Top Stories /asmagazine/ en We’re still tasting the spice of 1960s sci-fi /asmagazine/2025/08/29/were-still-tasting-spice-1960s-sci-fi <span>We’re still tasting the spice of 1960s sci-fi</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-08-29T07:00:00-06:00" title="Friday, August 29, 2025 - 07:00">Fri, 08/29/2025 - 07:00</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-08/Dune%20fan%20art%20by%20Henrik%20Sahlstr%C3%B6m.jpg?h=2de4b702&amp;itok=eh7pGmuG" width="1200" height="800" alt="Dune fan art of sandworm and Arrakis"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/58" hreflang="en">Books</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1241" hreflang="en">Division of Arts and Humanities</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/320" hreflang="en">English</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/686" hreflang="en">Research</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/917" hreflang="en">Top Stories</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1235" hreflang="en">popular culture</a> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/bradley-worrell">Bradley Worrell</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em><span>With this month marking&nbsp;</span></em><span>Dune’s</span><em><span> 60th anniversary, 鶹ѰBoulder’s Benjamin Robertson discusses the book’s popular appeal while highlighting the dramatic changes science fiction experienced following its publication</span></em></p><hr><p><span>Sixty years ago this month, a novel about a galactic battle over a desert planet valued for its mystical spice forever altered the face of science fiction.</span></p><p><span>Authored by Frank Herbert,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dune-by-Herbert" rel="nofollow"><em><span>Dune</span></em></a><em><span>&nbsp;</span></em><span>would go on to sell more than 20 million copies, be translated into more than 20 languages and become one of the bestselling science fiction novels of all time, spawning several sequels and movie adaptions that have further boosted its popularity.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-medium"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/Benjamin%20Robertson.jpg?itok=5OvBqzz3" width="1500" height="1727" alt="portrait of Benjamin Robertson"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Benjamin Robertson, a 鶹ѰBoulder associate professor of English, pursues a <span>research and teaching focus on genre fiction.</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span>In retrospect, it’s hard to quantify how important </span><em><span>Dune&nbsp;</span></em><span>was to the genre of science fiction, says&nbsp;</span><a href="/english/benjamin-j-robertson" rel="nofollow"><span>Benjamin Robertson</span></a><span>, a 鶹ѰBoulder&nbsp;</span><a href="/english/" rel="nofollow"><span>Department of English</span></a><span> associate professor whose areas of specialty includes contemporary literature and who teaches a science fiction class. That’s because the status </span><em><span>Dune&nbsp;</span></em><span>attained, along with other popular works at the time, helped transition science fiction from something that was primarily found in specialty magazines to a legitimate genre within the world of book publishing, he says.</span></p><p><span>Robertson says a number of factors made </span><em><span>Dune</span></em><span> a remarkable book upon its publication in August 1965, including Herbert’s elaborate world building; its deep philosophical exploration of religion, politics and ecology; and the fact that its plot was driven by its characters rather than by technology. Additionally, the book tapped into elements of 1960s counterculture with its focus on how consuming a</span><a href="https://decider.com/2021/10/22/what-is-spice-in-dune-explained/" rel="nofollow"><span> spice</span></a><span> harvested on the planet Arrakis could allow users to experience mystical visions and enhance their consciousness, Robertson says.</span></p><div class="ucb-box ucb-box-title-hidden ucb-box-alignment-left ucb-box-style-fill ucb-box-theme-lightgray"><div class="ucb-box-inner"><div class="ucb-box-title">&nbsp;</div><div class="ucb-box-content"><p class="lead">Journey beyond Arrakis <a href="/today/2025/08/18/beyond-arrakis-dune-researchers-confront-real-life-perils-shifting-sand-formations" rel="nofollow">with a different kind of dune</a>&nbsp;<i class="fa-solid fa-mound ucb-icon-color-gold">&nbsp;</i></p></div></div></div><p><span>“There’s also the element of the </span><em><span>chosen one</span></em><span> narrative in the book, which is appealing to at least a certain segment of the culture,” he says. The book’s protagonist, Paul Atreides, suffers a great loss and endures many trials before emerging as the leader who amasses power and dethrones the established authorities, he notes.</span></p><p><span>While </span><em><span>Dune</span></em><span> found commercial success by blending many different story elements and themes in a new way that engaged readers, it’s worthwhile to consider the book in relation to other works of science fiction being produced in the 1960s, Robertson says. It was during that turbulent time that a new generation of writers emerged, creating works very different from their predecessors in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, which is often considered the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Age_of_Science_Fiction" rel="nofollow"><span>Golden Age of Science Fiction.</span></a></p><p><span>Whereas many Golden Age science fiction writers tended to set their tales in outer space, to make technology the focus of their stories and to embrace the idea that human know-how could overcome nearly any obstacle, Robertson says many science fiction writers in the 1960s looked to reinvent the genre.</span></p><p><span>“The 1960s is probably when, for me personally, I feel like science fiction gets interesting,” he says. “I’m not a big fan of what’s called the Golden Age of Science Fiction—the fiction of Asimov or Heinlein. The ‘60s is interesting because of what’s going on culturally, with the counterculture, with student protests and the backlash to the conformities of the 1950s.”</span></p><p><span><strong>New Wave sci-fi writers make their mark</strong></span></p><p><span>In 1960s Great Britain, in particular, writers for </span><em><span>New Worlds</span></em><span> science fiction magazine came to be associated with the term&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Wave_(science_fiction)" rel="nofollow"><span>New Wave</span></a><span>, which looked inward to examine human psychology and motivations while also tackling topics like sexuality, gender roles and drug culture.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/New%20Worlds%20mag%20covers.jpg?itok=XNnLn-dn" width="1500" height="1143" alt="two covers of New Worlds science fiction magazine"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>In 1960s Great Britain, in particular, writers for </span><em><span>New Worlds</span></em><span> science fiction magazine came to be associated with the term New Wave, which looked inward to examine human psychology and motivations while also tackling topics like sexuality, gender roles and drug culture. (Images: moorcography.org)</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span>“This new generation of writers grew up reading science fiction, but they were dissatisfied with both the themes and the way it was written,” Robertson says. “One of the </span><em><span>New World’s</span></em><span> most notable writers, J.G. Ballard, talked about shifting away from, quote-unquote, outer space to inner space.</span></p><p><span>“That dovetailed with other writers who weren’t necessarily considered New Wave but were writing </span><em><span>soft science fiction</span></em><span> that was not focused on technology itself—such as space ships and time travel—but more about exploring the impact of technologies on humanity and on how it changes our relationship with the planet, the solar system and how we relate to each other.”</span></p><p><span>New Wave authors also wrote about world-ending catastrophes, including nuclear war and ecological degradation. Meanwhile, many British New Wave writers were not afraid to be seen as iconoclasts who challenged established religious and political norms.</span></p><p><span>“Michael Moorcock, the editor of </span><em><span>New Worlds</span></em><span>, self-identified as an anarchist, and Ballard was exemplary for challenging authority in his works. He was not just interested in saying, ‘This form of government is bad or compromised, or capitalism is bad, but actually the way we convey those ideas has been compromised,’” Robertson says. “It wasn’t enough for him to identify those systems that are oppressing us; Ballard argued we have to describe them in ways that estranges those ideas.</span></p><p><span>“And that’s what science fiction classically does—it estranges us. It shows us our world in some skewed manner, because it’s extrapolating from here to the future and imagining …what might a future look like that we couldn’t anticipate, based upon the situation we are in now.”</span></p><p><span>American science fiction writers might not have pushed the boundaries quite as far their British counterparts, Robertson says, but counterculture ideas found expression in some literature of the time. He points specifically to Harlan Ellison, author of the post-apocalyptic short story “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream,”</span><em><span>&nbsp;</span></em><span>who also served as editor of the sci-fi anthology </span><em><span>Dangerous Visions</span></em><span>, a collection of short stories that were notable for their depiction of sex in science fiction.</span></p><p><span>Robertson says other American sci-fi writers of the time who embraced elements of the counterculture include Robert Heinlein, whose </span><em><span>Stranger in a Strange Land</span></em><span> explored the concept of free love, and Philip K. Dick, who addressed the dangers of authority and capitalism in some of his works and whose stories sometimes explored drug use, even as the author was taking illicit drugs to maintain his prolific output.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/Original%20Dune%20book%20cover.jpg?itok=LHZMNMzg" width="1500" height="2266" alt="original book cover of Dune by Frank Herbert"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>“</span><em><span>Dune</span></em><span> definitely broke out into the mainstream—and the fact that Hollywood is continuing to produce movies based upon the book today says something about its staying power,” says 鶹ѰBoulder scholar Benjamin Robertson.</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span>Meanwhile, Robertson notes that science fiction during the 1960s saw a more culturally diverse group of writers emerge, including Ursula K. Le Guin, the feminist author of such works as </span><em><span>The Left Hand of Darkness</span></em><span> and </span><em><span>The Lathe of Heaven</span></em><span>; Madeliene L’Engle<strong>,</strong> known for her work </span><em><span>A Wrinkle in Time</span></em><span>; and some lesser-known but still influential writers such as Samuel R. Delaney, one of the first African American and queer science fiction authors, known for his works </span><em><span>Babel-17&nbsp;</span></em><span>and</span><em><span> Nova</span></em><span>.</span></p><p><span>At the same time, even authors from behind eastern Europe’s Iron Curtain were gaining recognition in the West, including Stanislaw Lem of Poland, author of the novel </span><em><span>Solaris</span></em><span>, and brothers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky in the Soviet Union, authors of the novella </span><em><span>Ashes of Bikini</span></em><span> and many short stories.</span></p><p><span><strong>Impact of 1960s sci-fi remains long lasting</strong></span></p><p><span>As the 1960s and 1970s gave way to the 1980s, a new sci-fi genre started to take hold: Cyberpunk. Sharing elements with New Wave, Cyberpunk is a dystopian science fiction subgenre combining advanced technology, including artificial intelligence, with societal collapse.</span></p><p><span>Robertson says the 1984 debut of William Gibson’s book&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer" rel="nofollow"><em><span>Neuromancer</span></em></a><em><span>&nbsp;</span></em><span>is widely recognized as a foundational work of Cyberpunk.</span></p><p><span>While works of 1960s science fiction are now more than five decades old, Robertson says many of them generally have held up well over time.</span></p><p><span>“</span><em><span>Dune</span></em><span> definitely broke out into the mainstream—and the fact that Hollywood is continuing to produce movies based upon the book today says something about its staying power,” he says. “I think the works of Ursula K. Le Guin, particularly the </span><em><span>Left Hand of Darkness</span></em><span>, is a great read and a lot of fun to teach. And Philip K. Dick is always capable of shocking you, not with gore or sex but just with narrative twists and turns.”</span></p><p><span>If anything, Dick is actually more popular today than when he was writing his books and short stories back in the 1960s, Robertson says, pointing to the fact that a number of them have been made into films—most notably </span><em><span>Minority Report</span></em><span> and </span><em><span>Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?</span></em><span> (which was re-titled </span><em><span>Blade Runner</span></em><span>).</span></p><p><span>“At the same time, I think one of the dangers of science fiction is thinking what was written in the 1960s somehow predicts what happens later,” Robertson says. “It can look that way. But, as someone who values historicism, I think it’s important to think about cultural objects in the time they were produced. So, the predictions that Philip K. Dick was making were based upon the knowledge he had in the 1960s, so saying what happened in the 1980s is what he predicted in the 1960s isn’t strictly accurate, because what was happening in the 1980s was coming out of a very different understanding of science, of politics and of technology.</span></p><p><span>“What I always ask people to remember about science fiction is that it’s about more than the time that it’s written about—it’s about what the future could be, not about what the future actually becomes.”</span></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about English?&nbsp;</em><a href="/english/donate" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>With this month marking Dune’s 60th anniversary, 鶹ѰBoulder’s Benjamin Robertson discusses the book’s popular appeal while highlighting the dramatic changes science fiction experienced following its publication.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/Dune%20scene.jpg?itok=Ge04G0L2" width="1500" height="539" alt="illustrated scene of sand dunes on Arrakis from Frank Herbert's Dune"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> <div>Top illustration: Gary Jamroz-Palma</div> Fri, 29 Aug 2025 13:00:00 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6208 at /asmagazine 'Your love will be your legacy' /asmagazine/2025/07/23/your-love-will-be-your-legacy <span>'Your love will be your legacy'</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-07-23T07:30:00-06:00" title="Wednesday, July 23, 2025 - 07:30">Wed, 07/23/2025 - 07:30</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-07/Gio%20Ruffolo%20and%20dad%20thumbnail.jpg?h=9fb6362d&amp;itok=I8Rik3FL" width="1200" height="800" alt="John and Giovanna Ruffolo holding illuminated balloons"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1242" hreflang="en">Division of Natural Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/352" hreflang="en">Integrative Physiology</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/144" hreflang="en">Psychology and Neuroscience</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/917" hreflang="en">Top Stories</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1102" hreflang="en">Undergraduate Students</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/456" hreflang="en">cancer</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1053" hreflang="en">community</a> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/sarah-kuta">Sarah Kuta</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em>Losing her father to pancreatic cancer inspired 鶹ѰBoulder undergraduate Giovanna Ruffolo to raise money for cancer research and pursue a career in medicine</em></p><hr><p><span lang="EN">Giovanna Ruffolo was a senior in high school when her dad died of pancreatic cancer.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">While other students were looking forward to prom and graduation, Ruffolo was navigating a web of tangled emotions—shock, disbelief, sadness, anger, uncertainty.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">“Losing a parent is probably the most intense pain someone can feel in their entire life,” she says. “It’s a terrible, terrible pain.”</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/Gio%20Ruffolo%20and%20family.jpg?itok=VzYChEgq" width="1500" height="1196" alt="Leo, Joey and Giovanna Ruffolo with their mother"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Giovanna Ruffolo (second from right) with her brothers Leo (left, a 2024 鶹ѰBoulder graduate) and Joey (second from left, a 鶹ѰDenver student) and their mom, Rosanna. (Photo: Giovanna Ruffolo)</p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">Mostly, though, she just felt numb. Heading off to college so soon after her father’s death was the last thing she wanted to do. But she knew education was important to her dad, so she pushed through the pain and enrolled at 鶹ѰBoulder.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Now a senior studying integrative physiology and psychology, Ruffolo is preparing for a career in medicine so that, someday, she can help support families just like hers. She hopes to work in pediatric oncology, providing compassionate care to children who are fighting cancer.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">As a Buff, Ruffolo is also honoring her father’s legacy by raising money and awareness for cancer prevention research, an initiative she started just after her father got his diagnosis.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">“I just want people to know they have a support system and a network that hates cancer as much as they do—that they’re not alone,” she says.</span></p><p><span lang="EN"><strong>Helping others</strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN">Life was rolling along for the Ruffolo family when they got the news that would change their lives forever. In 2017, their beloved patriarch, </span><a href="https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/john-ruffolo-obituary?id=7635215" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">John Ruffolo</span></a><span lang="EN">, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a disease that is often fatal.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">“It hit us like a bus,” says Ruffolo.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Pancreatic cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, according to the National Institutes of Health. Between 2015 and 2021, the five-year survival rate was just </span><a href="https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/pancreas.html" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">13.3 percent</span></a><span lang="EN">—much lower than other types of cancer. In 2025, the American Cancer Society </span><a href="https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/pancreatic-cancer/about/key-statistics.html" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">estimates</span></a><span lang="EN"> 67,440 people will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and 51,980 people will die from the disease.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">“It’s the cancer that really gives cancer its bad name,” Ruffolo says.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/Giovanna%20Ruffolo%20purple%20event.jpg?itok=FFIW31lE" width="1500" height="668" alt="High school students in group photo wearing purple shirts"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span lang="EN">Prospect Ridge Academy High School Students participate in a cancer fundraiser organized by Giovanna Ruffolo in 2019. (Photo: Giovanna Ruffolo)</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">Ruffolo was just 14 at the time, but she felt compelled to take action. As a sophomore at Prospect Ridge Academy High School</span><em><span lang="EN">,&nbsp;</span></em><span lang="EN">she created TeamRuffolo, a student-led initiative to raise money and awareness for cancer research.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">In November 2018, her school hosted a “Purple Out”—a one-day event in which students were encouraged to wear purple to show their support for the cancer community and donate whatever they could toward prevention research. Students, teachers and administrators raised more than $1,000 for the American Cancer Society that day, and Ruffolo went home feeling inspired and hopeful.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">She organized similar fundraisers at her high school in 2019 and 2020 (though the initiative had to go virtual because of the COVID-19 pandemic).</span></p><p><span lang="EN">“It was such a wonderful feeling,” she says. “A lot of these people didn’t even know my dad, but&nbsp; they were still so supportive. Seeing people come together not only for him, but just to say, ‘You’re not alone,’ was tremendous for all of us.”</span></p><p><span lang="EN"><strong>Balancing act</strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN">Meanwhile, despite undergoing various treatments and surgeries, her father’s cancer continued to progress. Four years after his diagnosis, he succumbed to the disease in January 2021 at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Center.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Ruffolo was utterly devastated, but she knew she had to finish high school and get a college degree for her dad. And, wherever she ended up next, she wanted to continue her awareness-raising and fundraising events to support other cancer patients and their families.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/Giovanna%20Ruffolo%20CU%20Boulder%20runners.JPG?itok=l_ykhxGX" width="1500" height="1185" alt="鶹ѰBoulder students running in a 5K to raise money for cancer"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">鶹ѰBoulder participants run in the Stronger Together Annual 5K at 鶹Ѱin 2024, the event's most successful year. (Photo: Giovanna Ruffolo)</p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">At 鶹ѰBoulder, Ruffolo has thrown herself into her studies, with an ultimate goal of working in the medical field. From her father’s experience, Ruffolo learned first-hand that cancer affects more than just the body—it also influences a patient’s mind, spirit and emotions. With that in mind, she’s majoring in integrative physiology and psychology to create her own pre-health pathway.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">“My father had trouble grasping being diagnosed with a terminal disease, as anyone rightfully would,” she says. “I want to understand people’s behaviors and thoughts better, so that when someone is going through a hardship, I can better support them.”</span></p><p><span lang="EN">To further build her skill set, Ruffolo also completed CU’s emergency medical technician (EMT) program, an online, non-credit specialization that prepares students for national registry testing. She has also worked as a research assistant at 鶹ѰBoulder and Children's Hospital Colorado.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">In addition, Ruffolo has taken on a leadership role with the 鶹ѰBoulder chapter of the American Medical Student Association, spending three years on the executive board before being elected president for the 2025-26 school year. Through the student group, Ruffolo has carried on her TeamRuffolo efforts—now called Stronger Together—by organizing 5-kilometer run/walk events to raise money for the American Cancer Society.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">She is also a journey leader with New Student &amp; Family Programs, where she helps incoming freshmen navigate the 鶹ѰBoulder experience. Balancing her studies with her extracurricular activities—while also supporting her family and honoring her father’s legacy—has been challenging. But, for Ruffolo, it all comes back to staying true to herself.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">“Pretty much my tippy-top value is helping others,” she says.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">In class, Ruffolo has never been afraid to ask questions and speak up—even when that means talking about her father’s death in a large lecture hall full of hundreds of students. </span><a href="/psych-neuro/jennifer-stratford" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Jennifer Stratford</span></a><span lang="EN">, a 鶹ѰBoulder teaching associate professor of psychology and neuroscience, says Ruffolo’s willingness to be vulnerable has opened the door for other students to share their experiences.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/John%20Ruffolo.JPG?itok=n3zTTbKf" width="1500" height="1183" alt="Portrait of John Ruffolo"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">John Ruffolo died from pancreatic cancer in 2021. (Photo: Giovanna Ruffolo)</p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">“She just kind of became an ambassador and a face for students who have lost parents,” says Stratford. “I’ve had a lot of feedback from students about how much they appreciated her bravery and how much they identified with some of the struggles she’d been through. It’s a once-in-a-decade or once-in-a-lifetime experience to see a single student have an impact on so many of her classmates.”</span></p><p><span lang="EN"><strong>‘Your love will be your legacy’</strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN">Since high school, Ruffolo estimates she’s helped raise more than $20,000 for the American Cancer Society. And she’s not done yet. She hopes the 鶹ѰBoulder AMSA chapter will continue organizing the 5K run/walk fundraisers, and that she’ll be able to host similar events during the next phase of her educational journey.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">For now, Ruffolo is focused on finishing up her studies so she can graduate in the spring of 2026. From there, she hopes to continue her education in the medical field, likely as a doctor or physician assistant specializing in pediatric oncology.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">“I really want to serve that specific community,” she says. “You’re treating little people who have lots of emotions and a little body. They get very scared easily. You really have to be empathetic and treat them and their families with kindness. I love the idea of sitting down with people, holding their hands, talking to them—not just giving them a death sentence, walking out the door and saying, ‘Best of luck.’”</span></p><p><span lang="EN">That approach stems directly from her father’s experiences. As he neared the end of his life, Ruffolo remembers him breaking down and talking about how scared he was. She hopes to be the kind of practitioner who will help people like her dad move forward through their pain and fear, while also treating their underlying illness.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">“Your love will be your legacy,” she says. “In a world where there’s no cure for cancer, investing your time in others is the only way you can live forever. And loving other people—giving them kindness and empathy—is one of the best ways to help fight any disease.”</span></p><hr><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Losing her father to pancreatic cancer inspired 鶹ѰBoulder undergraduate Giovanna Ruffolo to raise money for cancer research and pursue a career in medicine.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/Gio%20Ruffolo%20and%20dad%20cropped.jpg?itok=EiVcwaQ9" width="1500" height="528" alt="John and Giovanna Ruffolo holding illuminated balloons"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> <div>Top image: Giovanna Ruffolo (right) and her late father, John, representing Colorado cancer patients and survivors at Mile High Stadium at an event sponsored by the American Cancer Society in 2019. (Photo: Giovanna Ruffolo)</div> Wed, 23 Jul 2025 13:30:00 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6181 at /asmagazine What’s more hardcore than history? /asmagazine/2025/06/18/whats-more-hardcore-history <span>What’s more hardcore than history? </span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-06-18T16:24:13-06:00" title="Wednesday, June 18, 2025 - 16:24">Wed, 06/18/2025 - 16:24</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-06/Dan%20Carlin%20bw.jpg?h=41bf6bc3&amp;itok=n-2lynzf" width="1200" height="800" alt="Portrait of Dan Carlin"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1241" hreflang="en">Division of Arts and Humanities</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/178" hreflang="en">History</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1233" hreflang="en">The Ampersand</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/917" hreflang="en">Top Stories</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1222" hreflang="en">podcast</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1235" hreflang="en">popular culture</a> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em>鶹ѰBoulder alumnus Dan Carlin brings a love of history and a punk sensibility to a new season of </em>The Ampersand<em> as he discusses his hit podcast,&nbsp;</em>Hardcore History</p><hr><p><a class="ucb-link-button ucb-link-button-gold ucb-link-button-default ucb-link-button-regular" href="https://theampersand.podbean.com/e/the-andertones-dan-carlin-on-punk-narrative-storytelling-and-exploring-the-past/" rel="nofollow"><span class="ucb-link-button-contents"><strong>&nbsp;</strong><i class="fa-solid fa-star">&nbsp;</i><strong>&nbsp;Listen to The Ampersand</strong></span></a></p><p>There are a lot of places to experience punk: in the dim, smoky basement of Club 88 in Los Angeles in 1983, listening to a then-little-known band called NOFX, but also on the ancient battlefields of Britannia, where Briton warriors drew their swords against the invading Romans.</p><p>In the first scenario, Dan Carlin was actually there wearing his signature black T-shirt and Orioles cap. The battlefield? He visits it in his vivid imagination (still in a black T-shirt and ball cap)—drinking in the details and drawing a sensory-rich narrative from historical texts and records.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-06/Dan%20Carlin%20bw.jpg?itok=MopZK5mR" width="1500" height="1244" alt="Portrait of Dan Carlin"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">鶹ѰBoulder history graduate Dan Carlin brings a punk sensibility to his wildly popular podcast, <em>Hardcore History</em>.</p> </span> </div></div><p>Carlin, a 鶹Ѱ history graduate, is something of a journalist of the past—a punk rock kid who became a punk rock adult who brings that counterculture ethos to <a href="https://www.dancarlin.com/hardcore-history-series/" rel="nofollow"><em>Hardcore History</em></a>, among the most popular podcasts in the United States with millions of downloads per episode.</p><p>He&nbsp;<a href="https://theampersand.podbean.com/e/studying-the-best-of-humanity-even-our-darkest-parts/" rel="nofollow">recently joined</a>&nbsp;host&nbsp;<a href="/artsandsciences/erika-randall" rel="nofollow">Erika Randall</a>, 鶹ѰBoulder interim dean of undergraduate education and professor of dance, to kick off a new season of&nbsp;<a href="https://theampersand.podbean.com/" rel="nofollow">"The Ampersand,”</a>&nbsp;the College of Arts and Sciences podcast. Randall joins guests in exploring stories about “<em>ANDing”</em>&nbsp;as a “full sensory verb” that describes experience and possibility.</p><p>Their conversation covered everything from creativity to punk rock to a dog named Mrs. Brown.</p><p><strong>DAN CARLIN</strong>: So, what makes the past interesting is not so much that it's just, oh, here's a wild story from the past. It's that even though—what did Shakespeare say? Right, "All the world's a stage, and all the people merely players"—the people in the story are people just like we are.</p><p>And so, the ability to touch base with something that is otherwise impossible for us to relate to, right, the past is a foreign country, as the saying goes. They do things differently there. Trying to imagine living in a society where they perform human sacrifice, for example, is not possible for us. But you can start to realize that the people in the story are the same as we were.</p><p>And if you took a human infant out of the incubator at your local hospital, put them in a time machine, sent them back in the past to a time where people enjoyed visiting public executions, and that child was raised in that culture, they, too, would enjoy going to public executions. So, genetically speaking, we're the same people. And I think that's the end toward understanding the past. I mean, if people ever end up on Mars someday, we might not be able to imagine what it's like to be on Mars. But we can imagine what it's like to be people, even on Mars.</p><p><strong>ERIKA RANDALL</strong>: I teach dance history, and it really, to me, is about the people and then the context, right, and the people who are next to the people, and how going to see a World's Fair was akin to having access to the world wide web because you suddenly got to be in a moment in time. In the 1900s, all these people came together, and then the forum changed.</p><p>So, to say that with just dates and facts but not to go, “Imagine that in this moment Loie Fuller is there with Marie Curie at the same event, running into each other. And look at what that did to dance. Look how technology and art, creativity and science came together because of that confluence of human people at an event.”</p><p>And that helps to get students excited versus, “This is the kind of piece that was made at this time on this date,” but to really get into the storytelling. And then the letters, the archives, the archival material that actually brings those humans to life, I find, oh, I want students to get as excited about that as I do. What do you think we do in this generation of people who are learning with so much information that they maybe don't read the bylines perhaps the way you and I did or dive into the works cited to get into the detail of, like, what can make me feel here?</p><p><strong>CARLIN</strong>: There's a lot to unpack in that question because I think it touches upon a lot of things that I think about but don't have any answers for. I think this is self-evident and obvious, but we're involved in a mass giant human experiment right now. And anybody who's raising kids, even my kids are late teens, early 20s, so, I mean, but they're not really kids anymore.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-06/Dan%20Carlin%20book%20cover.jpg?itok=_gEF1pIi" width="1500" height="2249" alt="book cover for Dan Carlin's &quot;The End Is Always Near&quot;"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Dan Carlin's "The End Is Always Near" explores <span>some of the apocalyptic moments from the past as a way to frame the challenges of the future.</span></p> </span> </div></div><p>But this is all part of this generation, as I tell my oldest, that cropped up literally right after she was born. I mean, once the iPhone comes around, and we're walking around with—what did Elon Musk say? We're all cyborgs now, right? Once we enter that world, we firmly leave the analog world behind.</p><p>And what I mean by that is I try to explain to people that the entire history of humanity up until about the 21st century, maybe the very, very end of the 20th, that's an analog world, right? So, if you grew up, as I did, in a pre-computer world, you lived in the same world that the people in ancient Assyria lived in, right? I mean, they came home when the metaphorical streetlights went on, just like we did, right? No way to call mom, no tracking.</p><p>But the point is so, all of a sudden, now we enter into a world where we don't know how this plays out because there hasn't been enough time. What's more, unlike ancient times, where the pace of change was slow, so that even if there was some revolutionary new discovery, right, a brand new plow is invented that's going to change the entire world, you would probably have several hundred years to incorporate that new technology and see what that was going to do to society. Even movable print, which shook up the whole world, is nothing compared to what we have now because what we have now, if you said nothing's really going to change for another 50 years, then we could sit there and try to incorporate what's happened, right?</p><p>So, there's the ability to absorb and sort of make it a part of. In other words, society redirects around the inventions so that it then becomes the society plus those inventions. But what I think we're all aware of now is that the pace of change is so quick that by the time we would incorporate, oh, my gosh, what is the world plus Facebook like…</p><p><strong>RANDALL</strong>: It's already moved on.</p><p><strong>CARLIN</strong>: We're off of Facebook. Yes! And so, the ability to ever get to the absorption phase is gone. What that does for society is a big unknown.</p><p>So, the question is often brought up about things like the ability to think deeply or to contemplate. Or, I mean, do people get bored without their cell phone for two minutes? Does that rob us of the ability that ancient thinkers used to have to just sit out in the open air amongst the trees and think? Or as one person pointed out—and I think there's real benefit to this, too—the counterreaction to boredom, right, what boredom makes us do.</p><p><strong>RANDALL</strong>: Yes.</p><p><strong>CARLIN</strong>: To not be bored ends up being…</p><p><strong>RANDALL</strong>: It sparks creativity. It actually lights us up.</p><p><strong>CARLIN</strong>: Yes. The games you have to invent as a kid because there is no easy access to something else, right?</p><p><strong>RANDALL</strong>: Yeah.</p><p><strong>CARLIN</strong>: I don't know what that means for society. I tell my kids all the time that if you happen to be somebody who bucks that trend, it reminds you of the line, "In the world of the blind, the one-eyed man is king," right? I mean, if you can do math and nobody can do math anymore, that's an advantage, right? So, I always try to turn it into, well, if you're one of the few who reads, that's going to help you.</p><p>I think doing the show when you're doing five hours of history podcasting sometimes, and that there's an audience for that, helps you go, oh, well, good. There's still that out there. But when you have more than a billion people as your potential audience, getting a few million here or there that are interested in your little niche thing is not necessarily reflective of broad societal trends.</p><p>So, I don't know that our audience is representative, and I'm not sure I can draw many conclusions from that.</p><p><strong>RANDALL</strong>: But it doesn't make you want to go get those other billion. It makes you—like, you don't want to have to necessarily adapt your path towards those folks who want the quick flip and quick hit.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-06/Hardcore%20History%20logo.jpg?itok=-AKZJU47" width="1500" height="1500" alt="Logo for Dan Carlin's podcast Hardcore History"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Dan Carlin has hosted <em>Hardcore History</em> since 2006.</p> </span> </div></div><p><strong>CARLIN</strong>: I wouldn't do that. No, I wouldn't do that for several reasons. One, there's people who have that lane—lots of people who have that. It’s an easier lane, to be honest. But also, because it's the same thing with why I'm following the Baltimore Orioles when I live in Los Angeles, and I've never been to Baltimore. I mean, this is—I was a punk rock person. I'm a Generation X person.</p><p>There's a whole bunch of things in my biography where you just go, oh, this guy is going to do it differently. My wife would say, you just have to be different, don't you? And, yeah, I think that's what it is. So, I don't want those other people. I kind of take pride that the audience invented a name for themselves. They call themselves the "hardcorps," C-O-R-P-S.</p><p><strong>RANDALL</strong>: Oh, I love that.</p><p><strong>CARLIN</strong>: This is how I always was as a kid, too. It's not that I'm different and bad. I'm different, and I'm going to take pride in that. And I want my several million, instead of the billions, because it's us, right? It's our own private "hardcorps" club.</p><p><strong>RANDALL</strong>: In the basement.</p><p><strong>CARLIN</strong>: We're doing our own thing. You can go enjoy your 30-second TikTok pieces of entertainment.</p><p><strong>RANDALL</strong>: I can't imagine you in that ball cap and black T-shirt as a punk rock guy. Like, who were you listening to? Were you pierced? What are we talking about? Did the visual change, or were you a contrarian there, too, when you rolled up with your Orioles cap into the basement with people with mohawks?</p><p><strong>CARLIN</strong>: Well—and I'm speaking to people who were there now in your audience who remember—punk is a caricature of what it was then. It's hard to describe what it was like in '79 or '80 or '81.</p><p><strong>RANDALL</strong>: In L.A., right?</p><p><strong>CARLIN</strong>: Yeah. I mean, listen, I remember John Doe, who was the lead singer of X. He had a great line. He said punk was wearing black jeans and having a normal haircut—what we would call a normal haircut today.</p><p>If you had short hair in 1978, people would yell out the car. You know, he said people would yell out the car and yell Devo at you because that was contrary. He said, “All I had was a normal American haircut, but that was a statement in 1978.”</p><p>So, we looked more normal. A lot of times, we had a lot of hair colors. But with me, if you saw me at CU, I didn't look… I had long hair at CU.</p><p><strong>RANDALL</strong>: Were you punk? Were you punk at CU?</p><p><strong>CARLIN</strong>: I was always punk.</p><p><em>Click the button below to hear the rest of the conversation.&nbsp;</em></p><p><a class="ucb-link-button ucb-link-button-gold ucb-link-button-default ucb-link-button-regular" href="https://theampersand.podbean.com/e/the-andertones-dan-carlin-on-punk-narrative-storytelling-and-exploring-the-past/" rel="nofollow"><span class="ucb-link-button-contents"><i class="fa-solid fa-star">&nbsp;</i><strong>&nbsp;Listen to The Ampersand</strong></span></a></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about history? </em><a href="/history/giving" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>鶹ѰBoulder alumnus Dan Carlin brings a love of history and a punk sensibility to a new season of The Ampersand as he discusses his hit podcast, Hardcore History.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-06/Dan%20Carlin%20header.jpg?itok=4D2PUcPB" width="1500" height="373" alt="historical cover images from Dan Carlin's podcast"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Wed, 18 Jun 2025 22:24:13 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6159 at /asmagazine