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5 ' Out in the Mountains

Reflections on Faerie Land

by Bo Young

PUTNEY — Aboutforty men gathered at a beautiful
Vermont farmhouse owned by an even more beautiful man
named_London (and yes. . .therc is a Big Ben!) on a Friday
night in Putncy. My friends and I arrived from New York
City by dinner time, and a big pot ofvegetaiian gumbo bubbled
on the stove while a full flight of faeries bubbled away in the
kitchen.

Ahhh. . home!

In case you are unfamiliar with Faerie ways, let me
say that being a Faerie is a project in queer spirituality. Hany
Hay’s suI2jec't-Sr.iI)_jecr cmr.\'ciou.s'rres.v is integral. We have
developed, fostered, and adopted ways of interaction to
create that kind of community. These include the Consensus
Process, the Gathering, and the Heart Circle, but it is also the
way that we name ourselves and each other; our appreciation
of spontaneity; the way we cook, clean, work, and play; and
the way we perform our communal rituals. Many of these
ways have been adopted from VVIccan and Native American
cultures. Our community is, we believe, very much a tribe.

We had a Circle after dinner, with new men arriving
all through the night from Maine, New Hampshire,
Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and all
points in Vennont.

The lannhousc is approximately 200 years old in pzuts.
A back staircase “secret passage” leads through the pantry
up to the second floor, where we all settled in for the evening.
A large room above the kitchen wannth served as a donni-
tory in one wing, with other bedrooms housing collections of
two, three, or four men.

Ahhh. . .men!

Endora and Tim, Bambi, Agnes and Gabriel, Moon,
Matt, and Sam... We Circled in this lovely sitting room that
also housed Thoreau’s writing desk. We turned out the lights
and set out plates on a table in the center’ of the room with
four votive candles for the four directions.

At the end of the Heart Circle, we stood and put our
hands out in front of us and made the circle of fingers
flutter (a difficult task for faeries, as you might imagine).
The candles cast flickering shadows in a circle on the
ceiling.

Everyone settled in to their respective sleeping
quarters, and the general nesting quieted about 3 a.m. 
not that I could hear anything with Moon’s thigh pressed
warmly against my car, you understand.

Moon and I woke to clouded morning sunlight as
it reflected off the snow drift outside our window into the
pink—flowered wallpapered room. I went to the kitchen
and started cooking biscuits and scrambled eggs for the
household.

Sleepy—eyed men arrived in dribbles around the
table, sucking up coffee and teas and peeling bananas and
tangerines from a large pile of fresh fi‘uit. Breakfast segued
into lunch, and at about 1:00, everyone who hadn’t yet
seen “the Land." piled into four-wheel drive vehicles and
headed off to see the 160+ acres that this Circle is intent
on buying.

It has been difficult since the last site was stolen
from us by a double-dealing real estate agent who didn’t
want to sell to queers and found a last—minute buyer to
frlch the land away from us. We had called our land “Des—
tiny Lodge.” The resolve to lay claim to land somewhere
for “Faerie Destiny Lodge” has reached a fervid pitch.

Ahhh. . .land!

We have about $15,000 in the bank. The land is
priced at about $69,000. There are no structures; it is com-
pletely undeveloped. The price is steep, but then what
land wouldn’t be in Vennont? It has sufficient plateaus for
structures, and sugar maples for syrup as a possible cot-

’ tage industry. Can you imagine the label?

President Bambi and Endora and Gabriel have done
research and detennined that we will have to do a water
percolation study, pave a 50-foot easement to the

property, drill a well, and bring in a telephone line and basic
power. It’s a lot of work, but we can plan and do the work in a
way that honors the land. That’s the Faerie way.

Some thirty of us tromped around in knots of five and six,
up and down the hillside through two feet of snow, yoo—hooing
to those who had taken other routes for exploration.

At 5:00 we headed -out through the muck and mire of the
darkened Vermont woods to the local white-clapboard Grange
Hall. About 25 of us cooked up New England Yankee Bean
Casserole and corn pudding in the huge kitchen. Salad and good
breads were also included.

We Circled later to talk about the. land. The time has
come for this Circle to make the commitment to the land and its
purchase. It was decided that we would put up $1,000 to hold
the property for a limited time while we put together the rest of
the money. We would either put up or shut up, basically, and
lose the earnest money if we were unable to close the deal.

Like Faeries everywhere, the New England Faeries
desperately need a place to Gather. It is important to create a
network of safe havens for gay people to Gather and explore
their spiritual, creative, and erotic beings. It is untenable that in
all of the northestem states there is no secure place to Gather!
No bank is going to loan or mortgage on undeveloped property,
and certainly not to Faeries. Developed property in the area is
beyond our means. We don’t think the money for this property
is beyond our means, however...and we are asking for our
brothers’ and sisters’ help.

Ahhh. . .money!

If you believe in Faeries, clap your hands all you want,
but send money, honey. All it will take is for 1 12 people to decide
to buy an acre — $458 — and the land is ours, all of ours. If you
can help out, send your cheeks (made out to “Destiny”) to:

Destiny Lodge

PO Box 8175

Burlington Vermont 05402-8175

Donations are kharmically deductible to the fullest extent
of the universe.

College Leaders Gather to “Walk the Talk”

by Hugh Coyle

WINOOS KI — The Vermont College Student Per-
sonnel Association recently held its Spring meeting at St.
Michacl’s College. The day’s presentations, collectively
entitled “Walk the Talk,” focused on how college staff

members could better meet the needs of gay, lesbian, bi- .

sexual, and transgendered students.

Following a morning business meeting, "the group
listened to a panel of g/1/b/t students discussing their_own
experiences. Mike Gorman, a Residence Director at
Castleton State College, moderated the presentation, which
included representatives from Castleton, Champlain, Saint
Michael’s, Middlcbury, and UVM. Gorman stressed that
college staff members needed to take action on these is-
sues, saying “just attending a workshop, wearing a pin, or
putting a book on the bookshelf is not enough.”

The students addressed a number of ongoing con-
cerns, rnost notably the incredible pressures and respon-
sibilities that each bears on his or her campus. In addition
to managing their own heavy academic workloads, the
students are often saddled with leading and coordinating
the school’s g/l/b/t group and responding to crises and
incidents when they occur. Quite often, the college admin-
istration relies heavily on these students to handle the
work around g/1/b/t issues.

One student noted the irony that comes from such a
role, stating that a large number of students are only just
coming out, and many are still not out to their friends and
families back home. “We’re being thrust into a community
and immediately being asked to serve as representatives
ofthat community,” he said ofhis role on campus. “I’m not
fully done with my own homophobia."

While panelists acknowledged that recent trends
toward “political correctness” on college campuses had
played a role in quieting homophobic attacks and hate
speech, they also warned that “even though we may not
be able to hear it, it’s still being said. It’sjust been modified
to make it more pretty or PC or socially acceptable.”

The same student recounted an experience he had
while addressing a classroom on g/1/b/t issues recently.

“Their faces were blank,” he said, likening their mental
state to a “crippling coma.” Rather than responding
with curiosity, questions, or simple respect, students at
schools have not been re- .\

spending at all when such is- A
sues are raised. Their indiffer-
ence was linked to a passive
fomr of tolerance often dictated
by the politically correct. Stu-
dents and staff alike saw this
as a trap of sorts, often prevent-
ing students from understand-
ing the logic behind the accep-
tance of g/1/b/t people.

In the afternoon session,
guest speaker Dr. Jamie Wash-
ington spoke further about the
need for knowledge, under-
standing, and skills before stu-
dents or staffmembers can take E
serious action on g/1/b/t issues.
Washington serves as the Vice
President for Student Affairs
and the Coordinator of
Multicultural Affairs at the Uni-
versity of Maryland in Balti-
more County.

In a dynamic personal style, Washington led the
group through a series of concepts relating to g/1/b/t
people and their issues on college campuses. He also
spoke strongly about the role of allies at colleges and
universities and invited those in attendance to seri-
ously consider their own motives and expectations for
serving in that capacity. He explained that if a white
staff member stands up for black students, no one as-
sumes that he or she is black, and that if a man stands
up for women’s rights, no one assumes that he is a
woman. But if a staff or faculty member stands up for g/
l/b/t people, assumptions are quickly made about the
sexual orientation of the ally.

By the end of the day, those in attendance had re-
ceived a powerful and effective crash course on issues af-
fecting g/l/b/t students in their college years. Representa-

 

Dr. Jamie Washinton presented a breath-taking overview of gay, lesbian, and
transgendered issues at the spring meeting of the Vermont College Student
Personnel Association. (photo by Hugh Coyle)

tives from various statewide groups such as the Vermont
Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights, Parents and Friends of
Lesbians and Gays, Out in the Mountains, the Vermont Bi-
sexual Network, Vermont CARES, and the Transgender Radi-
cal Action, Network, and Support group were also on hand to
meet with the educators. _

In his introduction, Washington asked attendants to
witness the words he lives by: “We as individuals did not
create oppression; it’s not our fault. However, we as individu-
als must accept responsiblity for creating change.” His in-
spiring presentation served as an urgent step forward toward
fulfilling that goal. V