Category: Fall Conference

GSV 2017 Fall Conference

Fall Conference, Gay Spirit Visions

GSV 2017 Fall Conference

Pariah Magic: Gifts of the Outsider

September 21 – 24, 2017

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, NC

4 Days / 3 Nights: $405.65 (conference only, all inclusive)

5 Days / 4 Nights: $496.39 (arrive a day early + conference)

* Prices include taxes and program fee. *

Part I

Pariah Magic: Gifts of the Outsider

Dear Brothers,
As a tribe, gay men are no strangers to the pain of outcast status. The thorns of alienation have pierced us all. We are more than casually familiar with the sting of loneliness and despair. At certain times and in certain places we have been obligated to hide our lives, our love, and our gifts behind a tangle of strategic illusions – or suffer the consequences.

Thrown as we’ve been into this briar patch, we’ve had the uncomfortable privilege of cultivating extraordinary lives of otherness and vision. We have taken long, meandering tours of Neverland and Oz and returned with souvenirs and insight. We have been down stranger rabbit holes than Alice ever imagined, and Spirit has cordially invited us to develop alternative gifts – some as personal (and useful) as gaydar, resilience, and empathy, others as grand as music, literature, and culture itself. How can we not celebrate?

Pariah Magic: Gifts of the Outsider will be both an acknowledgment of the burdensome nature of our gifts and a celebration of the queer joys of exile. Over the course of the conference, we will consider the gifts, obvious and subtle, that have flowed to us due to our outsider status. We will cultivate gratitude for these sometimes-challenging gifts. We will seek out opportunities to share our gifts with others, and we will discuss ways of assisting and defending those who may not yet see exile for the gift that it is.

We will gather together in a magical place atop The Mountain to take stock of the gifts that have flowed to us while we have walked the path of otherness. In our exile, we have become poets and warriors, firekeepers and shamans, faeries and philosophers, dancers and dreamers, tricksters and healers, explorers and mentors.
How can we not celebrate?

Bring garb for the “Talent” Show.

Bring garb (and drums) for the Drum Circle.

Bring garb to dazzle and seduce!

As you prepare to come to The Mountain, please keep in mind the Silent Auction that benefits GSV’s Raven Wolfdancer Financial Assistance Fund. It is as helpful as it is simple: Bring items of value that you no longer need, and come prepared to bid on the treasures that speak to your spirit that were brought by others. All proceeds help facilitate the presence of men who otherwise wouldn’t be able to join us due to lack of funds.

Sister Unity, a drag nun since December 1995, is a founding member of the Los Angeles Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Inc. In her 22 years in bright orange habit, she has manifested in six states plus the District of Columbia, has exorcised and blessed the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, the National Office of AIDS Policy, and the Dolby Theater, home of the Oscars. She has performed seven weddings including one on the first day marriage became legal in California in June of 2008. She and the Los Angeles Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence subsequently led many of the protests against the Prop 8 ban on gay marriage until it was overturned. She has performed and lectured at UCLA, Loyola Marymount University, Occidental College, and Wesleyan University. Her 10 years of YouTube contributions feature over 80 videos with content including Hindu mythology, LGBT fairy tales, humor, philosophy, spirituality, and LGBT rights and activism. Sister Unity has practiced Hinduism and meditation since before becoming a drag nun and derives her name from Sanskrit.

Bennett Schneider: As a Sister of Perpetual Indulgence, Bennett has written hundreds of rituals, blessings, exorcisms, and performances. He teaches by combining ritual, spirituality, gay history, queer theory and theater in a variety of contexts that have included: UCLA, the Lee Strasburg Theater Institute, Radical Fairy gatherings, the California Men’s Gathering, and Highways Performance Space. He studied meditation, yoga, and philosophy at ashrams in India, New York, and California. Being born to a Shakespeare teacher and Bozo the Clown made him a lifelong theater practitioner performing with the queer theater company “Fabulous Monsters” as well as onstage with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and in various television shows, music videos, and commercials. This summer he was invited to teach meditation in Nida, Lithuania.

Watch for Part II in our next post. In the meantime, register now!

Register for the 2017 Fall Conference

 

 

 

 

 

Nightshade (Kraig Blackwelder)
2017 Fall Conference Convener

2016 Fall Conference

Fall Conference, Gay Spirit Visions, Past Event

Registration and Information about the 2017 Fall Conference should be available by mid June

The information below is from the 2016 Fall Conference

Superheroes

Unlocking your secret superpowers
to live whole-heartedly and change the world.
super-hero

Greg Walloch, Keynote Speaker

September 22 – 25, 2016

At The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, NC

Three Nights: $398.90
Four Nights: $489.64

My Dear GSV Family,

The Gay Spirit Visions 2016 Fall Conference is less than 2 weeks away! If you haven’t registered yet, and you’re planning to come, there’s still time to register. Please don’t delay any further because spaces are filling up fast and we just have a few openings left.

And if you weren’t planning to come, but just needed a little push, this is it! We’re going to have a fantastic time at The Mountain this year and you don’t want to miss it! Please register today!

Our theme, Superheroes: Unlocking Your Secret Superpowers to Live Whole-Heartedly and Change the World, has created a lot buzz. In addition to our fabulous keynote speaker, Greg Walloch, our team leaders and workshop presenters are putting together a great weekend that will be fun and engaging. For those of you who are first-timers, you’ll learn why GSV gatherings are so special, and for those longtime attendees, we have a few surprises in store for you.

In the coming days there will be additional announcements, including a “what to bring” announcement, so keep watching the GSV website, our Facebook page, and your e-mail inbox.

Remember, check-in begins at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 22nd (on Wednesday the 21st if you are registered for early arrival). We’ll have a welcome reception at 5:00 p.m. and dinner at 6:15 p.m. The conference will officially start with our opening ritual at 7:30 p.m. The conference will wrap-up by 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 25th.

I’m getting really excited to see all of you at The Mountain and I look forward to fellowship, heart-centered work, playtime, and of course heartfelt hugs.

With love and laughter,

Thunder
2016 Fall Conference Convener

Read More About the 2016 Fall Conference>>
Register for the 2016 Fall Conference>>

2016 Fall Conference

Fall Conference, Past Event

Registration and Information about the 2017 Fall Conference should be available by mid June

The information below is from the 2016 Fall Conference

Superheroes

Unlocking your secret superpowers
to live whole-heartedly and change the world.

3 hearts

Greg Walloch, Keynote Speaker

September 22 – 25, 2016

At The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, NC

Three Nights: $398.90
Four Nights: $489.64

My Dear GSV Family,

It is with great excitement that I announce who our keynote speaker is for the Fall Conference.

Greg Walloch is an internationally renowned comedian, writer and storyteller whose live solo shows have toured in Moscow, Toronto, Vancouver, London, Ireland, Germany, Australia, Poland, Scotland, Tel Aviv and in various festivals across the United States. As an openly gay artist with a disability, he uses humor to expose cultural and social fault lines. Greg is best known for his comedic autobiographical stories which deal with events from his own life in a style characterized by sharp wit, poignancy, and sexuality.

Greg is passionate about bringing together community through storytelling. He strongly believes that sharing our personal narrative has the power to change not only our own lives, but the lives of those around us. He regularly teaches concepts from his master class The Alchemy of Storytelling. Some of Walloch’s engagements have included the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University, George Washington University, University of California at Berkeley, New York University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Loyola Marymount University, Newton High School of the Performing Arts in Sydney,Australia, Escuela Campo Alegre in Venezuela, and The Calhoun School in New York City, among others.

Greg hosts the popular monthly live meta-food storytelling show Eat Your Wordswhich can currently be seen every first Thursday of the month at The Standard, Hollywood, California. He currently resides and works in Los Angeles, California.

I’ve long followed Greg’s career and am so thrilled to have him joining us on The Mountain in September. I hope you all are as thrilled and excited as I am.

If you haven’t registered yet, please do so this week or next to ensure you have a spot. Additional details are forthcoming.

Much love to all of you,
Thunder (Mark),
Fall Conference Convener

Read More About the 2016 Fall Conference>>
Register for the 2016 Fall Conference>

2016 Fall Conference

Fall Conference, Past Event

Registration and Information about the 2017 Fall Conference should be available by mid June

The information below is from the 2016 Fall Conference

Superheroes

Unlocking your secret superpowers
to live whole-heartedly and change the world.

3 hearts

September 22 – 25, 2016

At The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands, NC

Three Nights: $398.90
Four Nights: $489.64

My Dear GSV Family,

During the early morning hours of June 12, 2016, a gunman entered the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killed 49 members of our LGBT community, and injured another 50. The media as well as politicians continue to debate what the Orlando incident means in regard to gun control, terrorism, and homeland security policy. But we in the LGBT community knew all too well that at the core of this horrible incident was another hate crime targeting our community. In the weeks following the Orlando incident, and after the vigils and the grieving, many of us are left questioning if we are ever safe. Many of us are wondering how to handle the anger we have at the ongoing racism and homophobia that spurs such terrible tragedy. Many of us are asking “how are men of spirit to respond to such a thing?”

After many months of planning, the focus of our 2016 Fall Conference has shifted and solidified in the wake of the Orlando tragedy.

Over the course of three days we will come together and work toward unlocking our secret superpowers. How will we be doing this? We’ll be doing this through skill building, storytelling, meditation, movement, love, and fellowship. Each and every one of us has at our core the heart of a superhero. We’ll be working to unlock our superhero gifts, remove blockages, and reconnect in ways we’ve never done so before.

Many of your brothers are already working hard to create the 2016 Fall Conference and they share a commitment to create a safe space that encourages personal growth, community connection, hard work, and a lot of fun. As we are finalizing workshops and activities, opportunities remain for additional offerings and input. If the theme of the conference speaks to you and you’d like to present something, or you just want to get involved in making it all happen, please drop me a line at [email protected]. And of course, there will be free time in the schedule should spirit move you to present something once you are at The Mountain.

Over the coming weeks we’ll be sharing more about the theme, activities, and our keynote speaker. We’ll elaborate on which of your favorite fall activities are returning (although with a new spin) and we’ll also have some surprises in store. Watch this page, your email, and/or the GSV Facebook page for announcements and updates!

In the meantime, registration for the GSV 2016 Fall Conference is now open. Please consider registering today! Early registration will assure your spot at this life-affirming and life-changing conference.

Yours in Spirit,
Mark “Thunder” Zumbach
Convener, 2016 Fall Conference

Read More About the 2016 Fall Conference>>
Register for the 2016 Fall Conference>>

2015 Fall Conference: Variety Show

Fall Conference, Past Event

Dear Brothers,

Thank you for registering for the upcoming 2015 GSV Fall Conference, positive anticipation is rising daily. Can you hear the drum roll? The rustle of yards of fabric?

We in the entertainment committee certainly can, and are inviting you to sign up for the 2015 talent show. Performance art is a form of healing, of growth, of sharing and bonding with brothers and as the conference theme suggests, this may well be the wildest show ever!

Cami Delgado
Cami Delgado

Some of you are visual artists, not performers. We’re looking for several visual artists to do signs announcing the different acts. Can we count on you? Let us know.

For the performers, the sign-up sheet will be posted on the bulletin board of the Commons Room (behind the dining room). Please sign up ASAP to assure a spot and please keep in mind the following:

  • Acts must be no longer than 6 minutes. After that, a swarm of stage faeries will make you disappear, it won’t be pretty…we promise.
  • Attending rehearsal is mandatory; no act can appear without rehearsal.
  • For piano accompaniment, please send your sheet music to David Berger in advance [email protected] and schedule one-on-one rehearsal time upon arrival.
  • If you’re using a musical track, please present it to the sound tech at rehearsal.
  • Acts work best when enhanced with costumes, props, music, and movement. Keep this in mind as you prepare your material.
  • Freedom of expression requires that both performers and audience keep an open mind and a sensitive heart; we ask that everyone be mindful of this.

See you at the Mountain!

Cami