In the Woods

Last night, on June 24th (or more accurately something June 25th early AM), OE friends appeared in a dream for the first time in a couple months. In fact, several of my friends and aquaintances made a cameo in this dream. It started out in an old-fashioned restaurant that I've dreamed about a few times before , but never seen in waking life. While there, I met up with Chance, Ashley, Kasey, and Elise.

We had just graduated and were looking to get out of town for a while, so we drove until we found this abandoned cabin. Outside it was surrounded by trees with browning leaves, likely autumn. Perhaps it belonged to someone's family, but all that was inside were about 10 bunk-beds. There was one available room, but Ashley and Elise snagged it first. Several randoms were also in the cabin, (probably people I know, but can't remember who anymore). I couldn't help the feeling that we were hiding out, and that this cabin was a refuge from something dangerous brewing in the outer world. The night got dark quickly and we prepared for sleep, each picking our own bed and place to throw our stuff.

Then another friend of mine, Sean, showed up in the doorway, with about 3 of his own strange, rebellious, and blond friends (just randoms in my dream). It seemed that they were looking for refuge from a storm, that brought with it a gloomy sense of things to come. Once they got settled, I looked from my bed to notice Sean on the top bunk dripping water profusely onto poor Chance on the bottom bunk. It looked as if Sean himself were leaking gallons of water onto Chance's bed, but it wasn't pee, just strange rainwater still dripping off him. After a few moments of this, Chance woke up and moved to Ashley and Elise's room.

I followed him into the room, and I seemed to have come upon a meeting where some were very irritated with the group that had just arrived. It seemed that I too was implicated in disturbing the peace by being associated to Sean. After removing myself from that awkward situation, I found a basement and went down. There, Sean, his friends, and several others were playing music and having a good time. My violin was along, but when I tried to play, I only had a bow. I also felt out of place there, so I ventured outside.

While outside the cabin, looking onto a thin, dirt road, others arrived. One was a friend from my Taiko drumming club at St.Olaf, and he brought a few younger teens with him. They seemed a little sketch (even though in real life that friend is a great guy), but I let them come inside. The transition from this part to the next is vague, although likely very strange considering what happened next.

We all went outside of the cabin, probably kicked out by the new arrivals. Staying there wasn't safe, so I led the group down the road to a hill covered in long, brown grass. At the bottom was a boat that I hoped could carry us away from there. With the other OE-ers leading the way, I tagged along in back. It didn't matter that we were running because the other group came after us with bombs and guns.

The friend from Taiko club was the ring-leader, and his little teen cronies threw grenades into the grass around me, threatening but not hitting me. I called them demons and imps because they couldn't have been in their right minds. They had to be possessed (yes, I have fucked up dreams). Yet as the "good" group headed for the boat, they must have been further ahead of me than I thought. When I reached the OE-ers, they were out of breath and scared, but had no idea of the explosions I'd just escaped from. I tried to tell them, but everyone thought it was dumb.

I'm not sure if we got onto the boat and shipped away or not. And I don't know why those people wanted to attack us. My alarm woke me up before anything else happened, or I simply can't remember the rest. But this kind of dream is relatively average for me. Except in this case I brought OE-ers into my dark dream world for a visit.

As a side note, I think it would be fun for the dreamers to try at interpreting their dreams. As Jung says, we are best at knowing the meaning of our own dreams, and if any of you can remember I wrote that paper on Jung's archetypes and a little about dreaming.

My brief interpretation of this dream can be understood from listening to Arcade Fire's "Keep the Car Running" (or most Arcade Fire songs). It's a partial testament to my conspiratorial brain. As far as the possession stuff goes, I think it reflects my feeling that only those who would harm or kill others must be "possessed" by parts of themselves that developed in consequence of killing. Once that part takes over, the loving, vulnerable parts are completely overshadowed so that evil acts can be committed. It scares the shit out of me that people like that exist, as much as I have been guilty of admiring the violence and blood-lust worshipped through "entertainment" media. So naturally, "evil" people would be literally possessed in my dreams to represent the darkness in themselves that takes them over. I've dreamt about possession for as long as I can remember though, so it's a very loaded concept.

If you've made it this far, congrats because I'm finally done. Love and miss you all. I hope to dream of you again soon, in a more positive situation.
Racheal Jean

this is such a pretty blog & now for my dreams

it took me a while to remember my dream this morning but i wanted to try really hard because i woke up feeling full of goodness so i knew it had to have been good.

basically it was this:
i was at hope's campus and rosanna, and ashley, and elise were all frolicking around. i kept bumping into them and i felt so happy to see them so happy to be together again.

later i was talking to elise and she told me about something she was going to do. i can't remember what it was but i remember telling her that i thought she was very courageous, because she was.


then...here's an old one that i haven't written down anywhere yet, but....

i was at hope again, and unbeknowst to me, a group of oe kids just showed up on the sidewalk i was walking on. only there was this really strange man with them too, and he was dressed up in a crazy costume and i said who is this? and they said - oh that's just chance's crazy-ass cousin. and he did kind of look like chance, only he was kind of frightening and chance is far from frightening.

yours,
LLW

Holden Village

I should do a little shout-out to Holden Village.....

As many of you know, a number of us either are at Holden Village (imagine Lincoln, but four hours away from the nearest town!) or will be soon. Ashley started an 7 month volunteering stint on about a week ago. Elise joined her about three days ago.

As far as I know, Ashley is the head of laundry services until September, at which point she will change to the job she originally applied for (working in the craft den - weaving, knitting, etc.)

Elise is serving in a short-term position until at least the middle of July. I don't really know any details, but I know she is working with children.

I will join Ashley (and maybe Elise, depending on what she thinks of it) on August 21st. I'll be working in the kitchen as one of the head cooks.

I have also heard from some of you that Holden may be something you would consider doing for either a short- or long- term period. If so, feel free to get into contact with any of us (either through commenting on this blog, Facebook, or e-mail) if you have any questions!

Ashley and Elise - feel free to post to this blog regarding your experiences out at Holden! I, for one, would love to know what to expect. And it may aid others in their decisions whether or not to apply.

Official Christianing

Welcome.

After a phone conversation with Kasey Payette yesterday regarding a wacky OE dream she had, I thought it would fun to start a blog for the group. Really, this blog is for anything and everything. It need not remain dedicated to dreams, for our creativity mustn't be bound. NO SHOULDS!

Therefore, I christian this blog. May it bring us laughs, at the very least.

But first, let's take some time to remember those who have departed from us.


In Memorium

Fern Klink
A mentor, a friend, a kitty

I would also like to direct your attention to Mike van Eerden's blog. He e-mailed it to a couple of us on Facebook (those he was frieds with) about a month and a half ago. If you want, give it a little visit. He really prizes comments and feedback.

A piece of logistics - if you wish to be an co-author (which you had ALL better want), please add yourself as a "follower" to this blog and then Facebook me with your e-mail address (the one you used to follow the blog). I can only invite authors through e-mail.

Much love.