Summers in Maryland: Part II (abridged)
ACT II: a weekend in paradise
IV
I know for a fact that everyone woke up feeling the heat, the air had that thick feeling of humidity without airflow, the cabin was so hot without AC, and I hadn’t felt this in a long time. Everyone was already moving about before I even got up, and they worked super hard to try to get a feel of the space. I was trying to remember everything we needed to do today and this is one thing I wanted to make sure actually happened by the time we left vibe camp, but capturing what was important was another thing entirely.
How do you explain something that seeks to be open to interpretation? What causes a bunch of random people from the internet to suddenly decide that meeting that person is worth traveling from every corner of the world for; just leaving, or taking whatever, and spend some time over there. Or, it just felt like where ever they are coming from to get here for just a weekend made it feel special, a physical kind of unique.
Before we get started Let me preface with an apology. This was the only day that I got absolutely plastered, like white paint on asphalt hammered, just totally smeared. That being said my memory was a little hazy at certain points around the beginning and near the end here and there, but let’s begin.
The rain poured down hard that day and it felt like the heat broke away for a moment. Today was the day to do some preparations as we missed grabbing some items and our party had not yet arrived. We tried to figure a solution out for what was to going to happen with filming and made sure to find who wanted to be filmed, and how to process everything, we needed software to make sure their faces were blurred and their privacy respected.
I got to drive into town. The crew needed an asortment of times: fans, bathroom supplies, bed sheets, a variety of objects and bobbles that we had to get from the store. So we made sure to pack the car with everything and everyone. Everything went smoothly for the most part a few human errors here and there, but, overall, just a quick trip. We only had a small list of items, truly, but we had to get going before more people showed up to camp, and we needed to make sure that we were back there before everything began.
The first place we ended up at was the giant blue building that doesn’t even use their smile logo anymore. Everything in this place felt like it was still somewhere in the 2000’s like inside this store most of life hadn’t reached yet. Akin to stepping back in time, everyone was so lovely, nice and helpful. I got a different set of clothes so I could feel a little cleaner given the amount of time we were about to spend in a wooden box. I am definitely more of a Bevo kind of guy but Testudo, I am in your country now.
We made our way outside the store to sit in the Wagoneer, and wait for the rest of the campers to their collect their belonging, and gather items that they needed departing once again as we do not step foot outside of camp for days after this! A quick detour for more things and Baja Blasts from Taco Bell. This time they had a special frozen flavor with dragon fruit and for some reason it felt like summer. Another quick turn around for something to smoke and some gasoline and we were finally back in the country.
On the road back to “Vibe Camp” as they say everything felt happy and green like the downpours just soaked everything enough to wake it back up and then gone clear skies. It appears that the campers have begun their arrival. New vehicles lined the mud lain field patches of grass mixed with small tire pits covered the field. Trees dumping pollen and fresh puddles dotting the ground. We tried to pull everything out in groups fans, sheets, pillows, everything to make the quality of life go way up. I had some time so I made new friends and checked the place out. Everyone here seemingly knew something about this place and it was odd not understanding anything beyond this was a summer camp for individuals. A “vibe camp” it almost felt like a horror story, something akin to a parody like Scary Movie but when I got to talking with more people I was so pleasantly surprised.
This is where it all came together. The camp itself: the white house, the barn, flattop, gazebo, cabins, the teahouse, pool, stage, campsite fires, ponds (frogs included), a literal text book trebuchet, and the flat top where we had to meet for the welcome announcement since it was officially the first day! The most important thing was understanding what the story was here, and what made this place so special to so many people, and what creating the space meant; but also trying very hard to not put any labels on anything because of the extensive thought put into creating a space for individuals out of utopia, or no where. Carrying all that shit down the hill basically soaked me in sweat and that was the hottest experience I had up north beyond being in New York City during that insane heat wave, that I had ever felt, and I am from the south I know the expression, “it’s not the heat! its the humidity!” When we finished setting up the fans created a sort of wind tunnel in rooms which made a lot of the experience significantly more bearable. They do make a racket though.
I want to preface this as the day began to shift into night, and we a coordinated separately. Normally these things are planned, there’s a bunch of stuff that goes into pre-production, and there’s a huge thing that you have to do. Most of the time it is also create as bureaucratic studio nonsense that people use to make filming a hassle. We cut all the red tape this time just to see what we could create with willing participants. That is the question we are trying to answer betwixt all of these endeavors. Who knows what will happen? Until then we are trying our best to not muck things up.
It seemed like everyone was filming different things. No idea what to expect here and overall it has seemed really friendly but tonight was the first night. I met up with everyone later that evening. I wandered around the area a bit and debated where to set up my hammock and I eventually settled on some trees by the pool they were close enough it made sleeping in the breeze easy. But I felt really nervous about leaving it anywhere so I just waited.
“Make sure you’re at the big top tonight and try to get your badge!” rung in my mind.
So I wandered around more before, finding where everything was and what I needed to do and where I needed to go. “Texas!” someone shouts at me as I am wearing a UT themed shirt, “You can all go to hell, and I’ll go to Texas.” I got my badge business sorted out make sure everything was put away, and I was clean for the day. I do all of this before finding out I had to go back to the place that they moved all the badges. I was so late sometimes.
We had to make sure we met up at the the top of the hill in the building with the wooden floors, but it had been raining so a lot of the ground was filling with water. I tried to avoid the puddles. I got my badge a while earlier, Arcanejuice is said, my moniker and what I used before I went offline. The room was enormous and filled with people I was surprised as to the sheer number of participants it felt small at first but everyone seemed to find their own spots within the camp.
Three rules of practicing social engagement within the community:
A Request
A Denial
A Goodbye
A “high trust” for individuals to understand that the space was there for them to interact and create community outside of the liminal in-betweens. Everyone practiced their lines with one another and we listened as they introduced themselves and inducted everyone into the Vibe Camp ‘25, the fourth iteration. The beginning of the organizational structure as now events would take place from then on and a variety of people would just do things and anyone that wished to participate could.
I sat and listened to the other crew discuss their documentary and why and thoughts about things that I wasn’t familiar with yet.
This is where the painting starts to smear folks, as the night drew to a close there were a few things that still needed to be done but everyone was excited, more filming, more confusion, some logistical issues that could have been worked out. I met new people practicing new skills they wanted to share or just sharing what they like, people from other parts of the world, and people who where right here with me in Texas. This was interesting. I had met someone who spent a lot of time curating a space for discussion and offered plenty of free drinks. The conversations were immaculate, in some instances, which made it curious you really don’t know who you’re talking to here sometimes you do. The encampment was set up like a canopy of interlocking tents and chairs; a bar on the side switching between French press by day and liquor by night. Extremely imaginative and peaceful purpose created by the pond.
I let myself get a bit carried away, that night was lucid, sorry, too much absinthe will do that to you. Forgetting we are in the woods. Strange talks with new people under the warm light of lamps, fireflies, and camping chairs.
V
The morning came around too quickly. I had set up a hammock in-between the trees. I tried to find everyone, I didn’t have access to the schedule, so I was operating entirely on vibes. I found myself rushing around between places the days mixed up. It was actually glorious I slept in the hammock for hours. Evidentially, no one could find me as they were asking where I was all morning. Oops.
Saturday was a whirl wind of interviews and running around between sets, trying to catch up with everyone while simultaneously nursing one of the worst hangovers I have ever had. I had not yet tried the horse electrolytes. This was supposed to be a blended day where we would have certain recordings made of people who wished to commemorate their event for documentary purposes.
What do you care to admit? what are you vibe camp confessionals? We had a variety of people take the seat. A small room in the cabin, lightly dusted with the dirt of the great outdoors. I found someone at the camp to let me borrow their artwork as they apparently had been painting for years and left them inside the mess hall. A grand tropical display of leaves and flowers. Everyone sat in the foldable chair with bright white lights illuminating everything in crisp 4K.
It got so complicated trying to organize and properly time everyone especially when everyone was vibing. Intermitted creation betwixt vibes. A lot of enlightening views mainly trying to find the place Vibe Camps has within everyone’s lives. Many people spoke of the opportunities to connect with others they had only heard of online, an attempt to create genuine bonds within community, so this space was for people to be themselves. I found myself in conversations with people from all over the world.
The desire to create something that is an institution with enough cultural weight that people find it interesting enough to try to attend something unlike yet akin to what Burning Man is while not being it. I have never been to Burning Man, but my Gen-X and Boomer colleagues seem to think it is all the rage. But to me, Vibe Camp was it.
Most of my day was spent talking to a variety of people who had attended prior Vibe Events. That was very fun I got some ideas of who enjoys coming to these events and some exposure to a part of twitter I had not yet known. We were going to try to complete some more sets but most of the filming that day focused on interviewing people before the Summer Solstice.
Most my morning was spent attempting to remain conscious or by the pool freezing from my blood not performing the necessary duties. I sat in the pool. The gathering had been planned prior I had wandered away to lay down in the hammock for a bit. I ended up falling asleep for a few hours, and woke up right before the show.
On the tree hung a wind charm, you could tie little shells with mantras written in permanent markers there. I grabbed one and sat down. The crew was down at the bottom getting ready for the event setting up, preparing cameras, laying wire, and framing their shots. I watched as they all set up, and the evening approached.
The band was ragtime style crew of cowboy chord playing bohemian types. MY kind of people. I’ll keep on dancing. The set was gorgeous timed toward sending away the summer as the sun shifts slowly in position in the prime meridian. Everyone singing along to the campfire sets, mandolins humming in the background from other events, the blend of all these different groups coming together to form this community. There was something magical about how the summer felt that night. The sunset that evening to songs set around bringing people together even if it were for just a moment.
We made our way around the back as we had a few more things to record but we were stopped, because the crowd decided that it was time to shut the camera off and close the lenses. The moment to live was now and we were here and alive, which meant disconnecting to connect with the people present.
Everyone met at the mini-base camp by the top of the hill, placed right under Ursa Major, convenient. The party begins, everyone cheers, drink me. The night wobbles more than ever. We drop one of the largest bombs on Iran, yet everything kept spinning. A strange night. More things shifting around like sand on dunes. The feeling was a bit euphoric, I found myself wandering from group to group listening to stories of people and their tragedies. Everyone seeking connections and the fulfillment of a promise.
I wandered to the shore to listen to a man speak to other men about how to get the those feelings out without totally self emulsifying. It seems like this struggle faced by men in modernity lack the intimacy and experiences necessary to pass those skills to younger generations and we find ourselves now around a fire trying to assess the damages. We found solace in seeking connection, I am glad to have met you and if we never speak again, please write me something in this small black book, and I can read later for me to remember you by.
It was a nice spot to smoke at. The sun setting more as fireflies dot the pond and the frogs begin to speak of their day. I decided to wander more around the camp, visit the tea house, and take a moment to gather my constitution. My feet took me all around, my eyes just trying to catch everything to remember, and I found myself checking on my friend. Laying face first in the pillows of the tea house he seemed to finally find some peace, he looked like he was finally able to actually sleep after some years, you know when you can never really rest after all the places your body has been? This moment felt like a hard reboot on the personal terminal. I got some hot tea, I was trying hard to not grind my teeth or let the anxiety bleed out.
My hands stopped shaking and I found something there that I think we have a hard time creating outside in the real world. Grounding in a third space. The energy brought me back and I felt reconnected to all of the emotions and thoughts running through my head. This had all been more than I could really handle. Even ending up here at Vibe Camp sometimes felt like I didn’t belong but every moment ended up welcoming in new people that did find a create space for me which felt good, really good.
I got up eventually after binging some tea, my mouth got so dry. I walked by the pool at night and crawled into my hammock to try to get through Frank Herbert’s introduction to Dune. Butlerian Jihad today! Have you read Nueromancer? The first book was my favorite. The movie adaptation of Messiah will be biblical. Underneath everything here and all the fun conversations there was something else, a deep darkness. I watched the sky that night and you could see comets streaking across the sky, it was dark enough to see the milky way without a telescope, and at this point I couldn’t sleep. I found my self reading with my red-light in the hammock for hours.
The sun started to rise and it held a light halo in the horizon for a few hours before finally breaking through. I rolled out the hammock and left all my stuff I had gathered inside, apples and oranges, just some fruit I had squirreled away for a snack later… my shoes. I found myself by the water again as they began their morning brew, the set up was mesmerizing it felt like it never stopped as it shifted between barista and bar services. I helped grab some water and drank a hot cup of Joe.
We all sat around for a bit to talk and see what’s up and how everyone else’s night went as we have reached the final day. More interviews.
