The women have been friends for more than 40 years and have frequented the Merc long and often enough to give themselves the nickname "The Mercury 4." They even have a favorite booth that they say has softer and cushier seats than some of the restaurant's other tables
"I really like the friendship with the Merc 4," Bramming said
"All three of those women are extremely bright and read a lot
and have lots of interesting things to discuss
But the Merc survived both the pandemic and change in ownership, and on April 7, the friends sat down in their booth for the first time since 2020 -- and since the Mercury's new owners had taken over
Denverite met with three of the Merc 4 at their favorite restaurant (Bramming called in from out of state) to learn more about what Mercury Café -- and their friendship -- has meant to them over the 14 or so years that they've been regulars
They're all deeply passionate about theology or scripture
Streit and Doty all at one point got their doctorates at Iliff School of Theology on the University of Denver campus
while Mary Alice has a Masters in Social Work
"So three Catholics and a Quaker," said Rossmiller
which is miles around this place," Rossmiller said
There were enough people that showed up on that Saturday morning."
The group has a hard time placing exactly when they all met
Mary Alice and Rossmiller had been brought up in different parts of Colorado
Streit was an "army brat" and moved around for most of her childhood before ending up in Denver
but moved to Chicago after college to work as a welfare worker
she also participated in Chicago's famous civil rights demonstrations in the 1960s
her husband got a job at a seminary in Denver in the '70s
"So we moved out here against my kind of wishes
I thought it would just be a place where there were white skiers everywhere," Doty said
Streit and Doty met at women's ordination conferences in the '70s
"I remember you introduced me to Susan," Streit said to Rossmiller
"I remember Susan introducing me to you," Rossmiller said
Rossmiller and Bramming met in the late '70s at a social justice potluck at St Vincent Depaul
realizing Bramming would get along with Streit and Doty, invited them all out to dinner
Bramming believes that was the first time they all went to Mercury Café
"I remember that that's how I got to know Judith and Susan
because even though we kind of were in these circles
like the anti nuclear and the anti war and Project Salvador
I really didn't really didn't know you guys," she said
"It wasn't until we started going to the Merc."
They enjoyed seeing people show up to dance at the Merc's many dance nights
Some of them have had their cards read by the cafe's resident Tarot reader
"The minute you walk in here on an evening
"In a neighborhood that's pretty poor and transient
it's like coming into from the darkness to the light."
But a bigger part of the restaurant's appeal was that it offered organic
locally-sourced food and could accommodate dietary restrictions
Some of the Merc 4 didn't eat meat or gluten
and Mercury Café offered gluten free and vegetarian options
"Which would be very attractive to all of us," Rossmiller said
"One of the climate marches that happened through Denver
The Mercury 4 said the neighborhood surrounding the café has changed a bit since they last visited two years ago
They remembered there being more open parking lots surrounding the Merc and people sleeping in tents nearby
those lots have filled in with new buildings
"Now there's no place for the poor people to go," Rossmiller said
But they said the café itself looks much as they remember it
albeit with a couple new furniture pieces and a slightly reduced menu
They noted that there were also more flowers in vases throughout the restaurant and admired how the flowers matched the roses painted on Mercury's walls
That the restaurant had remained mostly unchanged, and that they were there at all, was a relief to the Merc 4. For several months during the pandemic, the future of the Five Points institution looked uncertain when, in March 2021, founder and longtime owner Marilyn Megenity announced she planned to sell it. The Merc 4 worried their favorite spot was going to close for good
But that June, Megenity sold the restaurant to entrepreneurs Danny Newman, Christy Kruzick and Austin Gayer, who promised to keep it running much as it had been. The Merc 4 say they're happy the new owners are interested in maintaining the space's traditions
and I'm extremely happy that the new owners are keeping it instead of tearing it down," Bramming said
"We don't have any other friends," Doty joked
Streit pulled out a clipping from a recent New York Times essay called, "One Part of Your Life You Shouldn't Optimize," by Brad Stulberg, and read a passage out loud
"Is there pleasure -- and a certain nobility -- in solitude
especially for introverts like myself," she read
"But even the Buddha himself directed his followers to seek companionship
"In the Pali Canon," she continued, "one of the oldest remaining Buddhist texts, the Buddha's loyal attendant, Ananda, approaches his master and asks whether it's true that 'good friendship
good comradeship' make up half of the spiritual life
good companionship and good comradeship.'"
Doty pointed out that the word for "idiot" in Greek is rooted in the word "idios," which means, roughly, "one's own," or "private."
"So, the moral of the story is, be around people. Make friends!" Doty said.
They discussed how hard it has been for many people to maintain relationships during the pandemic, in the age of social distance.
"I think one of the things that makes the difference is we've just been at it for so long," Streit said. "I think for a lot of people that have had not such long relationships, it's harder to hang on."
Doty then referenced writer and theologian C.S. Lewis, who says there are four different kinds of love: storge (affection), philia (friendship), eros (romantic) and agape (charity).
"I think there's only one kind of love," Doty said. "So I disagree with C.S. Lewis."
"I'm with you," Streit said. "Love has many different expressions, but it's all it's all the same."
Rossmiller said she taught Aristotle's ethics for years at MSU Denver. She said that in his Nicomachean Ethics, the philosopher speaks at length about the importance of friendship."
"Aristotle has three kinds of friendship. Friendship of utility, friendship of pleasure, and friendship of noble souls," she said, before gesturing around the table meaningfully. "And, pleasure and noble souls."
Maggie Donahue was the first ever arts and culture news fellow at Denverite and Colorado Public Radio, starting in 2020. She was the arts and culture reporter for Denverite until 2022.
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Casper Tobias Hansen came out on top from a poorly contested Danish Formula 4 opener
which included a race won by a Formula 5 car
Former F5 star Hansen made the graduation to F4 look easy
winning twice and finishing third in the other race
and had an easy run to his victory in the first race at Padborg Park
initially ran second but was one of many whose car seemed to struggle in the heat and ended up retiring
Valdemar Eriksen ended up taking the position
with Indian Brad Dias finishing third for Jan Magnussen’s team after battling with Jonas Lindhard Nielsen
Malthe Jakobsen and Frederik Kikkenborg being the only other F4 finishers
Martin Harritz Nielsen dominated the F5 classification
His eighth place finish meant he started the second race from pole
the first time reversed grids had been used in Danish F4’s history
and Nielsen remarkably held off the F4 runners to take an overall victory
while the F4 cars were stronger in the corners
This made for a particularly interesting battle on a circuit light on corners
but could not find a way through and finished half a second behind the race winner
He got full points in the F4 classification though
and importantly recorded some early success for the 15-year-old’s self-run team
benefiting from a later error by Jonas L Nielsen to take the final podium place
Kikkenborg just beat team-mate Dias to fifth
with Mads Hoe finishing second in the F5 classification in seventh
Hansen started back at the front for the final race of the weekend
while Casper Pilgaard put gearbox issues behind him to take his first points of the season in third
with Kikkenborg and?Aske Nygaard Bramming taking it to a photo finish for sixth
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Formula Scout is home to regular news and features from the world of junior single-seater racing
tracking the progress of future grand prix stars
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