Kalif (RIP) Celebration of Life August 30

Kalif - Celebration of his Life & Vision

Where: 367 Burns Dr., Space 9, Yuba City CA 95991

When: 2-8 PM, Sunday August 30, 2015.

We invite all friends and family of Kalif and Green Style Analytics & Consulting to celebrate Kalif's life on Sunday August 30, 2015, 2-8 PM

For Basics Bring:
Potluck finger-food, chair, drinks

For Art and Laughter Bring:
Musical instruments, stories of Kalif to share, silent auction donations ...

For Kalif's Wall at the lab Bring:
Inspiration.

Kalif and son Drake feeding folks in NYC

A photo, art, memento or saying containing the passionate call to activism in the name of love, justice, equality and the earth that Kalif so loved to post on Facebook (before his strokes started slowing him down).

Kalif with his love Catherine

On Belonging

I often find it hard to explain to people my perspective on what my Rainbow family means to me. Some gatherers argue that we are individuals, but I have always felt that while we are individuals, we mean more to each other than the random people who show up at a football game. I view the gathering as a big dysfunctional family. However, the word ‘family’ is loaded with baggage so sometimes it’s easier to use other words.

In The Values of Belonging by Carol Lee Flinders (co-author of the Laurel's Kitchen cookbooks), she puts forth the principles of belonging in the introduction to the book. Reading them, I felt she was expressing what the gathering means to me in terms of our relationships to each other. She makes the point that the values of belonging say “This is where I belong” while the values of mainstream Western civilization would stay, “This belongs to me.” If you want to learn more about her and her work, visit her website. In the interest of sharing, I’ve included the bullet points of her values of belonging which for me expresses some of the best aspects of gathering. 

• Intimate connection with the land to which one “belongs.”
• Empathetic relationship to animals
• Self-restraining
• Custodial conservatism
• Deliberateness (being present)
• Balance
• Expressiveness
• Generosity
• Egalitarianism
• Mutuality
• Affinity for alternative modes of knowing
• Playfulness
• Inclusiveness
• Nonviolent conflict resolution
• Openness to spirit.

What do you think?

Thanksgiving Council 101

The annual gathering of the tribes, which takes place over the 4th of July, has a cyclical process. While various regions in the USA often host a Thanksgiving get together, this blog deals with the annual gathering. In South Dakota this summer, vision council on the land reached consensus that the 2016 gathering will take place in the White and Green Mountains National Forests in the states of Vermont, Maine or New Hampshire.

But then what?

Because the Rainbow Gathering has no leaders, no board of directors, no staff and no one in charge of anything, we depend on people working together to do all the preparation for the gathering in the north east. So over the years a process has come together to make sure that planning is open to everyone who wants to be involved.

The year starts off with Thanks giving Council or T-Council over the four day weekend of the same name. This is a time for people interested in plugging in, talking about visions for the gathering, discussing scouting, strategies about legal issues, etc. to get together.

T-Council generally takes place in the state or region where we will be gathering although sometimes it happens in other areas not to far from the consensed upon areas. It's usually a camp, cook, council, share heart songs kinda of thing. Often but not always, the people at T-Council pick the dates for the Scout Rendezvous and Spring Council. Often times a PO box is established for snail mail and a banking council is formed to deal with any donations.

As with all things Rainbow, no experience is necessary, just a willingness to participate. Keep in mind this is not a gathering, it's a working council and the way this council unfolds sets the tone for the gathering.


For direction to T-Council, click here.

I'm hoping that there will be a real mix of generations at T-Council. We need older people, we need younger people, we need more experienced gatherers and we need less experienced gatherers to come together to create a vision for a peaceful, healing and fun gathering in 2016. Be the change you want to see in this world.