Eplaya Camp 2005

helitack · Post by **helitack** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 4:06 pm

Sometimes I marvel in the fact that I even have athought process.

Rian Jackson · Post by **Rian Jackson** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 4:09 pm

care to elaborate?
ya lost me.

helitack · Post by **helitack** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 4:23 pm

My job is very complex, I do public Ranger programs, I do EMT stuff, I do wildfire stuff, I do search and rescue stuff, I volunteer on an AIr Med helicopter on my days off sometimes, I supervise interns, I collect GOV funds, I live in the middle of nowhere, I deal with a BIG buracracy(sp?), I got a divorce 4 years ago, I make schedules, I do curatorial cleaning of an historic house, I maintain a mouse trap line for hanta virus abatement, I do a lot of shit during my week, I am surprised I have time to think, maybe thats why I like to have abeverage now and then and BM and this community is such a nice release. ht

Rian Jackson · Post by **Rian Jackson** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 4:25 pm

as if i didn't already think you were utterly fascinating.

jeeeeeebuz.

tonytohono · Post by **tonytohono** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 4:32 pm

you two may need to get a tent here =P

=)

helitack · Post by **helitack** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 4:42 pm

Who NEEDS a tent?

tonytohono · Post by **tonytohono** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 4:48 pm

Good answer. I'd expect that from a ranger. =)

regynalonglank · Post by **regynalonglank** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 5:18 pm

yeah baby - why don't we do it in the road? tire tracks all across your back...uh...what the hell is your avatar tony? yer scarin' me!

Simply Joel · Post by **Simply Joel** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 5:50 pm

i gotta get to the desert, and just walk around for a couple of hours.

with nobody around for miles.

tonytohono · Post by **tonytohono** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 5:52 pm

It's an elephant eye dear regyna...

tonytohono · Post by **tonytohono** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 5:55 pm

And in honor of the flame I received today...

partial quote wrote:And you can shove your fucking horns up your pussy ASS!

I think I will change said avatar.

spectabillis · Post by **spectabillis** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 6:36 pm

If you get this camp going... what's the gun policy?

Assault rifles allowed? Full choke on shotguns? Tracers?

III · Post by **III** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 3:56 am

i've always preferred an unrestrictive gun policy.

i just wanted to bounce in and say congrats on what looks to be a good community thing...

Simply Joel · Post by **Simply Joel** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 4:10 am

III wrote:i've always preferred an unrestrictive gun policy.

i just wanted to bounce in and say congrats on what looks to be a good community thing...

an armed society is a polite society

helitack · Post by **helitack** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 6:15 am

No weapons for me cuz I'm the Medic.

III · Post by **III** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 6:44 am

i spose i should throw in my opinions, just cause.

this echoes a lot of what's been said already. it is also meant as a reflection on my personal experience, rather than advice (though it may sound like that, since i'm probably going to phrase some things based on what i'd prescribe for myself). fwiw - i've run a village of 600 (and been involved since the days when it was 200), and aided in the planning of another one on the order of a couple hundred members.

- decide whether you want to be a community camp, or an interactive camp. this will decide where you get placed, but it will also determine how you spend your time: interactive camps take a lot of energy directed towards a lot of strangers. community camps welcome outsiders as well, but they also spend a lot of effort maintaining their internal relationships, sometimes at the expense of being "interactive". in a village, you're bound to have camps that cover the spectrum, but you can still get a feel for which way you'll lean. my personal preference would be to accept lower demand real estate in exchange for the opportunity to cultivate the internal camp relationships along with external ones.

- whoever's organizing: trim your responsibilities. repeatedly and aggressively. as one of the originators of that do-ocracy term many years ago, a big part of it is to *not* impose group structure. don't have a group kitchen. someone may want to decide to do one on their own, and the can get opt in from whoever wants to make use of it. likewise for a big assed truck, or gates, generators, or anything else. this can affect how pretty your camp looks (our village was internally known as the black hole of black rock because of our repeated failures at providing any large scale lighting), but it will save wear and tear on your psyche, as well as promote a community that is healthy and engages itself, rather than segregating into organizers and followers. you'll need to take care of mapping, and the clean up plan (since that always takes a bit of pushing) but that should be about it.

- pick a cutoff date for signing up that's right in the middle of the registration period. be ruthless about saying no to new people who come after that, though you can say you'd be happy to have them camp with you next year. it's amazing how many people start looking for a theme camp to stay with in july, well after all the registrations are closed. even with the ruthless thing, plan an extra 20% across the board to accommodate friends of friends.

- make sure that the first people out there have a map, and know that their first responsibility is to partition up your space, not set up their own stuff. be ready to be flexible with what you get - it's often not the shape you expect, and i've seen variations of 20% either way from what was promised. given that, be willing to be strict with people who try to overflow their space. develop the expectation among your campers that they may not get what they want either. try setting up a central bulletin board with all the information newbies need to place themselves so that you don't have to be on call each time another person rolls up.

if, in the middle of the week, it becomes overwhelming, be willing to say "fuck it" and let other people in the camp/village deal with whatever issues are getting to you. that probably won't happen, but keeping that option as an escape hatch will keep your perspective straight. it's your vacation, and you should have the opportunity to enjoy it too. (i'd say about 1/3 of the camp leaders i've met have burned out so completely on managing their camps that they end up on nonspeaking terms with at least some of their previous campmates. that's not worth it.)

tonytohono · Post by **tonytohono** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 8:04 am

III - excellent thoughts and suggestions. One of the more articulate posts here.

Post by **AntiM** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 9:14 am

Sounds like hushville ...

III · Post by **III** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 9:30 am

>like hushville

among others. it's not the flashiest approach to running a camp, but there are quite a few who follow that with minor variations, and have managed to return for several years in a row. hushville has some pretty darn good people in it, and for me it's not a bad model to follow at all.

samtzu · Post by **samtzu** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 10:51 am

Trey: First of all, Welcome back... It's good to see you again...

Second: thanks for the advice. You know what you're talking about and we may want to pick your finely honed brain for more ideas and advice.

spectabillis · Post by **spectabillis** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 2:37 pm

III wrote:i've always preferred an unrestrictive gun policy.
i just wanted to bounce in and say congrats on what looks to be a good community thing...

Been a long time to see you around, it's a nice welcome (back).

gigglesnort · Post by **gigglesnort** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 9:37 am

In daydreaming about what the mental layout of hte eplaya would look like, from my persepective a large circus tent with a central gathering area (the bar), and all around the edge are a number of divisions (threads) but open facing hte Bar in the center. Where one could gather locally, look around at hte action happening around the "eplaya," and wander around to participate in the various "conversations."

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 10:16 am

Simply Joel wrote:
III wrote:i've always preferred an unrestrictive gun policy.

i just wanted to bounce in and say congrats on what looks to be a good community thing...
an armed society is a polite society

Hm... Just like to remind you that the armed society of middle age england had 6 times our murder rate. Considering that they were only armed with knives. . . that's something. OF course, medical science of the time. . . My suspician is that armedness and politeness are not related.

Of perhaps it all boils down to:

Cites?

blyslv · Post by **blyslv** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 3:18 pm

theCryptofishist wrote:
Simply Joel wrote:
III wrote:i've always preferred an unrestrictive gun policy.

i just wanted to bounce in and say congrats on what looks to be a good community thing...
an armed society is a polite society
Hm... Just like to remind you that the armed society of middle age england had 6 times our murder rate. Considering that they were only armed with knives. . . that's something. OF course, medical science of the time. . . My suspician is that armedness and politeness are not related.

Of perhaps it all boils down to:

Cites?

Robert Heilein was the one that said a "well armed society is polite."

Don't know if he was right.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 3:21 pm

blyslv wrote:
theCryptofishist wrote:
Simply Joel wrote: an armed society is a polite society
Hm... Just like to remind you that the armed society of middle age england had 6 times our murder rate. Considering that they were only armed with knives. . . that's something. OF course, medical science of the time. . . My suspician is that armedness and politeness are not related.

Of perhaps it all boils down to:

Cites?
Robert Heilein was the one that said a "well armed society is polite."

Don't know if he was right.

Well that explains something. Heinlien had ideological blind spots I could drive a truck (or if available a spaceship) through.

Simply Joel · Post by **Simply Joel** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 4:40 pm

so, are you saying that a high mortality rate due to violence is an indication of impolite behavior?

tonytohono · Post by **tonytohono** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 4:50 pm

Simply Joel wrote:so, are you saying that a high mortality rate due to violence is an indication of impolite behavior?

I'd say it's impolite, and ignorant...

and in some cases due to misguided beliefs.

stuart · Post by **stuart** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 5:23 pm

impolite:rude

rude: c : offensive in manner or action

I'd say murder is pretty fucking offensive

sparkletarte · Post by **sparkletarte** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 5:39 pm

Canadians are not well armed. We are polite.

Back in the day, when guns were brought to BM, there's no! way! I ever would have gone. It's freaky enough going to the US with the amount of people that have guns and all the corner stores that sell them, let alone some big fucking party/camping trip in the desert. Great drunk people and guns in the desert. Why the hell would someone bring or want to bring a gun anyways? Anyone who did? What was your reason?

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 5:43 pm

Did you see the set of photos from the guy who was riding on his bike this past year and got shot by someone who was riding on the hood of a car? I'm guessing this was a bb gun or something similar since he didn't die, but he got shot in the head and bled a lot. She could have shot his eye out. Guess she never listened to her mother