V Camp at the ePlaya Bar Camp
Gather 'round for the story of how V Camp came to be a part of the ePlaya Bar Camp:
Once upon a time, in an online community called Tribe, a group of women had a discussion about heading to Burning Man, and they wanted to find or form a group to camp together. The discussion seemed to come down to two key desires: campers would be females, and they would also be first-timers.
"V Camp for Virgins with Vaginas!" was my response to this discussion. (I identify myself as a do-er rather than a discuss-er) I created a V Camp Tribe, and posted announcement ads for it on the Burning Man, Burning Women, and Burning Man Virgins 2006 Tribes, and also on the ePlaya in the Theme Camp section.
The response on the Burning Man Tribe (oh, wait.. there were no replies)
The response on the Burning Woman Tribe (42 replies)
The Response on the 2006 Virgins Tribe (2 replies)
The Response on ePlaya (90 replies)
Posts on Burning Women and 2006 Virgins were very positive and supportive and problem solving... and then the posts on ePlaya were mostly negative: slamming the concepts of women-only and virgin-only camps, and slamming me personally for my defense of these concepts.
I was surprised, but jumped into the debate with both feet, getting personal with info about my own history, and challenging others on their interpretations of our intentions.
Along with some initial open supporters (thanks TITWI and BBSue!), there soon was a small gathering of pro-VCamp voices beside mine, taking on the anti-VCamp voices... and mid-discussion (around page 3 when I had to bow out and attend my brother-in-law's funeral), the personal support started to heavily outweigh the nay-sayers. Many of the participants in the debate also sent me private messages of support, to counter their public messages speaking against the V Camp ideas.
One of these private messages was from Rockdad (Bob Blogger here), inviting me to The Bar on ePlaya: "I invited you so you could see how Eplaya can be a friendly place if you hang with the right crowd just like in real life. Some of our members are very involved in the BRC services too! Myself and others work in Emergency services, Tisha is in charge over at the Center Camp, Robbi is the potty girl in charge of making sure the Potty’s(JOT”s) are in clean good condition and many more examples of involved people could be cited it would be a good resource for you.. "
I started spending many hours in The Bar, getting to know the regulars and irregulars as the warm, friendly, crazy, loving people that they are, and hearing more about their plans for creating a camp at Burning Man.
Potty Goddesses, folks in charge of huge things, and a bunch of emergency responders? How could I possibly NOT want to camp with these people?
I put the suggestion forward to the V Camp tribe... at this point, there were only two other women who were still commited to going (of the eight or ten who initially indicated interest, the rest had new jobs or money restrictions or other things that kept them from committing to going to Burning Man this year)... AND, one of them (Cin) had already sent me a message to say that her husband was going to be joining her on this trip, so she wasn't sure if V Camp would still be a good fit for her... AND, I didn't think that pitching my tent beside Michelle's RV would measure up to the same sort of stability offered by a huge organized camp...
So, with their approval, I officially accepted the invite (which I think was primarily put forward by Rockdad and Sputnik, one of whom teasingly suggested creating a fenced enclosure within the greater Bar Camp area just for us V Campers, including a guard at the gate! The layout map does actually show us grouped in one corner of the camp, though the fence appears to have been nixxed...)
I want to share Michelle's response to my question of merging: "Let me get this straight. I have the opportunity to create, stock and be a bartender at BM. The camp is opening up their arms to us? Wow! Without knowing all the details. I'm in." Yeah, me too :)
One of my last posts on the ePlaya thread about V Camp: "Long live the right and ability to change one's mind and plans..."
I am so totally enjoying being part of the ePlaya Bar Camp, and am so happy that other V Campers will be joining me here... and more Virgins with Vaginas (and Veterans with Vulvas, and Vagabonds with...[add your own V word] ) are welcome!
There. The End.
Well, okay.. a teensy bit more about me ('cause I'm like that) and my plans for Bar Camp: hoop lessons and performances, working on the creation of the real-life Never Ending Blanket, playing hostess or dishwasher but certainly not head cook.. taking up a lot of space with the HUGE tent I'm probably bringing... and running around with stars in my eyes and a smile so huge that my face hurts by the end of the first day. I can't wait.
Once upon a time, in an online community called Tribe, a group of women had a discussion about heading to Burning Man, and they wanted to find or form a group to camp together. The discussion seemed to come down to two key desires: campers would be females, and they would also be first-timers.
"V Camp for Virgins with Vaginas!" was my response to this discussion. (I identify myself as a do-er rather than a discuss-er) I created a V Camp Tribe, and posted announcement ads for it on the Burning Man, Burning Women, and Burning Man Virgins 2006 Tribes, and also on the ePlaya in the Theme Camp section.
The response on the Burning Man Tribe (oh, wait.. there were no replies)
The response on the Burning Woman Tribe (42 replies)
The Response on the 2006 Virgins Tribe (2 replies)
The Response on ePlaya (90 replies)
Posts on Burning Women and 2006 Virgins were very positive and supportive and problem solving... and then the posts on ePlaya were mostly negative: slamming the concepts of women-only and virgin-only camps, and slamming me personally for my defense of these concepts.
I was surprised, but jumped into the debate with both feet, getting personal with info about my own history, and challenging others on their interpretations of our intentions.
Along with some initial open supporters (thanks TITWI and BBSue!), there soon was a small gathering of pro-VCamp voices beside mine, taking on the anti-VCamp voices... and mid-discussion (around page 3 when I had to bow out and attend my brother-in-law's funeral), the personal support started to heavily outweigh the nay-sayers. Many of the participants in the debate also sent me private messages of support, to counter their public messages speaking against the V Camp ideas.
One of these private messages was from Rockdad (Bob Blogger here), inviting me to The Bar on ePlaya: "I invited you so you could see how Eplaya can be a friendly place if you hang with the right crowd just like in real life. Some of our members are very involved in the BRC services too! Myself and others work in Emergency services, Tisha is in charge over at the Center Camp, Robbi is the potty girl in charge of making sure the Potty’s(JOT”s) are in clean good condition and many more examples of involved people could be cited it would be a good resource for you.. "
I started spending many hours in The Bar, getting to know the regulars and irregulars as the warm, friendly, crazy, loving people that they are, and hearing more about their plans for creating a camp at Burning Man.
Potty Goddesses, folks in charge of huge things, and a bunch of emergency responders? How could I possibly NOT want to camp with these people?
I put the suggestion forward to the V Camp tribe... at this point, there were only two other women who were still commited to going (of the eight or ten who initially indicated interest, the rest had new jobs or money restrictions or other things that kept them from committing to going to Burning Man this year)... AND, one of them (Cin) had already sent me a message to say that her husband was going to be joining her on this trip, so she wasn't sure if V Camp would still be a good fit for her... AND, I didn't think that pitching my tent beside Michelle's RV would measure up to the same sort of stability offered by a huge organized camp...
So, with their approval, I officially accepted the invite (which I think was primarily put forward by Rockdad and Sputnik, one of whom teasingly suggested creating a fenced enclosure within the greater Bar Camp area just for us V Campers, including a guard at the gate! The layout map does actually show us grouped in one corner of the camp, though the fence appears to have been nixxed...)
I want to share Michelle's response to my question of merging: "Let me get this straight. I have the opportunity to create, stock and be a bartender at BM. The camp is opening up their arms to us? Wow! Without knowing all the details. I'm in." Yeah, me too :)
One of my last posts on the ePlaya thread about V Camp: "Long live the right and ability to change one's mind and plans..."
I am so totally enjoying being part of the ePlaya Bar Camp, and am so happy that other V Campers will be joining me here... and more Virgins with Vaginas (and Veterans with Vulvas, and Vagabonds with...[add your own V word] ) are welcome!
There. The End.
Well, okay.. a teensy bit more about me ('cause I'm like that) and my plans for Bar Camp: hoop lessons and performances, working on the creation of the real-life Never Ending Blanket, playing hostess or dishwasher but certainly not head cook.. taking up a lot of space with the HUGE tent I'm probably bringing... and running around with stars in my eyes and a smile so huge that my face hurts by the end of the first day. I can't wait.
posted by Christa Giles at 11:42 PM
2 Comments:
WELCOME HOME
I love the way you express yourself! Wish I could camp with you all. You will, however, see a lot of me! TGA
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