aspen on Friday, June 18, as part of the Aspen Institute’s Fireside Chat series. The book is "Besa: Muslims Who Saved Jews in WWII" and is now available, world-wide, while the documentary film of the adventure, "God’s House", produced by the award-winning JWM Productions, is slated to be released in late 2011.