To drink or not to drink

I can't very well bash drinkers while I'm smoking a joint. But, I will say that I don't hang around people who drink. I've had some terrible experiences with drunks and avoid them.

I personally have no problem if someone drinks and is mature enough to hold it. The tendancy of alcohol to promote violence and of being self destructive is a major turn off.

Keep in low key and I have no problem.

 

Ok if it's kept very low-key and out of plain sight. -or-
Bring in the beer kegs! Main circle here we come!!!

there's a lot of ground between those two choices. Hide yer beers like a leper hidin sores or pukin' drunk in church...

 

It isn't about "hiding" the alcohol. It's about holding your alcohol and making your public interactions friendly. There are way too many power drinkers, drunks, and socially unacceptable (violent drunks) behavior at what is supposed to be a peaceful gathering.

Alleycat, I think you miss the point.

 

eh, if ya think i missed the point, yer mistaken. i was pointing out the huge gap in choices in this overworked argument, to drink or not to drink at gatherings. you'd think that there would be some middle ground that would be acceptable. "Ok if it's kept very low-key and out of plain sight" sounds a lot like hiding to me.

as fer keeping it only at A-Camp, that is a seperatist comment that irks me to no end also. what makes everybody think that a-campers want every drunk in their camp? they have their own thing going, believe it or not, and don't appreciate every random drunk in the place hangin out schwillin & bein useless.

personally, i think kegs at main circle are just not practical - too far to tote the ice.

i don't drink. i do buy beers for my family drinkers when i can. i'm not one to force my beliefs on someone else's life. i will make them pick up the cans when they're done, though.

the point i was making is that the POLL is reedickyoolus - there's a lot of other options besides None, A-Camp only, "out of plain sight" (hiding) and kegs at main circle.

enuff said on this subject from me, i'm goin out to engage myself in some real life.

 

You do get the point. I do agree with you. Not every drinker is an A Camper. As I said before, "Out of Plain Sight" does nothing to solve the problem. It is more about people and the way that alcohol effects them. As much as I rag A-Camp types, I know the reality that there are always going to be trouble makers at gatherings and most of the time it will have some A-Camp origin. I understand that you don't like the separatist attitude, but it is for the safety of families and peace lovers.

I think this whole poll was to find others who are sick of A-Camp and power drinkers. There are a lot of us out there who despise A-Camp. It's not the alcohol itself.

There is no way to enforce any sort of prohibition. People who want to drink, toke. or smoke are going to no matter the opposition.

 

well at least we know where YOU stand.

how about we make an AA-camp - anti-alchohol camp. you can all clump together in your little sanctimonious circle and dump on the rest of the people. then the moderate drinkers would be able to have a beer in the open and not have to feel like a sneak or a liar.

or, we could paint lines all over the gathering. drinkers over here, drunks over there, teetotalers over yonder.

we have a family. i am a peace lover. i've never once felt any danger or hate coming from a-camp. they are my family, i married an a-camper. picked him up at the bar, actually - asked him to take me for a ride on his harley. i'm just a scooter tramp in a tye dye.

my rainbow experience began at a-camp. there's real love and family there - we take care of each other. i visited rainbow land with my hubby, who is now on his fourth year sober. guess what? we got treated so shabbily that i really don't ever care to make the hike in again.

just don't push all your drainbow alky trash to a-camp. a-campers have enough clean up to do after everybody leaves nothing but footprints. yeah, right.

and now, a word from my hubby -

I don't have too much to say, that my better half hasn't already said. Your attitude reminds me of some yahoo on here aways back with the moniker 'AGRO_HIPPY" He talked some trash too- here, in cyberspace. When rainbow started, in '72- wine was drank at main circle. Does the fact that it was homemade make it alright? nah- only to those who need to judge others would split that hair. -- Tattoo Joe

 

It doesn't seem possible that you can be unbiased (anymore than I can be). All along in this thread you never mentioned that you married into A-Campe. Once you guys sober up come on back and reread the postings. When posting to a forum, it's always good to be upfront and not hide information that would discredit your opinion. I make no secret that I am anti-alcohol. I know, in reality, that A-Camp will never go away. People like A-Camp are like the Herpes... You can't ever get rid of them and they will always be there to cause problems.

My opinion is based on experience with alcoholics in life (not just the gatherings). You should have been upfront instead of being deceitful. You came to the thread saying that you were not A-Camp yet you now admit you were.

I am NOT A-Camp. While I have not figured out how to be part of the solution, I am definitely not part of the problem.


Peace to you... This thread is over for me.

 

i was not deceitful for even one minute. i didn't say i was or was not a-camp. i said the POLL was ridiculous, that "there's a lot of ground between those two choices", hiding beers or drinking at main circle.

i already said i don't drink. my (retired) a-camper hubby doesn't drink - he's on his fourth year sober. i don't know how much more sober i'm supposed be to dialouge with you. you should maybe re-read my postings, to familiarize yourself with my statements before you start shooting off at the mouth.

my gathering experince is this - A-CAMP HAS THEIR OWN FAMILY! and guess what, they've been hanging out with each other for years. YOUR "experience" with alchoholics is out of context.

i only really have two bitches about all the ANTI-ALCHOHOL people at gatherings - first off, they treat anyone that doesn't agree with their mind set as lesser humans. second, they figure that everyone that drinks should be forced into a-camp. like i said before and will say again, a-camp is their own family, brought together not only by alchohol consumption but also by being ostracized (read: to exile by ostracism 2 : to exclude from a group by common consent) by every other hippie dippie rainbozo in the woods. we as a FAMILY unit do not want to deal with every random drunk that shows up. all drunks are not friends. we don't know all those drunks. we don't want all those drunks in our camp EITHER. they are not our family just cuz they schwill beer.

you ARE part of the problem - you are generalizing, oversimplifying and exhibiting non-tolerance to anyone that doesn't agree with you. real life, even rainbow life, needs understanding and tolerance so we can ALL JUST GET ALONG! make a plan, work a plan, if it don't work, make a new plan. apparently all you anti-alchohol people aren't getting the message, that pushing all the drunks into a-camp DOESN'T WORK. shoving drunken strangers together and pushing them into a-camp only compounds the problem - they don't know us, we don't really want to know them either (unless they can spange enough for a keg). these drunks are causing all kinds of destruction and mayhem in our living room. and sometimes it completely backfires, like when a-camp family got permission from handy dan to drink at welcome home because the a-camp CAMPSITE, that a-campers set up, had been overrun by all the random drunks. pretty amazing year, cuz handy dan don't let nobody drink at welcome home - but he took pity on the a-camp FAMILY and shared his campfire with them.

so why don't all you anti-alchohol people come up with some other plan - cuz this SOBER a-camper and her SOBER a-camper husband will be expelling random drunks from our family's camp where ever we happen to be, shoving them back into the woods to commit acts of random destruction and mayhem someplace else.

arrrgh to you!

 

alleycat we love you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!get em girl !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

i quit drink'n a little over two and 1/2 years ago for MY sake...will that stop me from going and hang'n with the family in a-camp? definately not! i can't even tell you how many good times i've spent with the a-campers round the campfire, play'n old tom waits on de guitar and sing'n... i know that alot of craziness happens in a-camp/park'n lot land...but i think it's really unfair how all the blame falls on the a-campers shoulders. duh...their the closest to the front gate...they are our moat... it makes me sad to see the lack of tolerance in alot of folks posts here. where is my compassionate family? i agree with ohhhh i can't remember who said...(this was a loooong frigg'n thread to read but i did it ) that the hike into the main site has gotten shorter and shorter....this makes it easier to carry a keg to main circle folks. when i first started going to the gatherings the hikes in were at the very least 2 miles or so. quite a difference now...i was shocked in idaho when i left the park'n lot crossed a small foot bridge walked round a small bend up over one slight hill and tah-dah you were in the gathering.

i just want you all to know...where ever you are on the path, i love you, i respect you...we all stumble from time to time....but as a family it is our duty to one another to lift each other up...without judgement...don't we get enough of that BS in babylon?

 

i coudnt agree with ya more, ya hit it right on the head.

yeehaw and we all love mr. waits.

the best times ive had at gatherings consist of drinkin beer throwin horse shoes and just talking and shootin the shit up front, ya know??

i think the frilly hippies need a scape goat and someone to talk down on to make themselves look 'holier than thou'

 

"The government that governs least, governs the best"...to dis-allow something brings out desires and tendencies toward the banned that did not exist previously. Banning something does not mean that people wont do it. By "allowing" it to exist we are able to somehwat control it, and keep it limited to certain areas. People are very different from one another and everyone has certain "quirks", if you will. I am believer that everyone should make their own choices 100% of the time, for better or for worse, and we should all learn to work with one another, not against. I believe alcohol should be allowed.

 

very interesting poll and topic. im new to all this so i cant say much besides people should know there own limits. i'm old enough to know that I can have a few drinks and get to a point where i am just a bit more cheerful and chatty than usual.

if someone knows they have a tendency to get violent, they shouldnt be drinking.

i will probably have a hidden flask and spike a few of my drinks but no one will know. and no one will guess from my behaviour. no harm, no foul. i'm sure whoever has been doing this, already has been, and for ppl that cant handle their booze, they will be found out soon enough

 

At the '07 Ocala gathering I camped at back gate (I won't go near A camp) and handed out around 350 cans of beer (and 35 cartons of cigs- which I fell guilty about) to brothers and sisters over the course of a weekend. However, I used a bartenders discretion- none for breakfast and I cut off anyone who appeared to me to be heading toward counter-productive intoxication.
I know that's sounds a bit nazi, but the choice to provide the alcohol was mine, and the responsibility for any acts of stupidity spawned would also, at least partially, be mine. And I'm heavy into taking responsibility for one's actions.
We had alot of fun- and not one alcohol driven incident.
But I would not personally take a quanity of alcohol to main circle, and I hope no one else does, eithier. But it's thier choice.

 

I think that A-Camp is where the alcohol should stay. That being said, my wife and I have often brought a bottle or two of very good wine to share around our personal campfire. I don't approve of getting drunk. That's a far cry from a glass or two.

mmmmm... shiraz

 

I wouldnt personally drink at a gathering

Do I think its cool if other people drink?
well if you wanna drink go ahead... at a-camp
know your limit and dont forget the purpose of these beautiful events

Peace<3:grouphug:

 

Really I think this is a simple question... Alcohol dulles the senses exponentially with each drink, & as these gatherings are intended to pray & work towards peace I would think the answer should be quite obvious.. If you cannot hear another brothers words, how can you hope to understand them? If you cannot see the world, how can you see it's ills? If you cannot remember yesterday, how can you know you acted peacefully? A small quantity of alcohol will not prevent these things, & in fact would probably go unnoticed. It's when it's taken to an extreme level that there's a problem, that we all notice, & peace is disrupted. I myself like to smoke, but at the gatherings I smoke very little for the same reasons; I wouldn't bother being there if I couldn't remember it a week later.. Personally I feel that anything in mild moderation is fine, it's in excesses that problems arise & people get ugly. Alcohol, pot, shrooms, etc. Just exercise caution Family. I may personally feel that alcohol is evil & people seem to have a harder time knowing thier limits with it than ANYTHING else on this planet short of tobaccoo, but if you really can drink just a bit & be happy then more power to ya brothers & sisters...
Lovin You!

 

<<i just want you all to know...where ever you are on the path, i love you, i respect you...we all stumble from time to time....but as a family it is our duty to one another to lift each other up...without judgement...don't we get enough of that BS in babylon?>>

I have only a few gatherings under my belt as of lately, and a few in my early, hippy years that we didn't call Rainbow.

Coming back home to me was strange. I hung with the most popular kitchen at the time. Most stayed away from me because I was a stranger, others like Zak went out of their way to make me feel comfortable and at home. Others yet showed great disrespect by going through my pack and taking what was not theirs. In this group was an A-Camper with his little brown pit and warm beer, sitting on the path all alone. Next to Zak of course, this man was who I bonded with. I felt more excepted at A-Camp than in the woods. I was judged by some there also, don't get me wrong. That's just the human way of life I guess. I have no point to all this gibber other than to say when I make out my list of things to bring, I now add some beer and a small bottle of Jameson's to share with my A-camp family.

 

i remember when you couldn't say *uck at a gathering,and if ya did you were sorry,but
i'm like the brother that remembers when the hike in was 2 miles minimum,that helps keep rowdiness and such from the main circle and kids village,before i read about the gasballs at Kiddievillage this year i heard about vehicle access all the way to main circle ;that is bullshit,and you combine alcohol with easy cop access there is the potential for much greater violence.Please keep the drunken cops far away in their air-conditioned trailers.
I just have a good feeling about the Gathering in NM next year,I think the word will come
down from on high to show us a little respect.

 

Do u or any one wana step on broken glass.
people waana fight when they drink....Cant believe people cnt go a week w/o drinkin........I do and I drink everyday........
\Peace