Glen Workshop
I am spending the week at the Glen Workshop at St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The title is “Fully Human: Art and the Religious Sense.” As the beginning of the brochure states, “Sponsored by Image, the acclamied journal exploring the intersection of art and faith, the Glen Worshop is an innovative and enriching program combining the best elements of a workshop, an arts festival, and a conference.” I am taking the poetry classes with the hope that I can improve my poetry writing.
I was excited to leave yesterday and fly to Denver and get away from the clouds and rain. I arrived at Denver Airport around noon, rented a car and headed to Boulder to have a late lunch/early dinner with Brent and Sharon Aigler. They are both working on their masters degree at the University of Colorado. Sharon cooked a great meal and we had a great time chatting. They live in a nice apartment complex not far from the campus. Afterward, I headed out for Colorado Springs. Wouldn't you know that the clouds thickened and just north of Colorado Springs I hit some pretty heavy duty thunderstorm. The clouds were so low that I couldn't see my Alma Mater from I-25 because it was completely shrouded in clouds. I spent the evening and night with a former roommate from the Academy. I had a pleasant evening with Andy and Trudi and headed south on the five hour drive for Santa Fe this morning. In Walsenburg, not to far from the New Mexico border I saw a sign for the Great Dunes National Park so I went west on US 160 heading toward Alamosa, a town in southern Colorado that I had never visited. It was well worth the stop. About two-thirds of the way to Alamosa you turn north and head for the park which abuts the Sangre de Christos mountains. At the base of these mountains are a 30 square mile area of huge sand dunes, the tallest of which is 750 feet. They come out of nowhere. It is one of the few places in the world that has dunes like this. It seems so bizarre because you have prairie then the dunes, and then the mountains. I went to the visitor center and then headed to the dunes themselves. I climbed a few of the lower ones and was amazed at how fine the sand was. Pressed for time, I headed back to US 160 and continued west until I came to Alamosa where I picked up US 285 and headed south. That was one beautiful drive. There was virtually no traffic on this two lane road that went through Carson National Forest. It was a great ride. I finally pulled into St. John's College (after getting lost) a little before 5:00 p.m. After checking in, I had dinner and at 7:00 p.m. we had the opening remarks and a welcome reception. I have already googled Starbucks and have found the closest one to campus: a mere 9 minutes. So tomorrow morning at 6:30 a.m. I am scheduled to head to Starbucks with a professor of English from Southern Georgia University who appreciates the finer things in life to make sure that we start the day off right.
