Attitudes at Altitude October

Hello, Welcome to the October edition of Attitudes at Altitude, the voice of the Colorado Authors’ Hall of Fame. The mountain colors are brilliant as we cross into this month and begin to cast the Hall’s eyes to the next Induction. Who will the 12 be? The Gala will be held on Saturday, September 6. Get the HOLD date on your calendars.

Last month, the Aspiring Authors Scholarships winners were honored. We celebrated five winners—two nonfiction authors-to-be and three fiction ones: Adia Reynolds, Becky Jensen, Jillie Jensen, Julia Jackson, and Zaida Amador. Finalists Britany Exline and Janice Kerbel. Congratulations to all …

The Board is pleased to announce that four special Book Fair days are set up with Barnes & Noble bookstores this Fall in the Denver Metro area—October 19 at the Colorado Blvd bookstore and October 20 at Southlands. In November, BN Denver West-Lakewood will host on the 23, and LoneTree on the 24. The goal is to begin to refill the chest for the next Aspiring Authors Scholarships that will be given in 2025. Members of the AuthorU.org community will be raising money through book sales to fund Aspiring Author scholarships and support the admin for the Hall.

Nominations are open for the 2025 Hall Induction in November. Who’s on your list to nominate? Forms are on the Hall’s website.

This month, 2019 Inductees Dick Weissman and Sybil Downing are featured. Hall of Famer Penny Rafferty Hamilton will take the seat for October’s Author Talk Happy Hour on Wednesday, October 9 at 5 MT.

In gratitude for you and your support of the Hall,

The Colorado Authors' Hall of Fame honors the authors of extraordinary, published works who meet the Hall’s criteria. Members of the public nominate exceptional authors that have impacted them.

Nominations are now open.

And the first round to open the door, candidates must meet one of the five criteria:
• Born in Colorado.
• Lived in Colorado.
• Was in some type of residence (could be a week) writing retreat.
• Writes about Colorado.
• Uses elements of Colorado in their writing.

A diverse group of Colorado residents—including literary professionals have been recruited to serve as the Selection Committee. It reviews all nomination submissions received by March 31, 2025, in-depth, performs additional research if necessary, meets as a group, and selects nominees for induction into the class of 2025 Colorado Authors' Hall of Fame.

Information and submission guidelines are on the Hall’s website, www.ColoradoAuthorsHallofFame.org.

Richard "Dick" Weissman

As one of the most productive and important authors writing about American roots music and the music business, Dick Weissman's Music Business: Career Opportunities & Self Defense is used in many college music programs. His work was among the earliest books written about the music business. It is also the first book written from a musician’s point of view, rather than that of a lawyer or music business executive. He was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame, reflecting his contributions as an author, college professor, composer, and performer.

Dick’s books about the music business have been in widespread use at colleges for many years. Talkin's Bout A Revolution is one of the first books to provide a careful analysis of the interactions between American music and politics in a variety of musical idioms. Other published work includes Creating Melodies, The Folk Music Sourcebook, Making A Living In Your Local Music Market, Which Side Are You On?, The Music Never Stops, The Folk Music of the United States and Canada, and Blues The Basics. His next book will deliver an analysis of black-and-white musical interactions in a variety of musical genres.

FEATURED BOOKS: Talkin' 'Bout a Revolution: Music and Social Change in America, Understanding the Music Business and Creating Melodies: A Songwriter's Guide to Understanding, Writing and Polishing Melodies.

Sybil Downing

Sybil Downing (1930 – 2011) wrote novels based on historical events, including The Binding Oath, about the Ku Klux Klan in Denver, In Plain Sight about child labor in the northern Colorado beet fields and Fire in the Hole about the Ludlow Massacre. She also wrote The Vote, about women’s right to vote, and Ladies of the Goldfield Stock Exchange, about women who opened a stock exchange in Nevada. In addition, she co-wrote 12 children’s books and one young-adult book with Jane Barker of Boulder.

She chaired the Colorado Center for the Book and was dedicated to improving literacy, a cause she was devoted to until her death. She was the co-founder of Women Writing the West, which has recently established the Sybil Downing Journalist Award. Books were Sybil Downing’s life: she read them, wrote them, reviewed them, and collected them.

FEATURED BOOKS: The Binding Oath, In Plain Sight, The Votes

USE this code for the live Zoom meeting on
Oct 9th, this is your Zoom link:
https://bit.ly/AuthorTalkHappyHour
pass code is Hall

Who Is Penny Rafferty Hamilton, Ph.D.?

With over 30 years of authoring articles and books, Penny Rafferty Hamilton reflects her passions–aviation, Western heritage, and women’s history and calls Granby, Colorado home. A world-record-setting aviator, she currently focuses on aviation and aerospace.

Her “Penny the Pilot” program has been a cornerstone in many schools teaching preschoolers and elementary children about the history of women in aviation.
The FAA Central Region bestowed its Champion of Aviation Education Award and ABC-TV in Denver recognized her with its Everyday Hero award in 2009.
Her ground-breaking Teaching Women to Fly Research Project findings were published in the Proceedings of the Human Resource Development International and the International textbook, Absent Aviators: Gender Issues in Aviation.
Books include Arcadia Images of America Around Granby and Absent Aviators: Gender Issues in Aviation, America’s Amazing Airports, Inspiring Words for Sky and Space Women, and 101 Trailblazing Women of Air and Space.
She is honored to be a Laureate of both the Colorado Aviation and Women’s Hall of Fame.
She holds a world aviation speed record.
She was inducted into the Colorado Authors Hall of Fame in 2019.

It's a great author stop and awe time with the Inductees of the Colorado Authors Hall of Fame. All sessions will be recorded and registrants will receive the replay ... and they are FREE.
On November 13th, Bestselling Author and Hall Inductee Manuel Ramos will be featured.

Listen in. Join in the conversation. Have fun. Ask Penny your questions.

Dr. Doug Gilbert is a highly experienced international entrepreneur, academic, and business professional. His current focus includes serving as the CEO of Lone Tree Academics LLC, an academic services provider serving higher education, and a recent startup of EduPartner.Solutions, a Data Analytics as a Service (DAaaS) venture assisting higher education institutions with student success strategies. He also serves as doctoral faculty for Walden University (USA), a visiting professor at Vilnius University (Lithuania), and doctoral faculty for UBIS University (Switzerland).

He holds a Doctor of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix, a Juris Doctorate from the University of Iowa, and an M.B.A. from the Unversité de Genève (IMD) in Switzerland.

Doug’s past experiences include serving in senior management roles at several academic institutions, delivering strategy and transformation consulting to biotech companies in a Big 4 consultancy, leading international transformation projects for Novartis—a Swiss multinational, and co-founding Colorado’s newest city—the City of Castle Pines.

Attitudes at Altitude’s promises to our readers…

We celebrate the outstanding authors inducted into the Colorado Authors’ Hall of Fame since 2019. They are the first in the United States with a connection to Colorado to have been honored as published authors, highlighting the impact and breadth of their work.

The next Induction will be on September 15, 2025. Add September 16, 2025, for
the Aspiring Authors awards luncheon. Put the dates on your calendar. The venue will
be the DoubleTree Hilton Denver Tech Center in Greenwood Village.

• Each month, past Inductees are featured with their backgrounds and latest books.

• Past Inductees will offer their sage advice on “how they do it”–whatever “it” is.

• You will be the first to hear about planned Hall Events. Meet a favorite author ... or a new one that has delivered mega hours of reading enjoyment ... one that has made an impact on society or their field.

Support the Hall

The Colorado Authors' Hall of Fame celebrates the accomplishments of living and deceased authors who have been connected to Colorado—their words, wisdom, accomplishments, and the life-changing impact their works create. The result: their legacy lives on.

The Hall is an all-volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that honors and celebrates authors connected with Colorado by birth, residence, temporary residency for writing encouragement and support, writing about elements within Colorado, or placing storylines in or about Colorado.

Authors’ words have immense power and impact on changing others’ lives. They solve problems, bring awareness to a topic, and provide hours of pleasurable reading. It’s the power of their words.

Your financial assistance through donations and participation at events supports the bi-annual Induction Gala in odd-numbered years, the Aspiring Author Scholarships, and the general operation to bring these events to the public.

Please support the Hall for this year going forward.