Number 197 Spring 2024 $11.95Issue 198 / Summer 2024 TRAVEL & COMMUNITY Submission Deadline: May 15, 2024 www.rfdmag.org/upload Summer means travel. Travel originally came from “travail,” to struggle. As we enter into summer time, we’re asking you, dear reader, to look at your travel through community. As you head off to your dream vacation, or your home away from home, or your sexy snuggle zone, ponder how community is created over distance and how we come together, close differences and distances to be in community together. Packing up for a journey means choosing to leave things behind, pack new items, unravel new outfits and places for ourselves as well as bringing along that piece of vintage that everyone will ogle over. How do we bring these experiences into our sense of building and being in community? We’re as ever interested in how you, our readers, interact with your world, places you are traveling to— what challenges did you face, what gifts did you bring, what new dreams did you pick up along the way? Part of being alive is lurking into our experience to find the best postcard from the trip. Tell us, show us, your favorite postcards from your journey into creating community. We all come from diverse places and experiences and we welcome hearing from everyone. We also welcome hearing about experiences in other parts of the world, from other voices that you know might want to be heard on our pages as well as you perhaps reflecting on what you learned from being a traveler. We’re also happy to hear about the traveling that is happening in our own backyards, places that need to be explored more fully, a community story that needs an update for our readers and to also reflect how the challenges to community have been fruitful, evocative and ripe for change. Photo by Thirdman from Pexels RFD 197 Spring 2024 1 Repairs Finally Done Vol 50 No 3 #197 Spring 2024 Between the Lines Each issue of RFD is filled with your contributions, ideas and spirit. We appreciate your engaging with our readers and in this issue we tackle the idea of doing it for yourself. Facing a project, acquiring life skills, knowing where you belong, all take us to believing in your own innate skill to survive, be, and share with others. Our lovely readers have as usual graced us with their experi- ences from bee keeping, picking up life skills from family, the possibility of a Tinseltown career, using art as a way into one’s desires, finding one’s gay god, letting go of inner shame, and many wonderful images that evoke self-reliance and tending one’s self, the Earth and others. As always we welcome your ideas for future themes, and as ever we celebrate all of our readers on their journey. Please con- sider sharing and shaping the experience. As we enter into our fifth decade, we warmly appreciate all of the hands and hearts that helped RFD itself, a true Do-It-Yourself enterprise sustain and survive all these years! If you have any interest in helping RFD celebrate it’s five decades and are interested in helping delve into our back issues for a anniversary book, please be in touch with Rosie (rosie@ rfdmag.org) to plug in to the small dedicated crew working on that project. —the RFD Collective Photo by Thirdman from Pexels2RFD 197 Spring 2024 RFD is a reader-written journal for gay people which focuses on country living and encourages alternative lifestyles. We foster community building and networking, explore the diverse expressions of our sexuality, care for the environment, Radical Faerie consciousness, and nature-centered spirituality, and share experiences of our lives. RFD is produced by volunteers. We welcome your participation. The business and general production are coordinated by a collective. Features and entire issues are prepared by different groups in various places. RFD (ISSN# 0149- 709X) is published quarterly for $25 a year by RFD Press, PMB 329, 351 Pleasant St., Ste B, Northampton, MA 01060-3998. Postmaster: Send address changes to RFD Press, PMB 329, 351 Pleasant St., Ste B, Northampton, MA 01060-3998. Non-profit tax exempt #62-1723644, a function of RFD Press, Inc., with office of registration at 231 Ten Penny Rd., Woodbury, TN 37190. RFD Cover Price: $11.95. A regular subscription is the least expensive way to receive RFD four times a year. First class mailed issues will be forwarded. Others will not. Send address changes to submissions@rfdmag.org or to our Northampton, MA address. Copyright © RFD Press, Inc. The records re- quired by Title 18 U.S.D. Section 2257 and associated with respect to this magazine (and all graphic material as- sociated therewith on which this label appears) are kept by the custodian of records at the following location: RFD Press, 85 N Main St, Ste 200, White River Junction, VT 05001. Production Managing Editor: Bambi Gauthier Production Editor: Matt Bucy Submission Deadlines Summer–May 15, 2024 Fall–August 15, 2024 See inside covers for themes and specifics. For advertising, subscriptions, back issues and other information visit www.rfdmag.org. To read online visit www.issuu.com/rfmag . org. Visual Contributors Inside This Issue Artwork not directly associated with an article. Back Cover "DIY!" by Denison Beach Irina Tall ................................2, 17 Artboydancing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Adam Kuby .................................9 Gill Heward ...............................16 Emerson Gray ..............................39 Denison Beach ..............Back Cover, 43, 54 Gregory T. Wilkins (aka Equus). ...........51, 61 Craig Martin Getz ..........................63 "Red horse" by Irina Tall. Collage. RFD 197 Spring 2024 3 CONTENTS Announcements ................................................................5 Gathering Guide 2024 ...........................................................6 The Bee Gum ............................David Milley .........................10 City Born, Country Bred ..................Two Bears ...........................14 The Day Tom Hanks Bought My Breakfast ...James Magruder ......................18 Life Drawing .............................Duncan Hilton .......................23 Building Your Own Gay God ...............Robert D. Mathis-Friedman ...........27 Living On The Land In Spain widening faerie circles ..................Eduard aka Junis ......................35 I Am Not Your Fagmo .....................Edward Jackson ......................37 Horse Sense .............................J.R. Kangas ..........................42 Ochre Rose ..............................Allan F. Acevedo .....................44 The Shape of Desire .......................Liana Kapelke-Dale ...................45 Difficulty at the Beginning .................Liana Kapelke-Dale ...................46 Whooping Cranes ........................Liana Kapelke-Dale ...................47 New Me Now ............................Michael Gould .......................48 For Me ..................................Allan F. Acevedo .....................49 Reliance .................................D. Scott Humphries ...................50 Mr. Blake At Twilight .....................David Weldon ........................52 We Do Not Ask to be Queen ...............Claude Chabot .......................55 The Day I Wanted To Quit .................Luna ................................624RFD 197 Spring 2024 "The Breeze That Easy" by Artboydancing. RFD 197 Spring 2024 5 Come visit us at the Rainbow Book Fair, April 20 , from noon to 6 pm at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans- gender Community Center, 208 W 13th St, New York, NY 10011 . Rosie will be tabling with recent issues of RFD and copies of our recent books (below). For more info visit www.rainbowbookfair.com. https://a.co/d/2ePmYo6 Available now from Amazon: https://a.co/d/6J7uoHG Stop by and say hullo Michael Mason was a poet, a gay man, and a Radical Faerie. Born in 1954 in the moun- tains of North Carolina, he came of age in the 1970s, in the midst of the exciting first decade of what was then called “gay liberation” (now the LGBTQ movement). This volume collects his poetry and writings, from a life lived to the fullest. Curated by Charles Simpson. The drawings and written material for this book were produced during the years when Jackson was a gay activist concerned with the growing AIDS epidemic. Sparked by the fear of contract- ing AIDS, he sought help from a Jungian trained therapist. He hopes the drawings encourage the creative exploration of fear and anxiety, and that this book improves understanding the complexities of dreams and imagination.Gay Spirit Visions Winter Meditation Jan 12-14 Highlands, NC gayspiritvisions.org/ Queer Magic Winter Jan 15-18 Breitenbush, OR bit.ly/QueerMagicWinter2024Call Asian Faerie Gathering Jan 18-28 Thailand asianfaeries.com/ Imbolc Gathering Jan 29-Feb 5 England albionfaeries.org.uk/gatherings/glastonbury/ Breitenbush Gathering Feb 15-19 Breitenbush, OR cascadiaradicalfaerieresource.regfox.com Shadow Gathering Feb 16-18 Vancouver, BC bcradfae.ca/ Winter Recovery Camp Feb 29-Mar 3 Greenwich, NY www.eastonmountain.org/events/onsite Couple's Retreat Mar 7-10 Greenwich, NY www.eastonmountain.org/events/onsite Ostara Gathering Mar 12-21 Featherstone Castle, UK albionfaeries.org.uk/gatherings/ Northwest Dance Mar 14-17 Monroe, WA danceforallpeople.com/calendar/ Poly Men Who Love Men: Spring Retreat Mar 21-24 Greenwich, NY www.eastonmountain.org/events/onsite Maple Sugaring Gatherette Mar 22-25 DeKalb, NY sites.google.com/site/blueheronfaeriehome/ Tennessee Dance Apr 11-14 Liberty, TN danceforallpeople.com/calendar/ Spring Community Week Apr 13-21 Ternuay-Melay-et-St-Hilaire, France www.folleterre.org/ Fate di qua, fate di là Gathering Apr 16-21 Polcanto, Italy eurofaeries.eu Queer Earth Resistance School Apr 11-18 Worcestershire, UK albionfaeries.org.uk/gatherings/ Billy's Spring Gathering Apr 18-21 Upper Lake, CA www.thebillys.org/events/category/gatherings/ Spring Awakening Apr 25-28 Greenwich, NY www.eastonmountain.org/events/onsite Beltane Gathering Apr 26-May 5 Ternuay-Melay-et-St-Hilaire, France www.folleterre.org/ Beltane Gathering Apr 27-May 4 Wolf Creek, OR www.nomenus.org/calendar-2/ Fantasy Spring Festival Apr 27-May 12 France fanfarm.org/english Beltane Gathering May 7-17 Glastonbury, England albionfaeries.org.uk/gatherings/ Butch Palace Work Gathering May 7-17 Ternuay-Melay-et-St-Hilaire, France www.folleterre.org/ Gay Spirit Visions Spring Retreat May 10-12 Highlands, NC gayspiritvisions.org/ Utah Dance May 17-19 Utah danceforallpeople.com/calendar/ Spring Fae Gathering May 17-20 Vancouver, BC bcradfae.ca/ Below you’ll find our annual gathering guide for the year. We’ve tried to include all of the listings that we available before press time. Our humble thanks to each community and sanctuary which has provided infor- mation about their events. We especially want to thank www.radfae.org for it’s centralized listings of most gatherings on this list. We urge all readers to check the websites and contact each community beforehand to get details and confirm dates. A few communities didn’t have updated information on their websites—contact them directly for gathering information. Amber Fox, McDonald’s Corner ON, Canada - www.akaamberfox.ca California Community of Men - www.calcommen.com Faerie Camp Destiny, Grafton VT - www.faeriecampdestiny.org Faerieland – New South Wales, Australia - faerieland.org Kawashaway Sanctuary – Northern MN - www.kawashaway.org Short Mt. Sanctuary, Liberty TN - www.radfae.org/sms Zuni Mountain Sanctuary, Ramah NM - www.zms.org Faerie Sex Magick – www.faeriesexmagick.org Gathering Guide 2024California Men's Gathering May 24-27 Idyllwild, CA thecmg.org/save-the-date-next-gathering/ Chiffoning Week Gathering May 24-29 Ternuay-Melay-et-St-Hilaire, France www.folleterre.org/ ECC Week at Kench Hill May 24-31 Tenterden, UK www.edwardcarpentercommunity.org.uk/events Easton 24 May 23-27 Greenwich, NY www.eastonmountain.org/events/onsite Camp Wolf PAH Gathering May 29-Jun 2 Wolf Creek, OR www.nomenus.org/calendar-2/ Kink Odyssey May 30-Jun 2 Greenwich, NY www.eastonmountain.org/events/onsite Let Your Shyness Shine Gathering May 31-Jun 8 Ternuay-Melay-et-St-Hilaire, France www.folleterre.org/ Beamsley Writing and Music Creation Gathering Jun 3-10 Skipton, UK www.edwardcarpentercommunity.org.uk/events American Ridge Gathering Jun 2-13 Naches, WA americanridgegathering.org/ Wolf Creek Dance Jun 13-16 Wolf Creek, OR danceforallpeople.com/calendar/ Tantra 4 Gay Men-Diploma in Tantra Jun 15-21 Greenwich, NY www.eastonmountain.org/events/onsite Summer Solistice Gathering Jun 16-24 Ternuay-Melay-et-St-Hilaire, France www.folleterre.org/ SGRF Jun 21-30 Wolf Creek, OR www.nomenus.org/calendar-2/ Detoxxx Gathering Jun 27-Jul 6 Ternuay-Melay-et-St-Hilaire, France www.folleterre.org/ Gay Freedom Camp Jul 1-5 Greenwich, NY www.eastonmountain.org/events/onsite Billy's Summer Gathering Jul 3-8 Upper Lake, CA www.thebillys.org/events/category/gatherings/ Faerie Magic Jul 12-22 Ternuay-Melay-et-St-Hilaire, France www.folleterre.org/ GAYLA Jul 13-20 Saco, ME www.ferrybeach.org/GAYLA Eurogames Gathering Jul 16-21 Vienna, Austria matafaerie.com/eurogames-gathering-2024/ Sun Clad Jul 29-Aug 4 Greenwich, NY www.eastonmountain.org/events/onsite Summer Community Week Jul 31-Aug 7 Ternuay-Melay-et-St-Hilaire, France www.folleterre.org/ Art Gathering Aug 8-17 Ternuay-Melay-et-St-Hilaire, France www.folleterre.org/ Gay Spirit Camp-Summer Aug 12-18 Greenwich, NY www.eastonmountain.org/events/onsite Radical Rest Gathering for Trans, Intersex, Non-Binary & Queer Women Aug 19-28 Ternuay-Melay-et-St-Hilaire, France www.folleterre.org/ High Close 2024 Aug 20-27 Lake District, UK www.edwardcarpentercommunity.org.uk/events Blue Heron Gathering Aug 24-Sep 2 DeKalb, NY sites.google.com/site/blueheronfaeriehome/ Bear Your Soul-Summer Camp Aug 28-Sep 2 Greenwich, NY www.eastonmountain.org/events/onsite Billy's Fall Gathering Sep 6-9 Upper Lake, CA www.thebillys.org/events/category/gatherings/ Dreamscape Gathering for Faeries of Color Sep 6-14 Ternuay-Melay-et-St-Hilaire, France www.folleterre.org/ Lizard 2024 Sep 7 -14 Cornwall, UK www.edwardcarpentercommunity.org.uk/events MidWest Men's Festival Sep 17-26 McLouth, KS midwestmensfestival.com/ Pennine Paradise 2024 Sep 20 -23 Coldwell, UK www.edwardcarpentercommunity.org.uk/events Gay Spirit Visions Fall Conference Sep 26 -29 Highlands, NC gayspiritvisions.org/ Radical Love Gathering Oct 1-10 Featherstone Castle, UK albionfaeries.org.uk/gatherings/ Fall Fae Gathering Oct 11-14 Vancouver, BC bcradfae.ca/ Singles Weekend 2024 Oct 11-14 Greenwich, NY www.eastonmountain.org/events/onsite Samhain Gathering Oct 15-23 Featherstone Castle, UK albionfaeries.org.uk/gatherings/ Billy's Winter Gathering Dec 27-Jan 1 Upper Lake, CA www.thebillys.org/events/category/gatherings/ Hail the New 2025 Dec 28-Jan 1 Greenwich, NY www.eastonmountain.org/events/onsite New Years Gatherette Dec 28-Jan 2 DeKalb, NY sites.google.com/site/blueheronfaeriehome/ 2025 Gatherings Gay Spirit Visions Winter Meditation Jan 17-19 Highlands, NC gayspiritvisions.org/ Imbolc Gathering Jan 27-Feb 5 Glastonbury, England albionfaeries.org.uk/gatherings/ Gay Spirit Visions Spring Retreat May 9-11 Highlands, NC gayspiritvisions.org/ Gay Spirit Visions Fall Conference Sep 25-28 Highlands, NC gayspiritvisions.org/Next >