Woman’s writing gives insight into world of combat service

A slim volume called “Still Coming Home,” an anthology of written works by local military veterans, grew out of the Denver Veterans Writing Workshop, which started in 2014. It was inspired by former Chairman Will Adams of the National Endowment for the Humanities, a Vietnam veteran and philosophy scholar.

“Explore the experience of war through the lens of the humanities,” he suggested. Can a veteran truly come home? Writing can help, Adams said.

Veterans Jason Arment and Stephen Dunn asked Colorado Humanities for assistance with starting the Denver workshop in 2016. Because Colorado Humanities had recently been awarded an Arts in Society grant, funded by the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, Colorado Creative Industries and the Hemera Foundation (Boulder), it was able to say yes, and the workshop started in 2016.

Centennial resident Kristine Otero has regularly attended the once-a-month Sunday afternoon sessions and plans to continue. Her memory piece in “Still Coming Home” is called “Out of Death: The Birth of a Combat Veteran.” It pushes into a reader’s mind and stays there.