Let’s just say Denice Walker is civically engaged.
Since moving to Boulder County in 1980, she has had a career at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, received a Master’s Degree in religious studies and a PhD in media studies – both from The University of Colorado – and lived in Boulder, Louisville and Lafayette.
Now she’s half-retired, lives in an affordable senior living community for active adults, teaches in CU’s Women and Gender Studies Department, serves on the board of directors of the Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence, is a member of the League of Women voters, and serves on both the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee for Women at CU and the Lafayette Human Rights Commission.
“I think in complexity and I think in terms of intersectionality,” she said. “I’m intrigued by and aware of the fact that there are no simple solutions to these complex problems.”
Walker, 65, was one of hundreds of Boulder County residents who attended one of about 50 listening sessions in 2017, hosted by the Community Foundation Boulder County’s new CEO, Jeff Hirota.
She said she’s not surprised to learn that Boulder County’s openness to senior citizens is waning, according to the Community Foundation’s latest survey.
“My sense is, it isn’t so much hostility toward seniors, but more like benign neglect,” she said. “We’re invisible. The assumption is you’re either young and working up to age 40 or 50 or you’re fully retired. The reality is there are more and more people like me – not fully working, but not fully retired, either.”
She cautioned that while three-quarters of respondents reported locals were “open or very open” to gay and lesbian people, her experience as a member of the LGBT community has taught her otherwise. “I’d say open but not very open,” she said.
Walker teaches a course called “Disney’s Women and Girls.” Once, a student pulled her aside at the start of the course to tell her she heard other students were worried she was teaching the class because they suspected she was a lesbian. “I don’t feel like I can be entirely open,” Walker said.
It also concerns her that nearly every time she picks up the paper, someone is outraged over a community push for some sort of affordable housing.
“I just get beside myself,” she said. “I get outraged. This is what government is supposed to do. When I see people resistant to that, it signals a whole attitude. They always say, ‘It’s not that I’m opposed to affordable housing,’ and then there’s the inevitable ‘but.’ For me, that’s not a welcoming attitude.”
Walker holds out hope, however, that since the 2016 election, something has shifted. Many people have realized their involvement matters. “Our challenge is to help the public realize it’s in their best interest to be interested and supportive,” she said.
