Re: Been 12 Years...what do I need to know about gatherings these days?

Bill <omnithought@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

A lot has changed since '98, so I could really use some input from
folks who were on the rainbow path back then and still are now.
What do I need to know? What's changed not only about the rainbow
scene, but the road in general?

I need your help, brothers and sisters! Much love, and I can't
wait to see my Family again!!!!


Starting in 2001, the Forest Service LEOs (law enforcement officers)
have tried all kinds of repressive tactics to shut down the
gatherings, and this has affected the internal Rainbow culture some.
There have been fewer people attending (amounts like 6000, 8000,
12000 as opposed to the sometimes over 20000) There is less casual
nudity. You have to keep checking up on your car if it is parked on
the side of a road. Go to the url in my sig and click on the Rainbow
stories link on the left, and I have a chronicle of all the
gatherings since 2002, with descriptions of all the things the LEOs
have said and done.

And the ratio of tie-dyed hippies to blacky-khaki punk rockers has
tipped towards the tattooed side; old-timers who used to complain
about deadheads now complain about gutter punks. And this shift has
made it harder to keep booze out of the gathering, but it hasn't got
out of control. The young kids still like drums as much as the old
ones.

Dinner Circle is no longer an hour-long oratory session while the
food gets cold, all that was reformed in 2000; the food is in your
bowl within a half hour of the first kitchen's arrival -- and the
changes have held. There was one Vision Council in West Virginia that
was over in four hours, but all the other ones have still lasted at
least two days. The others have only been three.

There is still rain, chiggers, mosquitoes, sunburn, and microbes in
the water; Rap 107 hasn't changed much.

The gathering still reaches out to everybody and does a better job of
including them than any other assembly of people I've encountered.

- BB

--
http://www.bliss-fire.com
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: reprint from the Vail times
    ... My preconception was an enormous forest with tents and camps ... Big Red Park was transformed into a temporary city. ... Night time was like a bucolic Mardi Gras, or as one Rainbow ... gatherings and camped in between, ...
    (alt.gathering.rainbow)
  • Re: rainbow Family screws up kids lives
    ... camps where the hippies can get free food. ... The gatherings are always held in a national forest, ... They also talk about how death camp terrorizes people. ... trash about the rainbow family and rainbow gatherings. ...
    (alt.gathering.rainbow)
  • Re: rainbow Family screws up kids lives
    ... camps where the hippies can get free food. ... The gatherings are always held in a national forest, ... They also talk about how death camp terrorizes people. ... trash about the rainbow family and rainbow gatherings. ...
    (alt.gathering.rainbow)
  • Re: reprint from the Vail times
    ... talking about the gatherings, he spoke of the Forest Service almost as ... Before I got to Big Red Park, Gerry's group had been forced to move ... I picked up a Rainbow and four of his ...
    (alt.gathering.rainbow)
  • Re: Regarding Missouri Rainbow-
    ... I dont think you have a clue what my "agenda" is or if there is any ... So your Rainbow Family. ... Folks who are all about love, respect, ... the high holies who want to parent the gatherings that I do not like. ...
    (alt.gathering.rainbow)