Inside the World's Chicest Cult
July 12, 2016 12:01 PM Subscribe
Teachers come forward and introduce their workshops—there are close to 100—one by one, which takes well over an hour. There's one on multiple-hand ayurvedic breast massage, a braiding circle, sacred tarot, "mapping feminine wisdom," and something described as "calling the salmon home" (which sounds like a potential sex act, but is in fact about "water healing.") One instructor introduces herself as "a honeybee priestess in the British tradition."
(nakedness alert for those at work)
posted by ADent at 12:12 PM on July 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by ADent at 12:12 PM on July 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
(nakedness alert for those at work)
Yah whoops, sorry. There's an image of a woman doing a handstand naked from the side, while breastfeeding a young child. And also an instagram "appropriate" image of a circle of naked ladies from a long distance at the annual gathering where you can see some bits if you squint.
posted by DynamiteToast at 12:17 PM on July 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
Yah whoops, sorry. There's an image of a woman doing a handstand naked from the side, while breastfeeding a young child. And also an instagram "appropriate" image of a circle of naked ladies from a long distance at the annual gathering where you can see some bits if you squint.
posted by DynamiteToast at 12:17 PM on July 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
This is like a real life LuluLemon tote bag. Yeesh.
posted by Kitteh at 12:18 PM on July 12, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 12:18 PM on July 12, 2016 [4 favorites]
This must be what MRAs think white feminists do on their weekends off.
posted by Countess Elena at 12:21 PM on July 12, 2016 [33 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 12:21 PM on July 12, 2016 [33 favorites]
I mean, talking about "reparations" for the little people . . . that woman needs a talking to, but I cannot imagine who could possibly give it to her. It would take the Emotional Labors of Hercules to tell her why that was wrong.
posted by Countess Elena at 12:23 PM on July 12, 2016 [10 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 12:23 PM on July 12, 2016 [10 favorites]
congee with greens and gomaiso, bone broth, eggs, and fruit—the haute vegetarian food
Um...
posted by jesourie at 12:23 PM on July 12, 2016 [36 favorites]
Um...
posted by jesourie at 12:23 PM on July 12, 2016 [36 favorites]
Just a small quote from the article:
"The oppression of fairy folk is pretty far down my personal list of priorities for getting the world in order."
posted by sammyo at 12:29 PM on July 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
"The oppression of fairy folk is pretty far down my personal list of priorities for getting the world in order."
posted by sammyo at 12:29 PM on July 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
> Children run rampant, and we are told that if we're annoyed with a baby crying to "use that as a meditation."
"Yeahhhhhh, that sounds great...if you need me I'll be at the pub."
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:31 PM on July 12, 2016 [18 favorites]
"Yeahhhhhh, that sounds great...if you need me I'll be at the pub."
_465_595_int.png){kind=link}
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:31 PM on July 12, 2016 [18 favorites]
Those who cannot remember the '70s are condemned to repeat them.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:31 PM on July 12, 2016 [67 favorites]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:31 PM on July 12, 2016 [67 favorites]
Every night, as I am about to sleep, someone is "called" to start drumming.
I would rank this just above "Underwear drawer invaded by fire ants" on a list of things that you will find in Hell.
posted by pjsky at 12:32 PM on July 12, 2016 [14 favorites]
I would rank this just above "Underwear drawer invaded by fire ants" on a list of things that you will find in Hell.
posted by pjsky at 12:32 PM on July 12, 2016 [14 favorites]
The piece has some choice lines, but I wished that the author had spent a little more time talking about what drove her to this place, what appeals to her about it. She hits that wall where it all starts to feel ridiculous to her so early and then sort of never moves past it. Yet in the end this isn't really a shredding, either, there's clearly something about the experience she likes, feels protective of. Her petty irritations are made quite clear, her ideological critiques are quite clear, the deep appeal that had her shelling out the $700 bucks in the first place isn't.
posted by Diablevert at 12:34 PM on July 12, 2016 [11 favorites]
posted by Diablevert at 12:34 PM on July 12, 2016 [11 favorites]
Wait, I kind of skimmed the article because work and LOL NSFW but is there really an oppression for fairy folk part or is that just snark? Because I suddenly had all sorts of flashbacks to the whole otherkin Elven Holocaust meme back in the day and I was Ohh No I've been on the internet too long.
posted by vuron at 12:37 PM on July 12, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by vuron at 12:37 PM on July 12, 2016 [4 favorites]
I guess I consider myself lucky in that I am not the target market for this sort of "lifestyle" (I honestly cannot think of another right now to apply to this sort of thing). This seems to be geared towards holistic wealthy young white moms who can drop $700 to go to this sort of thing and not bat an eye towards the New Age hooey/cultural appropriation/neo-hippie trappings. I guess what I am saying is that if you are a mom and this is what floods your Instagram feed and makes you feel bad that you have not achieved this expensive brand of effortless femininity, don't sweat it. You're doing okay.
posted by Kitteh at 12:39 PM on July 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 12:39 PM on July 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
"We live in a time when young women are embracing the trappings of New Age: meditation, tie-dye, whole grains, juicing."
I hate the term "New Age" -- there're good reasons for embracing all those things that have nothing to do with Instagram-modeled metaphysics, straight-up cultural appropriation/commodification, self-assigned honorifics and transmisogyny.
posted by Matt Oneiros at 12:40 PM on July 12, 2016 [6 favorites]
I hate the term "New Age" -- there're good reasons for embracing all those things that have nothing to do with Instagram-modeled metaphysics, straight-up cultural appropriation/commodification, self-assigned honorifics and transmisogyny.
posted by Matt Oneiros at 12:40 PM on July 12, 2016 [6 favorites]
When you boil it right down, stuff like this feels like a way for the people who partake in it to feel superior to those who don't. Step one: you have to be rich.
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:41 PM on July 12, 2016 [11 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:41 PM on July 12, 2016 [11 favorites]
I wished that the author had spent a little more time talking about what drove her to this place
I think she touches on it when she talks about growing up in Santa Cruz with her pagan mom, and her willingness to go for acupuncture and yoga and other, sort of, tip-of-the-iceberg things (in this conception of "hippie"). Which is, she is not an utter cynic and I think she sees some value in the cultural values of this group, but in the end wants to feel like she can be a hippie without giving up critical thinking or deciding to have a baby. I think that is pretty interesting.
posted by dame at 1:08 PM on July 12, 2016 [6 favorites]
I think she touches on it when she talks about growing up in Santa Cruz with her pagan mom, and her willingness to go for acupuncture and yoga and other, sort of, tip-of-the-iceberg things (in this conception of "hippie"). Which is, she is not an utter cynic and I think she sees some value in the cultural values of this group, but in the end wants to feel like she can be a hippie without giving up critical thinking or deciding to have a baby. I think that is pretty interesting.
posted by dame at 1:08 PM on July 12, 2016 [6 favorites]
Wait, I kind of skimmed the article because work and LOL NSFW but is there really an oppression for fairy folk part or is that just snark? Because I suddenly had all sorts of flashbacks to the whole otherkin Elven Holocaust meme back in the day and I was Ohh No I've been on the internet too long.
what
I can't google "elven holocaust" at work - pls explain and tell me it is not what I think it is.
posted by Frowner at 1:08 PM on July 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
what
I can't google "elven holocaust" at work - pls explain and tell me it is not what I think it is.
posted by Frowner at 1:08 PM on July 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'm not clear on what a "honeybee priestess" is, but I'm not gonna lie, it sounds like something I want to be when I grow up.
posted by skycrashesdown at 1:15 PM on July 12, 2016 [26 favorites]
posted by skycrashesdown at 1:15 PM on July 12, 2016 [26 favorites]
Which is, she is not an utter cynic and I think she sees some value in the cultural values of this group, but in the end wants to feel like she can be a hippie without giving up critical thinking or deciding to have a baby. I think that is pretty interesting.
I guess that was the part I wanted more on, because I am an utter cynic and have trouble wrapping my mind around what could be appealling about this in the first place. Certainly nostalgia certainly seems to play a part for her -- she mentions her childhood, says the only thing she bought was a retro 70s massage guide. But when she talks about how the culturally appropriative aspects of this scene are icky, she never really says what she thinks they're groping toward in doing all this that could nevertheless be worthwhile...like, does she want to feel that connection, that communion, with other women and thinks you need spaces like this to do it in? Is there something about using these other culture's rituals and icons that lets her acces a sense of spirituality in the way that traditional Western faiths don't? Or I guess since she was raised Orthodox Hippie, does that make half-assed gestures toward shamanism her native faith?
Sorry, it occurs to me now that wondering why the article wasn't this entirely other kind of article I would have liked better is a shitty basis for critique. But I still can't help feeling that she was nearly on to something really fascinating, but didn't want to push for it....
posted by Diablevert at 1:28 PM on July 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
I guess that was the part I wanted more on, because I am an utter cynic and have trouble wrapping my mind around what could be appealling about this in the first place. Certainly nostalgia certainly seems to play a part for her -- she mentions her childhood, says the only thing she bought was a retro 70s massage guide. But when she talks about how the culturally appropriative aspects of this scene are icky, she never really says what she thinks they're groping toward in doing all this that could nevertheless be worthwhile...like, does she want to feel that connection, that communion, with other women and thinks you need spaces like this to do it in? Is there something about using these other culture's rituals and icons that lets her acces a sense of spirituality in the way that traditional Western faiths don't? Or I guess since she was raised Orthodox Hippie, does that make half-assed gestures toward shamanism her native faith?
Sorry, it occurs to me now that wondering why the article wasn't this entirely other kind of article I would have liked better is a shitty basis for critique. But I still can't help feeling that she was nearly on to something really fascinating, but didn't want to push for it....
posted by Diablevert at 1:28 PM on July 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
> Hands up if this was the first thing that popped into your head when you saw "honeybee priestess".
To be honest, this was the first thing that popped into mine.
posted by Morfil Ffyrnig at 1:33 PM on July 12, 2016 [5 favorites]
To be honest, this was the first thing that popped into mine.
posted by Morfil Ffyrnig at 1:33 PM on July 12, 2016 [5 favorites]
I can't google "elven holocaust" at work - pls explain and tell me it is not what I think it is.
Via UrbanDictionary: “One of the most common beliefs [among Otherkin] is of an Elven Holocaust in which humankind supposedly wiped the elves from the Earth, despite the fact that no such evidence, archaeological or otherwise, exists anywhere in the geologic record either for the supposed holocaust, let alone the existence of elves. ”
posted by Maecenas at 1:37 PM on July 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
Via UrbanDictionary: “One of the most common beliefs [among Otherkin] is of an Elven Holocaust in which humankind supposedly wiped the elves from the Earth, despite the fact that no such evidence, archaeological or otherwise, exists anywhere in the geologic record either for the supposed holocaust, let alone the existence of elves. ”
posted by Maecenas at 1:37 PM on July 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
I wish the author had gone with her mother. For one thing, her mother sounds pretty pragmatic about how the hopes of the 1960s failed. For another, were there women above 40 there? and yet, how better to honor the Mother than to attend with yours?
posted by clew at 1:39 PM on July 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by clew at 1:39 PM on July 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
> Hands up if this was the first thing that popped into your head when you saw "honeybee priestess".
I expected this
posted by thelonius at 1:40 PM on July 12, 2016 [4 favorites]
I expected this
posted by thelonius at 1:40 PM on July 12, 2016 [4 favorites]
"I was just doin' my daily flow when the little sweet pea came to sneak a suckle"
jesus that sentence is like Achewood came to life and moved to Mendocino county
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 2:05 PM on July 12, 2016 [55 favorites]
jesus that sentence is like Achewood came to life and moved to Mendocino county
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 2:05 PM on July 12, 2016 [55 favorites]
> Hands up if this was the first thing that popped into your head when you saw "honeybee priestess".
I expected this
I was thinking more this.
posted by slkinsey at 2:05 PM on July 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
I expected this
I was thinking more this.
posted by slkinsey at 2:05 PM on July 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
> Hands up if this was the first thing that popped into your head when you saw "honeybee priestess".
> I expected this
Okay so I clicked both links and neither of them is what I thought
posted by Mchelly at 2:08 PM on July 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
> I expected this
Okay so I clicked both links and neither of them is what I thought
posted by Mchelly at 2:08 PM on July 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
Someone asks Liv, "What can we do to help the little people?" More chipmunks-style noises from Liv as she asks them. "Long ago a split happened between the little people and the tribes," she translates. "Reparations need to happen."
all the ron swanson reaction gifs in the world are not enough
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 2:36 PM on July 12, 2016 [10 favorites]
all the ron swanson reaction gifs in the world are not enough
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 2:36 PM on July 12, 2016 [10 favorites]
I, too, may have wanted a bit more of why she was there, why the others were there, but I also don't feel like that was the intention of this -- it was more essay than journalism. But I do think Marisa Meltzer's final point -- that while these women have rejected the typical "corporate/commercial" conception of femininity, this is still basically a performance of conforming to someone else's rigid ideals. Especially since this seems pretty limited to straight, white women interested in procreation. These people are still saying there's only one right way to "woman."
posted by darksong at 3:28 PM on July 12, 2016 [19 favorites]
posted by darksong at 3:28 PM on July 12, 2016 [19 favorites]
Darksong, that was my takeaway also.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 3:44 PM on July 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 3:44 PM on July 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
Elven Holocaust
Homo floresiensis were admittedly quite small, maybe they count.
posted by BungaDunga at 4:17 PM on July 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
Homo floresiensis were admittedly quite small, maybe they count.
posted by BungaDunga at 4:17 PM on July 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
I think we might have inadvertently brainstormed a new Honeybee Priestess character class for the Katanas and Trenchcoats RPG.
posted by Strange Interlude at 4:33 PM on July 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Strange Interlude at 4:33 PM on July 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
Her panic attack at the beginning is SO familiar to me. I had a similarly hippie upbringing, have lots of hippie tendencies that I moderate as much as I can but leak out in odd ways (see: not treating my allergies because 'too many pills' thus making myself REALLY FUCKING SICK for a month now). I long for the spiritual element but the moment some rando helped scratch my back I'd be hyperventilating along with the writer.
Same with the cultural appropriation aspect. I empathise - between the various members of my family, we end up with a bunch of strange cultural mashups with Irish wakes and Indigenous slang and speech patterns and Shinto household rituals all with an athiest rejection of spirituality. I watch my very white, very blonde, very Australian daughter bow her head to the neighbour's shrine when she enters their house and wonder how long until that creeps into our house too, and shrug because it seems like a useful thing. But at the same time, yeah, poor judgement is a good call when it is so very performative.
Her conversation with her mother sounds like one I would have with mine too. I think there is probably a lot of value in recognising how homogenous the group there is - I spent the weekend with my grandmother and we baked shortbread with my daughter. My grandmother also flipped the bird to two separate drivers while I drove her out to see my grandpa in hospital. I am lucky enough to have that relationship and be able to learn from it, and for my kid to as well (my grandmother promised to teach her to make scones soon, and the look of pride when she found out my mother has begun making them habitually was lovely). The lack of that, the 'instructors' and 'teachers' and distance between the real and the construct seems to be the heart of the conflict for the writer.
I am flinching so hard at the DIY group removal of IUDs. Like I mentioned before, such a big part of the hippie stuff still ongoing for me is medical care. I ignored my streaming eyes and nose for weeks at the change in seasons (my dad is sick, my grandpa is sick, end of semester, gearing up for international travel as well) and ended up getting really sick. I still haven't recovered, a month later. It is almost entirely due to both my upbringing (unnatural medicines! big pharma!) (oddly enough, vaccines and antibiotics were okay, the latter only in small doses) and my continuing exposure to it through friends. I take hormonal birth control and psych meds every day, the idea of adding more just to avoid sniffling seemed silly. Then I stopped being able to talk and my dr glared and my friends fretted, and now they check in to make sure I am treating those very easily treated things. Taking painkillers when I hurt, that sort of thing. But there is nothing like that sector of hippiedom for judging women's choices with reproduction. Nothing. I had to stop talking to a lot of people about it because the conversations hurt too much. I should try gluten/dairy/GMO/soy free for months and meditate and vaginal cleanse and take a bunch of herbs before I do something like, I dunno, skip my period using the pill, or even just take anti-inflammatories before and during my period.
That's not even touching on birth, or breastfeeding. Reverence for motherhood becomes restrictive there, like it does everywhere.
posted by geek anachronism at 5:10 PM on July 12, 2016 [10 favorites]
Same with the cultural appropriation aspect. I empathise - between the various members of my family, we end up with a bunch of strange cultural mashups with Irish wakes and Indigenous slang and speech patterns and Shinto household rituals all with an athiest rejection of spirituality. I watch my very white, very blonde, very Australian daughter bow her head to the neighbour's shrine when she enters their house and wonder how long until that creeps into our house too, and shrug because it seems like a useful thing. But at the same time, yeah, poor judgement is a good call when it is so very performative.
Her conversation with her mother sounds like one I would have with mine too. I think there is probably a lot of value in recognising how homogenous the group there is - I spent the weekend with my grandmother and we baked shortbread with my daughter. My grandmother also flipped the bird to two separate drivers while I drove her out to see my grandpa in hospital. I am lucky enough to have that relationship and be able to learn from it, and for my kid to as well (my grandmother promised to teach her to make scones soon, and the look of pride when she found out my mother has begun making them habitually was lovely). The lack of that, the 'instructors' and 'teachers' and distance between the real and the construct seems to be the heart of the conflict for the writer.
I am flinching so hard at the DIY group removal of IUDs. Like I mentioned before, such a big part of the hippie stuff still ongoing for me is medical care. I ignored my streaming eyes and nose for weeks at the change in seasons (my dad is sick, my grandpa is sick, end of semester, gearing up for international travel as well) and ended up getting really sick. I still haven't recovered, a month later. It is almost entirely due to both my upbringing (unnatural medicines! big pharma!) (oddly enough, vaccines and antibiotics were okay, the latter only in small doses) and my continuing exposure to it through friends. I take hormonal birth control and psych meds every day, the idea of adding more just to avoid sniffling seemed silly. Then I stopped being able to talk and my dr glared and my friends fretted, and now they check in to make sure I am treating those very easily treated things. Taking painkillers when I hurt, that sort of thing. But there is nothing like that sector of hippiedom for judging women's choices with reproduction. Nothing. I had to stop talking to a lot of people about it because the conversations hurt too much. I should try gluten/dairy/GMO/soy free for months and meditate and vaginal cleanse and take a bunch of herbs before I do something like, I dunno, skip my period using the pill, or even just take anti-inflammatories before and during my period.
That's not even touching on birth, or breastfeeding. Reverence for motherhood becomes restrictive there, like it does everywhere.
posted by geek anachronism at 5:10 PM on July 12, 2016 [10 favorites]
The rhetoric of Spirit Weavers is a nebulous combination of religions, spirituality, eco-activism, and groupthink; most of what is said ends up sounding like lost Buffy Sainte-Marie lyrics."
I enjoyed some of her asides. I wish I could be a believer in anything but I come up alone in the middle of the Universe, and strangely contrite, strangely content. You couldn't pay me to attend a gathering of that sort. Yet, everytime I am on the Cal mid coast, I drop by Halcyon. I did attend that Sarah Mclaughlin tour, what was the name of that? Hum. Seems like she paid to come home, so she could leave it, with less personal ramifications than leaving her real home.
posted by Oyéah at 5:31 PM on July 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
I enjoyed some of her asides. I wish I could be a believer in anything but I come up alone in the middle of the Universe, and strangely contrite, strangely content. You couldn't pay me to attend a gathering of that sort. Yet, everytime I am on the Cal mid coast, I drop by Halcyon. I did attend that Sarah Mclaughlin tour, what was the name of that? Hum. Seems like she paid to come home, so she could leave it, with less personal ramifications than leaving her real home.
posted by Oyéah at 5:31 PM on July 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
Sarah Mclaughlin tour, what was the name of that?
The Animal Abuse Porn tour?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:40 PM on July 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
The Animal Abuse Porn tour?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:40 PM on July 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
I hate the term "New Age" -- there're good reasons for embracing all those things that have nothing to do with Instagram-modeled metaphysics, straight-up cultural appropriation/commodification, self-assigned honorifics and transmisogyny.
Even tie-dye?!
The really depressing thing is that we probably will see reparations for the wee folk, at minimal but not negligible state expense, long before we see it for any actually existing people.
posted by No-sword at 5:44 PM on July 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
Even tie-dye?!
The really depressing thing is that we probably will see reparations for the wee folk, at minimal but not negligible state expense, long before we see it for any actually existing people.
posted by No-sword at 5:44 PM on July 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
Bread and Puppet was much more fun, politically engaging, honest, and useful as a info-tool, than that retreat seems they could ever want to be.
posted by not_on_display at 5:46 PM on July 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by not_on_display at 5:46 PM on July 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
I don't understand what the big deal is. Why all the snark?
posted by humanfont at 5:56 PM on July 12, 2016
posted by humanfont at 5:56 PM on July 12, 2016
"We live in a time when young women are embracing the trappings of New Age: meditation, tie-dye, whole grains, juicing."
I hate the term "New Age" -- there're good reasons for embracing all those things that have nothing to do with Instagram-modeled metaphysics, straight-up cultural appropriation/commodification, self-assigned honorifics and transmisogyny.
There is no excuse for the tie-dye, though.
I also wish she had talked more about what is attracting her to these events. She has clearly gone to them for many years, and she is very articulate about the parts that make her uncomfortable or distanced, but something brings her back.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:42 PM on July 12, 2016
I hate the term "New Age" -- there're good reasons for embracing all those things that have nothing to do with Instagram-modeled metaphysics, straight-up cultural appropriation/commodification, self-assigned honorifics and transmisogyny.
There is no excuse for the tie-dye, though.
I also wish she had talked more about what is attracting her to these events. She has clearly gone to them for many years, and she is very articulate about the parts that make her uncomfortable or distanced, but something brings her back.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:42 PM on July 12, 2016
Dip Flash: "There is no excuse for the tie-dye, though."
There is a great excuse for tie-dye: It's really bright and colorful, something generally lacking in clothing. The problem is the people who wear tie-dye.
posted by Bugbread at 6:57 PM on July 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
There is a great excuse for tie-dye: It's really bright and colorful, something generally lacking in clothing. The problem is the people who wear tie-dye.
posted by Bugbread at 6:57 PM on July 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
Chicest is an awkward word to have in a headline. I kept reading it like it rhymes with nicest, and was all "chicest must be some new slang I'll have to get used to hearing like high key/low key and savage and the rest of it. Anyway there's nothing really new, only the endless procession of fads...Dag, my ass is gettin' old." And then I was all "Oh. Rhymes with meekest." Mildly let down, yet relieved.
posted by Bob Regular at 7:25 PM on July 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Bob Regular at 7:25 PM on July 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
Sarah Mclaughlin's tour was Lilith Fair. If I remember that one correctly, it was a clearly commercial venture, tons of lesbians, less breastfeeding / mother worship. It was the nineties.
posted by crazycanuck at 7:36 PM on July 12, 2016
posted by crazycanuck at 7:36 PM on July 12, 2016
I know someone who went to this. She's pretty much the epitome of woo chic, and just as insufferable as you'd expect. My god, her Instagram feed.
posted by palomar at 12:19 AM on July 13, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by palomar at 12:19 AM on July 13, 2016 [3 favorites]
I thought the article's comparison with Burning Man was really apt. I think both of those events are manifestations of a certain privileged-class need to seek a utopia, a no-place where they can act out their desires and deeply held beliefs. With the fading of organized religion, those who are the beneficiaries of the current system have no natural outlet for spiritual desire. Events of this sort channel that need. Crucially, they do so without requiring any kind of empathy with people who're on the opposite end of the social system. This is chicken soup for the privileged soul.
posted by Kattullus at 1:37 AM on July 13, 2016 [9 favorites]
posted by Kattullus at 1:37 AM on July 13, 2016 [9 favorites]
I don't understand what the big deal is. Why all the snark?
I'm not really sure either. Maybe a bit of it is like those Juggalo, or Burning Man or Further Future posts where we laugh at what people get up to at a festival.
Another part is laughing at how rich people spend their money. $700 for a weekend in a tent is a lot.
Perhaps a bit of it is that a part of the 'message' of the group is about authenticity but the actual event is a pastiche.
All that said, I know a bunch of poor hippies and new age folk who earnestly follow some of this stuff, including the 'woo' beliefs. As a group, they are pretty thoughtful, good neighbours and know how to have a good time, so I'm not one to join in the snarking.
posted by bystander at 2:02 AM on July 13, 2016
I'm not really sure either. Maybe a bit of it is like those Juggalo, or Burning Man or Further Future posts where we laugh at what people get up to at a festival.
Another part is laughing at how rich people spend their money. $700 for a weekend in a tent is a lot.
Perhaps a bit of it is that a part of the 'message' of the group is about authenticity but the actual event is a pastiche.
All that said, I know a bunch of poor hippies and new age folk who earnestly follow some of this stuff, including the 'woo' beliefs. As a group, they are pretty thoughtful, good neighbours and know how to have a good time, so I'm not one to join in the snarking.
posted by bystander at 2:02 AM on July 13, 2016
Personally it's the narrow womyn-born-womyn, anti-medical-science, failure to be inclusive elements that push it over from being an interesting look at how other people live into being something I have some disdain for.
posted by Braeburn at 2:29 AM on July 13, 2016 [10 favorites]
posted by Braeburn at 2:29 AM on July 13, 2016 [10 favorites]
Yeah, having grown up in the boondocks near Eugene (Oregon), I can't join in the snark on hippies either. It's like anything, people are different, different people do hippy differently. Where I grew up it was mostly very poor folk. Thoughtful, generous, and kind; truly dear friends.
I also think there is some definite conflation going on with tie-dye and New Age. Hippies came along well before New Age did, and tie-dye as Americans know it is strongly linked to the Grateful Dead. Now, for a bit of firsthand hippy history: the Grateful Dead in Eugene was an actual hippy pilgrimage. Not only because of the band, but also because of the late 1900s cultural and literary history of the area: Ken Kesey grew up in Springfield and mentored the Dead.
New Age came into general force in the late 80s (though there were closed sects identifying with it earlier) and is more strongly tied to Burning Man than hippies are. Osho and his community Rajneeshpuram in Oregon had a lot to do with it. (Yeah, Oregon, international hotbed of alternative beliefs and yet a state few non PacNWers have ever heard of for that.) New Age was much more a white middle-class and yuppie interpretation of hippie – you can still feel the divide in Eugene, probably one of the few places on earth where a lot of people will classify you as hippy vs. New Age vs. something else on sight and tell you so. Wearing brand-new cutely-designed Papillio Birkenstocks with flowing white cotton, a crisp haircut, and spirito-entrepreneur-speak? New Ager. Worn out solid-colored traditional Birkenstocks with natural hair, tie-dye clothing, and laidback "life is a river" speech? Hippy. Just to be clear: I'm describing stereotypes you encounter there, not defining them. Right now I'm wearing Papillios and a white blouse myself and am an ocean away from being New Age. Anyway.
This experience described in the OP is a lot closer to New Age than to hippy. The fact she grew up in Santa Cruz basically confirms it; California was/is home to hippies-who-self-define, i.e. a lot of privilege in their choices, as opposed to hippies-who-are, with exceptions for the northern part of the state (San Francisco doesn't count, it's too far south, very yuppy-hippy). They've definitely borrowed from hippy, but crisp white crochet work, goddess worship and all that... it's New Age with a commercial feminist twist. It's the sort of thing that gives people like me (I researched creation myths, most include goddesses, thus I also researched the evolution of creation myths from goddess/god/genderfluid deity to cis-male god alone and the reflections of that patriarchal shift in their contemporary literatures) a cast of oddity in much the way people who research Celtic and Norse mythologies have to deal with weird popularizations and interpretations of it that strain or break credibility.
Goddesses existed and were important, we can't deny that – go on, you know who Athens is named after – but any modern-day belief based on past ideas is just that: an interpretation. So long as the fact that it's an interpretation and people making use of past symbols for modern application is clear, it's usually fine and dandy. It's what we call symbolism and is an important aspect of mythology/fairy tales: stories help us make sense of our world. We don't have to live in ancient Greece to relate to the story of Demeter and Persephone. Stories can't, however, retroactively be applied to force our world into something it's not. They can inspire us to think in different ways, and even view the world in new ways (the equality of both pain and redemption amongst the creation myths with female/male/genderfluid deities, is often inspirational to my own thinking, for instance), but it is indeed we who are doing the thinking, in our context. It's when the past is used to justify "renewed traditions" supposedly applicable to all that things can get dangerous, and here is where commonality can be found with any belief system trying to make the present conform to an imagined past. It's laugh-worthy when you realize that there is no single belief system that holds the record for trying to be most universal: countless have tried.
The past itself shows uniform beliefs simply don't hold: deities abound. Out of chaos came the celestial bodies, and from them rose diversity.
posted by fraula at 5:36 AM on July 13, 2016 [10 favorites]
I also think there is some definite conflation going on with tie-dye and New Age. Hippies came along well before New Age did, and tie-dye as Americans know it is strongly linked to the Grateful Dead. Now, for a bit of firsthand hippy history: the Grateful Dead in Eugene was an actual hippy pilgrimage. Not only because of the band, but also because of the late 1900s cultural and literary history of the area: Ken Kesey grew up in Springfield and mentored the Dead.
New Age came into general force in the late 80s (though there were closed sects identifying with it earlier) and is more strongly tied to Burning Man than hippies are. Osho and his community Rajneeshpuram in Oregon had a lot to do with it. (Yeah, Oregon, international hotbed of alternative beliefs and yet a state few non PacNWers have ever heard of for that.) New Age was much more a white middle-class and yuppie interpretation of hippie – you can still feel the divide in Eugene, probably one of the few places on earth where a lot of people will classify you as hippy vs. New Age vs. something else on sight and tell you so. Wearing brand-new cutely-designed Papillio Birkenstocks with flowing white cotton, a crisp haircut, and spirito-entrepreneur-speak? New Ager. Worn out solid-colored traditional Birkenstocks with natural hair, tie-dye clothing, and laidback "life is a river" speech? Hippy. Just to be clear: I'm describing stereotypes you encounter there, not defining them. Right now I'm wearing Papillios and a white blouse myself and am an ocean away from being New Age. Anyway.
This experience described in the OP is a lot closer to New Age than to hippy. The fact she grew up in Santa Cruz basically confirms it; California was/is home to hippies-who-self-define, i.e. a lot of privilege in their choices, as opposed to hippies-who-are, with exceptions for the northern part of the state (San Francisco doesn't count, it's too far south, very yuppy-hippy). They've definitely borrowed from hippy, but crisp white crochet work, goddess worship and all that... it's New Age with a commercial feminist twist. It's the sort of thing that gives people like me (I researched creation myths, most include goddesses, thus I also researched the evolution of creation myths from goddess/god/genderfluid deity to cis-male god alone and the reflections of that patriarchal shift in their contemporary literatures) a cast of oddity in much the way people who research Celtic and Norse mythologies have to deal with weird popularizations and interpretations of it that strain or break credibility.
Goddesses existed and were important, we can't deny that – go on, you know who Athens is named after – but any modern-day belief based on past ideas is just that: an interpretation. So long as the fact that it's an interpretation and people making use of past symbols for modern application is clear, it's usually fine and dandy. It's what we call symbolism and is an important aspect of mythology/fairy tales: stories help us make sense of our world. We don't have to live in ancient Greece to relate to the story of Demeter and Persephone. Stories can't, however, retroactively be applied to force our world into something it's not. They can inspire us to think in different ways, and even view the world in new ways (the equality of both pain and redemption amongst the creation myths with female/male/genderfluid deities, is often inspirational to my own thinking, for instance), but it is indeed we who are doing the thinking, in our context. It's when the past is used to justify "renewed traditions" supposedly applicable to all that things can get dangerous, and here is where commonality can be found with any belief system trying to make the present conform to an imagined past. It's laugh-worthy when you realize that there is no single belief system that holds the record for trying to be most universal: countless have tried.
The past itself shows uniform beliefs simply don't hold: deities abound. Out of chaos came the celestial bodies, and from them rose diversity.
posted by fraula at 5:36 AM on July 13, 2016 [10 favorites]
San Francisco doesn't count, it's too far south, very yuppy-hippy
also, just to clarify, it's a local pasttime in Eugene to take the piss out of SF, so don't anyone from there take it too personally ;)
posted by fraula at 5:42 AM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
also, just to clarify, it's a local pasttime in Eugene to take the piss out of SF, so don't anyone from there take it too personally ;)
posted by fraula at 5:42 AM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
I put off reading this, more or less out of anxiety, so I guess I feel the author pretty strongly. I was a pagan in my late teens/early twenties and I think it was just long ago enough that I mostly feel a kind of warm, slightly embarrassed nostalgia for it. And because I had all the self-awareness of your average young, middle-class white girl at that age (nil to slight), I particularly glommed onto how limiting everything seemed in this article. There is one specific way to be feminine in Pagan circles too, and cultural appropriation is not a Thing and and and... I liked this as a trip back to a time I more or less remember warmly, but also as a reminder that that part of my life is well behind me.
Got to say, though, the aesthetic still gets me every time. There's one image in the article of a woman in the back of her van that makes me want to up and move to the west coast of California and become a character in a Starhawk novel, frankly. (Also, put me down as someone who would be okay with being a bee priestess.)
posted by kalimac at 5:48 AM on July 13, 2016 [7 favorites]
Got to say, though, the aesthetic still gets me every time. There's one image in the article of a woman in the back of her van that makes me want to up and move to the west coast of California and become a character in a Starhawk novel, frankly. (Also, put me down as someone who would be okay with being a bee priestess.)
posted by kalimac at 5:48 AM on July 13, 2016 [7 favorites]
Chicest is an awkward word to have in a headline. I kept reading it like it rhymes with nicest, and was all "chicest must be some new slang I'll have to get used to hearing like high key/low key and savage and the rest of it.
Yes! Except I thought it was older and innerly-pronounced it as cherce.
posted by Mchelly at 6:20 AM on July 13, 2016
Yes! Except I thought it was older and innerly-pronounced it as cherce.
posted by Mchelly at 6:20 AM on July 13, 2016
The spirit is now moving me to write a song called "If Your Body Isn't Conventionally Attractive And You Want To Appear On Our Instagram Feed, Wear Lots Of Layers."
posted by gnomeloaf at 6:24 AM on July 13, 2016 [14 favorites]
posted by gnomeloaf at 6:24 AM on July 13, 2016 [14 favorites]
It's laugh-worthy when you realize that there is no single belief system that holds the record for trying to be most universal
check out Parmenides
posted by thelonius at 6:40 AM on July 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
check out Parmenides
posted by thelonius at 6:40 AM on July 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
...pick up a flyer about IUDs that asks "Are they really safe?" and offers early warning signs that they aren't, including "life feeling hard" and "serendipity not visiting anymore." By this afternoon, I overhear that 15 women have removed their IUDs together in a yurt.
lol "removed"
i still don't know how dudes locked down the whole metal hardcore thing
because seriously these hippy chicks ripping their own IUDs out i mean jesus what the fuck
posted by skrozidile at 7:34 AM on July 13, 2016 [8 favorites]
lol "removed"
i still don't know how dudes locked down the whole metal hardcore thing
because seriously these hippy chicks ripping their own IUDs out i mean jesus what the fuck
posted by skrozidile at 7:34 AM on July 13, 2016 [8 favorites]
I hate the term "New Age" -- there're good reasons for embracing all those things that have nothing to do with Instagram-modeled metaphysics, straight-up cultural appropriation/commodification, self-assigned honorifics and transmisogyny.
Sure... but all that stuff helps.
I'm pretty dismissive of improvised, cafeteria spirituality. But these women are hardly the first people to go there. And I honestly don't see any harm in what they're doing. It seems they yearn to believe in something. I ain't gonna get in their way, even if it has me rolling my eyes.
One thing I do find curious is the impulse to other these people because they're "rich" and white and don't want me, or whoever, in their club, even if they do want to adopt some aspect of my culture. This stuff really hurts my feelings none. As long as they're not in my way, I can deal with it. Hopefully, they'll grant me the same courtesy when I chuckle at their beliefs.
posted by 2N2222 at 8:28 AM on July 13, 2016 [3 favorites]
Part of me looks at this and is fascinated by the amount of nonsense people will swallow to the point of paying $700 to dance naked in the woods. The other part of me looks at this like I look at comic book collecting: if you ask me, I'll happily talk your ear off about it, otherwise, it's a hobby that I'll go about quietly and if you're not interested, no problem.
It's when people take this to the level of proselytizing, or worse... saying that you can cure cancer by doing a 21-day cleanse and centering your chakras.
posted by prepmonkey at 8:38 AM on July 13, 2016
It's when people take this to the level of proselytizing, or worse... saying that you can cure cancer by doing a 21-day cleanse and centering your chakras.
posted by prepmonkey at 8:38 AM on July 13, 2016
It was as delicious as the portions were tiny
There is never enough food at these women-centered things. I've been to naked hippie hot springs and Girl Scout trainings and BlogHer and there is never. enough. food.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:48 AM on July 13, 2016 [4 favorites]
There is never enough food at these women-centered things. I've been to naked hippie hot springs and Girl Scout trainings and BlogHer and there is never. enough. food.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:48 AM on July 13, 2016 [4 favorites]
There is never enough food at these women-centered things. I've been to naked hippie hot springs and Girl Scout trainings and BlogHer and there is never. enough. food.
The hungriest I have been in a long time was at a Girl Scout camping weekend. I got home, showered and dragged my husband out to a local pub, where I inhaled a 12 oz flatiron steak with a knob of blue cheese the size of a baby's fist.
Women's performative food denial is the worst fucking idea, so of course it's part of a weekend devoted to highly regulated idealization of femininity.
posted by sobell at 8:53 AM on July 13, 2016 [14 favorites]
The hungriest I have been in a long time was at a Girl Scout camping weekend. I got home, showered and dragged my husband out to a local pub, where I inhaled a 12 oz flatiron steak with a knob of blue cheese the size of a baby's fist.
Women's performative food denial is the worst fucking idea, so of course it's part of a weekend devoted to highly regulated idealization of femininity.
posted by sobell at 8:53 AM on July 13, 2016 [14 favorites]
But that's the thing -- at least the GS trainings I've been too, there are women in their camo hunting gear, women who are into outdoor skills, women of all sizes... it isn't idealized typical femininity. Except for when it comes to food portions.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:58 AM on July 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:58 AM on July 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
all day yesterday my brain was just screaming about the women removing their IUDs in a freaking yurt. whyyy whhyyYYYYYYYYY
posted by burgerrr at 9:01 AM on July 13, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by burgerrr at 9:01 AM on July 13, 2016 [5 favorites]
"Chicest is an awkward word to have in a headline. I kept reading it like it rhymes with nicest, and was all "chicest must be some new slang I'll have to get used to hearing like high key/low key and savage and the rest of it. Anyway there's nothing really new, only the endless procession of fads...Dag, my ass is gettin' old." And then I was all "Oh. Rhymes with meekest." Mildly let down, yet relieved."
I kept reading it as "chickest." Which was weird but kinda fit.
If I were the editor on that piece, I'd hyphenate to chic-est, or probably rewrite to "most chic cult."
posted by klangklangston at 9:30 AM on July 13, 2016 [3 favorites]
I kept reading it as "chickest." Which was weird but kinda fit.
If I were the editor on that piece, I'd hyphenate to chic-est, or probably rewrite to "most chic cult."
posted by klangklangston at 9:30 AM on July 13, 2016 [3 favorites]
But that's the thing -- at least the GS trainings I've been too, there are women in their camo hunting gear, women who are into outdoor skills, women of all sizes... it isn't idealized typical femininity. Except for when it comes to food portions.
But there is often a type of performative femininity going on there too, and I say this as someone who's been a Girl Scout and a Girl Scout volunteer for decades.
The Girl Scouts do provide a framework and/or opportunities for expanding one's self definition beyond external, proscriptive gender boundaries, but the descriptor "girl" pretty much reminds everyone that gender is still a foundational element in the entire event. The performative femininity is even enjoyed sometimes: I can well remember that one of the kicks of a weekend camping trip where we foraged all our own food was how we all managed to give ourselves manicures around the campfire later.
Again, this is my experience and how I understand it. I can see where YMMV.
However -- and this is my error for not writing more clearly in the earlier comment -- when I wrote "part of a weekend devoted to highly regulated idealization of femininity," I was referring to the article in the FPP and not my "Take 10 Brownies Camping, Spend All Weekend Listening to Them And My Stomach" experience.
posted by sobell at 9:47 AM on July 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
But there is often a type of performative femininity going on there too, and I say this as someone who's been a Girl Scout and a Girl Scout volunteer for decades.
The Girl Scouts do provide a framework and/or opportunities for expanding one's self definition beyond external, proscriptive gender boundaries, but the descriptor "girl" pretty much reminds everyone that gender is still a foundational element in the entire event. The performative femininity is even enjoyed sometimes: I can well remember that one of the kicks of a weekend camping trip where we foraged all our own food was how we all managed to give ourselves manicures around the campfire later.
Again, this is my experience and how I understand it. I can see where YMMV.
However -- and this is my error for not writing more clearly in the earlier comment -- when I wrote "part of a weekend devoted to highly regulated idealization of femininity," I was referring to the article in the FPP and not my "Take 10 Brownies Camping, Spend All Weekend Listening to Them And My Stomach" experience.
posted by sobell at 9:47 AM on July 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
Bee priestesses have to go through some pretty rough initiation rituals (NSFW).
posted by edheil at 12:29 PM on July 13, 2016
posted by edheil at 12:29 PM on July 13, 2016
Flavia Dzodan: MY FEMINISM WILL BE INTERSECTIONAL, OR IT WILL BE BULLSHIT!
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 1:18 PM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 1:18 PM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
Just reminds me what we used to say when I hung out in Pagan circles: the difference between New Age and Pagan is a decimal point. The average cost of a Pagan camping weekend was about $40.
posted by threeturtles at 1:22 PM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by threeturtles at 1:22 PM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
I also take issue with labeling this a "cult." I mean, it's a bunch of silly people doing silly things for way too much money, but cult is a word with a definition and lists of characteristics and that's not this.
posted by threeturtles at 1:24 PM on July 13, 2016
posted by threeturtles at 1:24 PM on July 13, 2016
i'd say it's a lot more like burning man than an actual cult, in that it costs way too much, all the people i know who go to it won't shut up about it, and i would run screaming into the woods after 15 minutes if i were forced to go
posted by burgerrr at 1:26 PM on July 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by burgerrr at 1:26 PM on July 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
Flavia Dzodan: MY FEMINISM WILL BE INTERSECTIONAL, OR IT WILL BE BULLSHIT!
I think some people may be confused - "intersectional or bullshit" doesn't mean that "bullshit" is a perfectly acceptable alternative.
posted by Frowner at 2:08 PM on July 13, 2016 [3 favorites]
This is a middle class event for middle class women. Rich people events start at $5000. The idea that we should burn them for spending their money on something they appear to enjoy.
posted by humanfont at 2:35 PM on July 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by humanfont at 2:35 PM on July 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
um i guess that depends on your definition of middle class because i am certainly middle class and i don't have $700 knocking around to go on a raw food yogini anti-birth control cultural appropriation glamping retreat
posted by burgerrr at 2:47 PM on July 13, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by burgerrr at 2:47 PM on July 13, 2016 [4 favorites]
I am middle class, and I don't have the money, either, but I know middle-class folks who can afford to go to an outdoor festival which costs upwards of $300 per adult, plus staying in a hotel because of traveling with a kid or kids, for a total of easily over $700. It seems crazy to me, but people put their values in weird things. Now, if we were talking a $700 a month, it would be clearly rich - only, but for an annual event $700 probably means a mix of middle-class and wealthy. No poor people, and only a few truly rich people slumming it.
posted by Bugbread at 3:20 PM on July 13, 2016
posted by Bugbread at 3:20 PM on July 13, 2016
I thought the article's comparison with Burning Man was really apt.
Look, I'm not going to defend the Silicon Valley meetup in the dirt that Burning Man seems to be turning into, but it is not an apt comparison at all. It's unquestionable that the vast majority of people who attend Burning Man are quite privileged and largely white, but it's a hodgepodge of aesthetics -- sure there's plenty of woo, but there's also plenty of rock & roll, skaters, surly and tough-as-nails people who build critical infrastructure and keep things running, ravers, techno-futurists, circus acts, orchestras, jazz bands, marching bands, DIY maker-faire types, self-identified geeks and nerds, radio enthusiasts, performance artists, visual artists, fire dancers, art car builders and enthusiasts, and so on. A lot of people just go there for the same run-of-the-mill reasons people go to a wide variety of festivals, parties, gatherings, etc.
posted by treepour at 3:23 PM on July 13, 2016
Look, I'm not going to defend the Silicon Valley meetup in the dirt that Burning Man seems to be turning into, but it is not an apt comparison at all. It's unquestionable that the vast majority of people who attend Burning Man are quite privileged and largely white, but it's a hodgepodge of aesthetics -- sure there's plenty of woo, but there's also plenty of rock & roll, skaters, surly and tough-as-nails people who build critical infrastructure and keep things running, ravers, techno-futurists, circus acts, orchestras, jazz bands, marching bands, DIY maker-faire types, self-identified geeks and nerds, radio enthusiasts, performance artists, visual artists, fire dancers, art car builders and enthusiasts, and so on. A lot of people just go there for the same run-of-the-mill reasons people go to a wide variety of festivals, parties, gatherings, etc.
posted by treepour at 3:23 PM on July 13, 2016
If you have personal experience of Burning Man, and you know because of that personal experience that Burning Man is different than the impression it gives to people who've never been, whose impressions are just based on what they've read, then isn't there also the distinct possibility that Spirit Weavers is also different than the impression it gives to people who've never been, whose impressions are just based on what they've read?
I'm not saying they're the same. They could be (and probably are) vastly different. But there's little enough info and people with personal experience that while "I doubt it's an apt comparison" sounds fair, and "it is not an apt comparison at all" does not.
posted by Bugbread at 4:00 PM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
I'm not saying they're the same. They could be (and probably are) vastly different. But there's little enough info and people with personal experience that while "I doubt it's an apt comparison" sounds fair, and "it is not an apt comparison at all" does not.
posted by Bugbread at 4:00 PM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
I do think the performativity of food consumption as femininity is very US-centred though. Not to say it doesn't happen here in Oz, but I've never had a man look at me with the kind of stunned pride as my friends in the US did when I inhaled burgers and fries with total abandon. Or murmur 'holy shit, you ate that whole thing, I am so fucking proud'.
But yeah, again, so very different to the more age-diverse things I've attended where you're lucky to leave the same weight you arrived, and that's only because you have a bag full of goodies to take home.
posted by geek anachronism at 4:08 PM on July 13, 2016 [3 favorites]
But yeah, again, so very different to the more age-diverse things I've attended where you're lucky to leave the same weight you arrived, and that's only because you have a bag full of goodies to take home.
posted by geek anachronism at 4:08 PM on July 13, 2016 [3 favorites]
Based on the US census and Pew's method of calculating "middle-class", middle-class in California means a household income of between $40,127 and $120,380. I think that's a big enough spread that at one end you could be middle class and think "$700 for a hippie retreat? That's insane rich person talk" and at the other end you could be middle class and think "$700 for a hippie retreat? I'd rather spend my vacation money this year on a trip to Disneyworld."
posted by Bugbread at 4:09 PM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Bugbread at 4:09 PM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
« Older TC BANKCALL # TEMPORARY, I HOPE HOPE HOPE | The open hand and the closed fist Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Strange Interlude at 12:11 PM on July 12, 2016 [4 favorites]