Earthdance & Symbiosis '06

Every time I return from an adventure, I always feel like I've learned something new about myself.
That's why I'm always seeking adventures. :-)

Earthdance was the most spiritually alive festival I've been to in years. The amount of loving intentions that goes into the making of this festival was apparent upon arrival. From the inspiring tarot card paintings hanging in the trees to the massive natural mandala created throughout the weekend by festival attendees, love was all around.

There was also a great selection of music, including lots of hip hop like Wisdom, Blackalicious, and Ozomatli. Awesome DJ's like Bassnectar, Cheb i Sabbah, and DJ Logic. And other new favorites like Kid Beyond, Luminous Fog, etc, etc, etc. I had so much fun bouncing around the festival and making new friends.

I volunteered at Earthdance this year for the Rainforest Action Network. I spent a lot of my time at the festival walking around with petitions for their various campaigns, and running the booth. It was a good experience, and I gathered a lot of good information talking to people about corporate power.

After Earthdance, I headed straight to the Symbiosis Gathering which started with a four day permaculture intensive workshop. We went over the basics of permaculture, surveyed the land where the festival would be held, and discussed concepts for how we could make this festival and other festivals more "green." The workshop served as an awesome preliminary to the four day festival.

The festival itself was full of some really interesting electronic music. My new favorite of the weekend was Shpongle! Check him out if you haven't already. Off the hook, yo. Nothing but good things to say. I won't even try to explain, just listen!

Other than that, there was Sporque, Zilla, Hallucinogen, the Goddess Alchemy Project, etc, etc, etc. All the good music in my life is overwhelming sometimes! I love it!

And now life has taken me to the woods of northern California for some farm work during harvest season, and camping out in the beautiful redwoods of Humboldt County. I moved out of Santa Cruz for good last week, packed up a few important items, and gave everything else to Good Will. I'm moving onto a new phase of my life starting RIGHT NOW. The Peace Corps has nominated me for a possible position doing agroforestry in Africa. I'm starting to study French now to prepare myself, and will most likely be leaving for two years starting this February, assuming all goes as planned.

So that's the update for now.
Living, learning, loving.... what else is there to do really?