Last week I had the good fortune to travel to Denver, Colorado to take part in a conference on university honors programs. It was a great time to be out in Denver, I met colleagues from around the country, got to tour the city, and came home with all sorts of new ideas for the honors program at Butler University.
Part of my time was spent taking part in a City-As-Text exercise. My group traveled to the Colorado State Capitol building as well as Molly Brown's house (she of unsinkable/Titanic fame). It was a wonderful time, with some breathtaking views. The steps up to the statehouse itself have been confirmed via GPS to be a mile above sea level -- and if you take the tour, your view can get even better, via the observation deck that is around the golden dome.
In what little down time I had, I did some further exploration of the city, witnessing Denver as a city proud of its past in many ways, excited about its future, and grappling with issues caused by growth, tourism, and homelessness (the climate, both environmental--generally temperate with 300 days of sunshine--and political contribute to all three). I even managed to get a little writing and revising done on my next book.
As an author, I know all to well what it means to grapple with a text. But the rewards (and most often they aren't monetary) are worth it. I have been thinking about that quite a bit as my third book (Interpreting the Prohibition Era at Museums and Historic Sites) is due to come out this month. As I relate in the book, at one point I never thought I would return to the world of wets and drys (which was, after all, the topic of my first book). But with this new book, I got to engage that material in new ways, and found if not new understanding, at least new ways to view the Prohibition Era. You don't always have to look at things from the mountain top perch, but some times doing so helps you appreciate the view.
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