20 Observations from a Midwesterner in the High-Altitude Aspen Ideas Festival

The entrance to the Ideas Pavilion at the Aspen Ideas Festival. Gathering place where breakfast and coffee are served, swag can be bought, and books can be purchased to add to your home collection.

BY CJ PETERSEN
Guest Columnist
Special To The Iowa Mercury

ASPEN, Colorado —

I had the good fortune to be a proud 2025 Aspen Ideas Festival Fellow, nominated and selected to attend the weeklong gathering of leading minds in policy, religion, politics, art, science, and beyond.

Festival Fellows like me are generously supported by Festival Patrons, whose backing helps bring diverse voices to Aspen, Colorado each June for deep dives into the big issues shaping our world.

This year’s program felt particularly heavy on AI, as you might imagine, alongside conversations on faith, public life, the arts, and civic engagement.

Here are 20 takeaways from the Aspen Ideas Festival:

1. Altitude is real.
   Landing in Aspen is like playing Jenga with physics. We circled the airport like a dog looking for a place to sit. When it was time to go home, the American Airlines gate agent kindly helped me get onto an earlier flight via standby so I could get the heck out of Dodge, but then takeoff was even worse: a turbulent mix of crosswinds, collective prayer, and regretting the smoked salmon I had for lunch.

   

   Me near the top of Aspen Mountain by way of a Ford Bronco.

2. The Ford Bronco was not just a metaphor.
   I found myself off-roading up Aspen Mountain in a real-life Ford Bronco (Ford Motor Company is a major sponsor of the Aspen Ideas Festival). They even let me drive, believe it or not (someone tell my husband I can be trusted just fine on Iowa’s flat highways!). It was bumpy, scenic, and just barely safe enough to call “fun” instead of “a mistake.” Somewhere along the way, I realized I’d left my comfort zone below the tree line. (That’s the spot where it’s literally too high in altitude for trees to grow anymore, according to the Ford guide’s walkie-talkie advice.) Also at the tree line, a beautiful spot for a photo!

   

   Look, ma, I can off-road! Traveling up Aspen Mountain behind the wheel of a Ford Bronco.

3. Vegan food can actually slap.
   I ate chickpeas disguised as chicken and tried mushrooms moonlighting as steak. Somehow, my carnivorous tastebuds were tricked into compliance. Is veganism still a slippery slope? Absolutely! But the seasonings were on point and this Iowa boy was satisfied.
   

4. Made a friend from Nepal.
   When I first landed in Aspen, I met a gentleman about my age who hailed from Kathmandu, Nepal. After sharing the shuttle bus to the Inn at Aspen, a cute ski lodge tucked along the Buttermilk Mountain ski slope, we bonded over mountain views and mutual confusion over getting around town. We ended up being Ford Bronco mountain-climbing companions. When I apologized for the bumpy ride as I navigated the mountain road, he simply said the mountain road climb reminded him of home. Perspective!
   

5. BBQ at the base of a ski slope with a climate activist.
   On the first night in Aspen, I sent a desperate Whatsapp message to the Fellowship group chat, asking if anyone would like to dine with me. That’s how I came to know a climate activist from New York, who I believe represents the struggle of many in her movement. “I don’t want to just keep doing everything the same way we’ve always done it,” she told me. “It’s not breaking through.” Indeed. By the way, Aspen barbecue rating: 6.5/10. Maybe it’s the altitude, but that soupy mac & cheese can’t hold a candle to the Smokin’ Hereford BBQ in Storm Lake.

   

   Me at the entrance to Smuggler Mine, the oldest silver mine still in operation in Aspen.

6. Told my coming out (as a Democrat) story on a rooftop with new LGBT+ friends.
   I remembered my dad saying, “I don’t mind if you’re gay, just don’t become a Democrat.” Well…one out of two ain’t bad. Among a group of LGBT+ people and allies who were mostly lifelong Democrats and progressives, I discussed my journey from Romney supporter in 2008 & 2012 to Bernie Sanders field organizer to my many current hats as a Democratic operative. I used to say that it was easier being a gay man among my Republican friends than it was being a Republican among my gay friends, but I think that tide has turned. Interestingly, my values haven’t changed: I still believe America is a shining city on a hill, the last best place to escape to for millions fleeing tyranny from across the world. I still believe, too, that this country is the last bulwark for Madisonian democracy and freedom on earth. It’s why I was a Republican to start with and it’s why I’m a proud Democrat today.
   

7. Had a three-course dinner with voting rights advocates.
   Topics included ballot access, election integrity, and why everyone always forgets the dessert spoon. I summoned all the wits about me and remembered what I was told once by former Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen when I was a boy of 17 years old and not accustomed to a fancy dinner: you start with the spoon or fork on the outside, and work your way in. The “black angus filet mignon with potato pave, roasted red pepper, charred leek, and bacon bordelaise” was good, but the conversation was better. Of note: at this dinner, I spent some time with Tony-award winning actress Sarah Jones of the popular podcast “America, Who Hurt You?” She’s fantastic, and will be coming to Iowa soon! Stay tuned.
   

8. Asked a question of Jonah Goldberg.
   Mr. Goldberg, a protégé of William F. Buckley, Jr., claimed weak political parties in the United States have allowed the extremes to rise up, pointing to Ross Douthat’s observation likening the two parties to “two fully-fueled jetliners sitting on the tarmac waiting to be hijacked.” I pointed out Congress’s ongoing game of “hot potato” with its constitutional powers and that my generation doesn’t have a political home in this country. We did agree that today’s super-partisan voters only seem to want someone who will promise to rip off the heads of their enemies and drink from their brain cavities. Which, for what it’s worth, doesn’t feel like a great way to democracy.

   

   This is Marco Dorado, an Aspen Ideas Festival Fellow with whom I forged a fast connection. We share a passion for good policy and good governance, and he's a smart guy (not just because he enjoyed his time at Kinnick!) We can expect great things from in the future.

9. Met a nonprofit leader who loved the Hawkeyes.
   My “Fellowship bestie” for the week spends his days making sure marginalized communities actually receive the funds meant for them in his state’s budget: thankless work that requires an intense amount of commitment to the best outcomes and a drive toward a brighter future for all. A true public servant, he hails from Colorado but has seen a game at Kinnick Stadium. We bonded over “The Wave,” Iowa’s beloved tradition of waving to kids at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. Turns out when someone overhears you saying, “Iowa Democrats are really just a team that’s better than their win-loss record would suggest” for the umpteenth time at the bottom of an old silver mine, it’s a great way to make friends! Especially so when their response is, “I’ve always thought of Iowa as a purple state.” BOOM. Besties.
   

10. Forgot hearing aid batteries, found John Bolton.
    I’ve had a one-way beef with Big Hearing Aid for their now-federally-mandated childproof packaging for a while now. You have to have a blowtorch, a pair of scissors, and maybe a hand grenade to get one little battery out of the plastic packaging, which all feels a bit unnecessary to me. In addition to being hard of hearing, I’m sometimes forgetful, so I found myself without batteries on day three in Aspen. Carl’s Pharmacy saved the day with old-school, non-childproof batteries (freedom!). I bought three packs to save myself some work back home. Outside the drugstore, I bumped into former UN Ambassador and National Security Advisor John Bolton, who was set to speak on a panel with another former UN Ambassador and National Security Advisor, Susan Rice. Bolton quickly shook my hand, muttered something about regime change, and power-walked into the mist like a hawkish yeti.
    

11. ChatGPT once told kids to kill their parents.
    Generative AI uses as much electricity as the entire nation of Japan, and is predicted to use as much as India by 2030. But that’s not what caught me off guard during a morning General Assembly on AI. Apparently, ChatGPT’s 4.0 model had to be pulled back after, among other issues, it became too sycophantic to its users. Children would complain to the bot that mom had limited screentime, and the bot would reply with something like, “you know, kids kill their parents all the time.” Which, well, YIKES. Nothing like existential dread over your morning coffee! Moderator Brené Brown warned, “Be careful which ladder you climb, it might be leaning against the wrong building.” I checked mine. Still leaning against my values.
    

12. We’re outsourcing our discernment.
    Brené Brown and AI expert Kate Crawford contend that the more we rely on bots, the more we dull our ability to judge information, reflect on its meaning, and think critically. It’s now been observed in an MIT study that the use of ChatGPT and other AI tools may actually erode our critical thinking skills. Crawford said, “discernment is a muscle we must exercise all the time, or it gets really weak.” Touché. Google shouldn’t settle every bar argument. Sometimes, it’s okay not to know the capital of Uzbekistan (it’s Tashkent, by the way).

    

    Sally Yates was gracious enough to take a photo with me. I hope to one day be one tenth the lawyer and advocate for public service that she is.

13. I got a selfie with Sally Yates.
    Yes, that Sally Yates: the former Deputy U.S. Attorney General who stood up to a president. We had a chat (mostly, I asked if she was still lecturing at Georgetown, and she graciously posed for a selfie with me), and now I’m convinced she could prosecute me for my Starbucks order and I’d thank her. Notable quote from the former AG: “I am optimistic because I have not seen [the young lawyers she works with] get cynical yet, and as long as we can protect that, democracy has a future.”
    

14. Susan Rice signed my book and my heart.
    I was able to meet fellow Truman Scholar Susan Rice and got her to autograph my copy of Tough Love. She's as sharp, warm, and intimidating as you'd expect someone to be who’s handled both high-wire foreign policy and down-in-the-gutter cable news attacks for more than a decade. A class act.
    

15. I went to a mine to talk about art.
    No metaphor here. I traveled to the historic Smuggler Mine in Aspen for a conversation on art, landscapes, and the ways we excavate beauty from the past and present. It’s a beautiful view.
    

16. Religion isn’t just for the right, and we need to say so.
    I’m a proud Episcopalian whose faith informs my politics. Rabbi Shira Stutman, author of The Jewish Way to a Good Life, gave a stirring account of how the left has ceded religion in public life and what it means to speak with moral clarity. Later in the week, I spoke with a man from the Mississippi Delta region who shared how his Catholic faith sustained him, especially when he and his wife had to leave their state to get a medically necessary D&C. These are the sacred conversations that make you rethink what you thought you knew.
    

17. Mountain air makes you philosophical.
    There’s something about 8,000 feet and too many oat lattes that turns everyone into a poet. I overheard someone say, “Is capitalism a construct, or am I just dehydrated?” Both. Probably both. Also, touch grass.
    

18. Aspen has no bad angles.
    Everywhere you look, it’s another postcard. I saw a deer, a double rainbow, and a man in a (probably) $1,000 jacket trip over a blow-up columbine flower—all within five minutes. Nature is healing.
    

19. The fellowship was the soul of it all.
    The Aspen Ideas Festival Fellowship introduced me to change-makers from every corner of the globe. I got to know people building better systems, communities, and futures. The mentorship, camaraderie, and opportunity made possible by the Aspen Ideas Festival Patrons was a gift I’ll always carry with me.

    

    Me, pictured with the iconic "IDEAS" sign from the Aspen Ideas Festival. The scene was idyllic.

20. Leaving Aspen was harder than arriving.
    Not just because of the delayed flights and thin air. But because of the free exchange of ideas, the friendships I gained, and, yes, the weirdly delicious vegan tacos. I came back down the mountain a little lighter, a little more hopeful, and with three full packs of hearing aid batteries, just in case the next adventure calls.

ABOUT CJ PETERSEN

CJ Petersen serves as Communications Director for Iowa’s State Auditor and was named a 2024 Truman Scholar. A first-generation graduate in political science from the University of Iowa, CJ has overcome significant personal challenges, including a hearing disability and addiction, and uses his platform to bring rural Iowa to the conversation at national forums like the Aspen Ideas Festival. CJ lives in rural Brayton, Iowa, with his husband, Luke.

About The Iowa Mercury

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