Where Are Your Feet?
September 26 – 29, 2024
The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands NC
Convener: ChaseR
4 Day/3 Night Package (Thursday through Sunday)
Bunk House (shared room up to 4 people) $300.00 + 6.75% tax = $320.25
Lodge or Duplex Cabin (double occupancy) $345.00 + 6.75% = $368.29
For All Rooms, Add Required GSV Program Fee $100.00
Check out the Registration System for Optional Extra Night Before (Wednesday Night) and/or After (Sunday Night) the Conference
Register Now!
Work on the 35th annual Gay Spirit Visions Fall Conference is progressing at a rapid pace now!
I am happy to inform you that we have a special guest presenter: Summer Minerva. They will be with us during the conference and will be screening their film Summer Within.
Summer Minerva is an Italian-American author, performer, educator, and filmmaker. Their passion for immersion into diverse cultures started when they were just a New York City kid in a multilingual, multicultural neighborhood. Their ever-present curiosity led them to the University of Miami, where they received a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies and Journalism, after studying abroad in Brazil, and circumnavigating the world on a ship. They then pursued a Master of Science degree in Education and taught at the elementary school level in New York City public schools. They speak Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian fluently and have co-edited Italian Trans Geographies for State University Press of New York (SUNY Press), released in 2023. Their autobiographical feature documentary film Summer Within (2024) has won prestigious awards in the United States and in Italy, including the Laceno d’Oro International Film Festival’s Spazio Campania “Chiara Ragione” Best Movie award. Summer is currently touring with a one-person performance called Tombola Bingo which premiered at The Australian National University in the summer of 2024. They have presented their work at many prominent institutions including the New-York Historical Society, Harvard University, New York University, New School University, Southern Methodist University, Colby College, Gibney: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center, and many others. Summer currently works as an executive functioning coach for people with Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and publishes regularly on Substack.
We have an incredible lineup of workshops and breakout sessions. Below is a working list of topics:
• Naked Yoga
• Presencing with the Enneagram
• Sharing Me Now – A Guided Autobiography
• Living Your Dying – End of Life Considerations for GBTQ Individuals
• Diving Into Your Ecstatic Body and BDSM Subspace
• Sound: A Meditative Bridge to Insight and Healing
• Super Sensual Sensation: Impact Play
• Living Breath Practice
• Self-Pleasuring and Multi-Orgasmic Practice
• The Relational Bond – Intimate Connection Through Conversation and Presence
• Embodied Spiritual Surrender
• Great Sky Circles – Mystical Sufi Traditions
• Breath Full Movement
A special hybrid event for online participation is being considered: Grounding In Our Sacred Chosen Bodies
Panel Discussions:
• Being an Ally to Indigenous People
• Keeping It Up All Year!
(Groups That Live GSV Year-Round and How They Do It)
I invite you to make origami cranes to bring to The Mountain and display. I am hoping for 1000 paper cranes. Below is a link to the story The Story of Sadako Sasaki and the Thousand Paper Cranes. You will also find links on how to make a paper crane. So, now is the time to begin your journey to The Mountain. Write down your prayers, intentions, and hopes, and fold them into the paper cranes you make. Many of you have already begun your journey.
The Story of Sadako Sasaki and the Thousand Paper Cranes (YouTube Video)
How to make a paper crane – Origami Crane Step by Step (YouTube Video)
Origami: Crane [tutorial] (YouTube Video)
Join us around our council fire, listening deeply in our heart circles, sharing meals, experiencing workshops, practicing gender freedom and expression, talent shows, dance, small groups, and a thousand other ways of being together.
I look forward to being with you in 25 days!
ChaseR
GSV 2024 Fall Conference Convener
Scholarship Information and Application Deadline
Financial assistance in the form of scholarships is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is September 5, 2024. We hope that anyone who resonates with our mission and community, and who has the desire to attend, can join us at our gatherings. To that end we offer financial assistance through the Raven Wolfdancer Financial Assistance Fund. Please go to the Financial Assistance page on the Gay Spirit Visions website for more information and for a link to the GSV financial assistance application form. Remember, the financial assistance application submission deadline is September 5, 2024.
Registration
Registration for the GSV 2024 Fall Conference is open now. The GSV Council has asked me to remind all who plan to register that there are a maximum of six single occupancy accommodations. If a positive GSV and Mountain experience is contingent upon single room accommodations, please email [email protected] for single room occupancy request consideration.
Registration closes Wednesday, September 18, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. ET. We remind you that recent fall conferences have reached capacity long before registration closes, so you are encouraged to register as soon as possible. All questions about the conference should be directed to [email protected] rather than The Mountain.