so...how was it

ok, i probably know how it was, but i missed the 4th. i was there weeks ago, but now i am working and couldnt go. any news? how many family showed>?

 

How was the seen? A lot of sideways visors and cd players? I hope it was pretty much real family, but have been concerned at the trends over the last 7 or 8 years. Did you ever get any rain? Was there a council discussion on declaring ourselves a religous organization? Did the Leo's stop handing out citations for an illegal gathering after the 3rd as reported? How were the LEO's on the way out of there? Drug dogs?
Hopefully after the 7th / 9th people can fill us sorry working bstrds in on what we missed.
I also pray that most if not all made / make it out safely.

 

OK, I have been back for two days now and I have been trying to hold back my coments. I was tempted to start schwagging on the scene right away, but I held back. However, since you asked, I will tell you my opinion of this years national gathering. It sucked! Worst gathering ever, or at least the worst one I have ever been to (I started in '88). How was the scene, you asked. Man, I don't know where to start. Let's start with the violence. Large numbers (dozens) of gatherers where going out and starting fights with the LEO's. LEO's where being pushed, kicked, elbowed in the face, and having rocks and sticks thrown at them. Also, large numbers (more than 100) of gatherers were spending their days following the LEO's around and screaming profanities at them at the top of their lungs. One day, the LEO's were arresting a couple of individuals (people who had outstanding warrants) and a crowd formed to try to, in the words of one of the people from the crowd, "un-arrest" them. Gatherers formed circles around the folks who were being arrested and formed rings around the LEO's. Then other gatherers came up and tried to stop the first bunch of gatherers from interfering with the LEO's. I stood in main meadow and watched as hippies started screaming at hippies and after a few minutes people went to blows. The LEO's then pulled out their batons and pepper spray. I watched hippies beating up hippies, LEO's beating up hippies, hippies trying to beating up LEO's. The violence with the LEO's rippled throughout the whole encampment and people were agro everywhere I went. Even usually serene places like Yoga Camp were agro when I visited them.
Next, the fire danger was very real, yet nobody seemed to care. I personally put out two fires. One was burning unattended in an unpermitted bliss pit in the middle of the day. It had started on its own from coals left unextinguished the night before. the second was in an unpermiited bliss pit that was underneath a circle of dead pines where some genius decided to throw a huge pitch filled stump on the fire. The flames where 10 feet tall. According to the deal we worked out with the FS, we would only burn fires in permitted fire pits and all fires would be less then three feet. Nobody seemed to care at all about the possibility of a forest fire. Folks built fires where they wanted and as big as the wanted.
This brings me to parking. Parking was a fucking nightmare. When I left I could barely get down the road because the cars were parked so tightly on both sides the the road. I drive a compact car. Any van, truck, or bus is stuck in. A-camp and the Front Gaters are worse this year then they have been recently. A-camp has been telling people that the "gathering is full" and turning people away, even people who have already been home, even people on supply runs. Personally I tell them to fuck off and keep driving. But, many folks are either stupid enough to listen to them or are intimidated by them. If there was a forest fire (tie-in to last paragraph), it would be impossible to evacuate. there is only one road in and out, and that road is jammed with cars freaking everywhere. I don't know how to describe what a mess the parking scene is. I think the intention was for folks to park at Bus Village, but that is where A-camp is. So, all the early arrivers parked at the Trail Head (because A-camp and the front gaters suck). As more and more people arrived, everybody drove up to the Trail Head and parked, now everybody has parked everybody else in.
There was large amounts of Alcohol and hard drugs in the woods, and it seemed like more people were participating then not. I was there for 12 days and served at main circle for the last 10 days. Main circle was a huge screaming match every night. Some people wanted 1 circle. Some people wanted the servers to form a small circle in the middle. Some people wanted 2 concentric circles. Some people wanted an inside circle for 'children and pregnant mamas', etc.... Everynight there was a huge arguement with people screaming at the top of their lungs and not listening to anything anybody else said. This happened while the kitchens stood by with their food getting cold. Supper was served cold everynight because people fought for an hour before we could serve.
On the 4th, I couldn't find a place to hide where people were honoring the silence. I walked from place to place and everywhere I went, even down in Main meadow, people were talking, laughing, yelling , calling their dogs, shouting at one another, playing guitars, drums, tooting horns and one dude was banging away on cowbell. I mean, come on, a fucking cowbell on the morning of the fourth. That's when I left. I was out of there before the silence was broken (not that there was any fucking silence to break). I could go on and on. But I feel better having vented a little. I'm not usually such a complete schwagg monster, but after all you asked. You know the old saying: be careful what you ask for.
Also, Yes the LEO's are still writing tickets. and stopping cars. and searching vehicles. and yes, lots of police dogs, I dont know if they are trained drug sniffing dogs, but the LEO's got a small pack of German Shephards up there.

 

dude, I was there for a week and I did not see anyone doing stuff like that. Yeah there were crazy shit happening in A camp and well that's expected. As for the 4th of July, it was sooooo fucking silent I could probally hear a pin drop. Yes dogs and children were making noise, but they didn't know any better. I saw lots of cops, but no cop dogs. I saw cop horses. The cops settled down after the 29thish. I can't believe you are saying all of this stuff that didn't even happen! Dinner was NOT served cold every night! I remember getting warm food everytime. Yes, it wasn't a lot, but damn there were 20,000 people to feed! Gives thanks that you had food to eat! Did you help out in the kichens?

I on the other hand, had an amazing time. I met the most amazing people! I had a spiritual experience happen to me that i will never forget. I thought it was amazing that thousands of people could come together and work in unity. I had a rough time getting there. the truck we came in broke down a lot and it took us 4 days to get there, but we got there! Now I'm back in Babylon and I miss my family. I miss you all so much! I can't wait until next year. I had the best time of my life in CO.

 

I didnt see most of that either. I saw lots of leos waving hi to me and I returning the wave. I did see one boom box on the main trail in calling them selves camp buttrock but it was more like 4 kids sitting on the side of the trail they were gone a few hours later. Now I do have to agree on the parking it was fucking lame, the lamest I've seen on my few times home. (Idaho 2001) has been the best as we actually parked in a huge open area like a real parking lot. There it was just a line of cars of to one side of the road or other. I saw people blocked in all over the place but all in all good! I loved the scenery I hate to say it but the dead pine trees amonst the live ones made for some cool color combos. Ahhhh showers were pretty close ha ha down at the marina about 5 miles. ya I got a 4 day limit on stink thing ha ha... Awesome gathering! lets do better on the parking next year!



Mike...

 

Ahh one more thing, I did'nt get to hear where the 2007 will be? did any of you hear what region they decided upon? thanks


Mike...

 

...

 

well, i would be tempted to belive some of that story if not for the 'rocks and sticks' thing. the 'hippies' throwing rocks and sticks at leos was from newspaper articles about when the origional roadblock was broken...i was there for that and the reports were false. as for the other news reports i read about the surrounding of leos and fighting...who knows...
but...i was pissed about the parking myself. i was there WAY early and the cars before me drove on to the gathering site, but i heard an a-camper say 'ok that was the last one!' and i was rudley (rude-ly?) ordered to park right at a-camp, which sucked cause i had a lot of water to carry. whatever, my own fault for not driving on thru anyway. i saw real family and much less anarchy than my last gathering in wisconsin, but..i was there early.
still curious how many people showed, i would think more than past years.

 

i will make one more note on the subject tho, my first words entering the gathering (after being told where to park) were not 'love you brother' or 'welcome home', it was 'trade you some crystal meth for a drink of water?'
this from a teenage girl, who pulled the bag of meth out and held it high when there was a cop driving like 20 feet behind us on the road.
but, that could happen anywhere, i guess.

 

Vision council just started today (the 7th); the word should be circulating by Sunday depending on how long council lasts.

Welcome Back Everyone!

 

Dude seriously I was given a "welcome home" and a "Loving you sister" by everyone when I first came in. I didn't hear any of this happen. The only drug I heard openly talked about was herb.

 

dunno, everyone has different things happen.

 

i'd still like to know what was in those zuzus (or however you spell that)

 

I, too, had the same experience. Family? What a joke. When the LEO's came in on Monday the 26th that's when I lost faith in my "family". When the riot happened (which by the way, someone did throw rocks) I was standing there with my boyfriend listening to all of it happen in the main meadow over a walkie-talkie. Not five minutes before our "family" of probably a hundred and fifty or so were sitting in a circle saying how we will pledge peace and not follow the LEO's around and yell at them or try to deter them from doing what they came to do...violently. Yet...a riot ensued a blink of an eye later. My boyfriend and I were only two of the dozen or so people who stayed in the main meadow when the riot occured. Pathetic, if you ask me.

I, too, thought it was horrible. I, personally, think the gutterpunks are getting completely out of control at the gathering...and are the ones causing MOST of the problems. I'm so sick of walking through the trails and hearing them yell and cuss and fight eachother constantly. A sister even told me about how she saw a "brother" punch a sister right in the face. Is that how family should be? I don't think so.

Fighting at the main circle to decide how many circles to make? So called elders trying to control how the main circle is "run"?...no wonder we got our meals cold. One family...one circle...why is that so hard to understand?

I travelled 1400 miles to reach the gathering. I ended up leaving before the fourth because of all the stress, drama, and bad vibes I felt. I spent a total of five and a half days there. A waste of gas, a waste of money, a waste of trip. I felt more drained after those five days that I've never felt before. It made me sad to watch a lot of this go down.

I cried so much...I feel like I've lost my family.

Will I ever attend a gathering again? I don't know...this experience has made me question what the Rainbow family is really about.

 

yeah someone has to do something with the gutterpunks. I didn't see the rock throwing, but damn. I can't believe people are so negative. How do we say who can stay and who can't on public property?

 

Someone has to do something about the gutterpunks?!?! is this a proposal to ban gutterpunks? And who is Someone anyway?!?

Okay, let's take a logical look at some of the problems brought up here, namely yelling & violent acts (like rock throwing). A lot of the time things like this happen because people are frustrated and don't know any other way to express their frustration. From experience in both MO & AZ, where LEO 'incidents' happen right in front of our kitchen; people were frustrated by the way Rainbows were being treated, in the MO incident there was no violence only because one member of the kitchen crew brought out a tarp and encouraged the frustrated people to paint 'f**k you' on the tarp. One Elder didn't understand the concept of this & bitched at us about it but the reality is if the tarp painting hadn't happened, the LEOs who showed up a little later to investigate (and apologize for) the behavior of their agents would have faced an angry mob. In AZ, the mob did start to get out of control and it took many folks with good energy to turn the stick/rock throwing into an Om. The fact that the violence was detered is a testiment to the true spirit of Rainbow; a similar riot in a city would have resulted in pepper spray & guns. Sometimes being Rainbow is all about turning something bad into something good

Now on to the dude hitting a sister; we've seen hippie looking folks get into fights at Gatherings just as often as anyone who has any other stereo-typical cover and Someone has to step in and try to stop these things.

Who is Someone? Someone is Anyone who cares enough to do something; Someone is You, Me, We & Them. If a person comes up to us & says they saw such an act, we ask them what they did about it; usually the answer is that they just walked away. Now if we hear some shouting & it sounds like something is brewing, then several folks will get together & go check the situation. Most of the time the situation can be diffused if the Shanti Sena crew is calm (and Shanti Sena is anyone who cares enough to check!)

You create your own experiences at Rainbow by how you chose to act or not act in any given situation.

 

Then they need to learn how to express these frustrations in a different way. It's not fair to the family who wants to come to the gathering for peace and solitude. I have a feeling Babylon has beat them down so much that the only way for them to express anger is through violence. I blame society, but I also blame these frustrated "family" for not taking responsibility for their actions and its effect on others.

Shanti-Sena is a crock. I'm sorry, but it is. Shanti-Sena is nothing but a way for people to gang up on one person that someone thinks might be wrong in some way. This doesn't allow for people to assess the situation and decide if this person who yells it is right or wrong. That's what happened during the riot. Someone yelled Shanti-Sena and hundreds of "family" ran up to the person, to do what? Surround the FS???? That's ridiculous! Can you imagine if a small group of people suddenly got surrounded by a large group of someone VERY different than themselves...come on, you'd be scared too and take measures you might not usually take. That's the problem...people jumping to conclusions and not thinking rationally.

Who am I kidding? Rainbow isn't rational...

 

Whats your guys thought on the constant begging you get around every corner? Got buds? got cigs? got this, got that? I'm ok with it for a bit I put on a smile and tell them no I dont smoke, or no I have no buds. but sometimes you get to a point in your head and your like Ahhhhhh no no no no I dont have anything for you as I have given it all away now... ha ha I was the bringer of hot sauce every kitchen I went to got a bottle or 2 of louisiana hot sauce, passed out 25 bottles while I was there..... but ya whats your thoughts on the constant begging? I mean at a gathering no one should have to beg right if they just walk to the right spots to gather what their seeking???


Mike...

 

we werent at the gathering ,, however, i can say that we did receive two emails from family that went to CO from outside the US and both complaining about it all,,,

"Me and my doughter visited The Gathering in Steamboat
Springs. It was a huge turnoff for both of us. 20.000
people we thought represented something completely different. What we
saw was a huge gathering of pot-heads, mushroom eatting, drug doing
glasseyed ,misplaced individuals. We left after a day and a
half."


since we werent there,, i really cant offer my own 2 cents,,,, but i can tell you that generalizing the "gutter angels" and damning them for everything is not the way to go about or bring about change....,,, it all begins with each of us passing on our kernels of knowledge(communication) whether it be to bjorn from norway or the custykids etc etc,,,,

 

It definitely gets a little old...OK...a lot old...when there is constant begging. I mean, I know some of these kids have nothing, but there has to be a give and take...I see a whole lot of taking and no giving.