The Early Years

After talking to some of the more experienced older ravers in Stargaze after our first gathering, we decided that getting together twice a year would be a good place to start. We thought that anything less would be simply too long to go without a reunion and seeing everyone, and that anything more would be too hard to do until we had a lot more help in getting everything planned. Two reunions a year also allowed us to experience some fun summer type activities like rock climbing, hiking, kayaking, and other outdoor/extreme sports, with a winter reunion that would let us enjoy other activities like snowshoeing, skiing, snowboarding, sledding… and that's really why we have two reunions a year.

Our first indoor Stargaze (Stargaze II--which you can read more about in our Past Events section) was held in Tahoe (where many of our indoor gatherings are held because of the affordable rentals in the area). Again people helped by stepping up and taking ownership of everything from planning sit down family style dinners for us (something we're very passionate about-there is nothing like sitting down in a big family and enjoying food prepared for you BY you….. Indeed seeing 40+ ravers all packed into a living room watching the Simpsons… was quite an experience!) to getting 2 sound systems, visuals, djs, parking and other play stuff up there and in place. Some skied, some boarded. We had some great djs volunteer to spin and play some live music for us… again we had people from different dance communities present--from LA, SF, Sacramento and San Diego… people who'd had varying levels of experiences in the community as promoters, djs, musicians, flyer/visual artists, to people for whom Stargaze II was their first rave… Sitting outside in the hot tub sharing a good time while it snowed on us as again we looked up into the sky… were very very good memories. Each Stargaze we learn more about ourselves, about how to make our events go more smoothly, and about how to improve on them for the next reunion.

The age old question of our approach…. Given the limited nature of our energies and resources and time in our lives… the question arises: one direction yields a scenario in which you work and strive for affecting a large number of people with a somewhat limited impact. The flipside of that approach is affecting a very small group of people (family?) in a big way. That's how we've chosen to try to go about things, for now at least, and I hope it's evident in the people and times we share as a group.

Stargaze III was held in the same location as Stargaze I, as a kind of "1 year anniversary" celebration. Again we climbed, hiked, and had incredible times in Yosemite-for some it was the first time people had been in Yosemite and seen the incredible sights such as El Cap, Half Dome, the Merced, Cathedral Peaks, the Royal Arches, Yosemite Falls… Each time we grew in number, each time we had cool shared experiences experiencing activities together! We figured out better ways to clean up after ourselves, how to make sure the necessary sound equipment and generators, equipment and stuff made it to the site. We even started to try to regularly record all our music for everyone as well-which is why we have our mega library of mp3s from our various gatherings over the years at our MP3 archive.

We learned a lot in our first handful of reunions-from what worked, to what didn't… to things we definitely wanted to incorporate into each and every Stargaze (like making sure we do some fun activities, preparing and eating dinner together, spending as much time together during the reunion as we can, making sure music and art and celebration is definitely part of our time together…) in its first year or so Stargaze had been born and grown to a few dozen people. We had great memories behind us, and definitely many adventures ahead of us!

Today:

As we've grown over the years, we've learned a lot about each other, and about better ways to make our reunions go better, and other things we do in between our reunions to give us more chances to connect, hang out and take part in fun adventures together--to celebrate our music and our lives, and to learn from each other along the way.

As with any growth process we've had some harder learning experiences along the way. We quickly realized the difference between "quality" vs. "quantity" as far as growing and growth is concerned. We've learned that Stargaze isn't necessarily for everyone! But we've come through our harder learned lessons stronger and more enthusiastic about what we're all about!

In our 2nd through 4th years as a Family-we learned to look towards other collectives and communities for pointers and hints about how we could go about things. Early on we learned the "No Spectators"-the rule of thumb for Burning Man-is key to help distribute ownership of the family, divide up the community responsibilities, and make sure that the burden of the group is borne equally as possible. We've looked towards groups like the Rainbow Gathering for other ideas about group participation, getting and gathering consensus on issues, and for ideas about our opening ceremonies, group communication, consensus, and "self service/policing" approaches. We embrace healthy environmental practices of LNT (Leave No Trace) especially when in the outdoors. We've taken a look at "take care of your own" practices in place in other dance communities such as our Karma Patrol… and have taken other "best of" ideas from lots of places to help improve our own time together.

We came up with organized approaches to help divide and conquer the more practical tasks associated with getting a group our size together twice a year. We have our summer and winter reunions-focusing each on the sport type activities we had in our first few gatherings like climbing, hiking, skiing, boarding, sledding… but as others came along with other life experiences and hobbies, we also added others like skydiving, kayaking, and even wine tasting! If you have something you really enjoy and would love to share with others… please do!

Index History Home Early Years & Today

		*The Early Years* After talking to some of the more experienced older ravers in Stargaze after our first gathering, we decided that getting together twice a year would be a good place to start. We thought that anything less would be simply too long to go without a reunion and seeing everyone, and that anything more would be too hard to do until we had a lot more help in getting everything planned. Two reunions a year also allowed us to experience some fun summer type activities like rock climbing, hiking, kayaking, and other outdoor/extreme sports, with a winter reunion that would let us enjoy other activities like snowshoeing, skiing, snowboarding, sledding… and that's really why we have two reunions a year. Our first indoor Stargaze (Stargaze II--which you can read more about in our Past Events section) was held in Tahoe (where many of our indoor gatherings are held because of the affordable rentals in the area). Again people helped by stepping up and taking ownership of everything from planning sit down family style dinners for us (something we're very passionate about-there is nothing like sitting down in a big family and enjoying food prepared for you BY you….. Indeed seeing 40+ ravers all packed into a living room watching the Simpsons… was quite an experience!) to getting 2 sound systems, visuals, djs, parking and other play stuff up there and in place. Some skied, some boarded. We had some great djs volunteer to spin and play some live music for us… again we had people from different dance communities present--from LA, SF, Sacramento and San Diego… people who'd had varying levels of experiences in the community as promoters, djs, musicians, flyer/visual artists, to people for whom Stargaze II was their first rave… Sitting outside in the hot tub sharing a good time while it snowed on us as again we looked up into the sky… were very very good memories. Each Stargaze we learn more about ourselves, about how to make our events go more smoothly, and about how to improve on them for the next reunion. The age old question of our approach…. Given the limited nature of our energies and resources and time in our lives… the question arises: one direction yields a scenario in which you work and strive for affecting a large number of people with a somewhat limited impact. The flipside of that approach is affecting a very small group of people (family?) in a big way. That's how we've chosen to try to go about things, for now at least, and I hope it's evident in the people and times we share as a group. Stargaze III was held in the same location as Stargaze I, as a kind of "1 year anniversary" celebration. Again we climbed, hiked, and had incredible times in Yosemite-for some it was the first time people had been in Yosemite and seen the incredible sights such as El Cap, Half Dome, the Merced, Cathedral Peaks, the Royal Arches, Yosemite Falls… Each time we grew in number, each time we had cool shared experiences experiencing activities together! We figured out better ways to clean up after ourselves, how to make sure the necessary sound equipment and generators, equipment and stuff made it to the site. We even started to try to regularly record all our music for everyone as well-which is why we have our mega library of mp3s from our various gatherings over the years at our MP3 archive. We learned a lot in our first handful of reunions-from what worked, to what didn't… to things we definitely wanted to incorporate into each and every Stargaze (like making sure we do some fun activities, preparing and eating dinner together, spending as much time together during the reunion as we can, making sure music and art and celebration is definitely part of our time together…) in its first year or so Stargaze had been born and grown to a few dozen people. We had great memories behind us, and definitely many adventures ahead of us! *Today:* As we've grown over the years, we've learned a lot about each other, and about better ways to make our reunions go better, and other things we do in between our reunions to give us more chances to connect, hang out and take part in fun adventures together--to celebrate our music and our lives, and to learn from each other along the way. As with any growth process we've had some harder learning experiences along the way. We quickly realized the difference between "quality" vs. "quantity" as far as growing and growth is concerned. We've learned that Stargaze isn't necessarily for everyone! But we've come through our harder learned lessons stronger and more enthusiastic about what we're all about! In our 2nd through 4th years as a Family-we learned to look towards other collectives and communities for pointers and hints about how we could go about things. Early on we learned the "No Spectators"-the rule of thumb for Burning Man-is key to help distribute ownership of the family, divide up the community responsibilities, and make sure that the burden of the group is borne equally as possible. We've looked towards groups like the Rainbow Gathering for other ideas about group participation, getting and gathering consensus on issues, and for ideas about our opening ceremonies, group communication, consensus, and "self service/policing" approaches. We embrace healthy environmental practices of LNT (Leave No Trace) especially when in the outdoors. We've taken a look at "take care of your own" practices in place in other dance communities such as our Karma Patrol… and have taken other "best of" ideas from lots of places to help improve our own time together. We came up with organized approaches to help divide and conquer the more practical tasks associated with getting a group our size together twice a year. We have our summer and winter reunions-focusing each on the sport type activities we had in our first few gatherings like climbing, hiking, skiing, boarding, sledding… but as others came along with other life experiences and hobbies, we also added others like skydiving, kayaking, and even wine tasting! If you have something you really enjoy and would love to share with others… please do!