Molly Cotner

About Me

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I am freelance writer,  sociologist, and educator.

I am drawn to stories that explore the human experience in all its complexity. Good storytelling can connect us, challenge our assumptions, and inspire us to make a difference in the world.

My goal is to craft meaningful narratives and educate in a way that is accessible to everyone. Through my work, I aim to drive progressive social change and amplify voices and stories that are often marginalized and unheard.

I hold an M.A. in Sociology from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs and an M.A. in Journalism from New York University.

My Latest Work

Pueblo Star Journal •

Pueblo Watch - Pueblo Star Journal

PUEBLO WATCH: Residents protest Key Lime Air over alleged ICE-linked flightsPueblo Watch Editorial TeamDecember 22, 2025
Dozens of Pueblo residents gathered Saturday outside Pueblo Memorial Airport to protest the presence of Key Lime Air, a Colorado-based airline that has contracted with the federal government to transport detainees for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.


The peaceful demonstration reflected growing concern that Pueblo’s municipal airport could be used to support deport...
Pueblo Star Journal •

GIMME SHELTER, GIMME JUSTICE: Breaking the Silence After Epstein - Pueblo Star Journal

molly cotner, gregory howell

Gimme Shelter, Gimmer Justice: Breaking the Silence After Epstein is a compelling episode of the Voices of Pueblo Podcast, hosted by Molly Cotner and co-host Gregory Howell, with returning guest Chantal Woodyard—PSJ board member, advocate, and survivor. Earlier in the year, Chantal sat down with Molly and Gregory to revisit her deeply personal journey featured in “Gimme Shelter: A Survivor’s Fight for Justice,” the March cover story of the Pueblo Star Journal. Toget...
Pueblo Star Journal •

Ringing Back Memories: Ding Dong Ditch Day - Pueblo Star Journal

There are moments that remind us of childhood, flashes of harmless rebellion and freedom. Memories that bind us not through a shared timeline, but through traditions that transcend decades. And then there are moments that pull you back, that let you linger in them for a while. For me, that reminder came crashing into reality a few months ago when my 8-year-old son asked what it was like to ding dong ditch.

It was a simple question, but one that was followed by a pang of guilt. How did I manage...
Pueblo Star Journal •

Erasing Pueblo Part II: The ARTery at Central Plaza featuring Interviews with Artist Refic

The Pueblo Star Journal’s YouTube channel now features Pueblo Watch, a new video series dedicated to keeping a clear and consistent eye on city government. Pueblo Watch was created in response to years of feedback from readers who have repeatedly called for more timely and transparent reporting on how local decisions are made and who makes them. Each video is paired with in-depth reporting in the paper, providing context, clarity and accountability.

This the second installment of Erasing Pueblo which examines the controversial removal of six murals at Central Plaza, including works by nationally recognized artists. Through interviews with artist Refic, historic records and firsthand accounts, this episode explores how the city acted without the legal consent of the property owner and why many in the community believe the act disregarded public art protections. The video also places the incident within the larger story of Pueblo’s identity as a creative hub, from its industrial roots to its thriving arts corridor.

Pueblo Watch is not activism. It is journalism with its sleeves rolled up. By documenting public actions, verifying facts and elevating citizen voices, this series aims to give Puebloans the tools they need to participate fully in civic life. Viewers are invited to watch, question and share these stories so that together, we can make Pueblo government more visible, more accountable and more reflective of the community it serves.

Pueblo Watch Editors: Gregory Howell, Molly Cotner and Jayson Peters
Pueblo Star Journal •

Erasing Pueblo: When Governance Becomes Censorship

The Pueblo Star Journal’s YouTube channel now features Pueblo Watch, a new video series dedicated to keeping a clear and consistent eye on city government. Pueblo Watch was created in response to years of feedback from readers who have repeatedly called for more timely and transparent reporting on how local decisions are made and who makes them. Each video is paired with in-depth reporting in the paper, providing context, clarity and accountability.

The first installment, Erasing Pueblo, examines the controversial removal of six murals at Central Plaza, including works by nationally recognized artists. Through interviews, historic records and firsthand accounts, this episode explores how the city acted without the legal consent of the property owner and why many in the community believe the act disregarded public art protections. The video also places the incident within the larger story of Pueblo’s identity as a creative hub, from its industrial roots to its thriving arts corridor.

Pueblo Watch is not activism. It is journalism with its sleeves rolled up. By documenting public actions, verifying facts and elevating citizen voices, this series aims to give Puebloans the tools they need to participate fully in civic life. Viewers are invited to watch, question and share these stories so that together, we can make Pueblo government more visible, more accountable and more reflective of the community it serves.

Pueblo Watch Editors: Gregory Howell, Molly Cotner and Jayson Peters
Erasing Pueblo Article: https://pueblostarjournal.org/news/2025/08/10/erasing-pueblo-when-governance-becomes-censorship/
Pueblo Star Journal •

Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, and the Writer Who Rescued Their Story - Pueblo Star Journal

Eighty-eight years have passed since Amelia Earhart vanished into legend, her silver Lockheed Electra disappearing somewhere over the Pacific, her navigator Fred Noonan by her side. The 24th of this month would have been the famed aviatrix’s 128th birthday. And yet, much of what we remember about her has more to do with how she went missing than who she really was.
Pueblo Star Journal •

A Different Kind of Listening: Pueblo Teens Lead the Way in Reimagining Mental Health Through Art, Honesty and Community - Pueblo Star Journal

“Can you hear me?”

The words echoed through the fourth-floor conference room of Pueblo’s Rawlings Library as a group of teens from the Pueblo Arts Academy slowly circled the space, their voices rising and falling in a haunted chant.

What followed was an adapted performance of “No One Hears Unless You Scream,” a play originally written by Joey Madia and updated with monologues written by some of the teens about trauma, isolation, identity and survival.

It was raw. It was poetic. It was testimo...
Pueblo Star Journal •

Democracy isn’t built by institutions - it’s built by us - Pueblo Star Journal

In Pueblo, Colorado, a community screening of Join or Die asked what we’re losing when we stop showing up—for each other, for our towns, for democracy itself.The weather didn’t make it easy. April 19 brought snow, the kind that’s wet and dulls your enthusiasm for leaving the house. But inside the Sangre de Cristo Art & Conferencer Center, chairs unfolded and people showed up. Not for a blockbuster or a lecture, but for a documentary about civic decay and the stubborn hope of repairing it.

Join...
Pueblo Star Journal •

Gimme Shelter: A Survivor’s Fight for Justice - Pueblo Star Journal

Just days before the 2019 Thanksgiving holiday, Chantal Woodyard found herself standing in the shadows of a now abandoned building situated on the Wyoming State Hospital campus in Evanston. It had been almost 40 years since she had set foot on these grounds. The air was crisp with a bitter bite, and the dead grass speckled with snow. She wasn’t supposed to be there—not officially anyway—but a friend had arranged to get her in.
South Missourian News-Avenues Magazine •

Beyond the Ruins: Breathing New Life into the Colonial Hotel

“Are you sure you want to come see it?” Mindy, the realtor, repeatedly asked. “You’ve seen the pictures, right? There is a literal hole in the back wall and that’s a long way to drive.”

One week, 813 miles later, with my mother as my co-conspirator and Mindy’s resounding warnings still fresh in my mind, I pulled into Thayer, Missouri — a small railroad town that teeters the edge of the Missouri/Arkansas border in the heart of the Ozarks. My mission was to follow my half thought out dream to buy the abandoned 1900s Colonial Hotel.
The Click •

An Unfinished Story: Stephany Rose Spaulding’s Journey of Making Change

(CHICAGO) — On the corner of South State Street and East 110th in Chicago’s Roseland neighborhood, blue skies and tree-lined sidewalks contrast the graying plywood of a boarded-up vacant home. Its Cape Cod-style bones, once beautiful with a stone façade and sun-filled picture windows, have been left to wither. Just one block up, another house sits with the same fate-a repeated pattern in Roseland. Homes once filled with working-class families, now sit as mocking relics of a bygone past and a nei
The Click •

Washington State’s Ban on For-Profit Prisons in Danger as California’s Circuit Court Finds Similar Case Unconstitutional

(TACOMA, Wash.) — The GEO Group, one of the world’s largest for-profit prison companies, is seeking to block a private prison ban in Washington state. A recent ruling in California could lend precedent in their favor.

In April 2021, GEO Group asked the U.S District Court in Tacoma for an injunction against the passing of a bill that prevents for-profit detention facilities from operating in Washington. The bill would also shut down any current operations by 2025.

As a private federal contracto
The Click •

Colorado Legalizes and Decriminalizes Psychedelics

(DENVER) – Colorado has become the second state in the country to decriminalize and provide regulated access to naturally occurring psychedelics.

In a close vote, 52% of residents approved the new law, according to the Associated Press.

“I’m so grateful. I’m grateful for all of it,” Veronica Lightning Horse Perez told The Click. Lightning Horse Perez is a community advocate and proponent from Natural Health Colorado, the organization backing the ballot measure.

The Natural Medicine Health Act
The Click •

Community, Journalism and Politics: A Q&A with Kwon Atlas - (DENVER) — Kwon Atlas wears many hats. He’s an entrepreneur, activist, politico and journalist. But around Five Points, the neighborhood he

(DENVER) — Kwon Atlas wears many hats. He’s an entrepreneur, activist, politico and journalist. But around Five Points, the neighborhood he calls home, Atlas is best known as the guy who tackles big problems with creative solutions.

In 2020, when he was just 26-years-old, Atlas founded Five Points Atlas, a hyperlocal newspaper that focuses on community and culture in Denver’s “Harlem of the West”. Now, he is running to represent District 9 on Denver City Council. If he wins, Atlas will be one o
The Click •

Pueblo School District 60 Parents Concerned About Temperatures in their Kids' Classrooms

(PUEBLO, Colo.) — Parents of elementary school students in Pueblo School District 60 are concerned that their kids’ health and safety is at risk because classrooms don’t have air conditioning during above-average heat waves.

Gloria Hinkle, whose daughter is in first grade at Haaff Elementary School, first noticed how hot the classrooms were during the school’s open house event. When she brought her concern to her daughter’s teacher, she was told, “We don’t have air conditioning.”

Camille Sanch

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