>IMHO, Love Yourself and MEDICINE THREAD as well as Cassini project, Timber
>cutting and Scouting issues are relevant Rainbow issues.
=========
Well I guess I WAS being a bit sarcastic on this point, and unfairly so.
I really was trying to say, I see very little discussions concerning
"rainbow" - as in "about rainbow gatherings" (ok, scouting thread). In
trying to talk about wishing to see more of this type focus, I also passed
judgement on existing threads, which was biased, irrelevant to the concern,
and only distracted/distorted from my real point… For that I apologize.
Though I would agree the threads you mention have important words in them
(and actually some others too), I would have a hard time agreeing they are
all relevant "rainbow" issues.
By no means am I saying these type threads shouldn't be here on AGR or that
they don't have merit. I guess there is plenty of room for all the threads
people choose to make, it's really not "that" hard to just delete the ones
of no interest to you (assuming you have a mailbox that can handle it :)
But relevant?
What does Cassini have to do with rainbow?
What does timber cutting have to do with rainbow?
Merits withstanding, these sound like "political" subjects to me (there’s
whole websites on these subjects if one really wants to learn/discuss/do
something about them). I thought rainbow was basically non-political?
Including people from ALL walks/thoughts of life.
Then again, who’s to define what "rainbow relevance" is anyway?
I guess one could even argue most "everything" is rainbow relevant.
But again, my point isn’t what’s presently on AGR (or it’s merits), it’s
about wondering where are all the threads that discuss "rainbow gatherings"?
( how can we do things better?, how can some people come together to work on
projects for the gatherings?, how can we "better" share information with new
folks at gatherings? (and ourselves), how can we better support the early
stages of the gathering with tools,twine,sign making material, etc? how can
we better serve our food at dinner circle? How can we have more harmony &
focus at our councils? (and the list goes on) ….. THAT’S really what I was
trying to say.
Yes there is plenty of info/questions about "the next gathering coming up"
And some really good threads have been discussed in the past for sure.
BTW: Many of those threads tend to crop up just "before" the national or
upcoming regional and often become "heated" discussions about A-camp or who
has the right to call a particular regional gathering or some other such
"hot" topic, usually with little/no results
(other than the same things being repeated till folks get tired of it and
stop for awhile).
How often have you seen things discussed "after" a gathering? Not personal
stories or random complaints or wondrous things., but "roll up your sleeves
and take a hard look at ways to improve things" kind of discussion.
Am I being a bit over dramatic? Cynical? Holier-than-thou? Preachy?
Egotistical? Or just plain warped? Who knows, probably so …. But get the point?
At the end of one of our NW regionals, Don Joseph said we should have
another "scout council" with all the scouts discussing how we could have
done scouting better; what worked good and what didn’t, did the
site/gathering come out as envisioned when first looked at (logistically
speaking)? And so on.
Discussing these things "after" the fact offers great potential for scouts
(and others) learning how to do things better next time (and in more harmony
with each other). It also gives others insight into how things work and
opportunity to get involved.
Sad to say it never happened (good idea’s don’t always fly at first), but
I’ve never forgot the wisdom in his words.
I guess that’s what I’ve been really getting at, wanting to see more
discussion on how WE can make change at our gatherings.
AGR offers a great opportunity for family to come together and make change.
Complaining about different factions of our gatherings or the chaos at our
councils and dinner circles etc etc (though it has it’s place at times),
doesn’t seem to get us anywhere.
Avoiding issues because "people on AGR can’t speak for the family" or "call
a consensus" or make any "decisions" is plain silly (and they have been
said more than once).
Trying to make some "rule" is one thing, but folks coming together to
discuss ways to improve things and then make actual plans to "do" something
about it, is what rainbow is all about. Things get done because some people
get together and "do it". No permission given, none needed. Who could give
it anyway?
Our imagination, resources and commitment are our biggest limitations.
AGR could help bring many people together for many different projects that
could greatly improve our gatherings.
But then again what’s relevant, right?
=========================================
>BTW in Oregon on the 2nd or 3rd it was announced @ Dinner Circle
>(w/ > 10,000 people on site) that the Magic Hat collected $2,800 or so.
> I know that folks donated goods and services to the Family Gathering
>too but HEY: IMHO this $ amt. sucks. Not even a buck per gatherer.
A recent Allways Free (or guide) printed the entire amount given to the
magic hat at one of the last gatherings. The total was around $16,000. If
you figure there was 16,000 people total at that gathering, that works out
to $1 per person for the "entire" gathering (not per day). Sounds
unbelievable doesn’t it? and I believe it works out that way for many past
gatherings (certainly never double that fig).
Seems pretty chinsy when you look at it like that, doesn’t it?
But I also see it as a testimonial to our "real" rainbow magic.
We all know it takes a LOT more than a buck a person to feed, care and do
what we do to put on such a gathering. So where IS it coming from? From
individuals of course.
By far, most of a gatherings support is brought/bought by individuals.
Doesn’t that just make you proud of your family?
Yes the magic hats is important to cover what isn’t, and could/should
receive more support (it would be impossible to make those "massive" food
buys without it).
but it sure would be good to also work on ways to improve our biggest
source of support, us individuals. How much better things would be if we
found even better ways to teach more folks on what’s needed and what to
bring? Or help support others willing to do so.
"Cooperation’s" this year was such a result. For those who don’t know,
Cooperations tried some things that hadn’t been done with Cooperations
before (at least in any recent history). Individuals saw the need for more
support during the early stages of the gathering. Plenty of people
willing/wanting to help but never enough tools to dig our shitters, or
material to make needed signs early on, or enough building twine to do
things right, or enough trashbags & toiletpaper to fill the needs, etc.
Some folks shared a vision of "doing" something about it. While some folks
put in a lot of personal time acquiring these things, getting them to the
gathering, and seeing they became available … others donated $ to help make
it happen. A total of $2,400 was privately given to help this happen.
Cooperations’ brought over 700 rolls of toilet paper, cases of trash bags,
paint, brushes and other sign making material, 50 pre-made shitter covers
(you might have sat on one of those boxes), a shit load of tools; shovels,
rakes, prybars, axes, bowsaws,etc. Also 8 spools of twine (not enough),
tarps, sheets of plywood for bullitenboards and shelves/countertops.
Personally I think this was a tremendous help this year. Being the first
time doing it, there was definite improvements that could have been made to
that whole movie but all in all, it helped the quality of the gathering in
more ways than many realize in my opinion.
My point is, the acts of individuals (or small groups) is what really
determines the quality and abundance of our gatherings…. The magic hat would
have never pulled this off (no slam on the hat meant).
If there is blame anywhere for some conditions of our gatherings, it starts
at us…. not enough people doing enough on a personal level is where it
starts. Blaming A-camp or trade circle or deadheads or high holies (and on
and on and on) are only symptoms of our lack as individuals to collectively
do what needs doing. No one person (or group) is pulling us down or
determining how our gatherings will be.
I’m not sure where I’m going with all this and I surely agree the magic hat
needs more support at times…. Just thought I’d give you a different angle to
look at when wondering about our needs at a gathering :)
>I light of the additional fresh food requests that have been posted on AGR
>since then, add'l $ could have been used. Personally I thought that the
>Magic Hat could be better filled PRIOR to the biggest mass of our family
>coming home so that we might meet their needs when they arrived. So I acted
>accordingly.
Well I guess we need a whole separate thread for this one. There is a lot
to be said about how we handle the magic hat so I’ll save my comments till
another time
============================
>Will a banking council member report here a daily report of what was gifted?
I doubt if you’ll get many actual $ figures posted on the net because many
feel this is not the place to be stating such things. But you might get one
of those bankers to comment about the bank in general (I know a couple of
you bankers are online :)
============================
>I hope that bringing this issue into the light will encourage folks to
>contribute and doing so generously to the magic hat.
Some people have concern about how magic hat money is spent and how much is
really needed and for what…. Any in-depth discussion might indeed help
people to feel more comfortable about giving or understanding our needs …..
lord knows there is way to much rumors on the subject floating around.
Well I better stop for now or I’ll be the only one reading this.
Thanks for the response Glen. And thanks for trying to get some of those
"rainbow" issues started :)
I mean HEY! There’s endless things we could be doing to make next years
gathering even more abundant and magical than it already will be.
Let’s start some projects, or improve some problems, fill some needs,
support shared visions of others or other such
magical/healing/sharing/growing kind of things.
………….. BJ
===================
Ah fuck it! ….. I re-read all that crap I just wrote, and it looks way to
deep and way too much work.
Lets just talk about something not really requiring personal commitment or
change. I got enough stuff I should be doing anyway….
Hey! How about that Cassini thing?
Pretty crappy what their going to do, huh?
Doesn’t it just piss you off how little concern they have for peoples
wellbeing?
Man, what’s this world coming too?
Anybody know where the next regional is?