gay skinheads
Ok for my soc. class, we have to do some sort of creative essay(8-12 pages)and a picture essay to go along with it on any particular sub-culture. I want to do mine on Rainbow families/communities, but I don’t have any real resources as of yet. So if anybody would be so gracious as to give me some personal insight, stories, pictures of all sorts of their rainbow families that would be really stellar. Also, I plan on doing some good ole googling, but if anybody knows some sites or places I could visit in the Minneapolis area that have some good info that would be really great too. The project isn’t due for quite so time so no rush…and thanks in advance for anybody respondees!
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Peace & Good Spirits to all!
Have fun with it sister, and I know you’ll find a ton of stuff from googling. Minneapolis has its fair share of family, …, aren’t Phat Kids from there?
i’m happy to share allican, iadded ya on aim.. i’m way tooooo tired right now, but i’m looking forward to sharing soon
I am thinking of doing sometime so similar. I think I might do the history of the Rainbow Family, but I really don’t know much at all. Anyone want to hook me up with some info can IM me on aim…knottykitti…or send me an e mail @ . Thanks so much everyone.
email me at and ill send you some really heady photos from my rainbow travels.. i have pics from colorado and purple school bus pics too.
iwillll indeed, ilost my camera, with like 300 pics in colorado
lucky..you look so familiar..was that you, at umm what campwas it..there was a drum circle.. we hugged eachother..& bothhad tears from the hug..& you borrowed my drum..but it wasnt my drum anymore i gave it to chevy, but u didnt know that so when ileft u tookthe drum withu..& left it at info? maybe that wssnt u..but..i swear u seeem very familiar..
Yeah, I havent really started the project yet but Lucky I’m going to be e-mailing you in like two min!
Thanks
Peace and good spirits
here are some sites for info: and … both are good resources for all things Rainbow.
Might want to check out my site at - on the photos page I have posted lots of pics from Rainbow gatherings (I went to this year’s and 2004).
Best of luck - sounds like a great project!
in adition tothose sites theres movies from past gatherings..?& music on and music on
the movies are not all high quality, but they (most) do give u a real sence of what its all about & even some of the hipstory
depending on how seriusly u wanna look intothe full hipstoryof the family i’m sure theres folks here who can put u in touch with some of the folks who were around from the days when it was just an idea & a dream
i’ve been goin pretty steadily for like 20 years myself, but thats really not all that long when u meet ppl whove been to every single 1 since the beginning
i can share you my stories, but right now i’m own my way out the dorr to class
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The 1990 National gathering was in Minnesota. Maybe you could reasearch that.
ok here goes. This past gathering was my first gathering and trust me it won’t be my last! I was fortunate enough to get a ride with fellow family from PA. We drove out in a pick up truck with a camper in the bed of the truck. we broke down in PA. a stranger pulled over and showed us how to ghetto-rig the starter. it was crazy. we couldn’t turn off the truck because if we did then we had to ghetto-rig it again and when we did that it would shock the person. we were driving from PA to Missouri without stopping. We show two brothas walking on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere Missouri, so we pulled over and they hopped into the back. Interesting people to say the least. well the truck overheated. like way overheated to the point where we had fluids flying out of the engine and it was steaming! We were stuck in the middle of nowhere Missouri. We happened to break down in front of a bar. I walked into the bar to find help and I felt like I entered a different time zone. All eyes were on me. Well I’m a dready mama, so I can understand people starring at me, so it’s nothing new. Well I asked if anyone could help us out and this drunk fello stopped what he was doing and started to fix our truck or what I called the “hipster mobile.” I decided to kick it in the bar and drink quite a few drinks and talk with locals. I was warned that the area was the biggest drug busting town in Missouri. We had greens, but hid it in the woods for the time being. The man who was fixing our truck said that he couldn’t finish fixing until tomorrow morning at 6AM. All of us, which were 8 now slept in the truck. 6AM came around the man came back and had a new starter. A couple hours passed and we were on the road again. We broke down AGAIN, but this time we were going up a hill. We have to direct the truck off the road going backwards. At this point I was dying from the heat. There was not a soul for hours. Then finally someone saw our sign and pulled over. He happened to have one of those computer things that connect to your car to test to see what is wrong. Well now it was the alternator. The guy did something and the truck was working again. We were on the road again! Then about 45 mins later we broke down once more. At this point I felt like I was overheating. It was so hot. We had a sign up and no one drove by. Then this military guy pulled over and offered to drive us to a car parts place to get a new alternator. Two people of my crew left and got a new one. I called AAA before this man pulled over to help us. We need a tool of some sort, so when the AAA guys came they drove us to get a tool. They we telling Abe and I the most ridiculous jokes on the way there and back. They were not funny, but at this point anything made me laugh. We return back with the tool. We put the new alternator on and hit the road AGAIN! We finally get to Kansas. We took the southern route because we were supposed to pick a sista up in OK, but the truck was on its last life. While driving through Kansas we spotted two more brothers on the side of the road, so of course we picked them up. The other two got off somewhere. I can’t remember where exactly. Kansas was a scary place. I saw so many anti-abortion billboards that it scared me. I was truly scared in Kansas. I dunno why, but I was. Finally we make it to CO! We were on the road for 4 days!
We pull into the gathering grounds. I felt like I enter a different universe. I was approached with a “WELCOME HOME” by everyone. Every person acknowledged that I was there. I camped out at “Shut up and eat it.” It was amazing. It was a whole community. Everyone worked with each other to make sure everyone was fed and okay. I was camping next to this tree that a brotha carved a bowl into. People were passing by and spreading their green energy. The trading circle was amazing! It reminded me of a money-less mall. People had the most interesting things that they wanted to trade. I got two necklaces that I haven’t taken off since the gather. They mean a lot to me. Main circle was amazing too. All of the kitchens made food for everyone and made sure that everyone was fed. Well July 4 came around and woah is the word to explain it. The 6-hours of silence was so powerful. I can go on and on and on about how powerful this entire experience has been for me. I had an insane spiritual experience. I have learned how to break away from the material world and to love life. I left all of my material things in my tent and no one stole anything from me. When we say that we are family, we mean it! I remember tripping and falling over something and a brotha put everything down and helped me up. 
I hope my story has helped. I have soooooooooooooooooooooo much more, but then I would have written a book! I hope one day you too can experience what my family has to offer. You need no money or material things. Forget time. Just join us with a lovin heart and soul. We don’t judge. See you all next year!
very well said bumble but you left out ofh so much
she was with mr on this trip, & just the breaking down part onthe way was rainbow magic in action
literaly most of the 25 or so times we broke down wed pull over pop the hood & instantly ppl would stop to help
over 50 ppl helped us cross the state
icluding at least 2 old rainbows
oh & bumbles u forgot the 2 we picked up 1st hopped out on 1 side of an underpass just inside colorado & the others we picked up 200 feet further on the other side of the underpass…& all 4 ended up at the gathering even tho it wasnt theyre intended destinations..lol
but iloved everything else u said about how amazingly youcan just be touched bythe experience of your very 1sdt gathering & just how amazingly powerfulit can be to feel that connected to something as huge & beautiful as a global family….rainbow folks truly are the most beautiful people on this planet..ya just cant help but feelthe love
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I hope my story has helped. I have soooooooooooooooooooooo much more, but then I would have written a book! I hope one day you too can experience what my family has to offer. You need no money or material things. Forget time. Just join us with a lovin heart and soul. We don’t judge. See you all next year![/QUOTE]
Oh it sounds like quite the experience, a beautiful one at that. Hopefully, one day I’ll be able to see for myself how amazing they are!
I’m taking it you travled with soaringeagle to the gathering? Sounded like you car ride was an adventure in itself! Thanks for sharing you experience with me! I’m actually thinking about switching the picture essay into a collection of short non fiction stories, if I can get enough of them!
Oh and soaringeagle, I’m having a tough time staying connected to AIM. It keeps disconnecting me after a few minutes on it or else it just freezes up so I haven’t been able to IM you….but feel free to contribute anything if you are willing?
Thanks again!
ya have anything besides aim?
i always like going to az gathering by car with a group, the trip is a big part of the adventure so flying just doesnt seem like real to me..cause soon as i leave the cityi start to smile..& the further we get..(i go clear cross the countrywithoutt sleep) the bigger the grin gets..and as we leave the paved roads behind theres just an energy in the air that u realizre youve felt building over the opast 1000 miles
my 1st gathering i woke up in a pickup bed as we pulled intothe site..i sat up just in time to see an elephant headed upthe trail.. farther up a bus villiage that seemed to go on 10 miles was a viking circus..then after finding where we were gonna camp..a long long 10 mile hike up verymuddy trails up the side of the mountain i was shocked to hear a piano off in the woods..theyd actualy caried a grand piano up that trail just to setup a lil tea kitchen/piano bar
my mind was totaly boggled by the people isaw, i just remember thinking how different they all seemed &? wondering where they all came from..the only way to describve it was blissfull…untouched by all the frustrations ?& crap of the world outside..honnestly my 1st i spent the whole time in amazement, so didnt really start to get what it was i was experiencing till id gone to a couple more
b ut the 1st 1 still holds a sence of wonder..of inrealness..a dreamlike qualityfor me
even today sometimes im amazed that anything so wonderful could possibly exist
tome its like that dream of a utopia everyone has but most people laugh at ya for & sayits a pipe dream..a beautiful idea but (or so they claim) impossible due to human nature
but tous..human nature means to love…
oh I have more, it’s just i had to go to sleep last night 
. I didn’t forget the 4 hitch hikers. they’re in there! I was glad that I was able to be part of the rainbow experience soaringeagle!
some rainbow shots from Colorado.
a few good ones in there.
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pete, you’r absolutely right! you can read, write and do all of that type of stuff, but you will never know unless you experience it yourself. we will go out together to the 07 gathering fo’ sho’!
awesome but we gotta get frieden and eartygirl to gotoo
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hahaha its amazin how fast it sneaks up on ya and your scramblin to get everything together in time
It’s fun hearing everyone’s stories, so I thought I’d share some bits, too.
Ask just about any Rainbow and you’ll hear that their first Gathering changed their life, and it was certainly that way for me. My first one was CA ‘04. I had been wanting to go for a few years after hearing about some friends’ experiences, so we planned out a route and headed down to Cali. It was only a 2-day drive (from Northern Idaho) and we camped somewhere in the middle of Oregon. I traveled with my boyfriend Sen, our dog Juneau, and a friend - along with all our gear in my little Ford Escort. The trip was pretty uneventful until we started getting closer to Rainbow. Every place we stopped we started running into Rainbows. I remember meeting a couple who had hit a moose in their bus and had to get it fixed, we chilled with them for a while and wished we could’ve fit them in the car…
As we got closer to Rainbow we could feel the energy pulling us in, but we really didn’t know what to expect. Once we got on the dirt roads there was a pretty steady stream of cars. Once we got there we parked and then started hiking in. Everyone was smiling and saying "Welcome Home" and giving out hugs - it truly felt like home, instantly. We finally found a spot to camp near Warriors of the Light kitchen, met the neighbors (and Juneau met all the lady dogs in the neighborhood of course) and decided to hike up to the big rocks overlooking the gathering.
Up at the top of the rocks, we looked over the gathering - it was huge and so spread out, with teepees, kitchens, fires, and tents everywhere. We ran into a friend on our hike - it’s funny how you’ll accidentally bump into old friends at the gathering and find each other among all those people! I was also amazed at all the different communities and kitchens that were set up, and my first meal at main circle was truly amazing. It reminded me of the Biblical story of Jesus feeding 5,000 people with a few loaves of bread & some fish. Except that everything at main circle was vegetarian or vegan. The food was AMAZING - so much variety and so much new stuff to try. It was eating this food, prepared with love and all vegetarian, that changed me and convinced me that I should go vegetarian. Right then & there I stopped eating animals - and it was the best decision I’ve ever made. It was something I’d wanted to do for years but never had the balls to do it - Rainbow convinced me not only that it was possible, but that it was DAMN TASTY!
Anyway, the CA Gathering was a spiritual experience and one I’ll never forget. Other highlights include going on an herbal walk, participating in a council circle, meeting all kinds of wonderful people, trading at the trade circle, and hiking up the mountain above the Gathering. The hike was especially amazing. When we got to the top there was a glacier on the other side! Juneau is a husky and got soooo excited when he saw that snow. We climbed up a big rock outcropping near the top of the mountain to take in some sun (and some solars) and rest a bit. We met an awesome guy up there and chatted for a while. Then we saw some kids running down the mountain. They were going really fast and I mentioned that I hope they didn’t fall. Then one of them came running back up towards us, yelling for help. His friend had broken his leg! So we rushed down the mountain to find the kid with a definitely broken leg in lots of pain. We all lifted him off the rocks to a more comfortable spot and gave him some water and what little medicine we could offer. Sen made him a splint and stabilized his leg and we waited with him until more people and an EMT arrived and eventually they had to get an ambulance up there and carry him to it on a stretcher. So, kids, don’t run down mountains!!!
The sense of community and love I felt renewed my faith in the human race. The most powerful experience was probably the July 4th circle. No one speaks until after the circle, so we were silent for most of the morning. Everyone gathered in the main meadow and formed concentric circles of people holding hands. Everyone began chanting "OOOHHHHHHHMMMMMMM" and the whole valley vibrated with positive energy. After a while a parade of children came from Kiddie Village and entered the circle. Once they reached the middle the prayer turned into a party and everyone celebrated. The energy of that prayer circle was probably the most intense vibe I’ve ever felt - everyone there was gathered to pray for peace and manifest it.
On the way out a week later, we piled a couple needing a ride in and took them most of the way home. We had a great time and some great conversations with them, and it was a good way to make the Rainbow energy last just a bit longer.
So that was my first gathering. A life-altering experience and one I highly recommend. I also went to CO this year, which was amazing as well. We drove our ‘82 VW bus that we’d just bought days before the Gathering. It was like it was meant to take us there, my boyfriend picked it up and drove it home and the day after we left. This time it was just Sen, Juneau, and I. We went through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks on the way down there and of course stopped at some hot springs along the way. We got to see Old Faithful erupt at sunset in Yellowstone! We were really nervous because we’d heard about the roadblocks and the arrests, so when we got into Steamboat Springs we checked it out and asked around a bit, and ended up waiting until really late to roll in. We got in without seeing any cops, parked and crashed in the bus.
Colorado had a bit more hectic parking than Cali did, but the location was just as beautiful. We made sure to stop in the hug tent on the way in and volunteered at a kitchen right away. We set up camp - and ended up moving camp a few times while we were there - and just soaked in the energy. It felt even more like home than the last Gathering. Some of the cool things I saw in CO were the talent show at Granola Funk (they had built a pirate ship stage out of logs and it was awesome!), lots of live music and drumming, PopCorner (a kitchen that served popcorn and chai all night), and we ran into another old friend on the 4th! I made some awesome trades at the trade circle (got the coolest patchwork pants I’ve ever seen!) and when my boyfriend got sick, an acupuncturist & energy healer healed him instantly using the energy of crystals (and her own energy of course). It was amazing - he had been sick and unable to hold down even water all day, and right after seeing the healer we went and ate at main circle and he was fine.
The 4th was a little crazier than Cali - one BIG circle instead of several concentric ones, but the party in the middle was so much fun! I’ve never seen such an outpouring of joy and music. We helped clean up and caught the last few songs of a Michael Franti & Spearhead show at Steamboat Springs on the way out of town. And just as we got out of the Gathering and back into Babylon, I saw a Rainbow stretching across the sky, I swear it was coming from the Gathering….
It was so hard to leave, but we ended up going to Denver & Boulder with our friend, giving a sister a ride to Boulder, and going through Rocky Mountain National Forest (in the fog & rain) on the way home. We went back through Grand Teton & Yellowstone as well, and the bus did really well the whole trip.
Wow, I think this is the longest post ever. Anyway, I highly recommend you watch this movie Warriors of the Light - I’ve got a link to all 3 parts on YouTube on the barter fair site, here:
Enjoy & I hope you can make it HOME in 2007!
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Wow, small world - a lot of people find me or remember me from my dog Juneau:
We actually celebrate Juneau’s birthday (July 2) at Rainbow every year. He turned 1 in CA and 3 this year.
It was sevensong at CA that I did an herb walk with - he was amazing and very smart. It’s wonderful how many educational and enlightening opportunities like the herb walk there are at Rainbow. We learned a lot, his school looked awesome, too.
I’m not sure if I’ll be going to the 2007 Gathering yet or not - depends on where I’m at and where it’s at. If I’m still working I might not have enough vacation time since I’ll be going to Europe in the spring. Our bus needs quite a bit of work (we just converted it to run on waste veggie oil) and we’re moving before next summer, too, so hopefully we can make it happen but we’ll see… where there’s a will there’s a way!
BarterMama, thanks for the story and the links to the videos! Those were amazing!!!
Hey no problem, glad I could help. I love showing those videos to people when they ask what Rainbow is all about. The Warriors of the Rainbow was filmed at the 2004 CA gathering. Since it was my first one it definitely makes them extra special for me.
bartermomma do u remember asister named mystique?
your dog hung out with her dog sadie alot
were u camped with 3 other sisters?
if so i was right near u..and the 1 sister with u would always have a nice big smole for me when i woke up
but thats all i remember
heehee
freiden check out the movies on spunone too, theyre very real even if the quality isnt great on em..they give ya a real good feel for what its all about
Juneau played with a lot of girl doggies but I can’t remember their owners’ names too well. I was camped with 2 guys, so it probably wasn’t me you remember. You don’t look too familiar but who knows. There’s always next Gathering too….
and the next and the next and the next
not gonna stop goin anytime soon so im sure eventualy you wont be able to avoid me anymore