Category: Fall Conference

Greetings GSV Siblings,

This is not the conference I originally envisioned. Well, you know, life happens, and pandemics are a (thankfully, rare) fact of life.

As COVID-19 necessitated changes to how we do just about everything, I faced a familiar mix of resistance and excitement in planning for the fall conference. On bad days, I can’t face the challenges. On good days, I see so many fruitful possibilities.

I want this conference to be a space of sharing a similar mixed bag of experiences. We are full of so many stories. Some are about accomplishments. Some are about disappointments. Some are written on our bodies in scar tissue and wrinkles. Some soar up from our deepest spiritual center.

I don’t know what happens next; that is part of living in a story. Maybe you are eager for the end; maybe you want it to go on forever. Either way and at all points between, there is opportunity for recall, recounting, and resilience.

We tell our stories not just to record what happened, but to sing ourselves into being. And this is the story about the time we held our annual fall rituals online. Lean in. Listen. Share.

Mindful of best practices and advice for an online conference, I have endeavored to leave empty space on the schedule so that we don’t spend the weekend just teleconferencing. To the best of my ability, I have tried to schedule with the different time zones of attendees in mind.

I took note of feedback from the Spring Retreat Gathering to make sure small groups were part of this conference, both to honor our fall traditions and to provide more intimate virtual groupings to share in.

I have also worked to provide asynchronous content to facilitate different registers of engagement. Each day begins with a downloadable semi-guided meditation. You may sit with that at the usual early morning hour, or you can take advantage of that whenever you wish.

Similarly, I have set up several murals for the conference. One is linked at the bottom of this page and includes a more detailed conference schedule. That mural is “read only” but will contain links to other murals and content that you can interact with and add to. I chose this platform because it is relatively easy to use, with hopefully clear guides for how to add content and interact with the provided material. If you have questions about how to use it, please don’t hesitate to ask.

I believe that stories heal and help us. But I also know that healing can take a lot out of us. And some stories, whew! You need a moment, right?

Additional information about Guardians, pop-up sessions, ways to connect, etc. will be shared on the fuller schedule mural link. That is a work in progress and will be continually updated throughout the conference. We will also email out connecting information for the Zoom sessions to the attendees. Enjoy!

Registration is now open. The GSV program fee is $50. In addition, a donation to The Mountain would be greatly appreciated due to their loss of income caused by coronavirus and subsequent cancellations.

Blessed be,
Jonny/Mothra, Convener, Fall 2020

9:30-11 pm EDT
Self-Pleasure
With Mahan-Kalpa Khalsa

Friday, 9/25
Early Morning
Downloadable Daily Meditation

11-12:15 pm EDT
Yoga
with David and Teddy Jones
Or
Enneagram Circle
with Tim Flood

2-3:15 pm EDT
Small Groups

4-5:15 pm EDT
Embody Your Inward Sage
Guided by Andrew Ramer
Or
Archangel Gabriel brings us Inspiration/Creativity/Boldness
With Pete Cossaboon

7-9 pm EDT
Telling Our Stories
Panelists: Jonny Gray, Greg Hummel, David Manning et al.

9:30-11 pm EDT
Lingam Puga
With Mahan-Kalpa Khalsa

Saturday, 9/26
Early Morning
Downloadable Daily Meditation

11-12:15 pm EDT
Small Groups

2-3:15 pm EDT
Keynote Address
Padraig O Tuama

4- 5:15 pm EDT
Introduction to Rainbow Awakening
With Damien Rowse
Or
Mindful Doodling
With Jeff Beacham

7-9 pm EDT
“Making Masks Fun Again!”
Online Variety Show and Masquerade

9:30-11 pm EDT
Open Zoom Room – To do with as we please

Sunday, 9/27
Early Morning
Downloadable Daily Meditation

10-11 am EDT
Small Groups

11:30-1 pm EDT
Closing Circle and Farewells

I am getting so excited about our upcoming fall conference, “Resilience through Recounting.” Folks are stepping up and offering some amazing workshops that I think fit well with our theme and online format. And I am thinking a lot about how stories are helping me cope with this ongoing pandemic.

As I have been busy putting my college courses online this semester, I have been struck by the importance of narrative framing. With fall fast approaching, I realized I really didn’t want to teach online. I spent a lot of time this summer teaching myself how to do it. Very quickly, an important message from a colleague sank in: don’t focus on what you can’t do online, focus on what online teaching allows you to do really well. Such a simple piece of advice, but so profoundly helpful! As I met my students in teleconferences or on discussion boards, I avoided saying how we would be covering this material if we were in person. Instead, I approached them with excitement about the different ways of engaging our material that the online platforms would allow.

I want to pass this insight on to you. Our fall conference will not be what we have come to know, expect, and cherish in our time together on The Mountain. But if we let it, it can be amazing in its own way. It will be its own kind of conference, and it will come with opportunities that an in-person gathering cannot allow. I am getting very excited about that!

I am working with the GSV Council to provide some fall conference experiences additional to the Zoom rooms. We are figuring out how to hold the silent auction online. I am pursuing some ideas for sharing spaces and asynchronous interactions that feature exploring our stories together.

Perhaps most exciting is our keynote speaker, Pádraig Ó Tuama. When we realized the fall conference needed to be online, we challenged ourselves to find an exciting speaker who could contribute to our theme. Since travel wasn’t an issue, we reached out “across the pond” to find an excellent practitioner of resilience and reconciliation who makes poetry and storytelling central to his work. Padraig is, quite simply, an amazing human being, and I am so happy he agreed to join us. It is worth noting that he was already aware of our organization and was eager to join us this fall. If you would like to know more about Pádraig, I highly recommend this TED Talk.

I am looking forward to seeing you all online in just under a month. I am eager to add this year’s fall conference to our treasure trove of stories we tell about ourselves and how we persevere even in the face of challenges.

Registration is now open. The GSV program fee is $50, for which financial assistance is available. In addition, a donation to The Mountain would be greatly appreciated due to their loss of income caused by coronavirus and subsequent cancellations.

Blessed be,
Jonny/Mothra, Convener, Fall 2020

Keynote Speaker: Pádraig Ó Tuama. Irish poet and theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama’s work centers around themes of language, power, conflict, and religion. Working fluently on the page and with groups of people, Pádraig is a skilled speaker, teacher, and group worker. He is the author of four volumes of poetry: Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community, In the Shelter, Sorry for your Troubles, and Readings from the Books of Exile. From 2014-2019 he was the leader of the Corrymeela Community, Ireland’s oldest peace and reconciliation community. He is based in Belfast, Ireland.

Convener: Jonny Gray (Mothra). Jonny has been coming to GSV since 2015. When he isn’t being a fabulous if large moth dancing around the sacred GSV fire, he pays the bills by being a professor of Communication Studies at Southern Illinois University, where he specializes in arts-based environmental advocacy. He is also the host of the weekly show, Isn’t It Queer, which broadcasts on local community radio (WDBX) and is released as a podcast.

While we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay
There are frail forms fainting at the door
Though their voices are silent, their pleading looks will say
Oh, hard times, come again no more
(From: Hard Times Come Around No More, Traditional)

Hard times. Many of us have been here before; many will be here again–but not all of us, and none of us in the same way. We know sickness at the door. We know incompetence at the highest level and dealing with such sickness only makes it worse. Both seem out to get us and see us suffer and die. Or, at least, that’s one way of telling the story.

Stories link us in networks of shared understanding if not always agreement. They help us learn about things we haven’t directly experienced. Stories give us a frame to hang the ambiguous on so that it starts to make sense. They make the uncomfortable a little more palatable when seen through the frame of familiar narrative structures. Ah yes, we say, I know this story.

When we cannot gather together in person, when we cannot hug and otherwise explore each other with sacred touch, when we cannot raise our voices together in song or generate steam from our bodies entwined in pulsing dance, we still have stories.

This fall, Gay Spirit Visions invites you to a COVID-19-compliant online gathering to connect as we are able. We come together to tell and to listen to one another’s stories, for stories, too, are a powerful medicine. How are we weathering this storm? How is it familiar? How is it strange? Are there other stories that arise from our current situation that we want to give space to?

Circle ‘round. Listen up. What I have is a story …

Many events conducive to sharing our stories are already being planned, including an online talent show, panels consisting of some of our best homegrown storytellers, an online silent auction, and opportunities for discussions in small groups. As always, our members’ willingness to provide workshops and activities is strongly encouraged and appreciated. If you have something you want to contribute or present, please contact the Fall Conference convener, Jonny Gray (a.k.a. Mothra).

Registration information and suggested donation options will be handled through The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center registration platform. Details will be coming soon.

Jonny Gray,
Convener
2020 GSV Fall Conference