Down and Out in Denver 5/22/14

I'm not sure what it is about the places that my sister moves to that makes me not like them. I love my sister, even though we don't often see eye-to-eye. It's not a biology thing as we aren't blood-related, more soulful connection. 

I wouldn't call her conservative, yet the places she's settled into seem to be this way. They are places and spaces that I am uncomfortable in. They breath homogony and conformaty- and this scares the shit out of me. First there was College Station at Texas A&M, then Columbia, S.C., and now the Denver, CO area. Now she may go on to describe all the coolth and beauty of these places, but that would be her lenses, not my. My miopic view is but that, merely mine. 

I will admit to a love of John Dever in my youth. Huh!?! Where did a scrappy ghetto-rat like me get a love for a pot-smoking naturalist country/pop singer from CO you ask? Well, it was the meet-up with my soul-sister. We would swoon and crone his songs to no end and it was with glee that we sat in our 2nd row seats for his concert in 1976. I thought, "what a strange coincidence that his name is Denver, and he lives in CO!" I set my mind to it to get my ass to Denver, Co. I even made a pact w/ a 9th grade boyfriend to run away to CO. Well none of that ever happened and then I grew up and learned stuff- too much to ever want Denver, CO to be my home nor a "Rocky Mtn. High" to be my state of mind.

Heck, Denver wasn't even the dudes name! It was Deutschendorf, and he was a military brat. Even funnier still, he was born in Roswell, NM, so maybe he wasn't even human! By the time I hit college, John and Denver were long off my list. I loathed Denver for it's pollution, it's military instillations and misdeeds, and I thought John Denver an opportunist lighweight pop star. I knew he did the Hunger Project, but I really was much more into Harry Chapin and his World Hunger efforts. So I never went to CO afterall.

Until my sister moved there. Now I have been repeatedly. It truly is a beautiful state with some incredible history. I never once asked about the Rocky Flats Plant, bomb-making, or the environmental issues it brought (and criminal violations that BIG wigs pleaded to), even though I knew it was in the Denver (Jefferson County, which I do believe was one of  countys my sister has lived in) metro area. Plutonium and leakage was not something she and I discussed. We didn't have to. For a minute after she arrived we saw Columbine unfold, and from there a whole series of scandal to long to list.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/08/colorado-political-scanda_n_384919.html

But I was determined to give Denver a try. I had a whole little itenerary of stuff I wanted to see, including the downtown, because most places spruce up the state capital city's downtown. But I wanted to see the old downtown- the RR side warehouses, the hard-scrabble existence of making the almighty American $$$, and the last remaining bldg. of the famous brothels where woman in a parallel universe also made their almighty Amer. $$$. So we set out, got down there and don't you just know it- first rain, then hail, then downright smartphone induced screaming: TORNADO WARNINGS!!! So here is our rush thru of Metro Denver

The article on scandals only covers until 2010. But it sort of gets at the whole bizarre under-currents in this place of seeming piety and prosperity and peace. The hills are alive and not necessarily with the sound of music. On one of our trips we passed the 14,000 member church of Ted Haggard. Now who remembers that little blip of infamy? I was more amazed at the #'s than the scandal. How is that you'd join something that was 14,000 big as a place to become closer to your god? It boogles my brain. 

I think after several visits, and several more school shootings, I came to believe that it had something to do the affects of homogeny in such large areas. There is a nobody feel to a great deal of the Denver area. Everybody is sort of the same and to stand out, some misguided youth pick up arms (having had a history and a culture telling them it is okay to bear them for...for what? Fun? Recreation? I don't know) and shoot up stuff- no, not stuff- humans. And shit happens in those military areas too. Forts are not refuges anymore. They harbor some very sick and angry and violent by-products of our American might, coming home from one of our many modern wars (what are we calling what we are doing in Afghanistan these days? Is it still war? After soooooooooo long, can't we change the name or something?)

Speaking of Forts, there are 6 military bases in CO. That seems like a lot to me (but what do I know?). We did drive down Rt. 25 and after an hour or so were right into Colorado Springs, now being in the east central region of the state. I knew the elevation changed (higher) and that there was Pikes Peak, and that we had gone snowmobililing in some sort of "Springs" named place years back, and I did know that the US Air Force Academy is located here. But I didn't know that besides the academy, the defense industry is big here, almost as big as the Religious Institutions!  
Although houses of worship of almost every major world religion can be found in the city, Colorado Springs has in particular attracted a large influx of Evangelical Christians and Christian organizations in recent years. At one time Colorado Springs was counted to be the national headquarters for 81 different religious organizations, earning the city the tongue-in-cheek nicknames "the Evangelical Vatican" and "The Christian Mecca." This trip I really wanted to see the place I had picked up a brocure on in our hotel, "Focus on the Family." It was literally right off the highway, I had my witchcraft shirt on, and I had to pee- what a great time to stop in for some enlightenment . The brocure said, "FREE admission," Oh boy wasn't I lucky! Except it wasn't open. I was so bummed. Only 1 hour to go, I pleaded to stay. I even offered to pray, but our schedule was so tight, we couldn't stay. I had sooooo many questions too. Plus, according to the brocure, they could have helped my family thrive. and we desperately need some thriving these days. This focus on the family group is but one of 21 listed for the city. Here is some of what is says about them: 

Focus on the Family's stated mission is "nurturing and defending the God-ordained institution of the family and promoting biblical truths worldwide." It promotes abstinence-only sexual education; adoption by married, opposite-sex parents;creationism; school prayer; and traditional gender roles. It opposes abortion; divorce; gambling; LGBT rights, particularly LGBT adoption and same-sex marriage; pornography; pre-marital sex; and substance abuse.

So all I got were some touristy photos:

 I think i fit it quite nicely with their family.

I really wanted to ask of they had any withccraft books.

We headed southwest after this and left the Denver area altogether. The rest of the journey, now that's a tale for another day!