Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: RMV Freedom Festival

Beverly Aikins on faith, recovery and the next right thing
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Beverly Aikins on faith, recovery and the next right thing

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Hillbilly Elegy made her a character in her son's book. Ten years into recovery, the nurse and grandmother is telling it herself—and bringing it to the RMV Freedom Fest on June 26. Last Christmas, everyone in Beverly Aikins' family opened a gift she had made by hand. She had not sewn in years. The machine had been quiet a long time. Somewhere in a decade of getting well, it started running again. She counts that as recovery. Not the headlines. The sewing. Most people who know Aikins know her secondhand. Her son wrote about her addiction in his 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy. He talked about it again at the 2024 Republican convention, where the cameras found her in the crowd. This time the questions are hers to answer. Aikins...
From a Detroit crack house to the National Mall: The pastor Colorado sees in June
Rocky Mountain Voice, National, Top Stories

From a Detroit crack house to the National Mall: The pastor Colorado sees in June

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Lorenzo Sewell sold drugs on Detroit's east side as a kid. His father went to prison for murder. His younger brother was killed by a car. Today he stands on the National Mall with House Speaker Mike Johnson and War Secretary Pete Hegseth, part of a national moment of rededication that organizers expect to draw 15,000 people. "We can be in a crack house or we can be in the White House," Sewell said on Fox & Friends Weekend Sunday morning. He says faith took him from the one toward the other. "God loves us and willing to reach out to us regardless." Next month, Colorado will meet him in person. Sewell now leads Detroit's 180 Church and is one of the faith leaders at Rededicate 250, the National Mall gathering marking the country's ap...