RFD Issue 132 Winter 2007 by RFD Magazine Gay

Faerie Camp Destiny in Vermont celebrates its evolution with stories of heart and hearth.

R FD is a reader written journal for ga\ jK'ople which focuses on counin li\ing and encourages alternative lifestyles. We foster community building and networking, explore' the diverse expres sions o f our sexuality, care for the environment, radical fae rie con sciousness. nature-centered spirituality, and share the exjKrienecs of our lives. R FD is produced In volunteers. The business and general production are coordinated by a eolleetive in and around Short Mountain Sanctuary, TN and on the working E.group site: i fdgroups^/ \a h o o .t o m . Features and entire issues can be prepared by different groups in various places. Our printer is in Nashville. TN. RFD (ISSN# 0149-709X) is published quarterly for $25 per year by RFD Press, POB 68, Liberty, TN 37095 615.536.5176 USPS # 073-010-00 Periodicals postage is paid at Liberty, TN and additional mailing offices.

Postmaster: Send address changes to RFD, POB 68, Liberty, TN 37095 mail@rfdmag.org www.rfdmag.org Non-profit tax exempt #62-1723644, a function of RFD Press, with office of registration: 231 Ten Penny Road, Woodbury, TN 37190

R iv e r’s F an tasy C o ver for R o sie D

The records required by title 18 U.S.D section 2257 and asso ciated with respect to this magazine (and all graphhic material associated therewith on which this label appears) are kept by the custodian of records at the following location: RFD Press, 231 Ten Penny Road, Woodbury, TN 37190 C o v e r d e s ig n by M a tt B u c y w it h D a is y S h a v e r, J im J a c k s o n a n d Z e n y a ife p h o to by K e is h a ib c d e s ig n by V in e

Contents Letters & Announcements.................................................... 2,44

Contributors

with two films: Macintosh's Aliens Cut My Hair and Solberg's Standing on the Bones o f our Ancestors

Richard Price photopraphy feature...................................... 3-8 Faerie Camp Destiny feature.............................................. 9-38 Remembrances: Harlow Russsell & Sam E. Smith. . . . 39 Prison Pages by M y rlin ..................................................... 40-41 Jeff Mann Interviewed by Shane A lliso n ........................ 42-43

s e e p a g e 38 f o r D es tin y fe a tu r e C o n trib u to rs

Shane A lliso n .......................................... 42 B a m b i........................................................ 39 Luc G eo rges............................................ 44 Mike Grindem ann.................................. 41 Larry L o p e z .............................................40 Jeff Mann.................... 42 Michael Macintosh.....................................2 M y r l i n .....................................................40 Andy N ew bert........................................ 39 Michael P a c e ........................................... 40 Richard Price............................................4-8 R iv e r .................................... 1 Steven Solberg.........................................44 RFD Winter 2007-08 #132

ALIENS CUT MY HAIR! The motion picture...again!!

Letters, ^DDouDceweDts

an article by the movie director, Michael Macintosh

Dear RED. Please find enclosed a cheque to renew my subscription to RFD. Thank you fo r all the work you do to produce the magazine. In these days o f ephemeral electronic communi cation, I really appreciate having this tangible, seasonal connection u ith the larger faerie community. The quality o f the writing and artwork has been consistently good. I love the creative designs; and I've really enjoyed learning about different local faerie communities through their own words and images. Thank you! I hope you 'll be able to keep up this great work.

1991: Over a six month period, in a basement of a Sunset District-San Francisco house, a group of faeries filmed ALIENS CUT MY HAIR! 1 was lucky enough to count these people as friends, but even luckier to play their director. The movie was first tackled by our fallen sis ter, Portia Manson (aka Gene Barnes), one of the most genius artists 1 have ever met. Knowing that time was short because of the onslaught of AIDS, Portia handed me the high seat and went on to create the legendary hippy-porn zine “Hippy Dick” followed up by a movie under the same title. Since we both had attended and collaborat ed as filmmakers at The Evergreen State College, 1 gladly accepted the privileged role.

Many blessings o f peace and love, Anthony Barreiro San Francisco, CA Editor’s note: Thanks, Anthony, for the appreciation and the renewal. Renewals are a most important way to assure our continuing publication.

Hello friends. Life has been full. I've been zooming around the country sharing fermentation skills and talking with people about our insane fo o d system and grassroots movements to reclaim our food. I continue to find inspiring fo od activists and p eo ple eager to understand more about fermentation every where I go. This work is very gratifying. When I'm home, I ’m part o f a complex, always evolving, and sometimes demanding community. Community living can be hard work, getting along with many different people, trying to under stand and support one another, as well as maintain our buildings and infrastructure, keep up with our garden and animals, and keep the place (lean. As a result o f my constant travels these past few years, I ’ve neg lected many o f my cherished fo od cultures and become quite an erratic gardener. / struggle to find balance between my missionary work spread ing fermentation fervor and my desire to be involved in growing and fe r menting food, which requires time at home.

With all my sisters ready to massacre our parts, we embarked on a jour ney that u'as much more than 1 imagined. Throughout all of the turmoil, catastrophes and drama (u'ritten in the script or not), the movie repre sents more than a story about a group of faeries breaking apart narrative pabulum. It was about a certain time in history that a group of great friends got together and created a moment for ourselves. Ten years later when 1 decided to re-invent this groovy drek. I knew that 1 had to include the story about what the movie meant to me and my now distant friends. A few' of us passed away, others moved on. some of us continued the given road. It w'as going to be difficult to find everyone, but 1 was going to find them... no matter what it took.

I 've decided to throw myself into fermentation fervor fo r the next year. My workshop schedule through January will bring me to Pennsylvania, New York, California, and Tennessee. Beyond that I've already made commitments fo r 2008 to workshops in Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Ontario, and England. <I'm looking fo r more contacts in Alaska and England, please.} But I've decided that after 2008,1 need to take a break from this intensive traveling.

So. I decided to find the circle of friends that made this movie possible. 1 found Gentry (Capt.Priapus), Lucy (Nurse Lucille). Racine (Minion), Rai (Splooge). Cherrod (Luv Zombie) and Flynn (L ‘w ana). All scattered across the U.S.! When I found each person. 1 was delighted that all were eager about the companion documentary project. Their video interviews w'ere amazing and difficult. Our sisters Stephen M axxxine’s and Portia Manson's stories were told by the rest of us still living here. We talked about the time, the situation, the hatred of Bush 1. AIDS, each other, everything! It was great. 1 was so excited that we could do this again...one last time.

So come to a workshop now if you can. Bring ferments and cultures to share if you 're an active fermenter. And please forward this announce ment to relevant listserves, as well as anyone you know who might be interested in these events. Also, if any o f you are doing fermentationrelated teaching o f your own, please email me details so / can post them on my website There is a hunger fo r this information, and I urge others with these skills to share them.

This 2-disc movie includes the feature movie about a group of space-faring-faeries discovering that their world is more than they imagined. It also includes the documentary about a group of faeries sharing their sto ries about living together and making this time capsule. Plus, a few deleted scenes that were originally filmed by Portia Manson.

F irst week of Ja n u a ry , date tba N a sh v ille , TN Ferm entation Talk and Tasting Slow Food N ashville C h e ck my w eb site later or co n tact : rrid d e ll@ slo w fo o d n a sh v ille.o rg

Living in the now. when sometimes it feels like a time back then, I am happy to offer this movie to my friends and community.

M onday-Friday, Ja n u a ry 14-18, 2008 New York. NY Natural G ourm et Institute http ://w w w .natu ralg ou rm etscho ol.com /htm l/classes-cultu red .h tm l

ALIENS CUT MY HAIR! is available at www.alienscutmyhair.com , Facets Multimedia Distributors and TLA Video.

Sandor Katz. Short Mountain Sanctuary http://w w w .w ildferm entation.com

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My first camera was a “SIX-16 Brownie Special", a strange trapezoidal box camera with which I documented my sum mer camp experience in 1954, age 12. (1 still have that camera and those memories.) A Kodak developing kit received the following Christmas allowed me to make contact prints in a makeshift darkroom in the bathroom, washing the prints in the bath tub and hanging them on towel racks to dry. Inadequately fixed and rinsed, they mostly became gray and streaky as they aged. In the late 60's I discovered 35mm, and accumulated thou sands of images, mostly on transparency film, of just about everything, and bored my friends and family with slide shows of my summer vacations for years. (Still have most of those slides, taking up space, unviewed, but not forgotten.)

W oo f ©1997 and sales, and having occasional exhibits and shows. (Still have a lot of unsold inventory - ) I knew that era was over the day I found one of my signed, framed, early landscapes for sale at the Salvation Army thrift store.

In the eighties, I fancied myself an artist, and turned out a lot of large-format, over-the-sofa landscapes and the like, exhibiting mostly at outdoor art shows, getting my share of awards

About ten years ago, at a faerie circle, I asked for faerie help in extending my photographic hori zons. I was ready to venture into portraits, and needed subjects. The response was overwhelming, and so Tve spent several summer gatherings making “collaborative" portraits with a 4x5 Toyo Field camera asking my volunteer subjects to choose locations, settings, props and costume, - or lack thereof. I'm gratified by the results and feel that the portraits radiate the warmth and magic of these faerie individuals - my commu nity and closest friends. My more recent subjects are friends and associates from other aspects of my life; but the objective is the same, - to render as close and personal an image of the individual(s) as possible.

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Before There Destiny by Agnes D eG arron

Photo Collection o f Agnes

Before there were the Destiny faeries, there were the Vermont faeries. This is part of their story. In 1990 there were no known faeries living in Vermont until two traveling troubadour puppeteers/artisans and their Cheshire calico cat, driving in their 1978 Red and White Volvo named Veronica, crash landed in Vershire, Vermont. But was it really an accident?

T ree, D elila h , A gn es a n d K en C o o p e r a t B r e a d a n d P u p p e t in G lover, V erm ont

faeries from a phone booth in the lobby of the Quad Cinema in the West Village and agreed to rent to these artists, sight unseen. On a full moon weekend, after finishing a crafts show in Manchester, Vermont the three travelers arrived in the dark of night to their new home in the woods.

These artisan/ performance artists had rented a rustic rural cottage with 25 acres in an isolated wooded area northwest of Dartmouth College after reluctantly vacating their nice two bedroom upper west side NYC apartment. Dumping their junk in a large storage unit near Goshen, NY, they left all their furniture, costumes, fabric, puppet parts and photo archives for only $57 a month rent. A gnes d e G a r r o n p e r fo r m s a t D estin y L odge, N o rth field , V erm ont.

Thinking back to the wonderful early days of living in Vermont and the first faeries that came to visit Vermont, memories of those times are reminiscent of old-fashioned still cameras, the ones that you couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see the photos immediately after each picture was shot. The faeries being captured on camera knew they were having a good time. They didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want or need to look at the images immediately because they were creating a new history. Now, in 2007, looking at those photographs in photo albums verifies in fact that those joyous experiences of fun and adventure

A lesbian Vershire property owner had talked to one of the /'aeries g a t h e r on th e p o n to o n b r id g e in B r o o k fie ld , V erm ont

Destiny

Timeline

RFD Winter 2007-08 #132

1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City

1974 & RFD Iowa issue. Oldest, readerwritten journal in the US

1976 & RFD W estern Massachusetts/ Southern Vermont Issue

1979 '$? I st Radical Faerie Gathering in Arizona

D o n a ld , T rick, Jim J a c k s o n (kn eelin g ), R o b b ie , C h ia P et B utt P lug o f j o n i M itc h ell T am e.

happened. Every time we had house guest(s) for the night or more, we recorded their presence on film.

in faeries’ hearts and minds that someday in the future a sanctuary for faeries could be a reality in this beautiful State.

It was very important for these frontier faeries to be able to live in the countryside in a rural area of northeast Vermont, and still be able to have friends from out of state drive by car and come to see them and their new cottage in the woods. For the majority of their out of state friends this was the first time they had visited Vermont. From this small beginning the seeds were being planted

To get an invitation to a Vermont happening, weekend or whatever you had to receive a letter from the post office or get a call from a land line telephone. These letters and phone calls were “invitations to the dance," a conspiracy, a game of seduction. Each gatherette or gathering call had artwork and pictures and graphics specifically geared to lure the reader to a potential future adventure. Faeries were being asked to drive 300 miles from NYC or 200 from Boston. The gatherings had titles like: “Uncover Your Destiny,” "Bustier or Bust,” “All Hallow’s About Eve,” “Turkey less We Are So Family," etc.. Finally if you weren't being hunted down to explore the grandeur, thrills and eroticisms of camping it up, then you became part of the “hunter” group luring the newly unP ain tin g o f Jew els I n t e r n a t io n a l by G reg G lover.

r$? I st Northeast Gathering, Richville, NY

1980

1982

1981

*$5* Common Spirit, Karl July 3-5: 1st Blue Volk, early Sanctuary Heron: “A Gathering effort for Gentle Gay Men”

1st N Y C FaericGram

1984 *$? Ithaca Gathering "The Snow Faeries Gather" at Lavender Hill RFD Winter 2007-08 tf 132

initiated into the cozy, campy country world of New England faeriedom.

Well, invade we did. The faeries gathered for a postRainbow Gathering at the Vershire cabin in 1991. Together they planned for the first big faerie presence at the famous Bread and Puppet Festival in Northern Vermont the next month. There they set up a faerie campground inside the hetero campground and put on all the faerie drag possible to make a grand entrance into the crowds of thousand at the Circus performance. Faeries form the Amber Fox, Boston, NYC, Philly, Burlington, Rochester and California circles congregated.

To the c ity dweller from New York, Philly or Boston, the Green Mountain State represented a wilderness beyond civilization. Vermont was less a State of the Union and more a state of mind, a mini-culture that had fought back against industrialization and urbanization. It had not actually stopped progress, just delayed it as much as possible. This place that had more cows than people did not wish to become a suburb to those larger surrounding metropolises. Not wanting To the city dweller from easy, high New York, Philly or Boston, speed access to their land, the Green Mountain State its citizens represented a wilderness fought the beyond civilization. construction of the first interstate highway in its borders. When those new speedways were built, Vermonters banned billboards on all highways and made laws limiting the subdivision of large acreage of farmland. Was this place being saved and preserved for a future faerie invasion?

From that point on the Vershire cabin became the retreat in the country to vacation and relax. The faeries had arrived. What was to follow over the coming years was the small but powerful presence of the faeries in Vermont. Only five of us marched in Vermont’s tiny Gay Pride Parade. The faeries created the idea of the yearly “Winter is a Drag” dance/performance benefit for Vermont Cares, an AIDS organization. Later, Roger Mapes moved to Vermont and became Yolanda and starred as the co-host of our cable talk/variety show with the faeries living in the State. It starred a guest in song, dance and talking. Our cultural culture was moving into the mainstream Gay & Lesbian culture of Vermont. Gabriel became a board member of Vermont Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights. Chris Moes was editor-in-chief of Out in the Mountains, the only Gay newspaper in the State. Endora and Tim produced an anti-Christmas cabaret benefit, shocking the titties off the pagans present. The faeries were the only group of gay men out enough to attend a Gay Halloween party in Montpelier in drag. Out lesbians in the State were in abundance, but not gay men. 8 And who can forget the | big splash the faerie f entourage made in one * piece bathing suits at the ~ public swimming hole “Floating Bridge?”

D estiny L odge, N o rth ficld , Verm ont. This is w h at D estin y ’s k itc h en c o u ld h a v e lo o k e d like.

1987 I st Ganowunga Gathering

<$? October, March on Washington: Faeries dance naked in Dupont Circle fountain

1988 c<$? Ithaca Gathering: Tom Seidner’s house.

Faerie Action Gathering (FAG), Harry Hay visits

lthaca:Tom Seidner’s house: Agnes’s tent catches fire

V. RFD Winter 2007-08 #132

1989

( ottrrUrm of Ag” n r>fAg*r,

R e b ec c a , C o ren n e, D a v id R icketts, C la u d e, Ja m e s , G a b r ie l ( b e h in d th e ra ttle), M a x z in e, a n d m y steriou s u n d e r lo p e r a t th e V ershire

E n d o ra, B a m b i, Mr. L an ier, B ey o n d th e V alley o f th e D olls p a rty , N o rth field , Verm ont.

A gnes a n d S ticky p e r fo r m on th e C h erie a n d Y olan da Show on B u rlin g to n ’s co m m u n ity ac cess ch a n n el. r$? Faeries stage a re enactment of Judy Garland’s funeral. Foam rubber yellow bricks are thrown at the Stonewall Inn

Will or Data,age 9, discovers he is gay when he sees his friend, Leo, so hot in his briefs

A Q Q C 'N | st Walnut Hill Gathering

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RFD Winter 2007-0K #132

while also making our lives all the more invisible by our circling the wagons to care for our own when the "system” failed us.

Destiny Through the Decades: Envisioning Through Memory

I was young, beleaguered by the AIDS crisis, the political war which we now know as the “culture wars”. So the faeries were a welcome refuge. Back then we held about four gatherings a year in the Northeast: Pinebush, Ithaca, Blue Heron and as we entered the early '90s, Walnut Hill. We were lucky enough to have a few groundbreaking gatherings: the Faerie Action Gathering in 1989 and FAGtasia in l992 both in New York City. Both focused on coming together as a tribe, making a political statement, and in those heady days of being in A CT UP and Queer Nation, the radical faerie frolicking was so welcome and fitting. But we didn’t have a sanctuary to call our own. Those of us lucky enough to travel down to Short Mountain or Wolf Creek felt a strong pull to create sanctuary in the Northeast.

by B a m b i It's been twenty years since I drove one snowy evening to my first gathering in Ithaca, New York with my lover Alan. I’ve been amazed how much history and "traditions" have come to me within the context of being a radical faerie. I was nineteen years old then and a shy slim boy. I was impressed with the loud and boisterous folks tramping through the snow to one of Ithaca’s many waterfalls. My days since have been filled with tramping through many experiences with my new found clan.

My memory and the memories of others have shaped my thought process about how our In 1991 a number of us community that we call Faerie circled at Walnut Hill in Camp Destiny came into being. Raymond, NH and discussed So in some ways, we all have creating sanctuary at the our "in the beginning” or more calling of Karl Volk. It was likely "at the first gathering I an interesting meeting. We attended” mythologies. My all had ideas, but we lacked memories arc filled with limited the thing that would help amounts of sugar, coffee & foist those ideas into action: black tea, people not drinking we were not able to meet alcohol, people smoking off to actively and often. Similar the side, and a large amount of ideas percolated in New energy being put into "speaking York City at the same time from the heart” at circle. We all with the same result. Faeries had a lot to confess or confide are fantastic dreamers, in those days. Our fellows visionaries and magicians were being stricken down by but we needed something 1IIV, our sorrow was clear, our that our brief weekends “W h e re’s m y c a b in ? ” G a u th ie r en joy s o v e r lo o k in g tears were both for those brave together couldn’t h is fu t u r e f r o n t y a r d . brothers and for ourselves provide-continuity. for surviving. We were in the midst of the Reagan era - the wars in Central America, Then suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere (actually the brinksmanship over Communism, inflation, and out of Gabriel and Agnes' exodus from Manhattan to Republican values that both denied our human crisis Vershire, Vermont) came the seeds of what would be

19901997 '$? Bread & Puppet Gatherings RID Winter 2007-08 #132

1993 & March on Washington: More naked drumming

r3 j Agnes and Gabriel call folks about living at the lodge in Northfield. “Destiny” is born when the real estate sales lady 14

takes them to the Northfield Lodge and her license tags say D EST IN Y

Early residents: Agnes, Gabriel, Rowan, Chris Moes, Kwai, Endora, Robbie,Yolanda, Sticky,Trick

more lasting community, oddly, what I'd see as a vision for a “faerie house" a la San Francisco's 501 on the part of Agnes & Gabriel and 1 am sure a desire to find a cool space and folks who could help with the rent and utilities, a household was born after they both got a number of us to come up for gatherings in Vershire and for the Bread & Puppet Resurrection Circus in Glover. We all soon were cramming into cars with bedding, drag and drums to the new faerie house in Northfield, Vermont.

But in the end it was worth it. We formed our “Articles of Association" and after long wrangling came up with language of which many Northeast faeries are proud: that we are inclusive to all who call themselves radical faeries, regardless of gender, and now, regardless of gender expression. We also created a core group of folks who wanted to see sanctuary happen. So out of the Northfield faerie house which came to be called Destiny Lodge, we had a non-profit corporation searching for land in Vermont.

In these days many of the names that have taken on mythic proportions were all crammed into the living room for gatherettes in Northfield: Delores, Kathy Joe, John Meyer, Trick, Rowan, Donald, Janibeth, Sticky, Pig, Bill and Ed, Endora & Mr. Lanier, the two Johns, Richard Cardarelli, and soon new faces like Yolanda, Chris Moes, Marky Milk, and Tom Stama. The gatherings were compact in time and comfort yet we always managed to enjoy ourselves clustered in small rooms cuddled on the floor watching snow fall outside. We built a snow castle and ice skated on a small patch of ice and managed to either get stuck in the mud coming down the road or go over the bank clearing the curve at the top of the driveway.

In those circles about creating structure, defining ourselves, and claiming our visions, we also faced the difficulties of having a structureless group that pretended not to have leaders when two of Destiny s founders were faced with their own personal crisis of ending their long term living and business relationship at the loss of the Northfield property. People from within the core of folks who came to Northfield and bought into the vision of sanctuary were soon having to “step up” and take on roles of responsibility and create a level of accountability which heretofore had been “uncool” for faeries to concern themselves with. But we now had thousands of dollars-not a thousand-and the vision extended beyond that small household. Carrying ourselves forward, we put trusted people within the community on the Board of Faerie Camp Destiny. Names that bear mentioning as they held the | spirit of things together until | we bought the land in Grafton: | David Finkelstein, Howie Sue, Endora, Donald, and myself.

We were happy to have a “home” at the Lodge and when it came up for sale, we immediately thought about buying it. And for a community that never seemed to hold more than a thousand dollars to carry us F a n ta , th e a rtist fo r m e r ly over to renting the next retreat now o f B e rlin , not th e o n e center, we began to dream about sanctuary more fully. Of course we immediately concerned ourselves with “who are we”? That took up quite a bit of time, sadly long enough to get the property sold out from under us

O ther folks:Jim & Jay, Donald, Bill & Ed, Delores, John Collis, John Cass, David Finklestein

1994 A rt Gatherings at Walnut Hill by Jim Jackson

know n a s C h ris M oes, in V erm ont.

With a clear structure and a hopeful vision of finding land in southern Vermont, we began our land search. Within a short period of time we found the land in Grafton, Vermont. We described it in our first Destiny STAR as

($3 The lodge is sold

Pine Bush Gatherings with much drama. r& FAGtasia The Circle discusses quitting or looking r$? Destiny, Inc. W for land. Bitch fight June 7, 1994 ensues at Walnut Hill

Mission Statement: Inclusive of all genders. November Destiny Diaspora

______________ 15

RI D Winter 2(X)7-()8 #132

Excitedy we wrote in the Destiny STAR that the kitchen would be built by “next summer". That summer has been a decade in the making. We built a small kitchen along a slope, pitched a tarp and hauled a small four burner stove we bought and called that home. No toilet, no running water and no parking. The next year we blew in a road, making the old log road useable. We laid out the parking lot and decided to move the kitchen site. The site we picked quickly flooded and so we picked another site. Destiny has a way of holding its water, it’s an emotional ride. Lonewolf built a wonderful shitter on the model of the one he made for Blue Heron. It was a two door, two seater, very deluxe. Sadly, the land was unwilling to accommodate our commode and the holes quickly filled with water and our beloved shitter became called “Shit Not Here”.

"magickly delicious land found in Grafton” What many o f us remember from our first visit was it was wet, thick with trees and swarming with mosquitoes and it was essentially a slope. Yet it was large at 150 acres and in the end cheap at $450 an acre. Everyone pitched in. A major campaign was launched to take us to a down payment for the property, grow our twelve grand bank account and hopefully find a “sugar daddy faerie" who could help with either a mortgage or a big donation.

In another major step away from lack of structurelessness we divided up the mailing list of 500 names and started calling folks asking them for money. In short order we had our money for the down-payment. Soon Jim and Jaybird were helping by signing a loan which would allow Destiny, Inc. to move ahead with buying the land. On the day of the closing, a 1 Junebug wowed us with an group of us who took part in amazing ecological survey of the signing and merriment at the property, we used it later the Brattleboro Savings and in our Act 250 application. Loan, impressed the bank loan G ra n d m o th e r m a p le b e in g b o ls te re d u p by W ere still using it as a D e n n is B u rk h a rd t w hile Toshio (rig h t) looks on. officer by being more decked reference for the flora and out :han her. We all crammed fauna of the land. It was an amazing time, with people into our cars and drove to Destiny to consecrate the pouring their personal talents into the mix of making land and we walked in, braving darkening clouds community. Moss left a permanent mark as well with and made it to the site of the Crone Circle where we the erection of the yurt and the kitchen, two structures found a wonderful Grandmother Maple, we poured which we still use today. out libations and began drumming. Before we knew it we roused the goddess of rain and soon lightning was Ever the optimist, Gabriel, one of the shining lights of striking all around us. It struck another large maple, our community, came to one of our multiple Board which came crashing down. Was it a blessing or an meetings with the idea of having the Convocation of ominous sign? We hightailed it out of there but not Communities, a gathering of the various faerie tribes before laying some rocks at the site of our altar. So to share and learn about building community, working before w'e knew it we owned land by mid-July 1997 and with consensus, and finding elements to build upon we celebrated by having a wonderful gathering at Tree Harry Hay’s subject-subject consciousness. In 1999 we Frog Farm in Guilford V T and shuttled up to “the land” gathered on the land and hosted faeries from around with a large gathering of folks looking to celebrate and the world and even managed with the help of a cell join in as we explored our new sanctuary.

'$? Original Board: Howie Sue, Agnes, Gabriel

Community Meetings in New York City

r$? Stonewall 25: The Judy Funeral is repeated with Eugene as Judy

19941996

r£b CO Land Searches

& N YC: Psychic Affair for Destiny

J KI D Winter 2(X)7-()8 #132

\Tone of us obviously knew much about developing primeval forest land and we learned that the state of Vermont, having learned from prior hippy mistakes, had strong environmental and building laws. We were forced to get permits from the state’s Agency of Natural Resources. We took two years to deal with the immensity of the challenge and filed our first application for a development permit in 2002. Having "lived on the The D estin y G eo g ra p h ic, land” as a community coming together by J u n e b u g . under our little tarps we faced the harsh reality that not all of our neighbors loved us. The local planning commission tried to shut us down and we were in for a fight * based on noise [ complaints about \ our drumming and nudity down by the brook. We were stung by all I of this but it was | clear that it was also thinly veiled Toth, E n d o ra , B a m b i circlin g at T ree F ro g F a rm , homophobia and th e last p re -G ra fto n g a th e rin g . xenophobia. We made that point well in the hearings and our permits were issued with few limitations.

phone and car battery to hear from Harry himself all the way from San Francisco as we huddled around in the yurt. Gabriel was right. Even though we didn’t have the facilities on the ground, everyone had a wonderful time and it planted a seed to come together as community leaders, something which the Fae tribe could benefit from again. Having learned that structures are complicated we decided to stick with archetypal elements first, laying out trails, erecting a simple sweat lodge near the brook, and our simple triumph, a wonderful labyrinth along the ridge. In iMay 2000, my mom passed away. It was an untimely passing and I was wrecked by its coming and one of the first things that happened was to be whisked away to Destiny for the Walt W hitman gathering, a mere Trick, C arlos, B illy two days after G u ilfo rd , V erm ont, her death. I was stunned by the level of caring and compassion that the community extended to me and was brought to great comfort in my tears as people created a ritual of remembrance for my mom in the labyrinth on a dark evening, tikki torches lighting the paths and small stones as markers and cairns for all of our remembered dead. It was a humbling experience to see the power of the land in those small stones gathered along the path, along the brook, and alone in the forest which was devoid of anything but trees, ferns and the geology of the Earth.

1995/96 Annual Meeting at London Lipke’s, Dummerston.VT

1996 f$? Q ueer Utopias A rt Benefit

G a b rie l Q, 2 0 0 7

1997 'i&June 28, Purchase and Sale

r& 1st Destiny Star

Our next obstacle was about money, we were faced with funding a major project that wasn’t very sexy: drilling a well and laying in a septic system. The well would be easy, the fonts of faeire energy would provide but paying for somewhere to put our poop? Not so easy. Especially considering we ourselves were faced with interpersonal challenges and how to trust each other. We were still getting used to working by consensus. So even

^2 July: Closing on the property

'3$ Tree Frog Farm Gathering

Consecration of Sanctuary and building of the Altar

Endora’s ‘‘Unholy Night Cabaret"

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R FD Winter 2(X)7-()8 #132

seem to apply, our loving brotherhood wasn’t capable of sustaining him. After he left several months later we heard he killed himself in Florida. With Gabriel in self exile and with Switch’s death, the community was faced with re-grouping, learning to love, trust and rebuild our identity as a community. It was a struggle and after a few years of wonderful gatherings we were able to take on difficult tasks again. Many other wonderful people from our community left our little path and expanded their journey beyond our battered orange gate on Walt Whitman Lane. I’m always amazed that after several years at any circle where we are remembering dear friends the names that re-appear: Moon, Fanta, Yolanda, Junebug, Rowan, and Crissy Bubbles. One of the gifts Gabriel brought to Destiny was Matt. It was part of Matt’s return into our fold that made moving ahead possible. I’ll always value how people leave impressions and values even if they themselves are no longer involved directly. Matt has an amazing

D h a n ti Boo (right), D estin y ’s fir s t la n d stew a rd a n d M a tt, D estin y ’s d esign a n d b u ild in g co o rdina to r.

with the wonderful consensus workshops spearheaded by Endora and led by Ruah, a Quaker / Wiccan ally, we were faced with something most groups don’t face on the level that we do: D R A M A . Living as gay men, as queer people, our oppression sometimes eats its own. And sadly we often eat our leaders first. In our case it was Gabriel. It was one of the sadder moments in my faerie experience. We all saw it coming and yet the path was laid to have him leave. All I could do was wish him well and a happy return.

$ 2 1st Fall Foliage Gathering at the Sanctuary. O ur first kitchen is erected

V_______________ RFD Winter 2007-08 #132

Dummerston Pie Festival is visited by Destiny Faeries. E.G. minces through a crowd of bikers

Photo: M a tt Bucy

The attacks of 9/11 had a profound effect on Destiny as a community. Many of our tribe came from metro New York and the glare of constant coverage showing the towers fall as well as the personal experiences had many piling into cars for an impromptu gathering. One of the people affected by September 11th was a faerie relatively new to u s-h is name was Switch. He lived close to Ground Zero and its impact on him along with self medicating caused him to become unhinged. Destiny faced a challenge when we realized he was camping on the land in the snow. The land was really in no position to be a healing place, it was cold, and our buildings were definitely warm weather only. Folks had to intervene and ask him to leave the land. It was pretty ugly. I le was paranoid, and his one sense of securitythe "land” was being taken from him. Sanctuary didn't

J e f f at the new ly t n u d d e d w alls o f th e k itch en

C i*3 Bruce Scott constructs a large, penis hot air balloon out of paper. James Poitras,Autumn, Glisten, and Bruce

launch it over the Crone Fire and it shoots high into the trees for its only Destiny voyage

^ Autumn has his first and only trip on Ken Keaseys bus

J 18

ability to show that we can all learn together. Trained as an architect, he took over the planning for our kitchen, the one that would always be “finished by next summer” He helped us shape a vision of a timber framed kitchen with straw bale walls. It meant learning new building techniques, it meant commitment to being on the land over two summers.

Photo M a n Racy

Folks are now beginning to think earnestly about residency after two serious summers of being on the land and after Dhami Boo acted as our first land steward. It’s been an amazing trip and I can see myself wanting to live on the land. Folks often joke that the caretaker cabin is “Bambi’s cabin” and I’m humbled to think that folks both love and trust me enough to fill such a role. But I’m also excited to see other cabins built to accommodate our elders and folks, who like me have limited mobility at times. As I’ve worked over this last summer extensively with a core of folks whom I’ve known now for close to a decade, I’m able to say I’m home when I pull my pickup up Walt Whitman Lane, but as usual I’m left asking poor Matt, “Is my cabin ready?” Obviously, Destiny's next steps are about deciding who can live on the land and how. Meanwhile, the journey of coming together on the land to gather and dream continues.

the camera o f Rambi Gauthier

O ne o f the h a n d -h ew n p e g s h o ld in g the tim b e r f r a m e together. T h ere a r e a b o u t 1 3 0 o f th ese in th e k itch en.

R a m b i works P eggy th e p e g -jig u n d e r th e ev e rfla p p in g b lu e ta rps. R a m b i co n tem p la tes h is n ex t cu t with a d ra w k n ife.

O u r first website is set up on Bucy’s webpage

($? March Annual Meeting: Ruah, a Quaker/Wiccan Cabaret Destiny: comes to teach Daisy Shaver directs/ Destiny about produces consensus

1998

Nomenus offers to function as a “pass through" for our tax exempt fundraising

r$? 1st May Gathering on the Sanctuary: 2nd kitchen erected which has a mosquito netting bubble suspended from RFD Winter 2(X)7-()8 #132

r'M r

the trees sewn by Justina, Gabriel and Daisy '($? I st July 4th Gathering:The

V RFD Winter 2007-08 #132

Dazzle Dancers r$j come from N Y C and throw a luau. & Some faeries get sick from the seafood the Dazzles brought.

First Lammas Gathering Sanctuary V ision Ritual

c$? Noisy Bottoms is named in the flat area under the Crone Tree

A moose lumbers through a gathering for the first time c3 j Destiny Geographic

is completed

taken by lay Schtetter rept for concrete truck which

byJuneBug: A compendium of the flora and fauna of the Sanctuary

Gabriel Q visits other Sanctuaries to learn about design and governance of other communities

1999

Destiny develops a home page of our own

Fanny & Keisha BikeA-Thon from N Y C rJ ? The Yurt is to Destiny constructed making

the first indoor space with a wood stove.Thanks Moss. 'J? I st Week-long Lammas Gathering..

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KI D Winter 2(K)7-08 #132

that did happen somewhere along the way. We were both fascinated by how varied and vivid the life was that teemed in the silent w'oods around us. Death was a companion too, as we realized when a stray bleached bone or two led to the discovery of a deer skull. The blankly staring eye-sockets gazed with hollow' triumph over the silently hectic activity that thronged all about.

The Magick of Destiny by L ea fsh im m er Destiny! Destiny most Divine! Land that has been closely entwined with my own destiny in the past decade. Apart from many other things, Destiny gave me a name. W hile walking through the woods and looking up at how the light alchemised through the green shadows, shimmering through the clustering leaves, the word Leafshimmer came into my mind. Soon enough 1 found myself announcing it in Circle as my new Faerie name.

The backdrop of silent waiting seemed to deepen. We sat down on the bank, the waters of the stream gurgling over the mossy stones, and 1 played my Tibetan singing bowl, guiding both of us deeper and deeper into trance. A sudden drop in the temperature and a grey clinging mist, sensed rather than seen, seemed to cut us off from the life and death of the forest around us. The upw'ard climb back wras punctuated by heaving breaths and a more acute sense of the music of the forest herself-her very own song of being.

Like a Greek widow telling her beads, my fingers touch and tingle with the memories of seasons past at Destiny; the wonders seen, the earth with its raw richness I loved, the men 1 lusted for, the beauty reborn anew into my heart, the magick that changed forever how 1 see the world and everything in it.

I loved the silence then, but I loved just as much the good cheer and fellowship of the Cornholio Rite one Lammas (w'as it 2001?). I thought Cornholio w'as quite a wild spin upon the whole “Wicker Man” thing. (This was before many of I’ll never forget how my circleus had heard about the Burning brother Crowman shared my love for Man scene, incidentally.) 2D had the tangled woodlands of Destiny. | a boyfriend that year w'ho w'as While others cursed how the thicket w'orking on a Farm; they brought shut out the summer sunlight, Crow bales and bales of hay that w'as built and 1 roamed the forest, revelling in with Faerie engineering genius the sometimes violently clustering into the holy Cornholio figure. We L ea fsh im m er, a c ro n e of D estiny foliage, the red efts and scampering w'ere in the Crone Circle (ahvays green salamanders, the sarabanding my favorite place for ritual on the Land—and I deeply spiders, the vines and mosses (with their yummy teal mourn the progressive dismemberment of the Crone highlights) and rioting ferns. One cool moist afternoon Tree as her limbs fall and she is gathered piece by (this would have been the Walt Whitman Gathering of piece into the realm of the Ancestors). There w'as a 2003), we headed down the steep old trail towards the moment when I announced that the time had arrived yonder end of the stream, seeking solitude for some for anyone with a wish, a prayer, or a request to shove meditation work we wanted to share together. It was a same into Cornholio’s cum-slit (fortunately, his phallus grey yet vigorous afternoon; the leaves shivered with w'as as huge as the rest of him). The circle quietly but nervous vitality; the green canopy thrown like a crazy purposefully surged forward, some holding bits of clerestory over the sky was mottled, mystical, moody. paper and others leaves, bark or blooms to represent Lhe path we followed snaked and twisted and toiled their w'ishes. The circle in its own spontaneous way with a truly disarming queerness. I’m pretty sure we brought Cornholio to consecrated life. The resulting managed to avoid falling on our asses although maybe ...happens in the shadow of The Blair W itch Project when 5 faeries brave sleeping all week in the woods RFD Winter 2007-08 #132

c$3 Freedom to Marry the Land-Ritual re-enactment of the Inanna texts

5 0 1(c)3 Tax exempt status achieved as an Educational Organization Stonewall 30

r$? Plan-lt Restructuring and the Master Plan Responsibilities to the Land are written

Gabriel initiates the first Convocation of Communities to call Faerie movers and shakers from around the globe to discuss

i I

I mountain with me in the darkness. We stood near the Grandfather rock with the moonlight pouring silver over everything and everyone. We held hands and sang songs and felt the unspeakable beauty of the Circle in us and around us. Then we slowly exchanged kisses, touched hands, and the Circle melted away into the landscape. 1 think some folks went off to do their own thing— I and a few others headed down to the Hecate Circle for more dancing and drumming. Flames flickering with scary orange light over naked male bodies-cocks quickening in the heat of the fire. DIVINE.

fire was a most gorgeous blaze. Richard “REB” Bump put a photograph of it with a Rumi poem on the cover of his fabulous zine F a n o r a m a -ch eck out the stunning website: www.freewebs.com/fanorama/fanorama.htm. This experience taught me that sometimes, the community does need its rituals. Our rites over the years took many forms and manifestations, as is befitting the zany, gorgeous chimera of Faery spirit and Faery love. At one Gathering, I was so smitten with Pan-ecstasy that 1 ran around one evening yodeling madly “IO O O O O PANNNNN!!!” 1 somehow talked a small group into making the pilgrimage up to the top of the our intentional communities Daisy Shaver has a birthday during the Convocation on

9/9/1999 and Co-ops the gathering for his day Olestra constructs a woodland art gallery

C ontinued on Page 26

A Circle happens with Harry Hay patched in via cellphone in the Yurt

Deadly Nightshade brings a Food Mandala Ritual to Destiny

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*£$? Fall Foliage: Jim Jackson’s Land Walk to survey for permanent kitchen sites

r$3 The Trench is dug to divert water to dry the septic area

^ J u ly l:The Coordinating Plan-lt is formed to facilitate the process of the Circle by calling meetings, ensure and facilitate information flow, initiate processes of conflict resolution and emergency decisions, draft the Bill of Responsibilities to the Circle based on the Bill of

v _____________________________ ____________________________________ RFD Winter 2007-08 #132

Responsibilities to the Land, and select Titular Heads of Destiny, Inc., to be responsible on paper documents

(8? Hummer facilitates the second week-long Lammas Destiny Players gathering presenting A Midsummer

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Responsibilities to the Land, and select Titular Heads of Destiny, Inc., to be responsible on paper documents

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RFD Winter 2007-08 #132

A ritual 1 love to perform either solo or with one or two close friends is to walk the Labyrinth at Destiny. The spiral pathways seem to make visible those spinning energies lurking beneath the surface in the sacred forest. I’ll never forget the year my beloved Faerie brother Fuku organized a small team to rake the Labyrinth and help make it look more pretty. The transformation was truly remarkable. For a time, I visited the Labyrinth frequently on the astral—I couldn't imagine anywhere that embodied more fully the concept of a safe, peaceful, holy spot.

not at Destiny. I recall my surprise at finding myself playing Titania to hlummer’s very wild-child Puck in a production of Midsummer Night’s Dream; the handsome and dreamy-eyed Pippin was my Oberon. Daisy very kindly loaned me a spectacularly confected cape to give me at least the airs and graces of a queen, and 1 had a lovely train of Faeries to sing "God save the Queen” as 1 pranced royally into the scene (until Agnes hushed them and made them sing something more creative, of course).

Photo* M att Bury

We all love our drama queens, so it was no doubt inevitable that outdoor theatre would become a feature of the occasional Gathering. For some reason, 1 was drafted to play Queens on a number of occasions (even though in my own eyes 1 lack that ravaging, relentless level of commitment [ALL drama, ALL the time] that makes the tiara of the true Queen shine with a shudderingly feral luster). I think 1 had the most fun when 1

Perhaps most spectacularly of all, I remember sitting up till 3 in the morning making the dazzling crown 1 wore as Ninsun, Wild Cow of Uruk, mother of Gilgamesh (played with ravishingly butch energy by Javier). Ninsun was a Queen who was also a High Priestess—therefore, perhaps, the role best suited to my own temperament. It was quite a hoot staggering around onstage in gold glitter high heels invoking the ancient Gods while an orgy was happening stage left, pretty much insuring that even in a two foot high headdress, I was invisible to the audience. Fun stuff. I was told afterwards by a very kind Faerie that 1 gave the proceedings "that Roz Russell touch” which just may be the highest compliment ever paid to me.

played the Queen Mum and Delishus was my dutiful daughter, Lilibet herself, the reigning Monarch, and we had to endure being kidnapped by vicious terrorists who held a bent spoon to my throat and threatened dire consequences if their demands were not met. But that was at Blue Heron, at a "Queen Mum and Prince William’s birthday party” event organized by William;

Night’s Dream in the Trench r<& Endora invokes the gods in a tea party

RFD Winter 2007-08#132

and the Labyrinth is created 2-D and Agnes facilitate the Astro Circle: Mapping

our superpowers through the sacred geometry of the stars!

2001 ^ March: Perc Testing-Local faeries snowshoe into the Sanctuary for weekly

readings of the percolation test to site the septic system

1 could recall many other enchanting moments at Destiny. Some of the most beautiful were completely spontaneous, of course. At my very first visit to the Land, at the Convocation of Communities in '99, a very glamorous Faerie did an Invocation to the Little Black

enough to make your jaw drop and roll around invitingly on the ground. Being a new Faerie and a shy one (something my friends today may find hard to believe), 1 felt awkward about going up to this quietly regal stranger (as he seemed in my eyes) and speaking to him. As it happened, however, we both wound up encountering one another down at the parking lot (performing an errand familiar to anyone who has ever stayed at Faerie Camp Destiny) on the Sunday morning of the weekend. I blurted out that I had heard he was from Canada and asked about Faerie Circles up there. He told me that not only did they have circles, but he had an archival collection about the Movement, going back to the 1960s. His eyes sparkled as he spoke with

Dress on the last night at the fire -I’ve never forgotten the fierce flame that burned in those almost-whispered words strung together like gems in a Duchess’s coronet. 1 remember, too, a Drawing Down the Moon rite that was Priestessed by Endora and Crissy Bubbles, and being so touched when Endora walked around the Circle, naked and radiant with divinity, reciting the Charge of the Goddess. Years later there was a traditional Lammas rite where Endora sang Starhawk’s haunting ballad “I am the wealthy one” in that rich and rare voice of his and we all cast ears of corn into the flames -s o simple, yet heartbreakingly beautiful. quiet passion about the history of those circles and their forerunners, and I lapped it all in. There was a pause and 1 asked his name and he said, “Claude.” We hugged ...the breeze lifted and made music in the trees, and my heart sang, and he rubbed my tummy and smiled.

Perhaps the most magickal gift of all was bestowed upon me by the Goddess of Destiny on that very first visit in ‘99. I’d seen this gorgeous, rather winsome Faery, hovering around the Kitchen wearing nothing but a tie-dyed t-shirt. His long honeybrown hair tossed with a riot of curls flowed free in the breeze; his smile was gentle as the dawn breaking after a spring rain, and his lips most inviting of kisses; his brown eyes were full of warmth and good humor, and his manly endowment

The kitchen roof collapses under the weight of the winter snows. A new clear ceiling is erected by Moss in the spring.

Destiny’s gifts come sometimes when you least expect them. And, as the Goddess herself proclaimed, “All acts of love and pleasure are My ritual.” And after all, what is a Sanctuary without a sacrament at its heart?

W ater is collected from the roof

f$? glitter comes home to the Universe

July 4th:Javier and Freckle get “Lost on the Mountain”

^ S e p te m b e r I l:W T C attacks. N Y C faeries

flee the city and seek Sanctuary

lamps, and expand the art gallery space

r$? Olcstra, Javier and Daisy build a memorial, hanging

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RFD Winter 2007-OX #132

come to realize it’s the ‘Faerie Network’ that is really important. It’s not just the spaces we make and hold."

Making Space in the Compost Matrix

1 think most of us are aware that there is a network of communities of which we can avail ourselves. Our communities have coalesced information resources so we can tap in with ease. RFD has been a reliable resource for decades. Internet sites have flourished over the last ten years that have allowed us to keep in touch and find each other in a few keystrokes. I’ve taken advantage of faeries near and far for couch surfing, technical assistance, advice, and Heart space talk. It’s fantastic. I can find community in so many places because my relationships with faeries have expanded through Sanctuary spaces, gatherings, publications, and our virtual networks and listserves.

by D aisy S haver This summer life afforded me the opportunity to commit to Destiny in a deeper way. I was able to leave my employment and move to the Sanctuary for two months and spend all the rest of the weekends there in three to five day stints. Spending so much time in faerie space, I was able to examine my role with the faeries and the role I want the faeries to continue to play in my life. Many questions have surfaced for me about our Circle and what the role of residents or stewards will be in the future. Now that we can, how do we shape our residency? What is a resident’s role within the physical Sanctuary?

Endora and I were evaluating these “seeds” for our future during the Lammas gathering this year. We marveled at this network of community that has evolved through the years. We have come up with the term Compost Matrix to describe it. This organic community development keeps stewing down into something richer and more fertile to keep us growing. I get this strong visual from the popular movies of similar title when I think of the Compost Matrix. It’s a grid of golden threads that weave us all together. 1 can tune into the Matrix in my mind, in my heart, on the web, RFD, or in the variety of places of Sanctuary or circles in various locales.

Destiny has spent years growing our relationships. Many focus on the things we are building as if this was the core of what we are doing as a community. It has taken many years to actually begin to develop permanent facility and structure. Some judge this length of time as faerie disarray. For me, the real building has been the relationships 1 have within the faeries; both locally and around the globe. These intentions to build community are so much deeper and more D a isy S h a v e r sw ings b o th w ays on th e important than the temporal g in -p o le. spaces we place in Sanctuary. But, gladly, Destiny is now able to do the hard work of My personal stewardship for faerie sanctuaries framing our residency. is about these connections personally. With the first Convocation of Com m unities, I com m itted to Billy spent most of the summer working at Dan develop the Compost M atrix in sustainable ways. Harlow’s place nearby in Westminister, VT. He came I’ve desired to examine my com m itm ent to all the to Destiny a number of times. One evening he told me, Sanctuaries not just Destiny. So I look to the roles of "This is definitely faerie space." I told him how relieved other stew-ards in other com m unities. Many have laid and happy I was to hear someone I’ve known express important groundwork from which Destiny continues that Destiny feels right. “But, really," he said, “I’ve to evolve.

2002 The Peck Parcel, an additional 16 acres at the base of the driveway RI D Wimer 2007-08 #132

is purchased Samara Foundation Grant received $1,500

Switch moves onto the land in the early spring thaw as our first resident. He is asked to move a month later. 28

*$?June: Select a name for our Road. Grafton Selectboard lets us use “W alt Whitman Lane”

Land use permits granted after nasty hearings with neighbors whipped up by a local politician, Harold

Wave, O p h e lia , J a d e , A u tu m n a n d J a m e s in 2 0 0 7 p e r fo r m in g a n e p is o d e o f F a e r ie H o m e C o m p a n io n a t th e W illia m s R iver Inn, th e b e d a n d b r e a k fa s t a c r o s s th e r o a d f r o m D estin y ’s en tra n c e.

Destiny will soon be able to provide a more comfortable space for community and Sanctuary. Our building has focused on utility' and sustainability of natural as well as personal resources. The spaces were shaping are heart-felt and lovingly crafted. Over the next year we are going to be able to design and build cabins to house faeries.

I built a tent platform this summer. It’s a ten by ten foot, raised platform within the guidelines to construct without “approval” from the greater Circle. 1 built with lumber cut and milled on the land which was a terrific feeling. Rut I kept pretty quiet about it. I worried that faeries might freak out if they knew 1 had this comfortable little structure put together without their knowledge or input. 1 worried about any shift in power this might create in people's mind. But 1 also felt 1 was acting in a way that took care of me and helped the community' by having a more happy and rested me while I was stewarding. My personal intentions are informed by the years of conversations our Circle has had. It is clear, though, the conversations will continue as we design our permanent space-keepers in our Sanctuary.

What will the Circle desire of me should I live in Sanctuary? Will I pay rent? Would I provide service to the land? Or to the Circle? How will decisions about the Land happen when stewards reside there? How will we deal with the fears about ownership or entitlement that residents or stewards may invoke in the greater Circle? How do we decide who can live in Sanctuary and who can visit long term? Our community is open, but how open do we try to be?

Igoe. In the Rutland Herald he says a perusal of our Web site turned up some “kind of repulsive photos.” W orries of

nudity and property devaluation ensued. r$ ?T h e environmental permitting process forces us to

I’m not ready to move to Destiny full time but there are those who are. Now is the time to shape our community into the residence we’ve always visioned.

formalize our construction plans with the state of Vermont

f<$? The Frying Pan Circle: In the wake of the hearings and debris from Switch’s moving, Gabriel unleashes his anger

a circle, flinging a rying pan talisman, aeries fled the ircle and Gabriel led from Destiny.

) RFD Winter 2007-08 #132

describe our relationship with the Land, our desire to nurture it, and our intention to minimize our impact. Gradually, the word now takes on added meanings as we extend its use to describe Stewardship also of our buildings and, more vaguely, Stewardship of Our Community. The emergence of these last two meanings heralds work that is important, timely, complex, and necessary for developing our notions of “Our Community” and the “Stewardship” of that Community. This work is important because our mutual agreement on the meaning of these concepts for us will keep us on the same page as we envision-and eventually walk into-our future. This work is timely because energy for Destiny is growing rapidly right now. With the fruits of our community-building efforts now tangible, we are attracting more new friends than before, and that number is likely to increase along with increasing creature comforts such as our planned bath house. In addition, some Destiny Faeries are already expressing a real desire (and ability) to become eventual full time Residents on our land. While that reality is perhaps sometime in the future, it is nonetheless one our stated communal goals and is a big vision worth the long discussions it will take to realize it.

The Question Knot: Stewardship & Residency at Destiny by M ichel D ubois As you may already know, 2007 is the 10th year anniversary of the purchase of our land and this year we succeeded in building a timber framed straw bale kitchen structure! It’s impressive, ecologically sound and will be a magnificent resource for Faeries and their friends for generations to come.

This work is complex because these ideas are deceptively simple-sounding, involving the creation of consensus around concepts that are not concrete. Linguistically speaking (bear with me), “community” and “stewardship,” along with “happiness,” “justice,” and even "consensus” are examples of nominalizations. A nominalization is what happens to a word that’s actually a process, an action or an adjective when it’s transformed into a simple-sounding noun. This always results in the loss of important information about that word, which is often assumed to be mutually understood. And we all understand what happens when we ass.u.me, right?

At long last we have demonstrated Destiny’s collective power to work with the Earth and with each other to build permanent buildings, erasing doubts “that we would ever get there.” Now that we’re clearly on the path to "there,” we return our attention to creating the more ephemeral structures and guiding visions that will be necessary to provide Stewardship of our physical plant and nurture Our Community's essence.

Though these nominalizations are useful, they will eventually require discussion for us to reach mutual understanding of what we mean when we say things like “Stewardship” and “Our Community.”

It’s interesting to notice the coincidence between the physical changes we’re making on the land and the changes occurring in our use of the word "Stewardship.” In the past we have largely used “Stewardship” to

f($? Dick and Daisy

(they were never boyfriends) begin hosting Salon Destiny in their loft in N Y C . Faerie RI D Winter 2007-08 #132

music, performance and spoken-word art is presented and raise Destiny funds

2003 New road from parking lot to meadow constructed

Switch commits suicide in Florida

2004 & Building timeline is formulated. Focus on earth-friendly designs, ease of

This work is necessary because it’s the very stuff of community-building, the creation of pathways of understanding, of common purpose and mutual support, as any community in the process of growth will experience.

weight, or to buy their own food, or offer work to the community in exchange for these things. Some others might believe we could create a work-share list among several Stewards. However it is that individual ideas merge into a single mind on these questions of Stewardship and eventual Residency, 1 wonder if we could benefit by first stepping back into our own personal motivations and desires for being here. What if we always kept in mind these questions first:

Here at Destiny, we each have needs and desires regarding Our Community. Some want an occasional social outlet, others want to live together fulltime in intentional space; some want to engage in deeply serious spiritual practice, and yet others may want simply to party, while yet others want to have all the above and then some.

“What do you want to get out of being in this Community?” “What do you want to give?”

How do budding communities weave their individual members’ valid needs and desires into a single tapestry that still looks like something desirable?

“What is Our Community, to you?"

Communities accomplish this by dedicating ample time to talk out these concepts. If we engage these questions now, entering a period of sustained visioning, we can preserve our flexibility to bring positive intention to our answers before urgency itself limits and shapes them for us. (We can all remember how advance thoughtfulness might have helped in certain urgent situations.)

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I It excites me to remember that j through this work we are actually fostering the growth of both the specific and ethereal aspects of Our Community. We do this for our immediate benefit and for the benefit of the Faeries and friends who will be sharing the fruits of our labor in this new kitchen building and on this land for generations to come.

So here at Destiny, what exactly could it mean to have a Steward on our land offering Stewardship to the Community? Some could want a Steward to maintain to a specific scheduled presence on the land, while performing certain functions for the Community. Others may believe the Steward needs to have a telephone, a car, or money to offset their financial

construction and very small budget

r$? Kwazy Quilt: Destiny faeries and N Y C fae celebs raise

the money to dig the well. Hosted by Hadassa Gross with appearances by John Kelly (famed Joni Mitchell

Through this past summer, several of us spent a significant amount of our time on the land facing these questions. At our last gathering Daisy called for us to begin an intentional visioning process. 1 echo Daisy’s call and would further it by asking our Circle to consider setting aside time for visioning at each of our business meeting. Such a practice would expose the concepts we clearly share and would help us create mutual understanding when we say “Stewardship” and “Our Community.”

With Love, Michel

impersonator). John Cameron Mitchell and Justin Bond sing ducts

& Annual Meeting: Clarke finds his new favorite, in fact, the best family.

cSh Lex throws a home-style meal from his homeland. The fae are thrilled with the Latino fare but some bristle at

RFD Winter 2007-08 # 132

esteemed because he or she isn’t afraid of all of who I am. It makes for a perfect “weeder question” when it comes to sorting out future possibilities with this fae.

Finding the Line and Crossing It: Gender Explorations in Sanctuary

The gender binary blurs so well in faerie culture. I’m so grateful that faeries choose to explore the line of male and female in appearance, politic, and action. It honors something very deep in me personally that I am not allowed to express so openly in the Default World. The confluence of sewing drag for a gathering and remembering my feminine fashion roots causes me to explore gender in myself and within the Destiny circle.

by D aisy S haver

While sewing a piece of drag for the Foliage Gathering at Destiny, I recalled my first, vivid memory of putting on a dress. I was about three years old, wearing a black and red reversible skirt, and walking up the asphalt street near my home. I tripped and fell.

Clearly, as I’ve matured, I see that gender is so much broader than what we wear. But one’s appearance can be the first powerful outward representation 1 of how one feels I i inside. I’m struck that the memory of my first, public gender transgression stays with me so strongly. It caused me to further accept this gender nebulousness within me that has existed all my life. I’ve embraced the feminist politic most of my adult life, I’m comfortable in my intuitive, healing, and nurturing abilities. I like my worship to center on an Earth-based, collective groove kinda model. 1 am Fae! I honor the history of Two-Spirits within and without of the Native American culture.

One of my primary attractions to the faeries in the early ‘80’s was doing dress up. Here, I was at home to put on feminine clothing and not have to worry about falling on my face. Even today, I can wear my nifty, floor-length spandex camo dress and still get my dick sucked. Well, by some faeries. This is not to say that every faerie is comfortable approaching or crossing the gender line. Any faerie who does fern drag will tell you that the options for sex are clearly reduced if a skirt is involved. For me, the fae that lifts my skirt to suck my dick becomes

his suggestion to dress in “Ghetto Fabulous.” Racism is discussed at a large circle. Lex meets Wally.

r$? The Meadow is cleared by Destiny faeries. It was a lot of work. W e are inspired to look for help next time.

2005 Matt Bucy goes to timber framing workshops to learn

^ May 13th: Lex dies in his home surrounded by

Destiny faeries and his family Unity Project Grant of $5,000 received

V. KI D Winter 2(X)7-()8 # 132

how to make us a kitchen.

1believe in the notion of Two-Spirits having a healing vision for humans since we straddle the line; we are the in-betweens, in the physical, emotional, and spirit realms.

Laura, who has been a Destiny Faerie for years. At one point, Bo asked Laura if he could feel her breasts. He had never felt a women’s breasts. "Wow!” Bo squealed as he stepped across a line to explore one of the most feminine of physical aspects with another loving faerie. After we wore out from dancing and drumming, we fell into a puppy pile for the typical holding, chatting, caressing, and giggling. I sighed at my love for a space where gay men could be intimate, sensuous, and loving, with, well, at least one woman.

Em bracing these concepts, my vision of Sanctuary

is one that drifts far away from the binary existence that is the Default World. There, things are black or white, right or wrong, male/female, Blue or Red. If Sanctuary is the place we come to enhance ourself, recharge, and grow, I want it to reflect a wide range of possibilities. If we are trying to create community and create culture, wouldn’t we want our “model” to reflect all of who we can aspire to be, not just the binary model the Default World has foisted upon us?

Laura has stayed involved in the Destiny community. She brought her son, Yano, into the fold about 5 years ago. Tara, Sally and Nancy are three other women who have been intimately in our Circle as well. Marcella was a Destiny regular up until her death. For me, personally, I’m so happy to have women in our circle because it better reflects a part of me that 1 seek to embrace and flourish. Women in faerie community better reflect „ my Default World, too, so f I don’t have as much of a I gender disconnect when I’m in Sanctuary.

For the Destiny Fae, the exploration of gender in our Circle has had clear intention. In circles, faeries expressed a clear desire that this Circle would include men and women and all those in between. At that time, the conversation was about welcoming women into our community. A small number of women have been involved with Destiny Faeries since the days in Northfield and still today.

Since I professionally and politically have worked with women and lesbians most of my life, I’m comfortable with the notion of need for women’s only space and, in turn, men’s only space. At Destiny, the Circle decided that Destiny is an open culture but that one can take the initiative to call

Many years ago, in the Yurt, we had the stove fired up and the drums were pumping and the faeries were bumping. We all had our shirts off, including r$ ?T h e first Destiny Calendar is produced to raise money.

20 0 6 r$? First timber frame workshop at The Mill in W hite River Junction. Matt

teaches the faeries how to cut mortises and tenons. A Japanese-inspired gate is constructed

A Hitchcock -ian tent '$?Jim Pendergast comes to his first caterpillar infestation gathering. He gets occurs covering the a bug in his ear and land and tents with faeries offer to pee caterpillars

R FD Winter 2007-08 #132

for men's only space or women's only space when the intentions warrant. 1 envision and hope, our Circle will continue to dialogue about gender in our culture. It is hard for me to embrace Sanctuary if it is gender-specific. I'm open to the dialogue that has percolated throughout Faerie culture for gay men only Sanctuary, but this wouldn’t be Sanctuary for me. Sanctuary has deepened for me at Destiny with the infusion of trans men. Early in the hisstory of Destiny, Kestrel initiated his hormonal transition through ritual at the Sanctuary. I like to think of that ritual as a spell that has blessed our Sanctuary with a vision of gender variance and acceptance. Since then, glitter and Clarke have been coming to Destiny. I remember distinctly the first time glitter took his shirt off at a fire circle. I was moved by his courage to show the scars of his tops surgery, one of the first signals you get that glitter is FTM. Then 1 was even more moved that this Circle is creating a space where glitter can take his shirt off. I work with trans people in my professional life. So I have a personal comfort by familiarity. I want the Destiny exploration of gender to continue as other trans men and women enter our community, too. I’m impressed that these men can gently correct one’s pronouns and openly discuss their lives and, typically, be received with the same open heart that is our faerie circle. This summer, a visting straight couple, friends of a local faerie, asked me if their friend would be comfortable here. “He’s a rock and roll guitarist and is going through a bit of a ‘transition.’” I confirmed he meant his friend was a trans female. “A rocker tranny! Bring her on!” I exclaimed. My sense is that most of the faeries in the Destiny Circle feel the same way.

in his car to get it out. '<$? Larnmas:Autumn experiences his first sweat: toning. RI D Winter 2007-08 #132

running to the brook with dirt covered asses to cool off & The meadow is expanded to 2-acres.

Trees are milled at the Sanctuary to make timbers and lumber for the kitchen

The septic field is completed f$? The well is dug and flows well

r$5>The terraced gardens are cut into the hill. Scraps from the milling project are used to build the terraces

I asked Clarke if he would work on this article with me. We talked about what shape it could take. Clarke wondered what he might say in such an article. “1 wish I could talk to Harry Hay about his feelings about trans people.” I wondered, would Harry be comfortable with Clarke? Or glitter? Would he be willing to fully open faerie Sanctuary to them as trans men? Would Harry feel any differently about a trans woman? Do Faerie elders feel any differently than younger faeries in this discussion? This summer, a really sweet, interesting and cute guy came to Destiny. He, in turn, invited some other men, too. After speaking to him 1 realized I was even more attracted to him. He mentioned his enjoyment of singing and how he hadn't gotten used to being a tenor when he had been a soprano. It was just then that I realized he was trans. I had an “ah ha” moment of recognition. I decided to stay with my feelings of attraction for this person both sexually and intellectually. In my head, I started to ask myself the questions of negotiation of the sex. 1 kinda freaked myself out because I worried that 1 would make some stupid bumble in this discussion just based on my lack of experience. In that process, I realized that I let my fear of this type of negotiation impede my ability to fully interact with folks with open heart. I limit my sexual self to my genitals in these interactions. These negotiations would likely happen with the same open heart if I just allowed them. Some faeries express that women in their space alters their sexual expression. Do I have a fear of expressing my sexuality in front of women? Do I feel impeded by their presence? Where does this occasional discomfort come from? Is it the fear of limp-dicked encounters that happened with women in adolescence? I’ll continue to explore for myself what it means to be a man, to be a faerie, to be Two-Spirit. Evolution is a part of our natural composition. To achieve better comfort, our species adjusts, readjusts, and moves forward. As we continue to develop Faerie community and culture, here’s my prayer that we adjust and readjust and make a commitment to Sanctuary that reflects all of who we are or can be.

^ Timber frame r$? workshop is erected in the meadow to begin cutting timbers for the kitchen

Faeries help with a straw bale construction at local workshop to learn the technique

Destiny Faeries have their earliest circle, 7 a.m., and pour the concrete slab for the kitchen

Calamus Foundation grant of $5,000 received

2007 r$? Land use permit renewal without significant concerns from the neighbors RFD Winter 2007-08 #132

community. That people who have never worked in construction may show themselves as great talents at mudding a wall or chiseling a mortise is also part of the beauty of the process. None of us have really done every aspect of this kind of building before, so there isn’t a gulf between the skilled and the unskilled. We are willing, and then we become skilled. I’ve heard that over a hundred pairs of hands have worked on our kitchen, and in this circumstance, there is no such thing as too many cooks!

Slidflfe ^ 0 ^

m M

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The courage and pride that such a project raises in its participants spills over into my daily life. Faerie energycooperative energy, flows through me and infects unwitting bystanders with hope, joy, and courage.

•

Also, we look really hot when we work!

^ a*

Nancy Sanctuary is slow time: our deadlines are set by the elements, by the earth’s orbit around the sun rather than the bottom line. As a person who works in the construction trades, it’s the purest sort of gift to work for love instead of profit. The building that we are making exudes the calm quiet of our process, the many small, thoughtful decisions that make it ours-a physical manifestation of us as a mindful, yet whimsical

f$? Construction designs are approved by the State r$? Community Foundation of RI D Winter 2007-08 #132

I support Destiny camp because people intentionally do work as a group (community) to achieve goals that this group has set for themselves. That to me in itself is truly miraculous. This is so seldom seen these days in this country. It makes me happy in today’s world to

Southeastern Massachusetts grant of $600 received

in the Spring for the earliest W ork Weekend

ApriLThe workshop is re-opened early

The kitchen is erected 36

^ J u ly 30th: Forestry W orkshop: O u r first invitation to neighbors to visit the Sanctuary for a workshop with three

local foresters. Several neighbors come. August lst:The Symbiel Salon is

see people co-operating willingly. The rest of the world like Palastine, Iraq, Bush, Cheney, the silence of the majority, makes me feel sad and depressed and makes me feel ashamed that my tax money is going to support things that I truly loath. W ^

^0 0*

The Fall Foliage gathering was my first time amongst strangers. For once 1 was just one of the guys! How wonderful that felt. My first interaction in a group at the gathering was carrying a sweat lodge thru the woods, thru the cold brook and up a hill. 1 reveled in the camaraderie and longed to be a part of the first sweat. When it came time, though, 1 began to have second thoughts. What would they think of my 1/2 male body? Would 1 be shunned? Laughed at?

^0 0*

A little conversation started with one of the fellow sweat lodge carriers. He gently coaxed me along to joining them. It turned out to be magnificent experience. Near the end of that weekend, 1 walked the labyrinth that resides at Destiny. It was then that the words of a fey came echoing thru my head, bringing the message of the Universe... Welcome Home! I have learned so much by being a part of this sanctuary. I’m learning to “be” in community and allow others to as well. Through meeting so many different people with countless varying perspectives, 1 have found the ability and peace to embrace all of m e... even that pesky feminine side! I have been able to give my own interpretation to drag. I have also learned not to take part in those things, which do not belong to m e-without guilt! This leaves me more energy and time for those things that do. Sanctuary has given me the most profound experience of unconditional love. When turmoil arises, grounding voices do as well. By occupying the spaces we fit most comfortably in, magic happens! Yucca cake, chocolate bread & mango chutney appear at the dinner picnic tables. Full production plays and heartwarming, gutbusting funny talent shows are performed. And people who have never picked up a hand tool before find themselves creating a piece of our kitchen.

glitter Six years ago this fall, I came into sanctuary for the first time. I had no idea what to expect and trusted a few friends 1 had come with. 1 had just completed a physical transition from female to male (as can be). Everyone in my life circles knew of this. Adjustments for some come slow. I was “she’d” often and confused many with why 1 would want to be male if I was attracted to men.

opened to mimic the Goat Boutique of SMS

c$? A Faerie Home Companion is presented at the neighboring gay B&B at Southern Vermont Gay Men’s event

To experience the gift of o th ers... this is why I build sanctuary! That and being able to borrow purple leopard flannel shirts.

All of the events in this timeline checked by FaerieFactCheck®

RFD Winter 2007-08 #132

A note fr o m the co lla b o ra tiv e ed itrix d esk : Everyday we all find ourselves reaching out, breaking new ground in our lives and taking stock of our experiences. Putting together this issue of RFD has been one of those experiences for many o f us from the Northeast faeries.

Editing Crew Bambi Gauthier Daisy Shaver Gabriel Q Matt Bucy Michel Dubois

Contributors Agnes deGarron Bambi Gauthier End ora Daisy Shaver glitter Karl Volk Leafshimmer Michel Dubois Nancygirl Mahl

We all spend a great deal of time dishing the dirt that keeps us all vital. At the same time weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re also aware that reflecting on our hissy-fit-ory allows us to reclaim some quiet in our lives. It allows us to forgive ourselves, to trust others and allow hurts to be smiled away as we shift, change and evolve. Telling our story in this issue of RFD is a privilege. We appreciate RFD's vision from its roots to be a mobile vehicle for communication amongst disparate people in our tribe. We look forward to hearing reactions and hope everyone will make their way up Walt Whitman Lane to visit someday soon. See you after mud season. All our love from the Green Mountains.

Photos Agnes deGarron Bambi Gauthier Jim Jackson John Pilcher Flood Matt Bucy Michel Dubois

Cover Art Matt Bucy Daisy Shaver Jim Jackson Zenya

www.faeriecampdestiny.org To contact us or give directly: Faerie Camp Destiny P.O. Box 531 Winooski VT 05404-0531 info@faeriecampdestiny.org

RFD Winter 2007-08 #132

Harlow Russell III - Ariel

Sam F. Smith

31 December 1937- 4 October 2007

15 January 1940 - 4 October 2007

Ariel was a longtime sojourner at Blue Heron Farm gather ings in upstate New York and news of his passing came after this year’s gathering where his unmistaken figure knitting at morning circle under the trees as the talisman went around was noticed as absent by many a faerie. He was a warm dear person who often used his sharp wit and intellect to name a situation and he’d continue on with his knitting.

Sam Smith frequently attended gatherings at Blue Heron Farm in the 1990’s along with gatherings at Ganowungo and Walnut Hill. He was slowed by emphysema and stayed clos er to home - his last gathering was July 02 at Ganowungo. His entry into the faerie world was quite by happenstance, 1 recall the story with some clarity, because it coincided with my own entry into the faerie world. It was the summer of 1990 and 1 had just met Ron Southard and Sam Smith at Webster, NY’s nude beach, Zoar Valley. Ron and Sam were sitting at a gay bar in Jamestown when they met a stranger in town who happened to be on his way to Jay (Bluejay) Stratton’s faerie gathering at Ganowungo. The man was San tiago (‘Tiago ) from New York City. He suggested that they also attend the gathering, which they did. 1 also attended the Ganowungo gathering at the urging of Buffalo friends, Michael Hudson and Jim Lesch.

News of his passing marks another chapter in Blue Heron’s long association of faeries in Upstate New York who have called this yearly gathering home. Ariel’s death in Roch ester after confronting cancer came as a surprise mostly because of his stellar attendance at gatherings over the decades. He was a 1960 graduate of Harvard University and trained as a hospital administrator at Columbia Uni versity. His professional life in Rochester included many paid and appointed positions in the health care and social services fields.

At Ganowungo we learned about the larger gathering at Blue Heron Farm which was to take place the following month, and to make a long story short, both Sam and Ron w'ent to that gathering. They came back with great stories about the faeries and also news of a faerie related event that was soon to happen in Niagara Falls, a visit by the Emma Goldman Players. The three of us attended the show and thoroughly enjoyed the faerie humor. The following sum mer, Ron and Sam convinced me to attend the Blue Heron gathering. We drove in Ron’s vintage Buick.

In addition to his involve ment in the Radical Faeries, he dedicated himself recently to the Third Order, Society of St Francis as a professed religious. His volunteerism spanned thirty-five years of service to church, advocacy and human rights organi zations. He also enjoyed bowling with the Rochester Historical Bowling Society, and singing with the Roch ester Gay Men’s Chorus, on whose board he served.

Sam graduated from Buffalo State Teacher’s College with a Bachelor’s Degree in 1962. He was employed at Board of Cooperative Education Services (BOCES) in Olean, NY from 1967 until his retirement in 1996. He was member of the New York State United Teachers Union. An ardent collector of antiques, he had an enviable col lection of Fiesta china from the 1940s. He also enjoyed gardening and home remodeling.

He will be deeply missed by his Blue Heron family and he is survived by his sisters, Susan Bombieri and Victoria Ca leb, his former wife, Rev. Kitsy Winthrop, daughter Biddy Remick, and son Charles Russell.

He leaves his former wife, Mary Jane Murray, a daughter, Alisa Smith Riel, and his beloved grandchildren, Mark, Lily and Erin Smith-Riel. A celebration of his life was held at the Old Library Res taurant in Olean, NY on 19 October 2007. 1le donated his body to the University at Buffalo Medical School.

Services were held October 13, 2007 at Christ Church, Rochester NY. -Bambi

-Andy Newbert (Melitta) 39

RI D Winter 2007-08 #132

A Poe lie Ad

Pri son Pages

by My r i i n

Before moving to submissions from our correspondents, I want to share a bit of the sadness I feel as I contemplate the almost 6000 inmates w ho have contacted us since I became editor of the B B B list in 2002. Although each piece of mail is only that, a piece of mail, behind that letter is a person, a child of the Universe, w ith a personal story, along w ith family and friends also impacted by his being swept up into the so called. Justice System. Yes, some of them have earned their place in that system, others are inno cent and trapped in that same system and yet others are being held in that system long beyond the completion of their original sentences. The sadness 1 feel comes from being so helpless to do anything about the injustices that occur within the system. For example, 1 am often asked to make a phone call to the Warden to bring something to his/her attention. And, although it is tempting to get involved, 1 simply do not have the time or energy to take this on. Or 1 hear from an inmate about the passing of a loved one and can only grieve with him as he deals with his emotions. He w'ill not be allowed to attend the funeral and gain the support of family and friends as he grieves the loss of someone w ho may have been his only support. 1 am glad that we at R F D Magazine are able to make these issues available to our readers through this column and that we are able to give hope to so many of our Brothers Behind Bars to find qual ity pen-friends to assist them in passing their time in prison, or finding a supportive friend to help in times of grief and loss, and of giving them a forum to explore ideas and personal growth. 1 only regret that more of our national and international readers don’t take the time to w'rite and request the list and make the com mitment to write one or more of our contributors. We ask a dona tion of $3.00 to $10.00 for the list to defray costs of postage, ink,

H untsville, TX

7 7 3 2 0 -3 3 2 2

My Most Favoritest Trip of All!

(published by Cornell Prisoner Express, July 2007) by M ich ael A. Pace £ 8 6 1 1 4 8 , E stelle U n it, 264 FM 3478, H u n tsv ille , TX 77320 -3 3 2 3 The world was a big old farmhouse, a big red barn and a few acres of hay and w heat w'hen we (my twin brother and 1) were four years old. By the time we were seven, it had grown to a radius of about five miles, if we skipped lunch. We explored hill and dale, town and country. We ran faster than the neighbor's bull and played tag with a young grey fox. Our world was full of magic and adven ture. We were the deaf dwarf twins and every bit as magical. We would not be held and we could not be tamed. We drove our older brothers and sister crazy as they tried to keep up with us or hunt us down. And they loved it. One winter they came up with a plan to teach us to read. They labeled everything C-U-P, F-O-R-K, even D-O-G and C-O-W. It was both fun and funny. But we had no concept of words. 1 see pictures in my head, not a bunch of symbols that stand for some thing. When 1 made sign, Daniel knew what I meant and I knew what he meant. Words are for hearing people. There was a reason they chose winter. They started by taking all of our clothes and anything we could use for clothes. We were not shy; nudity alone was not going to keep us in one place. It was not even a big deal. We were nude more than not, but we were the deaf dwarf twins and not human anyway. However, it was winter and cold.

and paper. 1 am always grateful when our Brothers Behind Bars send in contributions of postage stamps, cash and even checks to pport our work. At this time I am sending more copies of the list into institutions than I send to people on the outside. So, please consider requesting the list. As with those within the walls, 1 make the same offer, if you can’t afford a donation, just

Winter was our favorite wonderland, especially those cold dark gray days with snow hanging heavy on the clouds and on the limbs of the blue spruce at the edge of the woods. To the human eye, the world was cold and still - Dead. We knew the magic was even more alive. Rabbits and foxes have to eat; Elves and Fairies have to play. So we stayed up one night sewing towels into some kind of clothing and fell asleep just before dawn. They must have put a sleepie curse on us.

request the list. 1 will send it. O K , now for submissions from our friends within the walls. I received a rather large set of cartoon panels from James Sheehy in Texas that cannot be reproduced here due to the size of the col lection and the quite x-rated content. But 1 make mention in case any one is interested. And I have received a very nice greeting card from Brodie Blakeslee in California that will make it into the

So we - the Deaf Dwarf Twins - stood naked in the heart and cas tle of the kingdom. Slowly - resistantly - we learned the magical symbols that make words for the hearing world. Somewhere, somehow along the way our feelings changed and came to know this new magic. For the symbols make words; words make sen tences; sentences make stories, stories make books and our world grew.

Winter List. 1 have also received a collection of poems from John Tyson in Wisconsin and a poetic ad from Larry Lopez in Texas. In addition I have received a rather interesting story written by Michael Pace in Texas, and an essay by Mike Grindemann in Wisconsin entitled “Sex Offender Parole: Stuck Between the Proverbial Rock and an Hysterical Hard Place” Although 1 won’t

The new magic opened passages and dimensional gateways that bridged time and space to other kingdoms and worlds, even past and the future. The Deaf Dwarf Twins were forever changed. 1 have been to the moon and 1 have explored Treasure Island. I pulled Excalibur from the stone and I have helped build cave cities on Saturn. And My Most Favoritest Trip of All is the next one I take.

be able to include the entirety of the essay by Mike Grindemann, I will give you a part of the essay. If any of our readers w ish the full text, I will be glad to send it to you. A s with the list it can be requested by writing to M yriin at R F D , PO Box 68, Liberty, I N 3 7 0 9 5 . You can also e-mail me at hhhfa rfd m ag.orp.

RFD Winter 2007-08 #132

Behold! nil curious eyes Bi Hispanic male Seeks someone to rise And relieve me from hell!!! Poetry is the sum Pleasure in the voice If you submit to either one Then that is truly nice Seventy-one is the year Scorpio is the age If you know you are queer I welcome you to my stage. Larry R. Lopez #1427674 264 F.M 3478 Rd

SEX

nances. Hold SOs accountable? Absolutely. But do it with pro fessionalism - if not compassion because the goal, everyone's goal, needs to be NO MORE VICTIMS. And that just can’t occur without the cooperation of SOs.

1 woke up in prison one morning, after 22-years of continual incarceration, and was contemplating my eventual release. 1 asked myself: Do 1 really want to get out of prison? Do 1 really want to even tn; to cope with the new - and truly senseless - rules placed upon paroled sex-offenders (SOs)? Will 1 have any sort of life on the “outs” with the shame, poverty and ostracism I'll face even as a recovering'cure treated SO parolee?

Society, 1 believe, needs to embrace the concept of accepting recovering SOs back into society. Treatment works. The more trust and cooperation between the SO and his therapist, the better it works. The more earned mist and cooperation between the SO and society at large, the stronger and healthier our communities become.

Do 1 really think 1can succeed on parole? (Not surprisingly, most SO parolees seem to get revoked on bogus “rule violations” unre lated to their offenses; SOs definitely face harsher parole rules than other parolees.) Frankly, no. 1 don’t think 1 can succeed on parole, not with the current hysterical mindset of society and cor rections, and that scares the hell of me (and what little remains of my life). 1 won’t re-offend: I’ll just find the rules for my parole more oppressive than returning to prison. More and more, parole for sex-offenders looks less and less appealing than just remain ing in prison. Like 1 said, scary—not to mention expensive for tax payers.

1 paid my dues. I paid my debt. I begged my way into treatment. Some of it was good treatment, and some of it was lousy treat ment. but I completed it. 1 am confident (but not overly so) that 1 will not re-offend. That is my ultimate and only goal. It is not my goal because society has been so supportive and understand ing about my recovery. It is not my goal because of senseless NIMBY ordinances that will prohibit me from living with and caring for my elderly parents.

O F F E N D E R P A R O L E : S tu c k B etw een the P ro v e rb ia l R o ck and an H y s te ric a l H a r d P lace bv Mike G r i n d e m a n n # 1 6 2 1 7 4 l nit J / E . P O B o x 9 0 0 . S t u r t e v a n t . \V1 5 3 1 7 7 - 0 9 0 0

So, how about an unconventional essay on the subject? How about 1 make a few hypotheses and you, the reader contemplate them? Maybe we can get some real dialogue going, less hyste ria, more common sense. ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL. Fixated pedophiles (fixated sexually on pre-pubescent children) generally require closer supervision than regressed ephebophiles (sexual contact between an adult and a teenager), yet all SOs are lumped together, forced to follow all the same rules. Different offenses should have dif ferent established rules and restrictions. For example, it makes little sense to force an ephebophie to live 1000 feet from a gradeschool when his victims were all high schoolers. Resources to supervise SOs are finite. Why are we wasting them?

It is my goal because 1 care about children more than my own selfish, hurtful desires. It is my goal because every child deserves to remain as innocent as possible for a long as possible in this violent, vulgar and brutal world we live in. (editor's note: It has been my privilege to share these ideas and dreams with you, our readers. Please do write and request the fu ll text o f the essay i f it is o f interest to you. The whole area o f discourse around Sexual Offenders and their treatment and return to society is very much with us. I am honored to add this subject to the discussions o f the readers o f R FD Magazine.)

Now let me introduce you to a few of the fine people you will meet w’hen you write and request the Winter Issue of Brothers Behind Bars. Don’t be the last to place your request.

SEX-OFFENDER HYSTERIA. The jumping-out-of-the-bushes hysteria is just that: hysteria, emotional excess. SOs are not lurk ing behind every bush every moment of every day. Most SOs have an “offending cycle,” from a “build-up” phase to an “actout" phase. The longer the SOs cycle, the less dangerous the offender is because long cycles provide a sex-offender and his support group more time to intervene and avoid an act-out. Most SOs learned in treatment to interrupt/disrupt the cycle so they never reach the act-out. (editor's note: Mike then discusses: Throw■ Away the Key Syndrome, Treatment Really Does Work, Fact.M ost SexOffenders Will Be Released From Prison on Parole and The Senseless Rules - and Their Dangerous Effect, and The Vacuum. I continue the article with that section.)

THE VACUUM. SOs are not created in a vacuum. They arc cre ated by a society that has sex and sexual titillation on the brain. Americans might be well-advised to take a more casual outlook on nudity and sexuality, a more European outlook. I don't know. Also, often, and sadly, SOs sometimes begin offending after being victimized themselves (and not provided treatment). It happened to me. 1 carried the secret shame of being abused into my twenties. It made it much easier to carry the secret shame of being a perpetrator into my twenties as well. One secret led to another. A focus on treatment rather than ostracism and shame will benefit society and children more than any number of ordi RFD Winter 2<X)7-<)8 # 132

So u t h e r n B e a r s , W e l l -St o c k e d L i q u o r Ca b i n e t s , a n d B i b l e B e l t P u n c e o n FANTASIES: Shan e A l l is o n Talks to J e f f Mann about A H i s t o r y o f B a r b e d Wire

(interview first printed in Velvet Mafia in an ex panded version. History won the Lammy Award for gay male fiction in 2006)

Shane Allison: I’ m excited to have the oppor tunity to talk about your writing and A History of Barbed Wire. Tell us a little of what we can expect from your new book. Jeff Mann: A sexy cover, to start w ith. The folks at Suspect Thoughts Press outdid them selves. I'm so pleased with the cover art that 1 bring the image up on my laptop every day and just grin at it. Then there’s the Foreword that Patrick Califia has written. It means so much to me that a pioneer of BDSM literature like Patrick is associated with my book. And sever al other waiters I greatly admire have kindly wiitten blurbs, so that’s exciting as well. As for the stories themselves, well, most of them are set in Appalachia, my native region. I’m a country boy who writes about country boys. Fans of BDSM and of beefy, hairy Bear guys will certainly relish the book. I’ m an intensity addict, and that fact is reflected in my fiction. Allison: When did you decide to put togeth er a book of erotic stories? Were does it fall with writing your other books, the memoir Edge, the poetry collection Hones Washed with Wine, and the recently published Loving Mountains, tun ing Men? Mann: The Hones Washed with Wine poems were all composed in the early and mid-1990’s, after a particularly disastrous love affair. Those poems originally appeared in two poetry chapbooks. Hliss, published by BrickHouse Books in 1998, and Flint Shards from Sussex, pub lished by Gival Press in 2000. Then I combined c poems into Hones, which Gival Press pub lished in 2003. I didn’t start writing much prose until the late 1990’s, when I wrote a few essays about being both gay and Southern or Appalachian. One of those pieces appeared in Journal of Appalachian Studies, and tw'o others were included in anthologies edited by Jay Quinn, Rebel Yell and Rebel Yell 2. Then Jay encour aged me to put together a book of personal essays for Haworth Press, and that collection became Edge, which appeared in 2003. As for tun ing Mountains, Loving Men, most of the poems in that collection were composed in the 1990’s, some even earlier, while the prose sec tions I wrote in early 2004. when Ohio University Press encouraged me to make the book a combination of poetry and memoir. Around the time 1 was writing my memoir Edge. I also started composing fiction. A cou ple of stories appeared in Harrington Gay Men’s Fiction Quarterly. Then Devoured, my Appalachian gay vampire novella (that phrase always gets a laugh!), appeared in Masters o f Midnight: Erotic Tales o f the Vampire, in 2003. I also wrote a few stories in response to various anthology calls for submission, and those pieces eventually appeared in such collections RI D Winter 2007-08 #132

as The Hig Hook o f Erotic Ghost

Stories. Kink, Hear Lust, and Best S/M Erotica 2. When a new short story I was writing insisted on becoming a novella. The Quality o f Mercy, I realized that I had enough fiction to make up an entire volume, so 1 talked to Greg Wharton and Ian Philips, wonder ful guys who run Suspect Thoughts Press and whom I’d met at the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans in 2003. They agreed to publish A History o f Barbed Wire, much to my grat itude and delight. Allison: What do you think makes A History of Barbed Wire stand out from other GLBT erotic > literature? Mann: I like to think that these stories are more lyrical and liter y ; wg ary than a lot of what’s being pub lished. Since I’ve been reading and teaching literature for so long, my fiction contains many literary allusions. Recognizing those allu sions is not necessary to enjoy the stories. I hope, but the allusions do add an extra layer of meaning for those who get them. Since I'm pri marily a poet, my fiction also tends to be rich in imagery and figurative language. As a poet. I’ m also interested in writing prose that is melodic and rhythmic when read aloud. Finally, my fiction deals with small-town and rural gay life, which distinguishes it from much of the gay literature being published, which is obviously urban or suburban in its focus. Allison: Why do you think there are still some gay writers and editors that shun erotic literature? Why are people so embarrassed by sex? Mann: I'm so sick of America’s erotophobia! It really irritates me that writing that is frankly erotic isn't taken as seriously as work that deals less frankly and directly about the body and the body’s desires. Perhaps this is because America is, compared to European countries, a relative ly new nation, with a culture still relatively immature. And of course there's the poisonous influence of fundamentalist Christianity— a virulence if there ever was one— w ith its unre alistic demands and flesh-hating dogmas. These many years of the detestable Bush administration have made things even worse. At this grim point in American history, I feel like every openly queer or erotic poem or story' that’s published is an act of political and philo sophical defiance. Allison: What excites and concerns you about the stale of gay literature and w hat would you like to see on the shelves that you’re not 42

■

X HISTORY OF

n k ' o x i v BARBED TORE yet seeing? Mann: I’ m excited by the great variety of gay literature, but I’ m concerned by the fact that it seems harder and harder for openly queer material to get published, especially by main stream presses. The state of the publishing industry is certainly dismal in this regard. Thank God for Suspect Thoughts Press, Gival Press, and other LGBT-owned places that give us queers a chance to be heard! I suppose Fd like to see more queer literature that deals with rural or small-town experi ence... which is one reason why I write what 1 do: stories about leather-enthusiast country boys like myself. Allison: Would you say that all GLBT liter ature is political? Mann: Yes, especially in the present bleak state of things in Bush’s America. To speak a desire, to express it in writing, is to insist on your right to feel it. And to insist on unconven tional desire, unconventional identity of any sort, is certainly defiantly political. Allison: Do you feel that our books being categorized as “gay and lesbian” fiction helps or hurts getting our work out to a larger audi ence? Mann: Well, sometimes I feel very much ghettoized as a gay writer. Which is to say. the only place you're liable to find my books is the Gay/Lesbian section of a bookstore. At the same time that 1 write a great deal about the queer experience, I like to believe that many of my themes and concerns are universal and would be appreciated by a mainstream audi-

ertce. But I never ha\e achieved that larger audience. A pervasive and usually tacit assumption that appears in both the publishing industry and in academia is that openly homo sexual work is automatically limited in worth, depth, and relevance, but openly heterosexual work is automatically universal. Sometimes that pisses me off...and some times 1 think that the folks I'm really writing for are either Appalachians or queers, so if those audiences read me. that's more than enough. The email notes I've gotten from my LGBT or mountain-bred readers certainly mean a great deal to me. And as an Appalachian, I have a clan mentality. That means, in this context, that a “mainstream audi ence.” the majority, is a group 1 care less and less about. Reaching “my kind,” “my people.” seems more and more important. Sure, selling more books to a mainstream audience, getting mainstream recognition, would be pleasant, but I don't write to make money, 1 write to make sense of my life and hopefully to provide folks like me— queers, pagans, leatherfolks. hillbil lies— with some literature that will help them survive their own adversities. Allison; How does the reader play a role in what you write, and would you say you’re writing for a particular audience? Mann: Well, 1 can't help but include literary allusions in everything I write, just because I’m pretty well-educated and I’ve been reading and teaching literature for so. so long. 1 don't mean to be intellectually elitist, that's just how my mind works. 1 hope that those allusions don’t alienate readers...though, as 1 said earlier, the allusions in the fiction can be missed by a read er entirely, but the intense plot is liable to make the story enjoyable reading nevertheless. I w as raised to be a Southern gentleman, and that means bending over backwards to make folks comfortable and avoiding confrontation and offense. But my political nature encour ages me to write openly gay material because I think conservative America needs to be con fronted by in-your-face queer work. Those two sides of me conflict, so. often, when I’m giving a public reading, I’m torn between making my reading innocuous and pleasant and making it super-queer. Usually I strike an uneasy medium between those two. But. since most of my audi ences at readings are primarily straight. I’ m often afraid that they won’t relate to my w'ork emotionally. As a sort-of entertainer, I feel like I owe an audience kind enough to come hear me a good time, but I’m always afraid that I'll offend them instead. But then I think. “Well, if they're close-minded enough to find this mate rial offensive, fuck them.” Reading to a queer audience is a rare and much-enjoyed luxury. Allison: Tell us a bit about gay life in Appalachia. Mann: There are so many stupid preconcep tions about Appalachia that swirl about in the outside world, thanks in part to mass media. No, w'e are not all a bunch of racist hicks. Yes, we have cities here. Yes, we have gay bars and pride parades and festivals and queer guest houses. Yes, we have LGBT organizations. We also have a slower pace of living, a native folk culture, and a proximity to nature that city folks

lack. Certain!) gay life here isn't as developed or exciting or varied as that in many cities, but still, in my lifetime, gay culture in Appalachia has progressed impressively. When I was a high school kid in Hinton. West Virginia, and then a college student at West Virginia University, there was a sparse number of gay bars in the state but not much else. Now Charleston, the West Virginia capital, not only has 3 gay bars but a big Pride Festival in June. I’m not much on cities— I like to v isit, mainly for the leather bars, the bookstores, and the eth nic restaurants— but I can't stand the crowds, the noise, and the traffic, so I never stay for long. Here in the mountains. 1 can get tastes of gay culture every now and then, and still live in my native area, the region that has shaped so many of my values. As for misconceptions that urban dwellers might hold about rural people... No. we’re not all conservative Deliverance-style rednecks. Many of us have educations, love classical music, travel to Europe when we can. Many of us are enviable mixtures of the cosmopolitan and the country, the rough and the refined. We're as complex and varied as city folks. Here in Appalachia, I'm near what remains of my family, I have a great (patient, long-suf fering) partner. 1 have a good job. I'm in the region that shaped me, a region with some of the most beautiful landscape in the world, a region I love, despite the proximity of my nat ural enemies, the obnoxious right-wingers and frothing fundamentalists. Besides, I love a good fight. My personality is built on resist ance. on bucking convention and going against the grain of whatever context I find myself in. This region is conservative enough that 1 can feel that there’s work to be done, battles to be fought, that 1 can make a difference...but I’m close enough to the liberal influence of the uni versity to feel fairly safe being openly gay. being honestly myself. Allison: You consider yourself a Bear. What do you love about being part of Bear culture? Mann: Being a Bear for me means being beefy and hairy' and muscular and masculine. It’s about relishing the delicious contrasts between roughness and tenderness. It’s great to be part of the Bear community because 1 can hang around with guys with whom I share cer tain values, a certain aesthetic. I love the relaxed nature of the Bear w'orld— we’re not all dieting and obsessed with being slender and smooth and young and fashionable. One of the great advantages of being a Bear and of being part of the leather community is that, at age 46. I still feel attractive. I’m still an erotic being. In mainstream gay culture, I would have been put out to pasture over a decade ago. As it is. my silver-streaked goatee has its share of admirers, thank God. Allison: What are your thoughts on gay mar riage. and how do you think it would affect Bible Belt states if gay marriage were to become legal tomorrow? Mann: 1 myself am not interested in getting married...though if I had to, it would be in my kilt and in a Wiccan ceremony. Marriage and monogamy are too conventional for my taste. On the other hand, it’s ridiculous that, after

eight years together, my partner John can t be added to my health insurance policy as my spouse. Clearly, denying l.GBT folks the right to marry is simply another form of denying people their basic civil rights Allison: Describe your writing process. Mann: Fragments of lines, images, ideas come to me. 1 scribble them down in the little notebook inside my battered old black-leather backpack, which gives everywhere with me. On the mornings I have time to write, 1 get up early, fix some coffee, put some music on. and start reading. These days I’m rereading Mark Doty’s most recent book. School o f the Arts. and Edwina Pendarvis' l ike the Mountains o f China. Reading other authors primes the pump, so to speak. Then 1 start up the laptop and start trying to compose. When 1 get stuck, I get up. I make more coffee, I read more, 1 stride about, curse, sit down, and try again. After a morn ing's effort, I usually get at least one poem written. I’m a big reviser, so I'll come back to that rough draft again and again before I final ly am satisfied enough with it to send it out for possible publication. Writing fiction and cre ative nonfiction is much the same as writing poetry...except that 1 can only compose poetry in the morning, and prose 1 can keep at all day long, if necessary...well, at least till cocktail time. Allison: Who would you be willing to wait in line for? Mann: For sheer artistry. Joni Mitchell. I've been a huge fan of hers all of my adult life. “High Priest of the Joni Cult,” I jokingly call myself. Long ago 1 taught myself to play piano, guitar, and mountain dulcimer just so 1 could play her music. 1 really admire Carly Simon and Melissa Etheridge and Mary Chapin Carpenter too. Very fine musicians. For sheer erotic appeal, the country-music singer Tim McGraw. I'm completely infatuated with him. The actors Eric Bana and Colin Farrell would be close seconds. 1 think a log cabin on a ridge with all three of them would be my idea of heaven. Big kitchen, well-stocked liquor cabinet, hot tub. basement dungeon... Hmmm, perhaps 1 should add Viggo Mortensen in there too...he could give me sword-fighting tips... Allison: If you weren't teaching and writing, what would you like to do? Mann: A long time ago 1 got a bachelor’s degree in Nature Interpretation in the Forestry Department at West Virginia University, so maybe I’d be a forest ranger. . . O r a musician, if I were more confident and charismatic and had a better baritone and were a better guitarist. There are lots of musicians and music in my fiction. I think I’d like to have been a country music singer. Maybe Tim and 1 could sing duets...

Shane Allison’s poems and stories have graced such pages as Velvet M a fia, suspect thoughts: a jo u r nal o f subversive w riting, Outsider Ink, M ississip p i Review, New Delta Review. M i Sweeney's. Rest litack G ay E ro tica. Iru c k e rs: True Gay E ro tica , H ustlers, C o w b o y s:G a y E ro tic Tales, and more. He has

authored four chapbooks of poetry and his fourth hook of poems, I Want to fu c k a Redneck is forth coming from Scintillating Publications He recently edited the anthology H ot C o ps: G ay E ro tic Tales. He loves getting emails at sfarsiss\42(" hntmail.com. se e R F D #117 fo r J e f f M ann in te rv ie w by R o n M ohrin g

RFD Winter 2(X)7-()8 #132

Letters, ^DDouDcerocets. coDt</ Global Media for a Physically Healthy, Politically Aware, Creatively Alive and Spiritually Aw ake Queer Community Presents: S ta n d in g o n th e H o n e s

o f O u r A n c e s to rs :

E x p lo rin g the R ole o f the Q ueer Trib al E ld e r

To all my relations: 1 am pleased to announce The White Crane Institute Inc. as the fiscal non-profit sponsor for the completion of my feature length video documentary: Standing on the Hones o f O u r A n cesto rs: E x p lo rin g the R ole o f the Q ueer Trib a l E ld e r.

To date the project has been personally financed with a small inheritance I received following my mother’s death. Principal photography and a substantial preliminary edit are completed. However my personal resources are now exhausted. And therefore I am appealing to you, my friends and relations, so I can continue moving this w'orthy project forward. T he w is d o m th a t we n e e d to s o l v e o u r p r o b le m s lie s e n c o d e d in th e d e p th s o t o u r u n c o n s c i o u s m in d s , b u t it m u s t b e e v o k e d b y e id e r s w h o e v o k e o u r p o te n tia l. W ith o u t reali i e d m o d e ls to e v o k e o u r a r c h e t y p a l d e p th s we a re lite r a lly lo s t in th e w o rld . T h r o u g h o u t h is t o r y , e ld e r s h a v e s e r v e d a s b e lo v e d p a t h f in d e r s , b e c k o n in g u s to e n te r th e p r o v in c e o f o ld a g e in a n t ic ip a t io n o f g r o w in g s t r e n g t h a n d u s e f u l n e s s to s o c i e t y . - J o a n H a lifa x , A n t h r o p o lo g is t

Why a documentary on Queer Elders? The need for people to claim elderhood transcends sexual identity. From whatever hereditary lin eages we may have descended, our ancestors revered the wisdom of their elders and all older people have the capacity for awakening their untapped inner wealth to claim this criti cal role in community. Like mainstream society, the Gay, Lesbian Bi-sexual and Transgender/ Transsexual (GLBT) community is a youth focused culture - cut off from elders and their life experience. So why focus on the GLBT community for answers to our society’s intergenerational atrophy? Because; in the context of recent history the “Queer” community is poised in a unique historical position. Prior to the June 27, l% 9 Stonewall Rebellion in New York City, there was little open public expres sion of the lives of GLBT people. Stonewall galvanized a collective discontent, transform ing this oppression of queer people into a movement for pride and civil rights, affirming that contrary to being an aberration or a mere sexual preference, queer centeredness is important, substantial and has a significant spiritual, evolutionary and social purpose. In the past thirty-five years, an unprecedented emergence of gay culture transformed this country and the global village forever! Since the Stonewall Rebellion, there are now three generations of openly identified GLBT people: youth, adults, and “olders” (older people with no intergenerational role in society) “out” in community. The ground has been prepared RI D Winter 2 0 0 7 -0 8 # 132

and the health of our communities depends upon fostering intergenerational dialogue, interdependence and calling the Queer Tribal Elder into being. The power and vitality of film arid video is the ideal medium to amplify that call, share efforts being made to illumi nate this important issue, and provoke inter generational dialogue and critical thinking. Without elders a critical intergenerational thread is severed and a people become lost. If elders are lost, adults w ill be lost. If adults are lost, youth w ill be lost. I am a fo r m e r S e n i o r E d it o r o f T h e A d v o c a te , th e n a tio n a l g a y n e w s m a g a z in e , a n d th e a u th o r o f fiv e b o o k s on g a y h is t o r y a n d c u ltu r e , in c lu d in g th e in te r n a t io n a lly a c c la im e d G a y S p i r it : M yth a n d M e a n in g . I w a s d e e p ly m o v e d a n d im p r e s s e d w h e n I r e c e n t ly v ie w e d a ro u g h e d it o f th e m a te ria l. S t e v e n h a s r e a c h e d b r o a d a n d d e e p in to th e n a s c e n t w o r ld o f g a y s p ir it u a lit y in h is a tte m p t to p o r tr a y t h is u n d e r r e p r e s e n t e d s u b c u lt u r e to a la r g e r a u d ie n c e . W hen f in is h e d , th is film w ill m a k e an in v a lu a b le c o n tr ib u tio n to th e fie ld o f g e n d e r s t u d ie s • o p e n in g h e a r ts a s w e ll a s m in d s . I w h o le h e a r te d ly e n d o r s e th is p r o je c t a n d e n c o u r a g e tun d e r s to ta k e it s c o m p le tio n s e r i o u s l y . - M ark T h o m p so n

HOW CAN YOU HELP? Donate - Go to the Standing On The Hones o f O u r A n ce sto rs: E x p lo rin g The R o le o f the Q ueer Trib al E ld e r http://www.gaywisdom.org

web pages at: http://gaywisdom.org/projects/bones.html and make a secure tax-deductible donation online through PayPal. Or make check dona tions (PayPal deducts a 3% processing fee) payable to: White Crane Institute (Bones Project)

coming in

White Crane Institute Attn. Bones Documentary 172 Fifth Avenue, Suite 69 Brooklyn. NY 11217 * Levels of Giving: $50 * $100- 250 * $250-500 *$500-1000 * $1000-5000 * $5000-10.000 plus * Forward this email to your friends, com rades, group affiliations and G LBT organiza tions. * Cut and paste our website URL Links: http://gaywisdom.org/projects/bones.htnil and http://ww w.gaywisdom.org to your out going emails and add a link from your person al website or organization website. * If you know of queer philanthropists w ith strong financial resources or foundations for grants or other funding leads please contact me at: PumaSpiritRising@verizon.net * Do you have a mailing list w hose con tacts would resonate and support this project? Please share it with us or independently circu late this letter. All addresses are confidential and will not be shared or sold to third parties. An official website is underconstruction. All donors will receive acknowledgment on the website and be credited in the completed video/film. Meanwhile, you can find out more about me, the filmmaker, at: h t tp :/ /m ysp ace.com /st cv cn so lb cr g

May the Spirit that set the heavens in motion known by many names and honored in many forms - shower blessings upon you and your loved ones. Thank you, Steven Guy Solberg PumaSpiritRising@vcrizon.net 323.244.8406

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MAI LI NG

37095 RFD Winter 2007-08 #132

I invite you to enjoy a tantric

RFD is published quarterly and mailed around the Solstice or Equinox o f the quarter. Secondclass mail can take awhile. Let us know if you have not received your copy after amonth. Second-class mail is NOT forwarded Let us know' if you move.

• 615-536-5176

rfdmag.org 46

N a tu ra l B ed & B reak fast massage in the Arizona sun.

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In the current cultural context o f conservative backlash, digital artist Luc Georges is delighted to present an art book fe a tu r in g fu ll color portraits o f NYC radical Paeries accompanied by informative passages about this gan tribe.

Lethe Press & White Crane Books Lethe

NYC RADICAL PAERIES

As C a y p u b lish in g h o u ses c lo se dow n S C a y genre b o o k s d isa p p e a r fro m b o o k s to re s h e lv e s , L e th e P re s s an d W hite Crane In s titu te a re k e e p in g S°y c la s s ic s a v a ila b le and b rin g in g o u t new tit le s o f C a y w isd o m . P le a s e bu y, re a d an d sh a re th e se w o n d e rfu l b o o k s a b o u t the m eaning o f o u r liv e s an d s p ir it u a l jo u r n e y s b y C a y - p o s itiv e th in k e rs , in clu d in g A n d re w R a m er, M a rk Th o m p so n , Don C la rk , W a lte r L . W illia m s, Ja m e s B ro u g h to n , Toby Jo h n so n , an d m any o th e r s . A sk y o u r lo c a l b o o k s to re to s to c k th e se tit le s o r bu y them o n lin e .

A n o th e r W o r d F o r S k y A collection of poetry by the author of G o d in Y o u r B o d y and ch ie f editor of the literary m a g a zin e Z e e k J a y M tc h a e ls o n -50021-061-1 Ifiiik* fMfOf, HX

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C h a r m e d L iv e s : G a y S p irit in S t o ry te llin g A collection of more than thirty ttonev all demonstrate gay life as charmed Edited by Toby Jo h n so n & Steve Berm an 1-5WMU6-6 Traifk-jmjvt, 105 jij> $16 00

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Por more information, please visit www.lucgeorges.com or email lgeorges@nyc.rr.com The book can be purchased directly via the website (20% o ff and 20% o f all proceeds benefittingthe Paeries directly) or at your local bookstore, Amazon etc ...

T w o S p ir it * : A S t o r y o f L ife W ith th e N a v a jo An entertaining and romantic novel set in the real Old W est by historian anthropologist W alter L W illiam * 6 Toby Jo h n so n 1-59021-060-5 liu itr paprt, 2J2 pp. 11* 00 G a y S p ir itu a lity : G a y Id e n tity 8. T h e T r a n s fo r m a tio n of C o n s c io u s n e s s The G a y Spirituality M ovem ent explained by past edrtor of W tvte C r a n e T o b y J o h n s o n 1-59021-022-0 Thnlr paper, 296 pp, $20.00

Available from gay community bookstores nationwide, major wholesaler*, the usual Internet outlets, and from w w w .lcthoprcssbooks.com

RFD Winter 2007-08 #132

#114 $5 A rts

_# I1 ^ $5 G row th

__ #llÂŁ 55> H ealin g __ #117 5 5 Q m usic ___#115 55> fu tu re __ #115? #5>poIitixxx__ # 120 57 S C ru z e

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RFD Winter 2007-08 #132

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Come walk the Sacred Hoop with Finisia Medrano and Coyote Camp \ in the RFD spring issue #133

I know a grandm other who ca rrie s

ancient wisdom. S h e knows forgotten whispering of th e an cestors. S h e plants wildflowers wherever sh e goes. 1 cam e to her in th e deserts of Idaho. 1 cam e to h er in th e root festival. I danced with her and she showed me a way to d ance with the

When the Earth is Ravaged, and the Animals arc Dying There will come unto the Earth, a New Tribe of People

wild. I danced with her and sh e taught me about th e hoop.

—S ed a

From All Colors, Classes & Creeds And W ho, by their Actions and their Deeds they will make again Coyote Camp is what we call the community of those of us who ’ ' J v work together to bring these old ways back to life in the Great Basin The Earth Mother Bloom Green They will be known as the Warriors of the Rainbow. „

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