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.
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.
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.
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
We, your brothers on the GSV Council, want to express our ongoing commitment to you, our community. We are committed to transparent, respectful, and efficient communication. We are committed to ensuring that every member of our community is heard and has equal access to consideration for all service and decision-making positions within the organization, regardless of personal relationships, financial contributions to the organization, popularity, race, color, religion, gender expression/identity, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, marital status, military or veteran status, age, weight, or disability.
We are committed to holding each other accountable for respectful communication, and being strong allies to each other in the face of bullying, outside and within our own community. We are actively pursuing these goals through several avenues. These include: the creation of a community liaison council position; improved orientation for council members including non-violent communication and respectful confrontation; preventing, recognizing, and responding to bullying within the community; and bylaw revisions to streamline operations while protecting our community from the concentration of power and avoid any conflicts of interest.
GSV is an all-volunteer and consensus-driven organization. This means communication, action and change sometimes happen more slowly than any of us would like. We also know that many in our community, including members of our current council, have not always experienced the council’s commitment to these values — and for this, we are truly sorry. We invite you to reach out to us with your concerns and desires, whether through emailing us at [email protected], or attending a council meeting to witness and give feedback. We will post the next Council meeting dates on Facebook and send an announcement via email. We will follow up with a list of decisions and an action item list on our webpage.
Thank you for the incredible love, wisdom, courage and strength each of you bring to our community and our conferences, and thank you for working with us to make our conferences even more wonderful.
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.
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
at The Mountain Retreat & Learning Center
Highlands, NC April 22-24, 2016
two Nights Lodging & Meals: $237.15
Spring in the Mountains
Please Register Soon
It’s less than two weeks until we gather at The Mountain. We will likely not sell out for this gathering so you may be able to register up until the last minute, but the sooner you register the better we can plan. Please join us. It won’t be the same without you! Financial assistance is available if you need it.
The Silent Auction
If you are planning to attend, please bring something of value to you that would like to find a new home. Place it on the auction tables so that others may bid on it. Likewise, bid on a treasure that wants to go home with you. The proceeds go to our Scholarship Program. Last year your generosity provided twenty-three spirits with the funds they needed to come to a GSV Gathering.
Submitting bidding sheets for your auction items digitally is
quick and easy if you use this form.
You’ll Have Lots of Free Time
While there is never an event at a GSV gathering that has required attendance, we hope you will join us for the programing specifically focused on the theme of Exploring Inner Marriage which will end around 3pm on Saturday.
Official “free time” begins at 3pm on Saturday and continues until closing after lunch on Sunday.
During that free time, a group of generous community members will offer a variety of experiences created to give us a deeper knowledge of who we are and how we go in the world. And have fun.
On Saturday Afternoon
• An Exploration of Dreams and Synchronicities offered by Sted Mays who invites you to bring a recent dream or synchronicity to share if you so wish.
• An Astrological Exploration of Mars; The Prince, Warrior and Porn Star in You offered by Jeff Graham. Jeff asks that you send your birth information to him before the Retreat ([email protected]) so that he can prepare your chart. Or feel free to just show up.
• Gentle Yoga lead by David Jones and accompanied by Teddy Jones on harp.
On Sunday Morning
• A Guided Soul Journey to Connect with Our Inner Lovers offered by David Chitara.
• Play Time offered by Dev Deveraux. Cooperative games and activities (a little like last fall, but also different).
• Creative Letter Writing offered by Zach (Sugar) Matteson. The Focus will be on writing a dialog between our Feminine and Masculine selves, but feel free to write whatever letters need to be written.
At Other Times
• Saturday and Sunday mornings: Sunrise Meditation. John Schendel will hold the space both days. Teddy Jones will play the harp on Saturday.
•Friday Night: “Getting Go” an award winning film that takes a worn out topic (unrequited gay longing), sets it in the now, and fills it with new life and meaning. Todd Humphrey will be you host.
• Saturday Night: GSV’s first ever Symposium. Think Plato not grad school! An exploration of beauty, love and virtue woven together by music, food, touch, and breath. Zach (Sugar) Matteson is your host and encourages togas and head wreathes. No toga? Ms. Google and a bed sheet will have you up to speed in no time. Sarongs and skirts can be fun too if that strikes your fancy. • Saturday Night: After the Symposium, we’ll show “Were The World Mine” a Disneyesque, queer romantic comedy-fantasy based on “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with a long list of awards and accolades. Sweet dreams are made of this. • Anytime: Explore the amazing sub-tropical rain forest that surrounds us. Late night snacks and beverages in the dining hall. Visit Meditation Rock and do just that. Hold hands, share hugs, laugh, cry and be gay.
Still Not Sure?
Perhaps these words from the poet James (Big Joy) Broughton, the Keynoter at our second Fall Conference in 1991, will encourage you to register soon.
Autobiography
I took a sharp look
I took a long prowl
I questioned the serpent
I questioned the owl
I called up the mayor
I called on the sage
I tried reading Proust
I tried life on the stage
I went into therapy
I went out for sports
I suffered every ailment
from sniffles to warts
I went to the dogs
I went to the Pope
I climbed Annapurna
I fasted on dope
I dug up the desert
I delved in the sea
But nowhere I looked
could I recognize me
So eventually I
had to give up my plan
of escape to Siam
and accept myself here
just as I am
