Entries this day: Tulsa_Rally Tulsa_Rally_by_Dane_Dormio

Tulsa Rally

1997 Tulsa rally review by Rob Nugen

Wow.

9 hours is not so bad if you have 3 drivers. However, it's kinda cramped when you have 8 people in a 7 passenger minivan. But for a rally, we'll do anything. On the way up from Houston to Tulsa were 3 advisors: Rob Nugen (that's me), Wende Whitlock, and Dierdre Hammons, and 5 youth: Mike Noyse, Charlotte Benbenek-Price, Jon Whitten-Lege, Tony Salinas, and April Ambrose. That is an unusually high ratio of advisors to youth, but no one seemed to mind.

We left Houston at around 3pm and got to Tulsa at like 12:30am. Surprisingly, we were not the last group to show up. A lot of the youth from Tulsa were all rally virgins, so I knew none of the first people who ran screaming up to greet us. Some of the youth knew each other, though: Mike Noyse said to someone, "oh hey- you remember those shoes you gave me 2 years ago and I said I would give you 20 bucks for them? I've got the 20 bucks." We joked about him instead concluding, "I've got the shoes."

Inside we registered and posed for mugbook pictures and talked and played a huge game of Twister where they had 12 Twister mats all spread across the floor and various people twisting across the mats. We played fooz ball, pool, ping pong and talked and goofed around until a line of people holding hands began to snake through the two rooms and collect people on its ever-lengthening tail until the entire rally was a long hand-holdin' line walking outside to the large dining hall for opening circle.

We circled and opened the rally by each person asking a personal question of the person to his or her right, who introduced him or herself and answered the questions. I was asked (by Mike Moren, I think) "what is the worst pick-up line you've used?" I said I don't have any pick-up lines--I just charm people with my smile, which understandably illicited many groans from the rest of the group.

After opening circle, we cruised back to the main building and had touch group meetings. Advisors talked advisor stuff upstairs and the various youth touch groups talked youth stuff all over the place. Then the groups dispersed and I went back down to the game room. I don't currently remember what I did, but I remember reminding everyone at 4am that we were supposed to be awake in 3.5 hours for the ropes course, and that I was going to bed.

Slept, got up, went outside to find Mike Noyse and Gabe Rendon creating large sidewalk chalk drawings in the parking lot. I don't know the current jargon, but Gabe had drawn some hip hoppin' guy flipping his middle finger right out at you and holding a cigarette fully 4 feet long. Pretty impressive art for overnight sidewalk chalk drawings...

We piled everyone and everything into the cars and drove to the YMCA for a day of fun in the sun. First thing I did was ask the main ropes course dude if I could go barefoot on the course. He said, "no sir. You may walk anywhere you want on the ground without shoes, but not on the course. There may be a wire pulled loose from one of the cables, and it could stab you pretty well." That is one good reason that I had not considered.

We tossed all our junk in the pavillion and split into two groups. Before the groups were split, I mentally decided to go with the group that does the low ropes stuff first. I determined that way I would wear my feet out to the point that I wouldn't mind wearing shoes on the course. I was correct. But don't tell anyone.

We played several games. The coolest 5 that I remember are

1. Mafia Where the group makes a circle and copies the motions that the gang boss is making in order to conceal the identity of the boss. IT, the detective, tries to determine who's the boss.
2. Multiple Dodgeball (I made that name up) where the whole group runs around and tries not to get hit by any of many balls being thrown around. If you are hit, you have to kneel down until whoever tagged you is hit, and then you can get up and play again. It's quite a fun and tiring game.
3. Hackey Ball (I made that name up) Using the same balls, we tried to keep them from hitting the ground. We were allowed to use our hands, but only got points for not using our hands.
4. Lava (I made that name up) We were split into two groups and each group was given 4 small pieces of carpet. We had to get everyone across the lava (grass) without touching the lava, or leaving pieces of carpet unattended.
5. Rope Crossing (of course I made that name up) We had to get the entire group over a rope without touching it, but with each member of the group always touching at least one other member of the group. I got to jump over first, and we developed a technique where basically people were lifted up onto my back and slid down (hopefully) into the arms of the group. I used Dane Dormio and someone else as stable bases on the opposite side of the rope and we tossed everyone over. Quite fun. Curtis MacCormack completed the process by jumping over the rope and doing a half-twist to make it look cool.

Then it was time for lunch.

We ate and played frisbee a bit and I climbed all over the swingset. The break was not tremendously long before it was time for our group to do the high ropes course stuff. Yay!!

Bud was our main adult leader dude, and he showed us the ropes, and everything we would need to know about them.

"Spotter ready?"
"Spotter ready."
"Climbing?"
"Climb on!"

Up the first pole and then walk up the next slanted log, then climb some more to the next horizontal log. Walk across the horizontal log being careful not to hurt the leaves of the tree branch brushing across it. Then

"Transfering!"
"Transfer On!"

and you switch to the next safety rope thing.

"Transfer complete!"
"Show me!"
And you show 'em.
"Squeeze me!"
And you squeeze 'em.
"Transfer complete!"

And you jump/step across to a suspended lily pad thing and across to a stable platform and switch to the next rope thing.

"Transfering!"
"Transfer On!"
"Transfer complete!"
"Show me!"
"Squeeze me!"
"Transfer complete!"

And then along a long long single cable with ropes hanging above it about 5 feet long and 5 feet apart. They call this section the grape vine, and it was the first where you actually step on a single cable, and I quickly realized I was glad to be wearing my shoes.

"Transfering!"
"Transfer On!"
"Transfer complete!"
"Show me!"
"Squeeze me!"
"Transfer complete!"

And then along the "Charlie Chaplin" lines, two parallel cables that you kinda shuffle across. The right foot cable hung several inches lower than the other, so I just used the left cable.

"Transfering!"
"Transfer On!"
"Transfer complete!"
"Show me!"
"Squeeze me!"
"Transfer complete!"

And along the last cable, with a cable about 3.5 feet above it as a handle. It was about 60 feet long.
At the end of this set of cables was Pam, sitting on a platform about 40 or 50 feet in the air helping people switch to the last safety rope, the one for the zip cord. I talked to her for a few minutes, asking about her work and stuff. I yelled stuff like, "I'm scared!" to the people at the bottom waiting for me to zip, and did a one foot shakey wavey dance to show how off balance and nervous I was (not). I appreciated the view for a moment and then gave Pam a hug. "Thank you, Pam, for all your help out here."

"Clear??"
"Clear!!"
"Zipping??"
"Zip On, BA-BYYY!!!!

And jump and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!! down the long long long cable 35 m.p.h. upside down past the people at the bottom and slow then backwards upside down zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz past them again and then crazy legs sideways zzzzzzzz past them again and then zzz and grab the rope and attach it to my cable and stop and unhook and down the ladder safely to the ground.

Wild awesome fabulous fun.

I helped out with the group helping people get down off the zip line until I helped Wende go through the ropes course itself. There was a delay, so she had to stay up there a bit longer than most people. I yelled, "Wende! Yell, 'Chilling!' so I can yell, 'Chill On!'" but she didn't think that was very funny.

After everyone had gone, we cruised back to the pavillion and chilled. Soon, the pool was open, so we got to go play in the pool. Yay! I mostly played a game of Marco Polo with Frank Roesler, Dane Dormio, Nick Grunewald, Mike Moren, and a few others but I don't remember who. (it's been too long since the rally!) We got bored of "Marco" followed by "Polo" so we started doing all variety of name associations from people first and last names, to days of the week, to articles of clothing, to song lyrics, to record labels. Crazy..

We got bored of the whole game, though not quite as bored, I'm sure, as the life guards, and went to eat, because it was dinnertime! Yay!

We ate and I grabbed my frisbee and went to the basketball court and we got a game of frisbee going. I was glad for the chance to help a few youth learn how to throw and for a few other youth to throw better. I love that. We played for probably an hour or hour-na-half and it was great.

Worship was awesome, though difficult to hear over the crackling of the fire and singing of some youth. We did a round of Unreturned Love (that's not what it's called but I can't remember the name) where half the group stands with eyes closed and the other half walks around and hugs everyone. Then the sides switch and you do it again. It's great; I'll suggest we do that at SWUUSI.

We cruised back to the church and hung out until time for the Love Feast. This one was held outside and was much more gentle and sane than the notorious New Orleans Love Feast turned Food Fling Festival from last year. I ate a crazy mixture of cheese, M&Ms, carrots, crackers, fruit, over and over until I was just barfily full. Thanks to everyone who helped.

Back inside we chilled more, until some people suggested getting together a talent show. Unfortunately, as I was walking around inviting people to the show, I got pulled into a hasty meeting. Some youths had broken the no smoking rule and we had to figure out what to do. Shit. I did not want to deal with the situation, but we decided what would be appropriate and talked to the youths in question and told them their punishment and blah. Done. I hate having to do that.

Soon thereafter, I was invited to a game of Truth or Dare. Oh no. My better judgement said, "don't play" but I did anyway. We had fun. I won't name names, and in fact, I won't even say what happened. You'll have to ask. It wasn't as bad as you're thinking.

Okay, fine. One youth got a swirly, one youth got naked (alone) in the elevator, one youth put their underwear in the middle of the circle, and then I had to go get some sleep.

We got up, cleaned up, packed up, and had closing circle. The seniors had senior circle in the middle, and then we all did a big tight spiral hug around them. Nice.

Muffins and juice for the ride home and we left.
I talked to Charlotte Benbenek-Price about Marilyn Manson. We wondered about the band and about Mr Manson's motivations for things.
I was introduced to Type O-Negative, a cool group that my brain is thinking had a sound like a smooth industrial, ambient mix. Fun stuff.

Also weird was Ben Atkinson's Bizarre magazine. I'm glad my small part of the world does not include some of the crazy stuff in there.

Have a great day!
- Rob

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Tulsa Rally by Dane Dormio

1997 Tulsa rally review by Dane dormio

Other than that, I must admit, I expected the Tulsa '97 rally to be the only bad one I had ever been to. Boy, was I wrong. It was a very non-standard rally experience and will definitely stand out among the rest in the future. One non-standard thing was, of course, the notorious anti-smoking rule. Both sides of this battle deserve to be commended: the Tulsa church for standing up and saying "No Smoking" (that took a lot of guts), and the smokers who came anyway and put up with the rule with very little friction. But there were also other things that made this rally different. It was probably the smallest one I've ever been to; I would estimate about 40 people were there, give or take a few. It seemed like at least a quarter of these were rally virgins from Tulsa. I had no idea they had such a large youth group. There was also a Love Feast, which is rare. Then, of course, there was the church it was in, which is a big thing in itself. And, probably the most unusual, the R.O.P.E.S. course at the YMCA that took up most of the day Saturday. What a rush!

For me, one other thing that made this rally unique was an extra-special friend I made Thursday night who came with me: Dave, the plunger. Sure, he's non-human, but non-human objects are people too, and most people take for granted just how much life, warmth, and personality plungers can have when you look at one of them carefully enough and give it a fair chance. All they want is to be treated equally and given the love that any other person would expect, not for their physical appearance alone, but for what a beautiful, twinkling, caring soul lies within the flimsy rubber shell. Dave is a true plunger pioneer, and he had a lot of fun at the rally and made a lot of good friends.

My mom couldn't come to this rally, so Dave and I rode in a van with Gene Hudnall, Nick Grunewald, Helen Cole, and Gene's mom Sheila, all from Little Rock. About the time we got into Tulsa, we realized that none of us had bothered to bring a map to the church, which was no big deal because a nice man at a gas station knew right where it was. It was relatively early when we arrived, a little before ten o'clock, and the only people there were Tera Little and her two YUUTEs from Fayetteville, Andy and Laura Andrews from Tyler, TX, Ben Atkinson, who had flown in, and a large number of people from the Tulsa youth group. Getting to rallies early is a mixed blessing; you get to meet everyone else as they arrive, but you have to wait, at a time when you are about to explode with happy energy.

Eventually people arrived from Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and OKC, and opening circle was postponed half an hour to wait for the stragglers because there were so few of us. For the ice breaker, everyone in the circle asked the person to his or her right a get-to-know-you question, and that person answered, and it went all the way around. Then everything for tomorrow was explained, all the rules, boundaries, etc. When we were dismissed, we all went back to the main part of the church and had touch group meetings. There weren't really any big, clear rooms where there was a lot of space to run around, so the general partying was more mild than usual, and people either sat on any of the numerous couches or played pool or ping-pong. There was also the art wall in the Sponge Room, which had been painted over since the last rally, and it was soon totally covered in magic-marker graffiti. Since the group was so small, the atmosphere was less energetic, but no less cheery, than normal.

In the morning breakfast was cooked and eaten, and shortly afterwards everyone piled back into their vehicles and we all caravanned to the Westside YMCA for a day of fun in the trees.

As soon as we got there, the six touch groups were divided up and three were taken directly to the R.O.P.E.S. course while the other three played rally-variety games in a grassy field. Dave and I were in the latter group, so we spent the first hour or two running around in the sun playing while the other group was gliding through the trees. We had a little bit of fun and learned a few fun new games, like a weird form of dodge ball which will probably be played again, but most of the time I would have rather just sat in the shade. It was hot! We took a long break for lunch, then went back to playing games. The last thing we did was try to get everyone over a rope strung between two trees. The drawback was that we couldn't touch the rope, and everyone had to be touching someone else the whole time. Rob was our pillar of strength for this little exercise; he leaned out over the rope and as we handed them over he let the whole group slide down his back to a gaggle of waiting arms on the other side, one person at a time. Curtis was the last one over, and touching Rob across the rope he did an effortless little hop/spin right over, completing the exercise. Impressive.

We took a second, shorter break to eat, drink, and rest before heading up to the R.O.P.E.S. course. There we were given a crash course on all the procedures and things we would need to know in order to not die. It was fairly simple once you got the hang of it. After watching a few other people go before me, it was my turn to don the safety rope and climb the pillar. Dave stayed behind and watched, because the course was too dangerous for plungers, and he had plenty to keep him busy besides. The first thing I did was hook the safety line to the loop on my harness, then I climbed up the thick wooden pole with my spotter Tom making sure I didn't fall. Just like I had seen it done before, I walked out across the log, just as calm as could be. About halfway across, though, I started to think about what I was doing and was hit by a twinge of nervousness. I pushed it out of my mind and tried to be as relaxed as possible from then on. I got to the end of that one and climbed up to the next one, and walked across it to the starting platform. I changed safety lines, then hopped out onto the wobbly "lilly pad" suspended thirty feet in the air, and bounded across to the next platform. I changed safety lines again, then started across a twenty-to thirty-yard open stretch, balancing on a single wire and using my safety line to hold myself up and pulling myself across by ropes that were dangling every few feet. I made my wobbly way across and hugged the next pole as soon as it was within reach. I crawled around it and stood on the two wires running out from the other side to change safety lines again, then made my way across them about ten feet in the same manner as I had gone across the other wire. This one didn't have the suspended ropes, and it was a little more wobbly, but it wasn't nearly as long as the first stretch so it was easier. At the end of it was another platform where I changed safety lines again and took off on another set of wires. These were three wires running one above the other, and they turned to the right at a 90 degree angle to the wires I had just navigated. My feet were balancing on the bottom wire, my safety line was attached to the top one, and I was holding onto the middle one to keep myself up. That stretched out for about another twenty or thirty yards, and when I got off it, Pam, one of the YMCA adults running the course, helped me onto her platform and I put the zipper line on and shucked my old safety line. When everything was clear, I jumped off the platform and went whizzing down through the air at all the people, and zipped past them at a breezy 35 m.p.h. I ran out of momentum and flew back a little slower, then cycled by a third and fourth time, and the fourth time I was going slow enough that I could grab a rope from someone on the ground and pull myself over to the ladder and climb down. The wind had cooled me off nicely, and I sat at the shady picnic table with Dave and waited for everybody else to finish. The course was unfair to Rob, because he had to put shoes on for it, but he did it anyway.

The rest of the evening was free time. The pool didn't open until six, so people found other ways to pass the time until then. Food was being served all the time, and there was much more than enough of it. I started to go canoeing with Nick Grunewald, but when I got there I found out that the "pond" was nothing but an oversized puddle of slightly diluted mixed animal waste products that probably had a microbial count of fifteen billion deadly, germy, sharp-clawed and pointy-teethed, highly infectious, very very mean and out-to-get-me unpleasant organisms per cubic milliliter, and all they wanted was just a chance to touch a single skin cell and invade my body and liquefy my brain and internal organs, rot out my bowels, and turn my skin into stone. Not to mention the rather offensive odor. Dave and I left right away.

Later hamburgers and veggie burgers were cooked, and all the usual cookout food. There were people playing on the playground, playing basketball, and just sitting around the pavilion talking. When the pool opened, quite a few people got in and swam. Dave sat on the side and soaked up the mild evening sun, because he is not the best of swimmers, although he does do a really good impersonation of a jellyfish underwater. (Dave is a plunger of many hidden talents. For instance, he is a hula-hoop expert.) I played Marco Polo with a large group of people for quite some time. To make it more interesting, we used a few new techniques that Nick Grunewald came up with: Submarine, where you could open your eyes underwater and move around, and Radar, where you could open your eyes above water but you couldn't move. When I was It, I made it a personal challenge to catch Rob, who's hair had grown out a little bit since Ft. Worth, but somehow, I kept ending up with Nick instead. One time I grabbed somebody and thought I had finally gotten ahold of Rob and I was doing a victory yell, but when I opened my eyes I saw I had Mike Moren instead. By the way, Rob, your hair looks really cute like that; just long enough to cover your head. You should keep it that length.

We were the last ones in the pool, staying until well after dinner had officially been served. We all walked back to the pavilion together and ate, and the evening was getting on when I went swimming again at about 9 o'clock. Besides me and Dave in the pool, there was also BEN Atkinson and Kim Strouble. Later Bryan Beck came and told me how silly I was to be in the pool with my jeans on, but I guess my hypnotic body language had a profound effect on him, because in a few minutes he did the same thing. Stacy came in for a little while, and it was about fifteen minutes before ten when we finally left. It was, of course, dark, and almost time for worship to start. At ten thirty we all walked in a line down a trail to where the park employees had set up a big bonfire for us. We surrounded it in a circle, and I stood as close to it as I could endure so my jeans would dry out. The worship was put on by Emily Stainer, and it was something I had never seen before which was similar to a whispering circle, except here the emphasis was more on touching and feeling than speaking. It was an exercise in unconditional love. The circle was divided in half, and first one side closed its eyes and the other side moved over to it while everybody loved on and said nice things to the people with their eyes closed, who were not allowed to respond in any way. Then the circle reformed and the sides switched. My side was doing the loving first, and I took my time and gave a warm, personalized verbal love note to everybody I loved on, so I only got to about half of them before time ran out. Then I went back to my spot near the fire and tried to keep my eyes closed while I got loved unconditionally, but I couldn't help peeking a few times. Once somebody played with my nipples, and once somebody gave me a short, soothing backrub then stuck his wet finger in my ear (gee, I wonder who that could have BEN?!), but it was all friendly and pleasant. It was over too soon, then we got with our touch groups and each of us found a twig. The twigs were supposed to represent a challenge which we had either in the past, present, or future, one we had overcome or gained ground on, or were still fighting with. We shared the challenge with our touch group if we wanted, then the twigs were gathered up and tied into a bundle which was gathered into the larger community bundle, which was thrown into the fire and we had a long moment of silence while it burned. Then we were asked again to share our challenges with the whole group if we wanted. My challenge was growing up. That has always been my challenge, and just recently in my life I realized it, and I have actively been making it my goal, even though I know I'll never be finished.

Before we broke up we all got close and sang Good Friends, then when everybody else left I stayed behind and stood close to the fire because my pants were still wet and by sheer luck I made a new friend in the process. When we thought everybody else was getting ready to leave, we walked away slowly and sat down a distance away from the fire. In just a couple of minutes two of the park employees walked by us dragging a hose to put the fire out with. They started drenching the once-grand fire and I couldn't stand to look at it, so since they couldn't see me I reached out and kinked the hose. A worthless gesture, I know, but just to mess with them I kinked it and unkinked it several times at irregular intervals before I got up and walked away.

At rallies most people go through emotional phases, and this was the time during the rally when I was a little sluggish and very patient, when I took my time doing everything and had that wonderful, content feeling where my heart swells up and I love everybody so much that I would be happy no matter what was going on around me and I just want to hug and love and linger on every person that I see. A bad time for this to happen, because the other people in my van were in a hurry to leave so we could follow the caravan back to the church. I took my time and walked slowly getting my stuff back into the van and we were the last ones to leave.

As soon as I got back to the church, Dave and I had to go help prepare the food for the Love Feast. We cut up a watermelon which turned out to be no good, but we had other watermelons and there was plenty of food anyway. My touch group prepared apples, watermelon chunks, bananas (not the best fingerfood), cheese, goldfish, gummi bears, M&Ms, chocolate chips, baby carrots, and crackers, and we carried them all outside to the parking lot and got everybody together for the Love Feast. This was the first Love Feast I actually attended, and the first one at a rally I have been to. It wasn't the best place to walk around in bare feet, especially with the gummi bears and bananas, but I enjoyed myself still. When we were feeding each other a guy drove up in a BMW. He was visiting one of the Tulsa youth while on his way to work. He must have been in a hurry, because when we tried to feed him, he wouldn't eat anything, and shortly he drove away very fast. He didn't even stick around long enough to meet Dave, but that was OK because Dave has a lot of friends anyway.

After the Love Feast by some chance I didn't have to clean up, so I went back inside and hung out in the sponge room. Stevie Williams gave me a wonderful picture of Dave she had drawn, which he will cherish forever, so I asked her to draw one on the wall for everyone else to remember him by. I didn't try very hard to stay awake that night, and I went to sleep after a while on one of the couches.

When I woke up in the morning the lights in the sponge room were off and I was being tormented by really terrible stomach pains, probably because of a tray full of chocolate chips that Nick Grunewald had poured down my gullet at the Love Feast the night before. Before long I was talkin' to Ralph on the big white telephone. After having four distinct conversations, I clunked heavily back into the Sponge Room, where people were now moving around getting ready, and collapsed on the floor. Though I had bowed faithfully to the porcelain god he had not answered my prayers and I was still very sore.

While I was lying on the floor in the sponge room, Jon Witten-Lege informed me of my somnambulist activities the night before. According to him, I had gotten up from where I was lying on the couch and mumbled some indecipherable sounds. I had walked over to where the couch right beneath the bulletin board that said "The Sponge Room" sat and molested the feet of the person who was sleeping there (I think it was Frank Roessler), possibly as an indulgence of my foot fetish. Then I had walked over to Jon and mumbled some more gibberish (now that I think about it I was probably trying to say something like, "Ouch, my stomach"). He had tried in vain to communicate with me, and then he had asked me, "Dane, are you asleep?", and I had said, "Yyyyyeeeeeeessssss". Then I had gone back to my couch and lain down again.

Eventually I had to get my stuff and move out to the hallway in front of the door, because the Sponge Room was being cleaned and it was raining outside. I almost hurt too bad to move, but it was fun watching while other people scurried around cleaning. I fell asleep for a little while and when I woke up I was feeling significantly better, although whatever it was that I had is still bothering me a little as I write this.

Breakfast was bagels and juice, served right before closing circle. There were six seniors at the rally, and they formed a circle in the middle and started a not-too-enthusiastic round of Good Friends, which the rest of us joined in on. While it was going they faced outwards and we all did a spiral hug around them. Then we let them out and did the usual emotional goodbye. Mugbooks were not given out at the rally, because the film hadn't been developed in time, so they will be mailed out later, which is something I've heard about but never experienced in two years of rally life. So goodbye guys, love ya, see you in New Orleans.

Yo, Dane and Dave

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