THE PRINCESS AND SHORE MORRIS ON RAINBOW GATHERINGS

“Rainbow gatherings occur in the middle of the woods on National Park land.”

“How many people gather?” The Princess asked.

“I’d say the number could swell to ten thousand during the weekends.”

“That’s a lot. They can do that?”

“The first Amendment grants us the right to assemble.”

He put a burrito to his mouth, wanting to take a bite.

“What do they do out there?”

“You sure have a bunch of questions, Princess.”

“Only cause you have all the answers,” she smirked a patented Princess smirk, curling her nose, squinting her eyes, then tilting her head; her version of getting the last word.

Shore Morris took a bite of his burrito. “Well, there are campers. At night there’s a main circle where dinner is distributed. After dinner, at the main circle, a fire is lit. Then there’s a drum circle lasting until dusk—”

“Sounds like a cult.”

“You’re wrong, rainbow gatherings are funky. They’re artistic. You should see all the scattered camps and kitchens throughout the woods. They name the campsites and hang colored posters on the trees outside the sites. There’s the Popcorn Kitchen; they serve popcorn for a large part of the night. There’s the Confusion State Freeway Kitchen; they serve twenty-four hour coffee. And Nic at Night; a camp for tobacco jonesers. There’s the Tea Time Kitchen. There’s the Granola Funk kitchen. They specialize in gourmet vegan food and sanitation. The Granola Funk kitchen also builds stages and at night they put on shows like The Kung-fu Theatre or The Gong Show. Sister Space is a camp for women only. Yoga Healing Arts Camp is devoted to yoga, tai chi, and meditation—”

“So the rainbow gatherings are like weirdo camping.”

“Basically.”

“The cops don’t bust em?”

“Law enforcement regulates itself to the outside of the gatherings. They set up roadblocks and checkpoints, sometimes searching people, sometimes stretching the laws of illegal search and seizure. It’s a wild world, that of the rainbow. See, the rainbows never stay in one place for more than a month. After a month they move to another state onto some other National park. And they also have lawyers working pro bono on their side, a la le resistance.”

The princess did not get the inference and shrugged.

“What about inside these gatherings? There are no rules?”

“There’s a loose command on the inside. There’s Rainbow Council who sort of legislates and enforces things so they don’t get out of control. They monitor fires, manage sanitation; they look for lost kids, things like that. They have rules. They’re preachy like commandments. THOUGH MUST NOT THROW your cigarette on the floor. You are to squeeze the lit cherry out, step on it, and put the discarded filter in your pocket where later you are to properly dispose of it in a recyclable manner. Pretty good rule I guess, considering mother earth—”

“What other rules do they have?”

“THOUGH SHALL NOT DRINK alcohol around the circle.” Shore Morris bellowed deep, like God talking to Moses. The Princess laughed. “Another good rule, even though I’m not a fan of rules.”

“Can’t drink there, huh?”

“ ‘A’ camp is for drinking. ‘A’ camp is usually by the parking lot. From the parking lot, the rainbow gathering is usually a mile or two walk into the woods. ‘A’ camp is where the alcoholics dwell, almost tied to trees like ravished old dogs; Vietnam vets still drinking, career drunks. If you didn’t know better and thought ‘A’ camp was the actual rainbow gathering you’d turn around and run.”

Shore Morris rose first. He extended a hand to The Princess and she obliged. When she grabbed his shoulders for support she noted how muscular her guide was. She wondered if he’d played football in high school. Or maybe he was a wrestler. Maybe he was gay and that’s why he wrestled and that’s why he knew so much about the weird rainbow thing-a-ma-jig. Shore Morris led The Princess to a garbage pail. They dropped off the veggie burrito wrappers. At some point Shore Morris would have to return to the South lot to prepare for the open microphone, but he had time.

The Princess started off a difficult pupil, but he now sensed improvement. She didn’t cut him off as much. Maybe she wasn’t a know-it-all. Maybe she only looked like a spoiled suburbanite. Her questions about rainbow gatherings showed initiative. She seemed curious. He had plenty of answers and could give her a knockout lecture, whether she wanted it or not. “Don’t think everyone at a rainbow gathering is a crazy drop out. There exist inside the gatherings rainbow warriors. They have a clear understanding of the society they choose to withdraw from. They have a special energy. It pulses. You can see it in their eyes. And when they speak, they have the natural ability to engage their listener. It’s almost sad that such gifted and enlightened scholars of the trees and soil choose to live amongst the trees and soil. It’s understandable, but sad because these are

the soulful people who can make a difference, if only they had the desire to play the game and the will not to be jaded.” Did he overestimate The Princess? Was she even listening?

“Like, I can’t believe these gatherings are going on as we speak, right here in America.” She looked distracted, her attention on a vender selling Guatemalan purses.

“Rainbow gatherings enforce the old American dream of exploration; of reaching new frontiers and settling. But the settling is far from capitalistic, far from developing and conquering. The rainbow settling is Buddhist in its mutability, Native American in its ritual and appreciation of nature, and New Age in its sensibility. And they’re not just in America, sweetie, they’re global.”

“Sounds weird for them to have rules.”

Ahh, The Princess indeed listened. Perhaps the girl was smarter than he’d thought.

“The rules are what they are, necessary but at the same time contradictory to the spirit of the gatherings. I think to really piss off the government that allows them to gather their next rule will be FOUR LEGS GOOD, TWO LEGS BAD.”

She made a cranky distorted face. “I don’t get it.”

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