Tickets

For only the second time in 13 years, we do not have tickets to Festival and likely will not. Aside from the pesky $830 that we don't have for tickets, there's our son. He loves Festival, of course. In fact his only understanding of camping is Festival. The other night I was telling him a bedtime story about a family who went camping in a remote area and who, after cooking dinner, went to wash dishes in a river. He interjected and told me that they could wash their dishes at the sink (you know, ladies, the Dishwashing Area between the Kitchen and the Acoustic Stage).

Even if we had the money for tickets, there's still the issue that this year he'd have to learn that this year is his last. This year will likely be an intensified version of every other year we've gone to Festival with Mr. Man--a never-ending litany of questions about how old he is and will he go to Brother Sun next year?

I support womyn's-only space as much as the next girly-girl, but how do I reconcile that with the fact that my favorite womyn's-only space can't create a safe space for 5yo boys? What does it say about the quality of womyn's space if Brother Sun takes boys to mainstream movies like Spy Kids and for walks in the woods to the bullet tree that is used by local hunters for target practice and is surrounded by shells? So, no, thank you, he can't go to Brother Sun.

I'm sure he'll start asking about Festival, if not this summer, then sometime soon. How can I tell him that the womyn don't want him to camp with them anymore and they can't build a creative, womyn-affirming, boy-positive boys' space?

So I think this is my Festival farewell, at least until Mr. Man is old enough to go deep-woods camping with a peculiar uncle from Seattle.

But I do want to create something new for him, perhaps a new tradition, and definitely a new understanding of living in the outdoors. Can I propose a group expedition at the end of August, maybe early September? Will you please be a part of creating a boy-friendly fun time outside? Your ideas, your presence and your energy are appreciated.