Cathryn Cross:  

For those of you who haven't checked in for a while, here is an update as of August 2008. I have lived on the Mexican border for the past 30 years in southeatern Arizona. I found this place with my first husband in 1977 after almost 3 years of hitchiking around the country in the mid-70's. It seemed the thing to do at the time. It was magic. Having been raised by a scientist father and declared atheist/agnostic, I intuitively sought for something more, though I didn't know what in my journeys on the road. In 1975, after a third aimless semester at Dutchess Community College, I was invited to go on a road trip. There was talk of a "Gathering of the Tribes" that had just happened in Arkansas. The next "Gathering" would be in Montana 1976. Well, it was the "Rainbow Family" gathering that began happening in Colorado in 1969 or 1970 of people who were from just about every walk (thus "Rainbow" ) to come together in a spirit of peace, brotherhood and good will - very much the idealism of the so - called "hippie" movement. These gatherings are still happening today during the first week of July in some remote spot at which the group has procured a use permit from the U.S. Forest Service to meet. When I was participating in the mid-70's and into 1980, we were as many as 10,000 people meeting to practice those ideals of the times. It amounted to a great big party in the wilderness. There was a sub-culture of sex, drugs of various types; there was alcohol, yes but many folks, more serious about the human experience, were there to relate about life, music, crafts, politics and the way the world was heading. Many were disienfranchised alternative thinkers with lifestyles more "earthy" than that of the average American. Many were like me - a middle class kid out there more to conform than rebel to the winds of change. People brought food to share and first aid supplies and set up a collective kitchen and a medical station. There was music and danc...Expand for more