A movement is afoot. I can feel it more today than a year ago. People are tired of the corporate, artificial, selfish culture. The Occupy Movement folks have filtered back into the pattern of their lives, but maybe with a bit more resolve and purpose. People are speaking up more in letters to the editor and Facebook posts. There’s a dis-ease with traditional or conventional ways of doing things.
One thing that’s been gathering momentum over the years has been the many festivals in Michigan that lift up local, community-oriented, authentic ways of being together: East Lansing Folk Festival, Farm Fest, Wheatland, Sleepy Bear, Bliss Fest, Womyn’s Music Festival, Electric Forest (formerly Rothbury), Lansing’s Common Ground Festival…and…
the Earthworks Harvest Gathering has to be one of the most personal, family-oriented music festivals in the state. Micah Ling wrote a wonderful blog entry about the amazing things at the Harvest Gathering. Though I agree with most of what she said (things like the music and the food), she didn’t talk specifically about the workshops. She mentions “the Lovin’,” and the workshops could fall under that category; the workshops that I attended were about connecting with people at a basic, spiritual level: a group sing first thing the first morning, insights into clowning, and song-writing 101. I got up and sang beautiful songs with new friends (and Aaron) in the woods. Awesome. Then, Elisabeth Pixley-Fink and Samantha Cooper also got us clowning. I’d never painted my body with pretend paint. I’d never played “Yes, And…” which I enjoyed and may use in class. I’d never played the Circle Game (which our choices were “Hi Ya!” karate chops, “Boo-yah” with a knowing look that breaks the fourth wall, or “Sushi” when we all move to a different spot in the circle). They taught me that clowns see someone do something once and mimic it with great (even exaggerated) confidence, while at the same time dealing with some eccentricity or nervous tick (like an eye twitch, pebble in the show, pin poking you in your clothes…). I appreciated the fresh look at clowning immensely. Not once did I think about the Common Core or if I was doing it “right” while we played. This stuff was all fun, all silly, and all expanded my conception of what a clown is all about. Dick Siegel led the song-writing workshop and his approach was fantastic. We and he sang some songs and then looked at the rhythms and connected them to songs we already knew (showing the commonalities between songs). I shared that rhyming was difficult for me and he offered that I could look at it as an opportunity. So, all in all, the time I spent in the woods learning was time well-spent. Fed my soul, gave me something to think about, made me pause and see the world differently.
Another thing Micah wrote about was the power of the Three-on-Three Basketball Tournament on the last morning. Some fun. It was cold, I wasn’t in the physical shape to be out there, and our team was playing together for the first time…but it was BIG time fun. “The Armenian Mafia,” our imposing team name (it was Emily, Mark, Aaron, and I), won the first game handily over what seemed like a mostly hung-over team from Escanaba. We really clicked all of a sudden and were passing well and defending like beasts. Then came our second game against one of the favorites, the Breathe Owl Breathe band, and we were back to reality — decimated from the tip off. But we still had fun. Part of the silliness of the game is the rule that anytime a car goes by you have to shoot the ball from where ever you are. If you don’t, then the other team gets the ball. In a quick, first-to-10 game, that makes it go really fast. Just more of the community-feel, more of the family touch that makes the Harvest Gathering something I plan to fit into my schedule again next year.
We were fortunate to see many of the musicians again on their Fall Tour when it came to Lansing. This group of people warms my soul. And feeds it.
Elisabeth Pixley-Fink’s song
Elisabeth and Samantha are playing a concert this Friday that we hope to attend: Hearth and Hymn in Dexter. I’ve been looking forward to the return trip to that folksy, smooth sound ever since I heard it was going to happen. Maybe I’ll see you there.
A couple other amazing things:
* Yes magazine — they speak the truth.
* 39 Test Answers that are 100% Wrong but Totally Genius at the Same Time