Memphis Democrat December 13, 2000

Greetings, all! Newest Dancing Rabbit member Susan here, filling in for Rachel this week and next. Lots of folks have headed out of town: our wonderful intern Debra (you may recall that she and also-wonderful intern Laurie were our marvelous cooks during the retreat) left to visit friends on her way to her next internship at Rowe conference center in western Massachusetts. We'll miss her a lot and wish her a safe and happy journey. Rachel, Tony, and our retreat facilitator Tree left Friday morning-- Rachel and Tony to visit relatives and Tree to return home to Eugene, Oregon. Cecil went to Champaign-Urbana to visit a friend there, and Jeffrey went to the FEC (Federation of Egalitarian Communities) assembly at East Wind, which is another community in southern Missouri. Kurt and Alline also headed out to visit relatives in the Midwest and California. They left early Tuesday morning, just after our six-day-long retreat ended. We did a lot of good work in the retreat, but just like in life there's plenty more good work to do.

The last day of the retreat we took a group photo, with all of us standing around the new sign our interns painted this summer. If you're the person who drove by that day wondering what on earth we were doing standing outside in the cold, now you know. Of course we had to take at least two shots on everyone's camera, so it took a while, but it was a lot of fun, despite the cold.

In other news, one of the musical groups Rachel does booking for, Rebecca Riots, canme to play in Kirksville and spent the night at DR. Many of us went to their show, and a band from Truman State (Stephanie, former DR intern, plays guitar and banjo) called Julie Andrews and the Front Porch Ramblers opened for them. It was a great show-- the Riots have a lot of energy on stage, and their songs, voices and harmonies are beautiful.

Irene Mayfield invited DR folk to attend the community board meeting at the Rutledge Community Center. Tony and Rachel went and enjoyed stories of the old days from Irving Johnson.

Jess, Susan, and Lindsey (from Sandhill Farm) had a "girl's lunch out" at Zimmerman's, and highly recommend the new vegan Boca burgers-- especially yummy on the homemade whole wheat bread.

In general, things are slowing down here, as folks head out. We've spent our evenings reading, playing music, and playing games. Oh, and of course, stoking the fire! We hope everyone else is staying warm, too.