I at the Rainbow Gathering in West Virginia, June 2005
It was the morning of Jan. 2, 1992, and I had been sleeping in Lafayette Park, across from the White House in D.C., with two Rainbow friends, Mojo and Georgia. I had laid on the ground a blue plastic tarp, laid some blankets over it, then lain on one side and turned the other side over me - making a taco out of myself - and gone to sleep. At about 4:00 I had to get up and take a leak, so I was sliding out of my creation trying to disturb it as little as possible so that the blankets would still be warm when I got back in between them. I heard giggling, then Georgia’s voice saying, “Do you mind if we call you Butterfly?” I asked why, and she said I looked like one coming out of its cocoon.
I thought about it for a few months, and decided - no, I didn’t. It was appropriate. I always flitted around from one thing to another at a gathering, never staying too long at one place (I remember somebody once saying, “Ya know, this is the first time I’ve seen you sitting down.”) I like to wear bright colors like one. And in many ways the Rainbow has made me come out of my cocoon and start to fly about. Coupled with my Babylon name (which I had never disliked), it made a nice alliteration.
I had decided previously that I would only take a name that was given to me by someone else, after hearing some of the pretentious appellations that others have given themselves. This one met that criterion.
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Posts I made to alt.gathering.rainbow and my Live Journal page:
The Cold Easy Gathering – my experiences at the 2004 California national Gathering (Read this first if you have never been to a gathering; I explain some of the Rainbow lingo here)
The above stories are woven into a single one, with some additional material, that covers the span from late 2000 until the gathering in 2012 in my book Rainbow Gatherings, vol. 2.
The Virgin Gathering – my very first gathering, the 1987 North Carolina national This story is the first chapter of my book Rainbow Gatherings, which tells of all my other gatherings up to 2000
The Grateful Dead – another chapter which tells of my first Grateful Dead concert and its parking lot scene
Hospital Story – my treatment at a veteran's hospital for congestive heart failure in the fall of 2000, an event that affected my gathering for many years after
Coming Out – how I came to wearing “women’s” clothes in public
A Good Story – an incident while driving home from the Arizona Gathering
BB goes to a Peace Conspiracy event – the Peace Conspiracy, a group similar to the Rainbow Family in their culture and anarchistic organization, but different in the way they tolerate some behaviors that are taboo at Rainbow Gatherings
I got to talk with Robbie last week – my friend Robbie Gordon's treatment by various cops when they tried to bust him for marijuana and they arrested everyone for not having a permit at a regional gathering in New Mexico in 2007
Monthly Meeting at Shannon Farm – a place where consensus really worked: the monthly meeting at an intentional community I once lived in
Banking Reports – in 2 parts, where the Magic Hat money came from and went to in 2003 and 2004, and the reasons many people don’t want to be on the Banking Council
Death Camp – in 5 parts, a mother and a family of children challenge the Rainbow order with disruptive pranks
Goddessmyass – in 5 parts, one of a.g.r’s best trolls starts a discussion about men and women, the love that arises between them, and the frustrations that come with it
A meeting in San Francisco – in 7 parts, a meeting between some Rainbow gatherers and some high-level Forest Service officials stirs up controversy; most of the reasons gatherers are opposed to permits are expressed here
Miranda, Raven – in 6 parts, one of the most prolific posters to a.g.r. tells of her agonies and joys as a handicapped gatherer and as the mother of a son who goes to prison
The New Waveland Café – in 9 parts, a Rainbow style kitchen serves Hurricane Katrina refugees on the Mississippi Gulf coast.
Rainbow Book Update – The peculiar problems one has when trying to sell books about the Rainbow Family
Seed Camp Journal – John Tarleton tells of his experiences preparing for the 1999 Pennsylvania national gathering
Shanti Sena – in 9 parts, the voluntary security system used at all Rainbow Gatherings
Vision Council – in 5 parts, the council on the 7th of July that decides the location of the next year’s gathering
Rap 107 & Rap 701 – both on one page, as a PDF file suitable for printing
The Rainbow Raps – Raps 107, 121, 151, 420, 515, 516, & 911, as well as Pup 107, and the Access & Kidz Rap, all linked from the Online Rainbow Guide page
The 7 Garbage Chakras – Swami Mommy's paradigm upon which the recycling stations are set up at Gatherings
Rainbow Gathering ~ Dealing with Freedom – in 2 parts, recorded at the 2009 New Mexico national Gathering, with an emphasis on conflict resolution & Shanti Sena
Part 1[13:39] (There will be an advertisement appearing at first) Part 2[11:45] (There will be an advertisement appearing at first)
Shanti Sena Hipstories for Rainbow – Barry “Plunker” Adams talks in a coffeehouse in Missoula, Montana about the origins of the Rainbow Gathering and his experiences doing Shanti Sena [59:57] (Plunker speaks for only the first 33 minutes)
2008 Wyoming Rainbow Gathering Kid Village Attack – On July 3, 2008, after Forest Service law enforcement officers have taken an arrested Rainbow brother thru Kid Village, a mistaken call of "Fire!" has been raised, and many Rainbows who were at Dinner Circle in the main meadow have converged on the kitchen, a confrontation arises where the police respond by firing pellet guns and threatening with live ammunition [9:27]
alt.gathering.rainbow – the Usenet group, viewed on Google Groups (There has not been as much activity here in the last few years as there was ten to twenty years ago; most of the Rainbow discussion now is spread out among several Facebook groups. Many of these can be found by just typing “Rainbow” into their search window)
