A Founder's Welcome
For decades, the people of our Rivercane and Falling Leaves Rendezvous and have enriched and inspired me. I hope you will be joining us at our next camp! For up to one week at a time, we come together in a living village. In my mind a village is infants and children and elders, teenagers and young men and women and parents who come together to work, play, make art and music, dance, prepare and share food shoulder to shoulder for most of their waking hours.
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Earthskills has been the village in my life since Darry Wood, Bob Slack Jr. and I co-founded this event in 1985; many others feel the same. Our village abounds in the most knowledgeable instructors, participants and mentors one might imagine; I am continually educated, uplifted and inspired by the depth of knowledge and experience being carried forward. The sound of children running and playing in freedom without constant adult intervention is music to my ears. Watching young men and women discover their peaceful warrior selves, playing stickball or throwing spears with atlatls or shooting blowguns is like poetry for my eyes. Drumming while the village dances around the council fire nourishes my spirit.
In this day and age, a slow, deep connection to nature and our human family is a rare and blessed experience, one that fills us and overflows into our daily lives. Ours is an eclectic and diverse village, with people of every conceivable background and lifestyle coming together in a harmony that amazes me. Our people selflessly work and contribute to sustain this camp, not only for the daily affairs of village life, but also to sustain its existence for the generations yet to be born. This is one of the missions of the Earthskills Leadership Council that serves as our board of directors for the educational non-profit organization robe that Rendezvous wears. My gratitude to the younger men and women who have stepped up to the rewards and hardships of leadership and staffing these educational events is as deep as the ocean. Through service they are truly taking Rendezvous, its traditions and values, to new heights, and to many more people who in turn, collectively, present the village's gifts to the world.
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Come join us, old friends and friends I've yet to meet....come join us as often as you possibly can.
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Blessed be,
Snow Bear