12 GROUNDCOVER NEWS INSP CONFERENCE Recap from INSP North American Summit in Denver, Colo. FELICIA WILBERT Groundcover vendor No. 234 SHELLEY DENEVE Groundcover vendor No. 22 Two vendors on a mission, learning and meeting other street papers. This can only happen at the INSP (International Network of Street Papers) Summit, which we (Shelley and Felicia) were fortunate enough to attend the weekend of September 12-14. We had a great time learning the different aspects of street papers. A few things we better grasped this weekend: fundraising, street paper journalism, street paper branding, and vendor engagement. We then participated in an open forum among the different street news representatives. Felicia’s birthday was on the Saturday of the conference. The warm wishes, and the chocolate birthday cake made an ideal celebration! We would not trade this time for nothing. Street newspapers often struggle due to the lack of readers. Please don’t forget to “keep the paper alive!” Pick one up today from a friendly local vendor. Above: Shelley DeNeve, Felicia Wilbert, Shawn Lesley and Linda Bailey from "The Contributor" (Nashville, Tenn. street paper) during the vendor engagement panel. Photo by Alex Santil. 12/31/2025 Left: DeNeve and Wilbert exploring Broadway Street in Denver. SEPTEMBER 19, 2025 DREAMER from page 8 sity on this. Of all the buzzes I grabbed in my baby The Big Easy, this one is my favorite. Me, Dreamer and the Girl, high on sugar, caffeine, and stupid, glorious, goofy youth. Laughing till our sides hurt, making a scene we didn’t notice. Hugging and laughing some more, over that, we were just laughing. Catching our breaths, almost, but then catching eyes and losing it all over again. Dreamer, embarrassed, would mutter something about they’re just doughnuts and leave, crimson around his collar. Saying see ya later was way too much for us to get out before we fell all over ourselves and each other in gales of ridiculous mirth. Best coffee date ever. Until it wasn’t. We were lucky in that I had dragged my verdant-clad friend along with me to get some fancy donuts. Cafe du Monde, being as it is in the deep south, has a very large covered outdoor section. We were at one of those tables when the fracas occurred. It's been over 30 years, but it's safe to assume she was laughing at some charming witticism I had just made when the pandemonium assailed us. So what, it's a big city? The sounds came from like, right over there at the stairs. The stairs we always hang out at, so we were curious. We could see from our table that there was a man, a cowboy type man, dressed head to toe in black, and I call him cowboy because he was dressed head to toe as a cowboy. If you can picture a poorly rendered old school black hat western villain, you’re close to this guy. This man got out of a car in front of the stairs. The stairs, full of street kids and buskers, in broad daylight, and he began an eerily calm yet maniacal rant. He ranted with diction and good vocabulary, but the subject of his rant was unhinged. He was in fact challenging all comers to a fight. This guy dressed like a Disney cowboy villain rolled up in front of the steps, got out of a car, and called everyone who wouldn't fight him there on the spot a pussy. Well, nobody did shit for a good while. What was to be done? Beat up a crazy guy. This guy raged on. The Girl and I, doing our fancy pants sounds of coffee and doughnuts thing, didn't register this until the kids on the steps did. For a good minute, he was straight ignored as the maniac douche he was, but at some point, one of the older guys on the stairs, a guy you wouldn't call a street kid, but a scuzzy young homeless dude, rose to the asinine challenge. He raged up and was immediately firmly and politely assaulted by young friends, grabbing on to him to keep him out of it. We hear our friends absolutely losing their shit. So hey, it's New Orleans, right? Crazy shit happens all the time. This was different. It was weird, and it ended as soon as it started. He got in the car and left. Weird right? It's a little weirder if you consider a few hours earlier, some guy being chill and cool and coming around giving out free acid, LSD. He was honest in saying this was a new batch and the chemist wanted it tested. Sooo consider the preceding, but now suss that everyone was tripping absolute balls, the girl and I included. We finished our snacks, retook our place on the stairs with the rest, and went about our day. Well, no, not really, we were tripping balls. Best coffee date ever.
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