Juan Morales spent seven years perfecting his poetry book “The Siren World.” | Photo by Patti Freeman Schreiber, courtesy of Juan Morales

In 2,555 days, a lot can happen.

Juan Morales, associate professor of English at CSU-Pueblo, spent that amount of time, seven years, developing and perfecting his recently published poetry book “The Siren World,” which is the second book he has had published.

“I tried a lot of different passions. I looked back and realized I was always journaling. We traveled a lot when I was younger and I had boxes of journals from when I was a teenager and realized I had been writing all along,” he said.

The aspect Morales said he struggled with most often when writing was finding time in his day to write. As a creative writing professor, many times he would bring his notebook to class and while he assigned his students writing time for 10 to 15 minutes, he would write along with them to make progress on his book.

Morales’ experiences and perspectives from his travels are embedded throughout the poems in his newly published work. His inspiration for the book stemmed from household storytelling.

“Well my family would tell stories and I thought ‘Well if we don’t write this down we will lose these stories.’ So that inspired me. It seems like a little thing, but I knew it was important,” Morales said.

He grew up with parents who spoke English as their second language and very early on decided that Morales would not grow up learning Spanish, which he said has led to many insecurities in his personal life. His Latino and American cultures are a central theme of the book as a whole.

“‘The Siren World’ is a book about how my cultural background as a Puerto Rican (and) Ecuadorian comes together and enriches me. This book also explores moments where I felt pulled in different directions by the anxieties of exclusion and even the insecurities of not being Latino enough,” he said.

The book also features the first poem Morales ever wrote when he was in undergraduate studies in Pueblo, back when the school was known as the University of Southern Colorado. It is titled “My Father Throwing Away His Flip Flops.”

Recently, Morales has also been experimenting with what he calls “Pueblo Poems,” which he hopes will be able to make a positive impact on the view of the area as a whole. A few of which are included in “The Siren World,” but most have yet to find a concrete place.

“I have maybe two dozen poems that take place in Pueblo that don’t have a place yet. I keep hearing about Pueblo’s reputation and the haters trashing it,” he said. “We do have some serious issues to overcome here with poverty, gangs, energy issues and problems in our schools and poetry can help us articulate our frustrations, hopes and ways to overcome them.”

Additionally, Morales is currently working on a third book with a different publisher that he says will likely be released in 2018.

In the past, his books have focused on sharing his own experiences, perspectives and culture. This new book will explore different topics like home improvement, zombies and love poems.

“There will of course be similar emotions and experiences preserved, but it also explores a mix of other interests, passions, and experiences. I grew up loving horror movies and watching them with my family and I have spent a lot of time working on fixing up houses,” he said.

“So why not write about them? Some of them are fictionalized and some are dreams.”

Some of Morales’ personal favorite poets and authors include Major Jackson, Rigoberto González, Claudia Rankine, Martin Espada and Kim Addonizio, who visited the CSU-Pueblo campus in March 2015.

“Regardless of the subject matter, I want to keep connecting with my readers through poetry,” Morales said.

The vegetarian section has been in Pack Café for three years. | Photo by Ashleigh Hollowell

At first glance walking into the Pack Café at Colorado State University-Pueblo there may appear to be only two vegetarian sections: the salad bar and the designated vegetarian entrée line. What many on-campus vegetarians might not realize is that their options are much wider than just these two areas.

“The most difficult part is educating people to really take a look around, ask questions and you know kind of explore what’s at each station instead of assuming ‘it’s the grill so there’s not going to be anything vegetarian,’” explained Claudia Walters, the director of campus dining.

The grill section in the Pack Café offers vegetarian burgers and, if requested, the chefs will clean a space on the grill to cook them to avoid cross-contamination.

Junior Maggie Geolat and freshman Jordyn Samolis, both vegetarians, said they want more variety on campus when it comes to vegetarian options. Geolat said she would enjoy more vegetarian options in the Cantina, which is located downstairs in the Occhatio University Center.

“The best thing about the selection is that it offers me a quick option to grab some vegetarian food without having to cook,” Geolat said. She has been a vegetarian for two years and has eaten on campus for three.

Samolis favors the salad bar in the Pack Café and has been eating on campus since the beginning of last semester.

She has been a vegetarian for 14 years, she said, “my whole life basically.”

To help better educate students about the dishes that are available to vegetarians, Walters said Chartwells has plans to re-vamp their menu.

A new executive chef was hired in November, and the dining service plans to place easily identifiable symbols on the sneeze guard glass to give students a visual icon representative of what is vegetarian friendly, as many restaurants do on their menus.

In addition to the vegetarian options inside of Pack Café, the Chartwells To-Go program features vegetarian friendly items at other locations around campus. The Pavilion outside of the Hassan School of Business, the Library and Academic Resource Center and the new General Classroom Building offer items such as Caesar salads, yogurt parfaits and mozzarella, basil and tomato sandwiches.

Walters said the General Classroom Building will soon offer fruit smoothies, one of which will be a blend of apple, spinach and kale.

The sushi bar inside the library also offers vegetarian selections such as avocado, cucumber and carrot rolls as alternatives to the traditional fish. Walters said after the tremendous success from opening the sushi bar this past fall semester, it will become a permanent feature on campus.

Vegetarian options have been available on campus at least as long as Chartwells has been in partnership with CSU-Pueblo, which is around eight and a half years, Walters said.

The original push for more vegetarian friendly options first came from the Dining Services Advisory Committee, which currently has six members. Over the years, Walters said, the Chartwells staff has made an effort to include some sort of vegetarian friendly option at every station.

The vegetarian entrée section itself was implemented when Walters began working at CSU-Pueblo with Chartwells, about three years ago.

“The first year I was here there were some people that expressed interest in more specific vegetarian things. That’s when we created the first vegetarian station,” she said.

The station was originally located on the right side of the cafeteria, but it was recently moved to the left side, which is a little more open and out of the way.

The move helped with the flow of traffic because “there’s less people selecting the vegetarian things,” Walters said.

“I don’t actually think that I’ve seen an increase in vegetarians, but I have seen an increase in students trying new things.”

This past fall semester, Chartwells implemented ‘Meatless Mondays’ after a push by Associated Student’s Government President Sarah Zarr. As part of a campuswide sustainability week event, the idea was proposed in partnership with the CSU-Pueblo Enactus club.

Chartwells gets all recipes for meals from a company supported database called ‘Webtrition’ that allows the chefs to search and select certain items and meals for specific stations, such as the grill or the vegetarian entrée area.

“The cost of the food is probably less, but the labor is more intensive because of the cooking style for it,” Walters said. “Every single vegetarian item on the vegetarian station is made that day fresh.”

The Chartwells contract is set to be renewed for 2017.

With the OUC construction happening between now and then, the dining service will be temporarily relocated and serving students from what is now the ballroom.

Walters said the same number of vegetarian options will still be available during this transition period. Once the construction is complete, she said there will be vegetarian options available at every single station, as well as specific sections to cook the vegetarian food.

The Occhiato University Center will be more energy efficient after its renovation is complete. | Photo courtesy of csuponthemove.org

Colorado State University-Pueblo’s Occhiato University Center will be 17.8 percent less expensive to operate after renovation of the building is complete.

In the past year, several construction projects have become incorporated into the atmosphere at CSU-Pueblo. The most recent project is the addition to and renovation of the OUC, which is located on the north side of campus.

The OUC construction is currently budgeted at $35 million, with around 10 percent of the budget to be put toward energy saving features. In the end, that budget will be responsible for a 17.8 percent decrease in operation expenses, according to John Barnosky, director of Planning and Construction at the college.

Like the Library and Academic Resource Center and the new General Classroom Building, the OUC will be LEED certified, a designation that stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

“LEED is a green building certification program and buildings must satisfy prerequisites and earn points to achieve different levels of LEED certification,” explained Sarah Spencer-Workman, Sustainability Education Specialist for CSU-Pueblo.

The new OUC will receive a LEED Gold certification, which is the second highest level that can be achieved. In order for a building to be LEED certified, it is assessed across five major credit categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources and indoor environmental quality.

Usually, there are preliminary rises in cost when purchasing materials for constructing a LEED certified building. However, the long-term goal is what is kept in mind.

“The goal is to offset the initial cost increase by reducing long-term operating and maintenance costs,” Barnosky said.

The major energy saving features of the new and revised OUC will include efficient lighting, scheduled management of heating and cooling through what is called a Building Automation System, recycled flooring and wall finishes that will require minimal upkeep and maintenance, as well as several other energy efficient building features, Barnosky said.

“Current energy modelling by our LEED design/build project team is indicating that the new, larger OUC will cost very little more, if any, to operate than the old one. Savings in the long run for the new, energy efficient OUC are currently modelled as being 17.8 percent less costly to operate than a non-LEED baseline building,” he said.

Spencer-Workman said the LEED certification of buildings is beneficial in more ways than one.

The OUC is projected to be finished by March 2018. | Photo by Ashleigh Hollowell

“Certified LEED buildings save resources and money while having a positive impact on the health of occupants,” she said.

Currently, there are already many environmentally friendly aspects of the CSU-Pueblo campus. According to both Barnosky and Spencer-Workman, the solar panels on campus currently provide 10 percent of total campus energy. In addition, the current construction on the Art and Music building roof will create a sustainable, energy saving heating and cooling effect for the studios below.

As far as future sustainable projects for the campus, Barnosky said there is a “current capital construction request to renovate and add to the Psychology building” that would also have a LEED Gold certification requirement.

Barnosky said the complete renovation of the OUC is projected to be finished in March of 2018.