2018 Gathering Blog

Happy August Everyone,

Just a bit of house keeping. The ongoing conversation on the rainbow gathering that took place here for the 2017 Rainbow Gathering in Oregon at http://oregongathering2017.blogspot.com/ is moving to the 2018 blog.

If you are an email subscriber to this blog and want to receive updates from the 2018 blog, you'll need to subscribe separately to https://southappalachiangathering2018.blogspot.com.  

You can subscribe to the new blog via email (check the right hand side of the page where it says "follow by email" and enter your email address). You will have to confirm your subscription once you receive the confirmation email.

 

 

Cleanup is done

A huge thank you to all my amazing siblings who stayed and renaturalized the site. You are my heros!

To everyone else, I'm sure cleanup details will be forth coming.

Songs from the gathering

A wonderful brother Tenali records sounds of the gathering to share with family.

You can find this year's recordings on-line and there are links to other year's as well.

Thank you Tenali!

Remembrances, Musings and Some Sadness

C.J. Jung writes a lot about the importance of "meaning making" in life.   This idea that when we feel our lives have a purpose, the world feels right to us.  Meaning is what keeps us going when things get rough. For example, when tragedy strikes, some people use the event as a way to heal the future by speaking out against violence or by raising funds to cure a disease that took their loved one.

Each of us lives in a cultural world created by the lives we have lived intersecting with our individual selves as embodied human beings living on planet earth. This cultural world is created via stories, music, mythic systems, and the humans with whom we have interacted during our journey on this planet.

From a Jungian or Depth Psychological perspective, the process of reflection allows us to create or modifies meaning. This breaking down of existing beliefs and creation or re-creation of new beliefs is a road with many obstacles.  One can be left spiritually homeless when the old culture no longer works but a new culture has not yet grown up around us.  One can find a missing wall in the old house that needs to be rebuilt differently than the old wall. 

The rainbow gathering forces all of us to confront our cultural blankets and the holes that open up as we participate in creating a leaderless, egalitarian society open to all. Perhaps this explains the sadness I feel after five weeks spent at the gathering. I have many holes in the walls of my cultural house.  I think this is why the local people resist us when we first land in their communities as our culture doesn't fit within everyone's cultural framework.  Over time, bits and pieces of gathering culture weaves its way into the local cultural and what I imagined the gathering to be is reconstructed by what actually happens and the gathering.

The words that follow are my thoughts and experiences on the gathering in Oregon.

We need to have a generational shift where folks in their 30s and 40s start taking on some of the gathering wide functions like town Shanti Sena, relations with the tribes, parking/front gate, and other critical areas, which seem to be heavily focused by family in their 60s and 70s. The younger folks in this family are rocking it when it comes to kitchen, supply, cleanup, and councils.   It is my sincere desire, that more people think about the big picture and step up to fill the shoes of the earlies.

There were a lot of sad moments for me at this gathering. I am trying to reflect on how I could have made a difference.

• A brother who used the "N" word towards the LEOs when I was escorting them that turned a mellow relaxed walk into a movie with the LEOs calling me racist.  Using racial slurs never makes any situation better. I called out the brother who didn't use appropriate language but the LEOs were made at me. While I don't always agree with the LEOs job, they are human being with belly buttons and are as much a part of this gathering as I am.  The "N" word has no place at a peace and love gathering.  Let's leave the bullshit behind when we gather and be our highest self.  And just for your information, the brother who shot the dog wasn't there that day nor did he come back to the gathering.
• My friend who was attacked during the silence on the morning of the 4th for trying to peacefully block cars from driving into the meadow.  Disagreeing with someone's actions is one thing, but kicking them and taking their stuff is not O.K.  And during the silence of all times.  Have we learned nothing about creating peace? 
• People who drove cars into the meadow to help our older family participate in the silence/om on July 4.  We had parking just before C.A.L.M. that would have allowed older family to cut through INFO to the shade structure while still keeping the cars out of the meadow and the circle.  I am so sad about this.
• The worst 4th of July I have every experienced. The entire morning spent dealing with cars in the meadow, my friend who was attacked, and other related Shanti Sena movies. I ended up with 5 minutes of silence and by the time I made it to the meadow, the om was in progress and I sat in the center of the meadow and cried at how badly we messed things up.
• I am so saddened by family who duct taped a brother for stealing. While I don't support stealing in any shape or form, this could have been handled in a more loving fashion.  Leaving someone duct taped on the road is violence in my opinion. If folks wanted to press charges, he could have been escorted to law enforcement, he could have been walked out of the gathering, or he could have been baby sat until he decided to leave.  Don't tell me that was better than the alternative. While I'm glad no one beat him up, this type of treatment is not worthy of this family. Leaving someone on the road in this state could lead to death. What happened to loving those among us who are hurting?  Stealing stuff ain't cool, but what was done to the thief was horrible.
• I am heartbroken that so many cars in the parking lot were broken into, and that a supposed friend stole a friend's car. A dog getting shot was horrible and sad and I really wished my family kept their dogs on leashes. I don't like your dog's ass in my face while I'm eating dinner or having to clean up your dog's poop.  If you love your dog, keep her by your side and out of other people's business.
• My heartfelt condolences to the families of the two men who died at the gathering and the family of those who died in a car wreck on the way home from the gathering.  All my love is coming your way.

There were many moments where we shone like the north star.

• After the second man died, the LEOs gave him a soldier's salute. Then the man's family walked through the meadow ahead of his body and our family lined up on either side sending love and prayers to all. I love my family!
• The meet-up of children and parents from Dirty Kid Village and Kid Village in Tepee Meadow to have a united children's parade into Main Meadow was wonderful. I love my family!
• Kitchens serving dinner circle rocked it this year. Lot's of tasty food and plenty of it most nights. I love my family!
• The amazing job everyone did with serving multiple concentric circles and the newly invented announcements being shouted in synchronous fashion by the food servers allowed us to hear the messages and kept the focus on "us." Great new addition to dinner circle. I love my family!
• The beautiful family protecting the creek from camping and who moved trade circle off the creek are my heroes. Every creek is sensitive. 10,000 people with sunscreen, bug repellent, essential oils, and/or lotions will pollute all water bodies. If we followed the practice of the Japanese of cleaning ourselves before entering the water, then maybe we would not have a negative impact on surface water. Our evolution to a water quality consciousness is in its early stages. Let's keep moving ahead. 
• The Forest Service Resource folks who counciled with us staring at spring council and helped us understand the issues with each of the 8 sites we were considering.  Dave, you and your crew are amazing.  If you stay in Oregon until you retired, this is the last annual gathering you will have to deal with.  Thank you for your patience and respect.
• The water crew who worked tirelessly to get water to the people. I love my family.
• A huge thank you to everyone who focalized one of the many amazing workshops.  Our family has mad skills and they were being shared all over the place.  I love my family learning and growing together!
• Family who helped family stuck in town make it home are the greatest folks I know.
• Family who sat in council and worked on issues of consent -- important, positive work and I thank you very much and hope we as a family continue in this vein of evolving our gathering.
• Sisters who gathered together to share sister space -- very important work and I was honored to be a part of it.

To all the people whose names I do not know who chopped wood, hauled water, consoled the sad, healed the sick, cared for the lost animals, and spread love around the gathering, I bow down to you. You are the ones who are keeping the dream alive and I want to thank each and every one of you. You are the warriors of the rainbow.

As for me, I will continue to reflect on my experiences and responses during the gathering and work towards a a greater understanding of how to have a positive impact on the world around me.

A Huge Thank You to the Burns Paiute Tribe

The Burns Paiute Tribe are the First Nation people upon whose traditional lands this year's gathering was held. Thanks to some long time gatherers contacting the tribe in the spring of this year, we were able to create positive relationships between gathering participants and tribal members to protect Flagtail Meadows and the surrounding areas.  A huge shout out to the tribe for staffing an information station in the main meadow adjacent to INFO.  Many great conversations took place and I personally learned quite a bit about the land used by the Paiute for generations.

One of the members of the Burns Paiute tribal council spoke to a workshop taking place in the teepee on July 3 regarding the rainbow gathering/Standing Rock connections. He told us that when he heard we were coming to their traditional lands, he was upset due to the Occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016 in which damage to culturally sensitive artifacts occurred. He told us he was afraid that the gathering would be a similar event. When, he saw what was happening for himself, he was happy. He asked us to protect the creek and said the rest would heal over time. 

Vision council/counsel/circle put out together this consensus on July 8, 2017:

"The Rainbow Family of Living Light vision council (counsel) on the land day 2, Oregon, July 8, 2017 thanks the Burns Paiute Tribe for welcoming us to gathering on your traditional lands. We appreciate working closely with you to protect sacred sites and the environment. We deeply empathize with the loss of your traditional lands by colonization. We support your ongoing work to build a strong, healthy, and vibrating Burns Paiute Tribe now and for future generations."

Here is a photo of the letter as written out in council/counsel/circle.

This letter, along with several pieces of Obsidian that had been turned into INFO (without a location provided), were delivered to Dean Adams, Vice-Chair of the Burns Paiute Tribal Council, on Monday, July 10 about 9:30 a.m. by myself and a friend.

While we were at the reservation, we drove by the children's park called Rainbow Park.  Here's a photo in case you are curious about the synchronicity of our interactions. I look forward to continuing this relationship after the gathering and cleanup are over.

Lost and Found (people, pets and things)

Every year people, pets and various objects are lost at the gathering or people not at the gathering fear people have been lost.

Lost People

Every year people go to the gathering and their loved ones worry.  Just a reminder, there is no cell phone or Internet reception at this year's gathering. 


If you haven't heard from your friends and/or family since they went into the gathering, odds are they are still down in the meadow and can't call you.  Either way, it's generally safer for people to stay inside the gathering, then to run the cop gauntlet to make a phone call.  Even if your loved one promised to call every day, that's a promise they will be unable to keep as that would require them to spend their entire gathering going out to some place with reception and then coming back in again.


Even if there is a place on the top of a nearby mountain where you can get cell reception if you stand on your right foot only with your left arm outstretched and the cell phone positioned exactly on your naval - one 5 minute call will eat up all your charge.  Unless your loved one can hike from 5,000 feet to 8,000 feet and brought a solar panel to recharge their phone, the calls aren't going to happen for a bit. NOTE:  You may think this situation is made up, but folks how have been on the land in Oregon have to drive over 3 miles to get cell reception.


Again, on the road where the cars and cops are is the area where problems occur. We strongly recommend that people stay inside the gathering. Going in and out increases a persons risk of a negative experience with law enforcement. Again, people on the land will strongly suggest to your loved one that they stay inside the gathering until it's over.


That being said, if you're going to the gathering, call your Mama or someone else, let them know you are going in and will be out of cell reception until after you leave the gathering.


If something serious happened to your loved one, then they are no longer at the gathering and would be found in a local hospital, jail, or mental health facility. If you check those places and your loved one is not there, then they are probably inside the gathering.


Most people usually surface by July 15th as the clean up crew starts shrinking by then, but some people will be on the land until at least the end of July (and on the land means no or haphazard access to telephones).  If after July 10, you still haven't heard, email me a recent photo and include this information:

    How old is he/she?
    Was this her/his first gathering? 
    Was he/she planning to camp with any camp in particular?
    Did she/he travel to the gathering with friends who have since left the gathering?
    Did she/he have any mental and/or physical health issues? 
    What kind of drugs (if any) does he/she typically use?
    Was there a specific previously agreed on plan for he/she to return home at a certain time or at least check in?

Lost Things

For those people who go to the gathering and lose something, found items are taken to Info or sometimes to the nearest kitchen so don't give up yet.  If you didn't check the lost and found items at INFO, your stuff may be there. Even if you did, many items are discovered during cleanup. At the end of cleanup, all the valuable lost and found items will be taken out of the gathering site. To try to get reconnected with your stuff, at the end of July call  the Northwest Tribes Lightline @ (503) 727-2498. Leave your name, phone # and a brief description of what you lost. Someone will call you back if your or similar items are there. Keep in mind, lost and found at this level is for things like wallets, cameras, expensive gear.  We don't try to reunite people with lost t-shirts, bliss wear, etc.

Lost Animals

For those people who left without all the animals they brought, please go back to the site and retrieve your pets. I do not care if you have to be back to work or whatever. If you brought an animal, you need to go home with that animal. If you don't, folks on the land will find a home for your pet and it won't be your home. We never leave any pets behind.  Every pet will leave the gathering with a human companion ~ hopefully the one they came with. If you can't go back yourself, try to connect up with a friend in the area to retrieve your pet. Just a reminder, pets on leashes don't get lost as often as those not on a leash. The gathering is a scary experience for animals who aren't used to it. Read the Pup Rap for more info.  If you are a local who feel we drop off pets at the local shelter, we never do that. Other people may be stealing dogs from the gathering and dropping them off, but we don't. All dogs brought to the gathering, leave with people who were at the gathering.

Updates from the site June 29

10:30 am Oregon time

Main parking is full but there still is handicapped parking available. Overflow lots are available. Please be sure to note which overflow lot you are in.

Shuttles will be happening but do not expect regular schedules all the time as folks get tired and sometimes no one is available to to shuttle. Carts/bikes are good.

Nights are still in the 40s with some dips into the 30s. Days are sunny and warm.

Dog shooting still under investigation by an outside agency.

Be the peace you want to see in this world.

Update from the site on June 27

Update from the site on June 27 at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time

LEOs shot and killed a dog in the parking lot today. Dog was close to two small children and their mother. USFS Law Enforcement at the Burns town hall meeting said the incident is under investigation.


About 3,000 people are on site.  Everyone, please leash your dogs to keep them out of the creek and away from the LEOs.

FYI!  Just because weed is legal in Oregon, it's not legal on federal land. DO NOT Admit to possession of a medical marijuana card or any weed!  

Parking will be tight so those of you who are coming on or after July 1st, please be prepared for a long journey into the site.  Parking will unfold as it unfolds.  Bring wagons!

Wagons and bicycles are great on this site. Lot's of happy bike riders around.

Days are hot!  Please wear hats and sunscreen. Drink one gallon of water a day. There are multiple kitchens providing bulk filtered water. Please only drink filtered water.

PLEASE LEASH YOUR DOGS!

The Burns-Paiute Tribe is having people on-site daily from mid-morning to mid-afternoon, please talk to them before you dig!  We are honored to have them.

People in town are shop-lifting. Please be town Shanti Sena!  Please help reimburse the local store owners if this happens and you know about it.

Please help get everyone home either by giving a ride or buying them gas!

Court dates are on June 30 at 9 a.m. at the intersection of County Road 63 and Forest Service Road 24.  If you missed today's date, please come on June 30. If you miss both dates, you will have a warrant for your arrest.

There is also some court dates scheduled on July 6 or 7 in Canyon City.  Stop by INFO for details if you need them.

Updates from the Gathering June 23

Happy Friday everyone,

Here are some things you need to know.

Law Enforcement is on the road into the gathering. Please read right side bar to make sure you have all the information on how to get in without a mandatory court appearance ticket. Be especially careful when you turn onto Forest Service Road 24.

Nights have been in the 40s and even occasionally into the 30s. Be prepared with cold weather gear for night. Days have been in the 70s and 80s - bring sunscreen and a hat.

Wild horses live in the area. If you do not have a horse and are charged by a wild horse, please make lots of noise and use Bear strategies to scare them off. If you have a horse, be aware that a group of riders were attacked by a wild stallion and one person died. 

We are trying to get town Shanti Sena and porta potties going in John Day.  We need someone to check out the scene in Burns, Oregon to the south and see if we need town Shanti Sena  and/or porta potties there as well. 

If you come through John Day, Oregon, please stop at Chester's Thriftway and pick up family trying to get home. If they need gas, please pitch in so we can keep people rolling to the site and not be a nuisance in town. If you come through Burns, please look for the grocery store and pick up family and get them home or help them with gas money.

June 26 & 27 a US Forest Service contractor will be flying helicopters over the site for a wild horse count. This was planned months ago.

There is a prescribed burn in the area. Click here for details.

Key things to know about the site:

• Stay 200 feet away from the creek to protect trout eggs and nesting birds.
• Only cut down timber that has a trunk less than 1 foot in diameter. If a larger tree is marked with blue spray paint, it's OK to cut.
• Dogs must be on a leash to protect wildlife resources and the creek.
• A representative from the Burns Paiute tribe has sat in council with us and we hope some of the tribal members will come back and help us learn how to protect their traditional lands.
• Pink ribbons mark sensitive resource areas that we need to stay out of.
• Green ribbons mark areas that are good for us to use.
• From the main parking lot, there is an old forest service road into the gathering which is awesome if you have a wagon. Just past Welcome Home (at the corral), there is a short cut to main meadow but it's no good for carts.

Rap 107 & Rap 701 - How to Live Lightly and Be Healthy in Oregon

RAP 107 Gathering Consciousness

Kitchens:  Consult with Forest Service Resource folks for appropriate locations to build a kitchen, ask at INFO, or be prepared to relocate your camp due to pockets of sensitive resources. Please ASK before you dig!

Creeks: Stay at least 200 feet from the creeks to protect trout and bird eggs ready to hatch.  Stay out of the marshy/fragile meadows marked by signs or pink ribbons. Get all water from piped sources and/or go to a kitchen. Do not disturb rocks in the stream or on the land. First Nation Tribes have been restoring the creeks in this area. Please preserve their hard work.

Wood: Please leave all wood along the creek and the riparian zones. Down and dead wood less than one foot in diameter can be used for firewood outside the riparian areas. Larger down dead is used by wildlife as their home. Please protect the homes of birds and other creatures.

Wildlife & Pets: Wild horses and bears live in this area. If you are camped on the edges of the gathering, please be prepared and bear-proof your food. Treat wild horses and bears the same way to scare them off. Be very careful if you bring horses to the gathering, as the stallion may attack your horses. Beaver in area have giardia. Ticks in this area carry Lyme disease – check yourself for ticks daily. All pets must be on a six-foot leash to keep them away from critical habitat.

Tribal Relations: The Burns-Paiute Tribe has been to the site and are concerned about sensitive areas. Please respect their wishes by following ALL these site specific guidelines.. If you are digging and you find Obsidian, please stop digging immediately, mark off the site so no one else digs and let INFO or a USFS resource person know.

Pink Ribbons designate sensitive habitat, please stay out. Green Ribbons are open areas for  use. Trees with Blue spray-paint are OK to use for firewood.

Please protect this Beautiful Land. Walk softly. Harm no living thing. Harmonize - Blend in. Use only down, dead wood. Cut no living trees. Preserve the Meadows...camp in the Woods NOT in the meadows or along the creek. We are caretakers of this land. Everyone sharing makes a strong Human Tribe!

Please Protect the Water Sources by staying out of DELICATE spring areas. Avoid camping, peeing, washing above spring areas. Keep ALL soap out of streams, springs or the creek (even biodegradable soap)! Collect water from the pipes and use a bucket to take your bath 200 feet away from the water source. To be certain of drinking water: boil it!  Use the slit trenches or covered latrines - cover your paper & waste with ashes or lime, wash hands. Break the fly/illness connection: shit-fly-food-you! Dig no shitters near water areas or kitchens.

Protect our Health! Use your own cup, bowl & spoon! Wash them after eating and rinse in bleach-water. Cover prepared food with lids. Visit C.A.L.M./M.A.S.H. if you feel ill - especially if you have a contagious disease - or are injured. Camp Together - Establish neighborhoods.

PACK IT IN - PACK IT OUT !!!

Cleanup begins when you arrive. Bring in only what is necessary. There is no janitor here...you are the cleanup crew. Separate Garbage for recycling. Don't litter - Find collection point. Compost in pits only.

You are the Gathering! Participate in Shanti Sena, the peace keepers council, and all activities, councils, work crews, workshops. Volunteer wherever needed: kitchens, welcome home, fire watch, parking lot, shitter digging, supply, front gate, etc. R-E-S-P-E-C-T your Sisters & Brothers energies. Keep the Balance: Earth, Sky, Trees, Water & People! Alcohol is Discouraged, Guns are Inappropriate, Violence is contrary to the Spirit. Please take no photographs or videos of people without permission. Discourage Drug Abuse. Buying and selling endangers our legal right to be here. The Magic Hat is our Bank, donate early to fund our Needs. The Magic Hat goes around at mealtime circles and with the Magic Hat Band.

Rap 701 In preparation for leaving....

Pack up all your trash and bring to the appropriate recycling areas on the road. Dismantle and disappear your encampment. Vanish ALL traces. Fire rocks scattered, ashes cold out and buried, pits filled in. Latrines and compost holes covered over. String and twine get removed from tree limbs. Hardened ground gets aerated with tools for future root growth and moisture catch. All litter is picked up. Help with recycling. Where everyone helps, the effort is easy. When an area is clear and clean, then NATURALIZE! Scatter logs, branches, leaves, duff to disappear trails and camps and renew forest habitat. H2O systems and latrine tops are removed and cleaned for the next time. In parking areas help disabled vehicles and fully dismantle ramps and bridges. Steep places are water-barred to prevent erosion. The final crew reseeds appropriate seed to renew vegetation and complete process.

Transport as many riders as possible to aid our travels. Treat local folks with great kindness. They have been kind to us. Drive safely and share this love wherever you go.

Our power together is many times our power separated.

Enjoy the Rainbow with an open heart and you Will see the Vision. Join us for July 4th Silent Contemplation & Prayer for Peace, respect those maintaining silence from dawn. Hold the silence until the arrival of the Children's Parade. Be prepared and look out of the health and safety for those who are unprepared.

On Creeks and Camping

Bad Tent Location - Too Close to Creek
(Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/meganpru/5914413517/)

Creeks provide water for animals in the area and spawning grounds for fish.  Creeks are the heart of the ecosystem. When folks disrespect the creek, they disrespect the land on which we gather as well as the heart of the gathering itself. 

The creeks in this gathering have trout eggs waiting to hatch and the shrubs along the creek have birds sitting on eggs waiting to hatch. Let's give our fish and feather friends some space to raise their families.

When silt gets into the creek it covers trout eggs preventing the fish from hatching. Lots of people have been putting a lot of effort into restoring the creeks at our gathering site and supporting spawning grounds for the native trouts.  We need to honor the trout and the people working year round on protecting trout habitat.

If we are not careful, we will silt up the creek. 

THINGS NOT TO DO: Enter riparian areas with pink ribbons.  Allow yourself, your dogs, or your kids to play in the creek. Trample up the banks or in the muddy riparian areas near the creek.

THINGS TO DO: Stay 200 feet away from the creek.  The local tribes have invested heavily to restore the creeks where we are gathering. Please let's leave these creeks in as good or better shape then we found them. Educate yourself and take your knowledge home and share with others.

~~~Nothing is biodegradable in water.~~~

Good Tent Location - In Woods away from Creek
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/50461467@N00/6075694833/)

Soil filters and decomposes soapy water, food scraps and urine.  We always need to make sure we keep all our waste far enough back from the creek so that the wonderful micro-organisms in the soil have the chance to do their magic.

In my mind, our shining stars are folks who make signs asking people to not camp along the creek. Family who go around and talk to people about why we don’t camp adjacent to creeks are my heroes and I workshop at your feet.

When we gather, we are visitors to the land. The plants and animals that live there year round are depending on us to tread lightly and leave the ground upon which we drummed and danced, ate and loved, in better shape than when we arrived. This, my friends, is the Rainbow way. 

Of course every site is different. The soil drainage and the type of creek varies ecosystem to ecosystem and the down-stream features indicate how close is too close. Different areas have different animals who need access to the creek for drinking purposes. If you’re too close, you’ll scare them off. This year the local First Nation tribes have requested that no one harms the restored streams by keeping camps at least 200 feet away from any creek.  This includes insuring that kitchens and/or shitters are at least 200 feet or more away from the creek. When you come home, check in with INFO to learn the site specific considerations for each the current gathering. Or find a friendly Forest Service Resource person and pick her/his brain.

Or camp on the promenade -- a flat plateau with trees to shade your tent.


A gathering is not a festival. Please don’t camp on the grass.  Camp in the woods, under the trees, 200 feet back from a creek.

Be the consciousness you wish to see in this world!

Join Us For an Informational Town Hall Meeting

We welcome and invite: 

local residents of the towns around Malheur National Forest, 

members of the U.S. Forest Service, 

and individuals attending the Rainbow Gathering 

to join us for an informational 

~ TOWN HALL MEETING  ~

at 6pm on Wednesday, June 21, 2017, 

at the Canyon City Community Hall.

The purpose of this meeting is to allow local folks to ask any questions they may have about the Gathering, and for Gathering participants to provide history and background information, health and safety practices, etc.

Town Hall Meetings are a great place for local residents to meet Gathering participants, ask and answer questions, and address concerns. 
This is an open meeting. We encourage all interested individuals in the communities surrounding the gathering to come meet with us and ask what ever questions are on your mind.

We hope to see you there!

Town Hall Meeting

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

6pm

Canyon City Community Hall

129 South Washington Street

Canyon City, Oregon 97820

Why Gather by Garrick Beck

Excerpts from All Ways Free Summer 1997. (Reprinted from All Ways Free, Winter ‘88) - Written by Garrick Beck

Why should anyone want to go thru the 1001 tasks that are the life-support system of the Rainbow Gathering? Hauling large rocks for bakery ovens, digging & filling latrines, tending medical emergencies, installing water pipe systems that need to be taken apart,…sorting garbage, not to mention doing all this with the added difficulty of our own problems: upset or belligerent people, alcoholics in rainbow clothing, rude or unhygienic behavior; and sometimes with only minimal help or even opposition from the public service of the government.

…

Why do it? Why face all the problems, all the maps & mailings, all the fundraising for printing; all the long-winded discussion over procedures; why consume all this time of our lives? For what? Why gather?

…

We are utterly capable of seeking and finding the pure natural experience without subjecting ourselves to all this trouble. So why do we put this on our shoulders and go on? Why do we do it? I mean: Why gather?

Because   we love each other. We really do.

Because   we are creating something new and beautiful….

Because   we hold the vision of a peaceful world in our inner eyes - in our hearts - and we make it real in this outside world.

Because   is a thrill to experience a cooperative society.

Because   only when we take personal responsibility for the needs of each other - water, food, security, fuel, healing, childcare and recycling - do we take mature responsibility for our lives.

Because   the children need something gentle and loving to look forward to.

Because   it is important to teach and learn as much as possible about human cooperation.

Because   we are fed up with war economy & economic exploitation & political over lording, and we want to try something else.

Because   gathering teaches thousands of people, even tens of thousands, respect for the earth, the water, the plants & the animals.

Because   even the addicts, the dissolute, the spaced-out space cadets, the drunks who come are in need of love, and every society must care for its own.

Because   laughter, music, celebration and rejoicing in life are needed in this world in great measure.

Because   gathering unifies ancient tribal wisdom with current ideas and technologies.

Because   we want to inspire hope that it is indeed possible - and in fact pleasurable - for people of all kinds to live in peace.

Because   our councils are open to everyone to speak, we hear ideas, poems, stories and wisdom from the seven corners of the earth.

Because   the work and play-shops are education’s, the massage delightful, and the music rich with interlace harmonies.

Because   light and life and love deserve to be celebrated by lots of us.

Because   when we hold hands in our circles we can feel the energy that moves the atoms and the moon and stars.

Because   gathering teaches us to have faith, to trust each other, to believe in good and goodness, and to have the strength - in the face of the rest of the world - to carry on.

Garrick Beck (1988)

On Belonging

I often find it hard to explain to people my perspective on what my Rainbow family means to me. Some gatherers argue that we are individuals, but I have always felt that while we are individuals, we mean more to each other than the random people who show up at a football game. I view the gathering as a big dysfunctional family. However, the word ‘family’ is loaded with baggage so sometimes it’s easier to use other words.

In The Values of Belonging by Carol Lee Flinders (co-author of the Laurel's Kitchen cookbooks), she puts forth the principles of belonging in the introduction to the book. Reading them, I felt she was expressing what the gathering means to me in terms of our relationships to each other. She makes the point that the values of belonging say “This is where I belong” while the values of mainstream Western civilization would stay, “This belongs to me.” I’ve included the bullet points of her values of belonging which for me expresses some of the best aspects of gathering. 

• Intimate connection with the land to which one “belongs.”
• Empathetic relationship to animals
• Self-restraining
• Custodial conservatism
• Deliberateness (being present)
• Balance
• Expressiveness
• Generosity
• Egalitarianism
• Mutuality
• Affinity for alternative modes of knowing
• Playfulness
• Inclusiveness
• Nonviolent conflict resolution
• Openness to spirit.

What do you think?