Her name is Kara and she drives a truck and she was a waitress at the Fourth Street Cafe until it closed, at which point she took up construction. Though no one sees her much anymore, it's a good bet she's getting ready to go west again, as she does every year, and that means weeks of putting together outfits like the dress she made a few years ago entirely of twigs, which she considered a solid statement about nature, though not so easy to pack.
If she's going again, and folks think she will, it will be to Wyoming, probably near Pinedale, and there Kara will meet thousands of others just like her, people once known as hippies, for the yearly gathering of the Rainbow Family of Living Light, as they call themselves, and a week-long shindig called the Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes.
The purpose of the gathering is to advocate peace on earth and respect for Mother Earth. In effect, it’s the counter culture of the 1960s meeting the environmental movement for a good time of singing, dancing, puffing some weed, perhaps, and taking in nature.
Thousands move in, construct mini-cities of tents and whatever, and then when it's all over dismantle everything as if not one foot had been set on the space. Or that's the idea.
It will be on federal land, somewhat to the annoyance of the U.S. Forest Service, which for the week assumes the added expense of having the National Incident Management Team assist in keeping an eye on things and worrying what damage might be left behind, even after the family has a crew of its own tidy up a bit. But it's been 35 years, so there should be few surprises.
The big do culminates on July 4, a day when the rest of the country is busy chomping on picnic fare and ooh-ing over the local fireworks display.
Not so the Rainbow family.
“We get together on the Fourth of July and pray for world peace in a huge giant circle. It is also a sign of our interdependence without the glorification of war. There are no firecrackers there,” says Steve Duncan, a resident of Springfield, Mo., who has been going to the annual event for about a decade.
If it sounds like fun, you’re welcome to join. The Rainbow Family opens its arms for anyone with a belly button (and even a belly button, they say, is not really needed).
The family claims to be the largest non-organization of non-members in the world. They have no leaders as such, and it's so loose it's not entirely clear how the Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes all comes together once a year, but it does, and it has since the first one in Colorado in 1972, which is about when the first hippies, or many of them, were beginning to choose other lifestyles.
Pulling it off is a big job, too, requiring a large, remote site to accommodate up to 20,000 people. They all have to get in and back out again. Organizers advise it might take many hours to travel the last 50 to 100 miles along dirt roads.
The invitation on one of the Rainbow family web sites--there's no official site as such--reads: “We invite all people to come camp with us in a magical mountain meadow in Wyoming, chop firewood, haul water, cook food and participate in workshops on non-violent direct action, yoga, alternative healing, and make music, create art and dance until your feet fall off.”
But first there must be a Seed Camp, as it's called, to put up the infrastructure. Once there, the early birds help build the kitchens, dig holes for toilets, lay water pipes and build water filtration systems.
Folks are advised to bring what they need and more to share. Reports of past events describe them as generally peaceful affairs, despite the vast numbers of people.
Alcohol and hard drugs are strongly discouraged, soft drugs less so. Attire is varied and while most wear clothes, a few don’t.
Participants often also abandon their real names and go by their Rainbow Family first name. Food is free, incense abounds, and there is a kiddie village for those who bring their offspring.
"It's not like Woodstock," says Duncan. "It's a peaceful time. People are swimming in creeks, tossing the frisbee, cooking, cleaning and sitting in the shade. There are doctors, lawyers, journalists, all walks of life there. It is certainly not what most mainstream Americans might think. It's a pretty good time."
***
Meanwhile, elsewhere in popcult, new release “Kung Fu Panda” finished first at the box office over the weekend, bringing in $60.0 million, while fellow new release “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” came in at No. 2 with $40.0 million in ticket sales.
In DVD rentals for the week ended June 1, according to IMDb.com, “Rambo” was No. 1, while “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” fell out of the top spot to No. 2.
On iTunes this morning, Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida” was No. 1 for the second straight week, while Metro Station’s “Shake It” entered the top eight at No. 4.
And in books, the new Laurell K. Hamilton novel “Blood Noir” debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times hardcover fiction best-sellers list for the week ended May 31, and was also No. 2 on USA Today’s book chart for the week ended June 1.
|
TOP MOVIES
Weekend Box Office Estimates
Weekend of June 6-8, 2008
|
|
Rank
|
MOVIE
|
Engagements
|
Box office (millions)
|
|
1
|
Kung Fu Panda (
Paramount)
|
4,114
|
$60.00
|
|
2
|
You Don’t Mess With the Zohan (Sony)
|
3,462
|
$40.00
|
|
3
|
Indiana
Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (
Paramount)
|
4,190
|
$22.81
|
|
4
|
Sex and the City (New Line, Warner Bros.)
|
3,325
|
$21.31
|
|
5
|
The Strangers (N/A)
|
2,477
|
$9.23
|
|
6
|
Iron Man (
Paramount)
|
2,931
|
$7.52
|
|
7
|
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (
Buena Vista)
|
3,065
|
$5.53
|
|
8
|
What Happens in Vegas (Fox)
|
2,366
|
$3.40
|
|
9
|
Baby Mama (Universal)
|
922
|
$0.78
|
|
10
|
Made of Honor (Sony)
|
740
|
$0.78
|
|
Source: Yahoo Movies
|
|
IMDb TOP DVD RENTALS
Week ending June 1, 2008
|
|
Rank
|
TITLE
|
Last week
|
|
1
|
Rambo
|
-
|
|
2
|
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
|
1
|
|
3
|
Mad Money
|
2
|
|
4
|
Untraceable
|
3
|
|
5
|
P.S. I Love You
|
5
|
|
6
|
The Great Debaters
|
6
|
|
7
|
Grace is Gone
|
-
|
|
8
|
27 Dresses
|
8
|
|
9
|
Cleaner
|
-
|
|
10
|
First Sunday
|
7
|
|
Source: IMDB
|
|
ITUNES TOP 8 SONG DOWNLOADS
for week ended Monday, June 9, 2008
|
|
Rank
|
TITLE
|
|
1
|
Viva la Vida, Coldplay
|
|
2
|
I Kissed a Girl, Katy Perry
|
|
3
|
Pocketful of Sunshine, Natasha Bedingfield
|
|
4
|
Shake It, Metro Station
|
|
5
|
Take a Bow, Rihanna
|
|
6
|
Forever, Chris Brown
|
|
7
|
Bleeding Love, Leona Lewis
|
|
8
|
4 Minutes, Madonna feat. Justin Timberlake
|
|
Source: iTunes
|
|
NEW YORK
TIMES BESTSELLING BOOKS
Week ending May 31, 2008
|
|
Fiction (hardback)
|
|
Rank
|
TITLE
|
Last week
|
Weeks on chart
|
|
1
|
Blood Noir by Laurell K. Hamilton
|
-
|
1
|
|
2
|
The Host by Stephanie Meyer
|
2
|
4
|
|
3
|
Odd Hours by Dean Koontz
|
1
|
2
|
|
4
|
Love the One You’re With by Emily Griffin
|
3
|
3
|
|
5
|
Sundays at Tiffany’s by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet
|
6
|
5
|
|
Nonfiction (hardback)
|
|
1
|
What Happened by Scott McClellan
|
-
|
1
|
|
2
|
Audition by Barbara Walters
|
1
|
4
|
|
3
|
Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler
|
2
|
6
|
|
4
|
The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria
|
3
|
5
|
|
5
|
Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall with Lisa Pulitzer
|
4
|
3
|
|
Fiction (paperback)
|
|
1
|
The Shack by William P. Young
|
1
|
2
|
|
2
|
The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
|
3
|
22
|
|
3
|
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
|
5
|
39
|
|
4
|
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
|
2
|
39
|
|
5
|
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
|
4
|
17
|
|
Nonfiction (paperback)
|
|
1
|
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
|
1
|
70
|
|
2
|
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
|
2
|
71
|
|
3
|
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
|
3
|
23
|
|
4
|
Marley & Me by John Grogan
|
4
|
12
|
|
5
|
Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson
|
5
|
5
|
|
Source: New York Times
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
USA
TODAY BESTSELLING BOOKS
Week ending June 1, 2008
|
|
Rank
|
TITLE
|
Last week
|
|
1
|
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow
|
2
|
|
2
|
Blood Noir by Laurell K. Hamilton
|
1
|
|
3
|
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
|
-
|
|
4
|
Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer
|
4
|
|
5
|
High Noon by Nora Roberts
|
7
|
|
6
|
The Lost Duke of Wyndham by Julia Quinn
|
5
|
|
7
|
New Moon by Stephanie Meyer
|
3
|
|
8
|
Hide by Lisa Gardner
|
1
|
|
9
|
The Host by Stephanie Meyer
|
8
|
|
10
|
Odd Hours by Dean Koontz
|
6
|
|
Source:
USA Today
|
