Entries this day: New_Orleans_Rally New_Orleans_Rally_by_Dane_Dormio

New Orleans Rally

1997 New Orleans rally review by Rob Nugen

Wow

Jason Fricke, Mike Noyse, and Tony Salinas and I all drove from my apartment toward Beaumont to pick up Cathy Saur along the way to New Orleans. Wende could not go, though she wanted to; she was sick.

We picked up Cathy after not being able to find the house and having to call her on the car phone. Turns out we were pretty much right across the street from her.

We stopped to get something to eat after we were most of the way there and stopped at Taco Bell. I had wanted to go to Wendy's so when I went up to the counter, I was all, "gimme a chicken sandwich, and a medium frosty." The dude was all, "a what?" My brain clicked and I was all, "doh!!" etcetera. It was pretty funny.

We got pretty much lost in New Orleans since we didn't have the map on the form, but we had the address and a New Orleans map. So after driving past the Superdome, where we saw a dude with dreads down past his butt, and after driving through some partying neighborhoods, we made it to the church at like 6 or 7pm. Early to a rally!!

Big hugs to everyone and then I helped Jessica and Abby move some chairs around and get stuff ready. People started arriving as people do at rallies and I was super impressed that I remembered Sage's name all the way back from Houston Rally 1996, my first as an advisor.

The normal pre-opening circle Rally Energy hummed through the group. We played basketball, made plans for Silent Football, Animal Tag, and all kinds of craziness. Tia Lawlor asked if we could go see Trent Reznor's house, which is in New Orleans. Actually I think the word she used instead of "see" was "stalk."

I introduced a few new rally youth around to several people, until we got a match for each of them- a conversation that kept on conversing without me. I love it when that happens.

A group was playing Wink in the chapel, led by Dan something from CMWD. I watched.

Just before opening circle, we had a little meeting for the new rally goers. We made sure they understood they are empowered and that everyone is equal (with the advisors being a little more equal) and that if they ever felt uncomfortable about anything, to just let somebody know.

Surprisingly, Gabe Rendon and Mike Noyse kept cutting up and goofin' around as Debe was talking. Debe was all, "don't make me take you down." Mike goes, "you couldn't take an elevator down!" (author's note: *Please* understand this was all in fun.) Debe was left with no alternative. She hopped out of her chair and kinda wrassled with Mike and they were both hollering and then Gabe jumped in and Mike jumped out and ran over to me for protection. It was hilarious.

Everything back to normal, the meeting was continued, "so anyway, we just want to let you guys know that everyone is equal and will be treated with respect." Funny funny stuff.

So then we had the real opening circle and did the same cool activity as New Orleans 1996 opening circle. Everyone had written down a question and then everyone randomly chose someone else's question and wrote down an answer and then everyone randomly chose a question and answer and read them out loud. It's pretty fun.

I got to re-introduce the Big White Rally Book, which made its first public appearance at New Orleans 1996. I read aloud the entry written one year ago by Bryan Richardson, a senior at his last rally. My advertisement was effective, lots and lots of people wrote in the book this time. Yay!

After opening circle, touch groups had their meetings, including the advisors in our own meeting. I was one of the designated awakeful persons until 7am, and the hours sure were dragging after like 5am.

The main activity in the main room was basketball. Pretty much people were playing the entire time. Except for that, the rally was a gentle lower level of energy... I can't quite figure out why, but it just seemed that way.

At 7am I slept until breakfast at about 8something and then ate something for breakfast. (poetic, eh?) I had a yummy combo platter of all the sugary cereals available. I walked around a bit and then crashed back to sleep for a few hours. I woke up around lunchtime, and was quite surprised I had slept so long.

At lunch, I talked with Dan something from CMWD and he told me some of the main differences between the cons held in that district and rallies held here. I was astonished and quite glad to be in the Southwest District. The craziest thing they do is have home hospitality, where the conference is split up to several different houses, each taking a few youth between like midnight and 7am. Now I may have some of my facts wrong, but that's what I heard, and yikes! I like our rallies better.

More goofin' around and one cool thing was several people helped build one of those 3D puzzle things of the White House. That was pretty fun.

Then the fabulous Spirituality of Chocolate Chip Cookie Making workshop. Wow. The only utensils we used were measuring cups for the flour and sugar and stuff. Oooey gooey sugary chocolatey fun for the whole family. I learned my lesson from last year and didn't get a tummy ache from eating too much dough. One group of cookie makers for some reason (I don't remember exactly why, but they had a specific reason) put a lot of extra brown sugar in their mix. The resulting dough was darker, and the resulting cookies harder, but who cares-- they're cookies!

A couple people wanted to get a game going, so we played Elbow Tag. I had forgotten just how tiring that game is! We had about 8 pairs of links and then the chaser and the chased, running around the basket ball room, ducking, running, dodging, tagging.... Totally a great game. We played probably 25 minutes, and then essentially everyone just quit, "yeah, let's quit" after one person suggested quitting. And that was it game over. Afterward I sat sweating beside Rhoda Everett, a new advisor from Thoreau UU, south of Houston. I invited her to play next time, but she politely declined. Hmmmm...

After dinner, which was super wonderful lasagna homemade by Jessica Hunicke, a large group convened to play Silent Football. I was dictator of the whole crazy ordeal. I think we ended up with about 14 people. (I guess that happens when you play at 9pm instead of 2am) It had been a while since I had been dictator, so I ended up with a few penance points, mostly for missing peoples' names. We had not 1, but 3 of the can't-sit-still-destined-to-lose-Silent-Football types and of those 3, Tony Salinas admitted first to having received 5 penance points. As a result, he had to flex his pecs on demand for the rest of the rally.

Sometime during the evening, we played a game of Psychologist. This we played until everyone knew the secret rule and then we started a game of Ceiling Wall Floor. Melissa Cain and I soon chose not to play, however, believing they were messing up the game.

And then the 80s Dance Spectacular or something when everyone went to the outdoor courtyard thing to get crazy and get dancin' and it was great. Colored lights strung across the courtyard and cameras flashing and people dancing and other people chilling... Nick Devereux enhanced his figure with four large balloons, though they were a bit too big for his britches. A great time was had by all involved.

Somehow it got later and became time for the midnight worship. Everyone lined up to go into the dining room, and we chanted two soothing repetitive repetitive chants about the 4 original elements. Each person wrote a wish on a small piece of paper and had their hands rinsed and dried. We sat along the perimeter of the dining room, still chanting until everyone was in the room. Readings were read; thoughts were said. All the wishes were gently burned as we meditated for our own and every other wish to come true. Each person was given a candle, and around the entire circle was passed a flame started from a candle blessed by some spiritual leader. The candles we got to keep so that our wishes may always come true, and so that we may always remember the magic of YRUU. Then around the circle each person received a smudge of ash from all our combined wishes.

Tears and hugs flowed freely around the room until we were all hugged out.

The groups disbursed and talked until rumors of the talent show started. I helped convert the rumors into reality and gathered everyone into the big basket ball room, nope nope wait we're moving to the dining hall. The audience brought sleeping bags and pillows and snuggled up on one side of the room with me on stage on the other. No one wanted to go first, so I began to tell a great joke. In this case, "great" does not mean "hilarious." I mean "great" as in "huge" or in this case, "long." The joke is too long and pointless to tell here, but it worked as I intended. In order to stop the madness, Mike and Gabe got up to perform another fabulous, final, ad lib beat box/rap performance. I would still pay bucks to have one on tape.

The talent show continued, starring Abby Nance and her poems, Dane Dormio and Dave (his plunger), Melissa Cain, Susanne Kelly and Daniel Kaminsky singing a song I didn't know then and don't remember now. Finally, Tony Salinas performed his now infamous pecs flex, amidst much clapping, cheering, and money throwing. What a crazy time.

Groups reformed in the outdoor dance arena, this time mostly talking in small groups of friendships that will last forever. Debe, Tera and I sat in our own group, experiencing the beginning of forever.

I started to fall asleep outside, so inside to sleep I went. I slept way past wake up time so I could miss the clean up festivities. Finally got up and packed up and cruised over to get a bowl of cereal and stuff. Once we were declared clean, we rounded up into the large basket ball room for closing circle. We sang Yogi Bear, The Beaver Song, Three Chartreuse Buzzards, and with the seniors in the center for their final closing circle, Good Friends. The beauty of the moment flowed throughout the room, when the seniors suddenly burst forth with chanting "Bish Bish" If you can call screaming at the top of your lungs chanting.

Mugbooks were passed out and most everyone filed out to pile into vehicles. But hey- we're in New Orleans! Let's go see the sights!

So we did. Four minivanloads full- most of the rally went to the French Quarter to see what we could see. I had the great fortune to drive behind Arlene, in the back of whose van Dane and Dave performed for us. It was totally hilarious, actually. I'm laughing as I type. Sorry you couldn't be there.

We parked and walked as a group across the street where there was a tall mannequin standing on a milk crate. He had an old ass guitar slung around him and it only had 1 string. Pretty funny. Then his head moved. Wait a minute! So we put some dollars in his box and he belted out a couple of grand songs. The chorus was something like, "cause it's hard...! So hard...to play a one string guitar."

Across the street we went again and it was declared we have 1 hour and 5 minutes until we all have to be back right here so we can get some youth to the bus station on time. Debe Barnes, Tera Little, Arlene Dormio and I went as a group. The coolest things we found were a voodoo shop, where Arlene bought me a braided wish ring that will make a wish come true as the ring falls off. And this marionette dude about 2 feet tall, lip synching to some blues music. He had on big dark shades and a dark suit. After singing, he walked really slowly around to greet the crowd. He gave Debe a kiss on the cheek and gave me five. (not 5 kisses on the cheek! you know- gimme five!)

It began to rain as it was time to regroup. We all met back up and the sky broke open and it poured. Several of us had great fun sliding across the water soaked little pebble stone sidewalks. I love doing that. It was a bit tough without shoes on, but great fun. That reminds me- I wasn't sure if I would need shoes to walk around in the French Quarter, so I carried my sandals. I never needed them. I probably would have to go get something to eat, but just for your info- you really don't need shoes to go into most shops in the French Quarter.

As we were walking back to the cars, Austin Roth, Bryan Beck and I all practiced our beat box capabilities, having been so impressed with Gabe's the previous night at the talent show. Oddly enough, Jason Fricke had jumped on my back piggy back style, so there we were, part of a large group of eclectic teens with chattering voices and beat boxing and soaking wet clothing and a punk looking youth with army boots on the back of a barefoot beatboxing guy with a frisbee. Wow.

We got back to the cars and hung out and still hadn't gotten enough of the love from this beautiful community. So we went to get something to eat! Actually, Arlene had to get going back home, so we hugged them all and said our goodbyes. So we all followed Debe and, much to my pleasant surprise, went to Wendy's! Yay! I got my beloved Frosty and chicken samwich and I was set.

We ate and laughed and talked and talked and went outside and could not bear to say goodbye. "See ya at SWUUSI" was the most common phrase, although it didn't apply to everyone. We hugged and talked in the parking lot for fully 20 minutes. Finally, finally, we realized we did have to go home. What a moment.

On the way home I made it about 2 hours before I had to have Cathy some sit up front and chat with me so I could maintain an awakeful state of mind. It torentially rained, and then it was sunny, and then it rained again and was sunny. We got delayed by two accidents, one involving an 18 wheeler sideways on the highway, only allowing 1 land by on the left and a few cars by in the shoulder on the right.

We made it to Cathy's house and gave hugs and continued toward Houston. The conversation turned to drug legalization and discussion about abusive language and finally we made it home. John Salinas, Tony's dad, picked em all up- Mike Noyse, Jason Fricke and Tony Salinas.

I went inside and slept.

See ya at SWUUSI!!!!!!!

With Love
- Rob

permalink

New Orleans Rally by Dane Dormio

1997 New Orleans rally review by Dane Dormio

I have never been to the New Orleans rally before, but from what I have heard about it, this year's Fire-themed get-together lived up to the New Orleans UU church's reputation of a great rally. This year I rode with my mom and brought along with me a new guy, AJ, who will be a fellow student with me next year at the Arkansas School for Mathematics and Sciences. Dave the plunger also came along.

The drive alone took us about 8 hours, but we were held up for about two hours with van trouble along the way. Nothing serious, and we made it the rest of the way there and back with no trouble at all. We forgot to bring the map to the church, so as soon as we got into New Orleans we stopped at a gas station and called the church, got its address from the answering machine, then found it not too far from where we were.

This rally was a lock-in, so after I got there and went inside I came back out and brought all my stuff in for the night. I looked through all the registration forms and found out who was there, but because of the lateness of the hour (3:00 am) a lot of people were asleep so I had to wait until later that morning to see some of them. There was still plenty of energy, though, and I walked into the gym to find a basketball game in progress. I got my picture taken with Dave and Frank, then stayed up the rest of the night visiting and figuring out where everything was in the church. There were about as many new people as there had been at Tulsa, most of them from Baton Rouge, so I had plenty of people to get acquainted with.

When breakfast was served I was doing something and missed it, which was okay because I wasn't hungry anyway. While Nick Deveraux was asleep on the loveseat in the boy's sleeping room with his head laying back on the arm and his mouth hanging wide open, looking absolutely hilarious, I came in and took a picture of him. Not much happened until lunch. I greeted the people who had been asleep when I came in, and one time when I was standing in the hall John Thompson came up behind me and grabbed me, and I was very pleasantly surprised because I hadn't even known he was there.

Lunch was some rice stuff, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian, and salad. It was pretty good and not standard rally-fare, but I don't know what it was called. In retrospect it seems like there was a little less buzzing-type energy in the air than usual, as if people mostly just sat around. One time I was sitting on a bench in the gym looking at some pictures from Dallas and Nick Deveraux mentioned that everybody was just sitting around, and he would expect me, of all people, to be up and doing something, so I got up and attacked him. We wrestled around for a few minutes until we got hot and sweaty. This was just before lunch.

Sometime after lunch and before the workshops (I think) I became part of a pile of bodies in the boy's sleeping room, an activity which deserves a name, in which we managed to fit eight people onto a two-person love seat all at the same time.

I did a little nail-painting in the short amount of time before the workshops began. I was given misinformation about the guided meditation workshop and it ended right when I thought it was supposed to be starting. I went to the cookie workshop instead, and I mixed the ingredients while Dave supervised the goings-on. There were two batches, one with huge chocolate chips and one with small chocolate chips. I did the mixing of the batch with the small chips along with help from the others. We got the cookies in the oven and they came out a little crunchy but were alright.

Shortly after the workshops was dinner, excellent microwave lasagna, and then after that I think was a game of silent football with Rob as the dictator. I may have the order of some of these events mixed up, but as best as I can recall I got all the important ones. Tony lost silent football, and his penance was that he had to jiggle his pecs on demand for the rest of the rally. The fiesta was supposed be next, but it wasn't much and didn't happen until after worship.

Worship was, as promised, emotionally charged (kick-ass). It was held at midnight and everyone was required to participate. We all lined up in the hallway and the lights were turned off, and a few at a time we walked down a hall lined with candles and wrote a wish on a piece of paper, then washed our hands in perfumed water and dried them before entering a room with some candles and other things in the center where we made a circle around the outer edge. While we were doing this we were chanting a pagan song about the elements. When everybody got into the room, Abby did the worship-type speaking, and the wishes were put into a can and burned. Some more worship-type speaking, and then everybody got small birthday candles and passed a flame of love all the way around the circle. The ashes from the burned wishes were mixed with water and smeared on the cheeks of all the participants, with the words "May the Spirit of Fire be with you". Maiah made a joke out of this by hugging people while turning her cheek and saying, "Kiss my ash." After the official circle broke up, most of the participants stayed in the room and we got very emotional. There was a lot of crying, mostly because of this being the absolute last, no-more-chances, this is it, we're not kidding, final rally of the year. The emotions were very strong and the embraces were plentiful, and the love flowed freely for a very long time.

Eventually the mood livened up, and the lights were turned back on, and we were ready for the talent show. First up I think were Gabe and Mike, doing their thing one last time, and then I demonstrated some of the many uses and talents of Dave the plunger. He is an exercise partner, a self-defense weapon, a hula-hoop expert, a gymnast, a great mathematician (although he is not the best public speaker), he can fly short distances, with a lot of patience he can give a huge hickey, and a few other things that I have forgotten. Then I did my "Oh, What a Luxury" poem from SWUUSI last year, and before I quit I led the rain thing where everybody makes noises in unison. Then Abby read a couple of her poems, one of which won a national award, and Tony did the pec thing, and I can't remember what the rest of the acts were.

It was three a.m. by the time the talent show was over, a little later than usual, so most of the people who would have gone to bed earlier were still up. I was ready to start up a batch of Groovy Juice, which I had been planning for a while, and I had recruited some of the best help around, but to my dismay all the things in the kitchen that would have made Groovy Juice were not designated for YRUU use, so we couldn't use them. I was really disappointed, because I was going to make a special batch and dedicate it in honor of Anna Magwood, who couldn't be at the rally due to cruel and unfair employers. Sorry, Anna.

The fiesta happened next, and as I said before it wasn't much, just some pretty lights strung up around the courtyard and a little music and dancing. When everybody settled down sufficiently I got enough people together to play Psychiatrist, which hadn't been played since San Antonio and was due for a go around.

I stayed up until fairly late the next morning just wandering around and talking, and finally fell asleep in the sanctuary shortly before wake-up.

When we got up in the morning I struggled to maintain an upright position while mopping the boy's bathroom. When we could go outside I carried my stuff out to the car and waited for breakfast. Contrary to the norm, it wasn't doughnuts but was the usual cereal and orange juice. When it was finished and mostly cleaned up, closing circle gathered in the gym. We sang Yogi Bear, the Buzzard song, the Beaver song, and when the six seniors who were there had their circle in the middle we sang Good Friends. In an exciting burst of energy the seniors started Bish Bish right in the middle of a verse and I joined in with all my might. Then the mugbooks were handed out and we all went outside, but most of the goodbyes weren't said yet. When we left the majority of us went downtown to the French quarter and acted like tourists for about an hour. On the way there Dave and I got in the back of the van and entertained Rob and his youth, who were driving behind us.

For most of the time I walked around the French quarter I was with Tia, Katie, Kitty, and AJ. We went into several shops and Tia bought some beads and a black boa, kitty bought a mask and a white boa, and I bought a red boa to go along with the rally shirt and another tee-shirt that said I was a certified muff-diving instructor and had a big design on the back. AJ bought one of those long skinny clamp things with an alligator head and a pair of black boxers with red peppers all over them.

We got back to where we were all supposed to meet a little earlier than the scheduled time, so we went into a nearby ice-cream shop and I shared a banana split with Tia. About the time we were supposed to meet it started raining, and Gabe and Mike discovered a great pebble-covered sidewalk that you could run and slide a long way on, but my thick boots didn't do nearly as well on it as tennis shoes.

Fortunately it didn't rain for very long and we didn't get too wet. When we were walking back to where we had all parked Dave got friendly with a Lexus that pulled up to us while we were crossing a street. The guy driving didn't like it too much.

We did most of our goodbyes in the parking lot, and all of the crying had been done the night before so they were mostly cheerful and happy. When I finally got around to letting go and getting in the van, we drove off and the last thing I remember seeing was a picture-perfect memory that will probably stick in my mind as long as I live: looking out the back window, I saw Gabe and Mike sitting on some steps just hanging out, and they looked so content in the perfect scenery, with the wet trees and the dim cloud darkened sky. There is really something special about two guys who are such good friends for so long. It was a perfect way to remember the last time I saw them.

So another rally is ended, and another day, and another review, and another chapter in the book of life, and that is the way it is must be. A peaceful goodbye, y'all, and see you in three weeks for SWUUSI.

With much Love,

Dane Allen Dormio and Dave the Plunger

permalink