From Matthew Sternberg:

After a late wake up we boarded the bus to go to Boulder, which is about 40 minutes from Denver. After stopping for lunch, we arrived on the tiny campus of Naropa University, America’s only accredited Buddhist college. Having some time before our first meeting, we went to a park next door to have a group discussion about gun control in order to organize our thoughts for the meetings about this issue in the next two days. The main argument we brought up amongst ourselves was of the slippery slope of changing the Constitution versus the atrocities of gun violence. The general consensus was that a form of gun control is needed in our country.

We then moved onto the campus of Naropa where we met with Rabbi Miles Krassen. He “enlightened” us as to the role of Judaism in his life as well as the nature of Buddaism in the University. He emphasized contemplative education, which means that one should not just learn about something but must experience it and meditate on it. He left us with some words of wisdom: “There can be no enlightenment without enlightening others”. We toured the University and then sat down for our next meeting. We spoke with Steven Taylor, head of the Jack Kerouac School for Disembodied Poetics. He took us on a history lesson tracing the lineage from the beatniks to the hippies and how music from jazz to punk have all shaped who we are as a country. We also learned about the oral poetry movements as art that were occurring in the East Village of New York and in San Francisco. He showed us how such different groups as the Black Panthers, WW I pacifists, and Anarchists were all rubbing shoulders at the St. Marks Project in the East Village of New York and how each group influenced the other.

We then went to Pearl Street where we spent some time shopping and just watching the local scene before we met at BDs Grill for Mongolian BBQ. The skies opened up and there was a big storm which we waited out in a local Target. Once the rain stopped we went to Folsom Field (famous for a Dave Matthews Live CD that was recorded there) for an American Sing along, a concert and some amazing fireworks to celebrate our nation’s 230th birthday. Once the amazing day ended, we returned to the hotel for some much needed sleep.