Today, I went to the Oregon Country Fair today. At the risk of losing my status as a misanthrope, I do have to say that I enjoyed it a lot and most everyone there was pretty awesome. It just had a good feel about it. Before I moved here, this is what I pictured Oregon to be like. I'm glad I finally found it and I plan on working there next year so I can be there longer than a day.
2 comments:
The hardest part about Oregon Country Fair is coming back to reality when it's over. When you live day to day(in the "real" world) not being accepted for this reason or that reason you get used to being treated poorly and often even forget that you're being treated poorly. The alienating and degrading parts of everyday life in mainstream society are so glaring once you get used to their absence and become used to being accepted and appreciated for who you are. It's always the point where acceptance becomes almost taken for granted that the end of fair comes.
A couple examples for me would be male "feminine" expression without it being considered as feminine or gay necessarily(a man in a skirt goes over like a woman in pants) and female nudity. The first day it's exciting and liberating. The second day, it's like, "oh I really appreciate what they've done with that, that's clever, that's cute, etc." The third day doesn't even register as unusual.
The other part I miss is that high I get from the strong spirit of unity there. For the most part people respect each other's political(and identity) differences and every one makes an effort to compromise, in the spirit of not ruining Fair for each other. Folks who work the Fair call each other Fair Family because that's the type of environment folks want to foster there. It's not always utopian year round but people try really hard to suck it up for Fair time. Fair family folks work from months in advance or afterward to year round in order to make Fair what it is. Getting along, celebrating, making everything fun during Fair is a way of acknowledging and respecting everyone's efforts.
Another thing that makes Fair feel safe to me is all the varieties of couples/relationships that are out and proud!
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