i arrived yesterday in denver, colorado. a long day of flights through sydney and los angeles. as usual i couldn't sleep, so i watched "hancock" (not a great movie by any means, but actually better than i expected!) and an excellent documentary "garbage warrior."
it's the story of new mexico architect mike reynolds, who has been building earthship houses using lots of recycled materials for 30 years - about the community he has built around imagination, generosity and acceptance, his ingenuity, his problems with state and national authorities, his 3 attempts to change the law about experimental building, and their assistance to devastated communities in Indonesia and Mexico. very quirky, very wonderful. i think it's going to end up in my first bible study at ncyc... (don't you love the "evan almighty" cover?)
after a warm stop in california, it was a pleasant surprise to see snow on the mountains here and cool weather. apaarently the good snowfalls are late this year, but the weather has just turned cold and the locals are hopeful.
four years ago I stopped over in colorado on my way back from the search institute conference and spent a FANTASTIC day in the rocky mountains travelling to bear lake and back. this weekend i'm hoping to see some more of them.
i'm staying with curtis, whom i met at the conference in brazil, and his wife heather, who are wonderful hosts. (I won't mention the taxi ride incident.) they live in a new housing area full of these fascinating houses. so un-Australian! curtis finished his PhD at the university here last year and is currently co-ordinating a lily endowment-funded project looking at how the media shapes evangelical and mainline christian men's views of masculinity. (here's a question - what movie would most evangelical christian men say has most influenced their views about masculinity? the study isn't published so I can't steal their thunder, but ponder that question folks...) and curtis roasts his own coffee - now there's an idea i could take up!
we went up to the university of colorado, boulder, on the bus today. the campus is amazing. the buildings are all made of these many-hued flagstones, and the architecture is an unusual mixture of curves and angles. there are still autumn leaves everywhere, and with the mountains in the background it's all quite spectacular.
i spent a few hours in the library looking for texts on new media and sacred space, among other things, and discovered a master's thesis in art history from here that looks at bill viola and another new media artist in exactly the kinds of terms that interest me. excellent!
however i'm still amazed that no-one seems to be studying how churches use new media in ritual spaces...
the university here has a centre for media, religion and culture and has co-ordinated an international study group in this field for a number of years. peter horsfield has been a part of that group, and paul teusner has participated in recent years.
i feel like a real american because i've been to wal-mart twice today - once to buy a local mobile phone and back again for a christmas present that i'm going to have fun playing with on my travels...
a relaxed evening of home-cooked mexican food, a local boutique beer and tv tonight. the BEST thing was seeing the saturday night live send-ups of sarah palin and the hilarious will ferrell as george bush giving an unwanted endorsement speech of the republican candidates! sarah look-alike is on youtube but not will ferell yet... ( did I mention that I'll be in minneapolis AGAIN for the election as I was four years ago?)
back to the library tomorrow...