My name is Katalina Villarreal for KDNK news, and I am currently at the No Kings Rally here in Sarah Park in Glenwood Springs, and I am speaking to...
SONJIA LINMAN: Sonia Linman.
VILLARREAL: Amazing. So where are you from?
LINMAN: I've lived here for over 30 years.
VILLARREAL: So I have a few questions. What message do you hope to send today, and to whom?
LINMAN: I would like to send this message out to everybody who believes in freedom, and who believes in protecting your neighbor, and honoring diversity, and standing up for all of the things that we have said we've believed in for decades of living here in this beautiful little community. And I think it's being torn asunder. And what we know is that when we come together, and we say, "We love our neighbors, all neighbors. We love our environment. We protect our constitutional rights. We protect our First Amendment rights. We protect our Fourth Amendment rights. We protect our amendment rights," then we're together, and we're standing in force, and in honor, and in honesty, and in respect for each other, our community, and this great nation that we can protect if we are wise during a time of great threat. And when we get pulled apart, we're weaker. So come together with your neighbor, love the diversity in this community, break bread together, feed each other, take care of each other, and let's go into a winter with the love we know. And I know that sounds whatever and soft, but it's fierce.
VILLARREAL: Thank you.
LINMAN: It ain't anything that I haven't said before.
VILLARREAL: What's your name?
CAMPBELL CRAIG: My name's Campbell. Campbell Craig.
VILLARREAL: Campbell Craig, where are you from?
CRAIG: I'm from Nashville originally, but I live in Glenwood.
VILLARREAL: Nice. What were you just saying about the turnout?
CRAIG: Uh, very disappointed in the turnout. It is primarily boomers. I think I saw in the midterms, like, three-quarters of the votes were cast by people over 50, and they mail you your ballot here, so come on, it couldn't be any easier.
VILLARREAL: Yeah. What do you hope for the country after November 3rd?
CRAIG: Honestly, I don't have high hopes of big reform this election cycle. I do appreciate seeing some DSA candidates gain traction, but at the same time, it seems like as soon as they get into office, they start kowtowing to the Epstein class and walking back their positions. I think it's gonna take a united labor force to really change things, and until all of the working class people come together to do what's in our best interests, I think we're gonna see the same status quo, two sides of the same coin.
VILLARREAL: Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me. I'll let you go back to passing out your stickers.
VILLARREAL: And would you mind just saying your full names for me?
ZAIRA: My name is Zaira Najera Rodriguez.
BRISA: My name's Brisa Najera Rodriguez.
VILLARREAL: So you guys are here at Sayre Park in Glenwood Springs. Are you guys locals? Did you grow up here, or where are you from?
SAIRA: Yeah, we grew up in Gypsum, but I do live here in Glenwood Springs now.
BRISA: I still live in Gypsum, but I go to college in Grand Junction.
VILLARREAL: Is there a message that you guys wanna send today?
ZAIRA: First, I wanna say that there's not a lot of young people here, and I think a lot of young people are very much like, "Oh, well, you know, I'm not really into politics," or like, "I don't know much," or, like, there's some people that complain about what's happening but don't do anything about it. So I think it starts small; a lot of people that think that midterms don't do anything, I mean, it starts with midterms.
BRISA: I'd say educate yourself. Do your research, learn about your country, learn about what you side with and what you don't side with — as well as vote.
ZAIRA: We are the future, and I also think that there are a lot of people that are on Instagram, people on TikTok reposting a lot of things; I think it's really easy to say something from a screen and hit that repost button, but why are we not showing up? If you are complaining about the government, if you're complaining about the environment, if you're complaining about the world right now, show up and vote, 'cause that's where it starts.
BRISA: I feel like change is change. Like, even if it's something small, I think something is gonna change. I feel like if we all vote and we all try to do something about it, I feel like there can be some kind of change.
ZAIRA: And vote.
