In fact, we already have an accepted offer in on Huss School, an historic school building on four acres of land that would be an ideal location for all kinds of unique and service-oriented programming. The (initial) tricky part of the offer is that we have until May 27 to raise the $20,000 down payment. Should we be able to manage that, we'll move forward with other challenges posed by the Huss building.

Regardless of whether the current offer is completed, we're looking to move forward on finding a physical space for *cino to do its work. For more, take a look at our Imagining Space web site, where we offer a vision for what we hope to do with a building like Huss, introduce the property itself, tell the story of how we've gotten to this point in *cino's development, and intend to keep folks updated on our efforts.

We're hoping we'll be able to complete the purchase of Huss and move forward, but we'll need your support to do so. If you've enjoyed *cino's work and are interested in this new opportunity for its incarnation, please consider donating for our campaign. We would very much appreciate your contribution!

The students were very passionate and sharp, making the conversation was thoroughly enjoyable. Thank you, especially, to Michael Stevens for the invitation!

We'd encourage you to visit the Festival web site for audio resources, photos and information about participants. I'd specifically recommend the incredible conversation between Lupe Fiasco and Cornel West, the Cornel West lecture, and two excellent articles by Marty Garner about headliners The Hold Steady and Lupe Fiasco. Actually, all of the workshops are pretty fantastic, so you should just subscribe to the FFM podcast and download everything. :)

We will also be presenting a workshop called "Eat Well," in which we'll be exploring broken food systems and how we might participate in a more holistic approach to eating faithfully.

Update (12.3.08): Relevant Magazine picked up a slightly different version of Kirstin's piece and published it as "Discerning Difference" on their web site.

You can purchase a copy for only $7.50 (plus shipping) directly from the book's companion web site.

While certainly still a work in progress, you can check out our workshop resource page to get an idea of what we talked about or to continue the conversation.

The dates for this year's event are August 11-17. Informal camping with field trips, bonfires, swimming and more will take place August 11-14, with the Practicing Resurrection conference August 15-17. We'll gather again at Russet House Farm in Cameron, Ontario. Our conference theme this year will be Home Economics, with various workshops and activities surrounding that theme, from home building to bread baking, for agrarians and urbanists alike.

Registration is now online. Space is limited, so try to register early if you can. You're encouraged to come to as much as you can, but we welcome short visits as well. We look forward to seeing you on the farm this summer!

*culture is not optional has just published Do Justice: A Social Justice Road Map, the first in a series of books that we hope will be entry points for conversation about how the Christian community can act faithfully in several different areas of life. Do Justice collects catapult magazine articles, a few original pieces, photographs and resource lists from students, professors, booksellers and practitioners into a 140-page resource that we think you'll find both enjoyable and challenging. You can purchase a copy for only $7.50 + shipping ($1.00) at the companion site for the book.

Look for more additions to the series over the next several months. We're planning a food Road Map for the month of April and a music Road Map for this summer.