30th loth reunion

Despite the loosely coordinated, haphazard nature of the planning (all done online using an Evite or by word of mouth), on September 17 a couple hundred elves or so gathered in their halls and trees of old to celebrate the 30th birthday of Lothlorien, which began in Fall 1975.

The day began with a farmer’s market run. Many juicy veggies were purchased for the massive pizza-making that ensued. Although the day was full of variouspossibilities (pizza-making, Loth t-shirt silkscreening with new silkscreens, sunset watching, exploring old favorite nooks and crannies, hanging out with our house red-tailed boa constrictors Sid and Nancy, and a full moon walk), the best part for many people, as always, was the conversations.
Elves caught up with the lives of old friends and housemates, and connected with elves from other generations as well.

One of my favorite moments was introducing Mark Sparky Strehlow (Lothlorien, 1993-95), who began the

meditation room project in the mid-90’s, to the elf who finished it a couple of years ago. Some of us also gathered in the living room in the evening for stories. The usual oral tradition of passing along house stories was complemented at this reunion by a tale from Dina Mackin (Lothlorien, 1997) about her experiences studying Loth for her anthropology thesis as a born-again Christian and then “going native.” (Dina has passionate visions of selling an edited version to This American Life on NPR.)

Enric Teller (Lothlorien, 1978-80), the elf who made the famous classic Loth movies, designed a new cinematic delight in honor of the reunion: a tapestry of excerpts from his original films woven together with clips from a new and gorgeous Loth documentary called “This Is My House” made in Spring, 2005 by current elf Katarina Maloney. Yup, there were elves sunning themselves naked on the deck and playing guitar on the roof in 1980...and there were elves sunning themselves naked on the deck and playing guitar on the roof in 2005. May they still be doing so in 2025.

Check out Enric Teller’s history of Lothlorien with more reunion photos at www.lothlorienhouse.org/blog/