It was magical and trying. It was interesting being around so many privileged people. I liked that I didn’t have to worry about people as much as I do when I walk the Oakland and San Francisco Streets. Everyone there has a home, has a place to seek help for free (without paying extra).
It was interesting learning how to accept gifts, give gifts, and tolerate the weird bartering that happens. It borders coercion but new cultures are kind of like that because you want to be polite as a person who hasn’t adjusted. Maybe the awkward exchange is the gift in total?
I want to go back. I miss it. I think that about all vacations and artistic productions where multiple people are involved. The temporary reality that we create, I become too comfortable and then the decompression.
I definitely want to bring that jenesequoi to more of my daily life. Sometimes, I get to wrapped up in pricing art, that I forget what gifting is: the most magical thing I’ve experienced.
I also want to say that I retract what I said. It’s not a festival. I think that their intention of it being a community and not a festival should be honored, though it meets my definitions of that word– there’s something else there that they are elevating. I’m not sure what it is.
Katarina Countiss 