Fwd: You're Invited: 25th annual OACC (1)

In line text information for the Ozark Bioregional congress (conference)
follows.

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Fwd: You're Invited: 25th annual OACC (1)
From:    "Michelle Gurley" <oacc25-/[email protected]>
Date:    Mon, September 13, 2004 7:30 pm
To:      [email protected]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: forwarded message attached.




__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail is new and improved - Check it out!
http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail


-You are invited to OACC 25 --The Twenty-Fifth Annual Convening of the
Ozark Area Community Congress!

OACC XXV - TWENTY-FIVE YEARS ON...TO THE SEVENTH GENERATION...

This is a special OACC. You are most enthusiastically invited to join us in
celebrating the quarter-century anniversary of the founding of the Earth's
first and longest-standing bioregional congress - OACC (OAK).

OACC is a celebration of the Ozarks and all things ecological - 25 Years On!

All those who love and care about the Ozarks are invited to gather
together once again to celebrate, appreciate, and learn from this amazing
part of the
Earth and each other.

WHEN AND WHERE: October 8-10, 2004, at the Ananda Kanan Ozark Retreat
Center, Willow Springs, MOzarks.

Arrival and set-up from 2 PM Friday; OACC 25 continues all day Saturday,
and  Sunday afternoon.

READ ON FOR ALL THE DETAILS YOU NEED TO ATTEND OACC 25...

OACC IS...
-The first and longest-standing bioregional congress in North America.
-An ecologically-aware, child- and family-friendly community village where
together we learn, play, relax, and take care of each other.
-A meeting place for exceptionally creative people, growers, activists,
small business folk, musicians, writers, innovators.
-A place to network and get informed about significant issues affecting
our lives in the Ozarks, in an ecological context.

WHAT TO EXPECT....
-Informative and useful workshops and presentations.
-Good vegetarian food, as locally grown and organic as possible.
-Campfires, music, poetry and readings, and homegrown Ozarks culture in
general.
-Participants please come ready to help out daily with their choice of
volunteer, community-sustaining work, whether in the kitchen, child care,
grounds cleanup, and whatever it takes to keep our little village going.
It's fun to work together as well as play, and this is one way OACC keeps
its costs so low.
-Be prepared for Ozark fall weather, which can range from mild and dry to
cool and wet. Bring clothes to cover these possible weather conditions.

THE PLACE...
The Ananda Kanan Ozark Retreat Center has been OACC's meeting place
several times starting in the 80's, with dormitories, showers, bathrooms,
a dining hall, excellent group meeting places, play area, large pond with
canoes, and more...

DIRECTIONS TO ANANDA KANAN...
Ananda Kanan is approximately 5 miles southwest of  Willow Springs, and 18
miles north of West Plains, Missouri.

On a Missouri map locate the junction of Highways 60 and 63 (about 2 miles
east of Willow Springs). From this junction, take Highway 63 south four
miles to "UU" Highway. (Coming in a northerly direction from West Plains,
turn right on 'UU.)
Turn left/east on "UU" and go about 1.5 miles to County Road 1670, turn
left/north on this dirt road and go about 1 mile. Look for the Ananda
Kanan gate on the left, and turn left here on the driveway up to the
Retreat Center.
We will have "OACC" signs at the Junction of Hwys 63/"UU", "UU"/Co. Rd.
1670, and at the Ananda Kanan gate.

(CAUTION: If you go too far east on Hwy. "UU" you will come to Hwy. "U".
If you come to "U", turn around and retrace to Co. Rd. 1670.  Don't take
"U" highway. Obviously it could be easy to confuse these similarly-named
roads.)

Ananda Kanan's phone number is: 417-469-4713. The address is: 3157 County
Road 1670, Willow Springs, MO.

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU GET TO ANANDA KANAN...

When you get to Ananda Kanan, please go directly to the registration table
in the dining hall. Here is the place to get oriented, register, secure
your accommodations, get the program schedule, pay registration fees, etc.

LODGING...(Don't let rain scare you off… We're covered!)
- Dormitory-style, with bathrooms and hot showers, with bunks and
mattresses provided in the rooms. BRING YOUR OWN BEDDING, SLEEPING BAGS,
PILLOWS...Tent sites are also available.
1) No pets, please.
2) Childcare will not be provided.  Parents are welcome to work with us to
organize cooperative childcare.
3). If you have special needs for accommodations, please contact
coordinator, Michelle Gurley (contact listed below).

FOOD...
-Vegetarian meals, prepared as much as we can with organic and local
ingredients, start with a Friday supper; breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Saturday; breakfast and lunch Sunday.  YOUR DONATIONS OF WHOLESOME
PRODUCE, BREAD, FRUIT, AND OTHER GOOD FOOD - ORGANIC and/or FAIR TRADE
WHEN POSSIBLE -- FOR THE KITCHEN ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED AND HELP LOWER
COSTS FOR ALL OF US.  Dishes, trays, silverware provided. (But not cups:
please bring your own.)
PLEASE LET US KNOW AS FAR AHEAD OF TIME AS POSSIBLE IF YOU ARE DONATING
FOOD, ESPECIALLY IN BULK, so we know what to expect. Contact Scott Hamlet
at 417-207-5723 or  for donations, questions.

WHAT TO BRING...
-Your kids, musical instruments, games, outdoor toys, music, songs,
talents to share, food donations...
-Toiletries, soap, shampoo, towels, washcloths, sleeping bags and/or
bedding, pillows
-Your own cups

WHAT NOT TO BRING...
-PLEASE DON'T BRING DOGS AND OTHER PETS
-PLEASE DON'T BRING ALCOHOL OR OTHER DRUGS

COSTS...
Registration costs for all 3 days, covering everything (food, lodging,
programs, etc.) are: ADULTS -- $35; COUPLES, $60; KIDS, $15.  (FAMILY,
$100 MAXIMUM.) Attendance for the whole 2 and 1/2 days is encouraged, but
day rates will be pro-rated. (PLEASE REGISTER AND PAY FEES ON FIRST
ARRIVING...THANKS!)...



CO-SPONSORS...
        For $100, your organization, or you, can be an OACC 25 Co-Sponsor.
Co-Sponsors get: 1) one display space (additional, $10 each); 2) two
adult admissions; 3) the opportunity to significantly support OACC!

MAKE CO-SPONSORSHIP CHECKS OUT TO:
THE OZARKS RESOURCE CENTER
P.O. BOX 1226
WEST PLAINS, MO 65775

CO-SPONSORS TO-DATE…

-Beatrice Briggs (Tepoztlan, Morales, Mexico)
-Planet Drum Foundation (San Francisco, CA)
-The National Water Center (Eureka Springs, OzArkansas)
-The Ozark Mountain Center for Environmental Education (Doniphan, MOzarks)
-Sancta Sophia Seminary/ Sparrow Hawk Village (Tahlequah, OK)
-Mid-Missouri Peaceworks/The Peace Nook (Columbia, MOzarks)
-Renaissance Books and Gifts (Springfield, MOzarks)
-Douglas County Household Hazardous Waste and Recycling Committee (Ava,
MOzarks)
-Miriam Ella Alford (Fayetteville, OzArkansas)
-Sasha Daucus & Mau Blossom, Golden Light Center (Doniphan, MOzarks)
-Leslie and Geoffrey Oelsner (Fayetteville, OzArkansas)
-South Central Solid Waste Management District (Eunice, MOzarks)
-Thomas Hubbard (San Francisco, CA)
-Alford Forest, Inc. (Brixey, MOzarks)
-Springfield Counseling Services: Kris Hamilton, Cherice Sommer, and Paul
Wickersham (Springfield, MOzarks)
-Heart Haven (Willow Springs, MOzarks)
-Gee Wong (Denver, CO)
-Michele Wich (Villa Ridge, MOzarks)
-Ozark Regional Land Trust/Sweetwater CLT (Carthage/Mansfield, MOzarks)
-Missouri Farmers Union (Jefferson City, MOzarks)
-Peter Callaway (Brixey, MOzarks)

(Many thanks to a record number of co-sponsors for OACC 25!)

ALSO GREATLY APPRECIATED ARE DONATIONS FROM THE
FOLLOWING:

-Missouri Botanical Gardens (St. Louis, MO.) has donated 5 free passes
good for two people each, to be given away at OACC 25.
-Serenity Farms Bread (Leslie, AR) has donated $100 worth of free bread to
OACC.

GENERAL SCHEDULE CONSIDERATIONS...

FRIDAY GENERAL SCHEDULE, EVENT...
-2 PM on...Arrival, registration, settling in, set-up.
-Dinner, 5 to 6:30 PM
- At Sunset, Hawk Walker, a traditional native man, will speak on
Medicines of the Heart.

(Note: While we have a number of pre-scheduled events and presentations,
at all OACC's there is a lot of spontaneous information and music sharing
that just happens because we have so many creative, knowledgeable folks in
attendance. Below is a list of presently-scheduled events and programs. If
you have something to share, come prepared to do so and we will work it
into the overall program.)

SATURDAY-GENERAL SCHEDULE AND EVENTS...

-BREAKFAST, 7 TO 8:30 AM (The rest of the mealtimes will announced at OACC.)

-OPENING CIRCLE, 10 AM. (TRY TO BE HERE FOR THIS IF YOU POSSIBLY CAN!) All
attendees will be invited to circle up for introductions, orientation, and
brief OACC history. HERE IS YOUR CHANCE TO INTRODUCE YOURSELF, SAY
SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF, TO ALL THE OACC FOLKS, AND BE INTRODUCED TO
THEM. VERY IMPORTANT!

-Workshops & Presentations, before and after lunch, till dinner...

-COFFEEHOUSE, 8:30 PM, Saturday. The ever-popular coffeehouse, our own
extraordinary talent show, where everyone from the littlest kids on up the
age gradient is encouraged to perform. Songs, poems, readings, theatrics,
jokes, dances...who knows!?

SUNDAY GENERAL SCHEDULE...

-Breakfast

-Morning programs

-OACC 26/2005 PLANNING SESSION, 10 AM to 12 PM. All are encouraged to
attend, as the decisions about what the next OACC will be are based on a
consensus of those who are present at this planning meeting.

-Lunch

-Afternoon programs

-Closing Circle, 3 to 3:30 PM

-Clean Up, Starts right after the Closing Circle...All who can asked to
stay and help...thanks!

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY PRESENTATIONS AND WORKSHOPS...

(Except for the Opening Circle, and the Coffeehouse, the following
presentations and events have not yet been given definite time placements
in the overall schedule. The list below is in no particular order.)

-GREASEL CONVERSIONS, Inc./Greasel.com  (presenter not yet determined),
North America's premier vegetable oil diesel fuel conversion company will
present on this renewable, recycled, eco-friendly fuel -- a vegetarian
diet for your petroleum engine -- that can help shake our dependence on
fossil fuels!

-Paul Wickersham will facilitate a circle discussion about intentional
community, with particular emphasis on the possibility of forming an
eco-village/ intentional community here in the Ozarks.

-Zenia Richler N.D., presenting on ecological resolution for geo-pathic
stress, bio-solids, and other environmental issues.

-Cindy Becker, botanist, of NATURE'S KEEPER ECOLOGICAL SERVICES presents
on: "Land Stewardship: Blending History and Conservation." Wise land
stewardship begins with understanding the legacy of the many generations
that have walked (and moved mountains) before us.

-Tony Barnicle, former head of the Missouri Department of Economic
Development, on  "Neighborhood Economics and Community Development Through
Cooperative Credit Unions".

-Stan Slaughter: "The Whole Trash Thing". An experience in rapid-fire
musical survey of our problems and opportunities with composting,
recycling and waste reduction.

-Steven Foster, internationally-recognized herbalist, author, and
photographer, will speak on 1) medicinal and other beneficial plants of
the Ozarks; and 2) the new organization One Garden, a concept borne of an
intention to explore - in the context of this Ozark Bioregion and its
watersheds -- the beneficial plants or related species that can (or do)
grow here.

-Katie Auman, coordinator of ForestWatch, will talk about the impacts of
clearcut logging in the Ozarks, the role ForestWatch is taking to curb the
problem, and ForestWatch's lasting solutions that promote healthy,
sustainable forests, watersheds, and Ozark communities.

-PEACE NETWORK OF THE OZARKS will show the documentary, "The Great
Deception", which asks over 140 questions that 9/11 families are asking,
90% of which remain unanswered.  Afterwards, a moderator will lead
participants in an open discussion.

-Macleod Fitzgerald presents on Air Wells:  Create your water source and
purify the air without breaking ground.  More than half the world's
population thirsts for an adequate supply of water. Condensation offers a
practical solution with
the emergence of newer forms of power production.

- Marie DeArmon, herbalist, and Cindy Becker, botanist, take us on an HERB
WALK. Gain a better understanding of how to identify the medicinal, edible
and the simply beautiful plants around you; learn about individual plant
preferences for different habitats, compare and discern between look-alike
plants.

-Lawrence Lewis will speak on "Living Generations-Deep on the Ozarks'
Western Edge: Crater Critters." Larry speaks from the impact zone. He will
describe the Western Ozarks Osage Plains Interface and the
340,000,000-year-old meteor crater where he lives in Osceola MO.

-David Haenke. Future of OACC Session. Beginning with a brief history of
OACC by its co-founder, David Haenke, this session will lead into a
discussion on what we envision might be OACC's future direction and
evolution for the next 25 years and beyond (...to the seventh
generation...?)

-THE WHOLE CHILD COMMUNITY SCHOOL A Dialogue With, a local Ozarks one-room
school house. Please bring your favorite
educational resources for sharing and discussion.

-The OZARK REGIONAL LAND TRUST/ORLT will conduct a workshop on land trusts
and conservation easements.

-Kathy Kisida will teach a Nature Spirit Dance. Its origins are in the
ancient art of belly dancing. This is a dance to honor the Earth. You are
encouraged to bring along drums and instruments.

SPEICIAL EVENTS...

SPECIAL PRE-OACC EVENT! OACC FLOAT TRIP!

Thursday evening through Friday, Oct. 7&8, North Fork River. As a part of
the 25th annual OACC event, friends, family and especially our youth are
invited to join a float trip. For the float, we will meet Friday, Oct. 8,
at 10 AM, at Hammond Mill Camp on Hwy. CC, between West Plains and Dora.
For a cost of $36/canoe, canoes, gear, and shuttling, and lifejackets will
be provided though Riverside Canoe Rental. (Your own canoe or kayak is
welcome, but come earlier if you plan to do your own shuttle, and you will
need to provide your own life jacket for each person.)  Bring your own
lunch, drinks, water toys, and sunscreen. We will float about 12 miles to
Riverside's takeout. The North Fork is beautiful, clear, unspoiled, and
fed by many springs. We will have time to be lazy and curious as we make
our trip.
OACC is offering $25 scholarships to each of four school age float
trippers who write a winning 250 word essay on the topic: "What the Ozarks
means to me". (Ask Stan for details.)
Also, you are invited to camp Thursday night at Hammond Mill Camp for
music and stories around the campfire with Stan Slaughter, our tour
leader. Stan has been floating the North Fork for 30 years and is a fine
naturalist. For more details, answers to questions, contact float leader
Stan Slaughter at [email protected]; tel.: 816-537-9878.

AQUAEST RAFFLE: Special Event #2!

We are pleased to once again be raffling a day retreat ($100 value) from
Aquaest Spa Retreat near Twin Bridges in Douglas County. This retreat
includes a Water Journey (aquatic massage) or Streamliner (salt-glow
massage). For more information see www.aquaest.com or call Sara/Ralph Pitt
at: 417-256-2588.

HOW YOU CAN ENSURE A FRUITFUL AND INSPIRING OACC 25...
1) Come to OACC! 2) You yourself invite and bring one or more like-minded
folks who you would like to be there with!

FOR QUESTIONS AND FURTHER INFORMATION: OACC coordinator Michelle Gurley
can be reached at   or 417-881-3947.

(The end of the “nuts and bolts” part)

(Now, a little background information and history…)

WHY DO WE CALL IT OACC/"OAK".?

The Oak Family of trees loves the Ozarks, and the Ozarks loves the Oaks.
The Ozarks, despite the relatively low soil fertility (and most of that
fertility has been provided over the thousands of years by its forests),
has a profound desire to be clothed in forest (and variations on the
theme, like savanna, with the occasional prairie), of the type known as
"Oak/Pine/Hickory".  In sheer quantity and distribution, the Oak family is
the most numerous and pervasive of all the tree species of the Ozarks: the
land of the Oaks. Up to and through 1977
some of us re-inhabitants were becoming more aware by the year of the
amazing nature of the Oaks, the Ozark forests, waters, plants,  animals,
and the
unique human culture,  the Ozarks as a naturally-defined region, and how
this place was under siege from dysfunctional human systems. In response,
we were
searching for responsible, ecologically-based alternatives, while
pondering a different kind of(informal) organization rooted in its ethos
and being in the nature of the Ozark as represented by the Oaks, looking
for a name and acronym for such an entity. In 1978 we came up with "Ozark
Area Community Congress/OACC/OAK", something rising from the nature of the
acorn and the Oak.  Organizing for OACC started essentially in 1977, and
came to fruition with OACC I, 25 years ago this coming October.

WHY IS OACC DIFFERENT AND EXCEPTIONAL?  WHAT IS A "CONGRESS"?

OACC as a "congress" is distinguished clearly from a run-of-the-mill
"conference" in that it is a gathering of peers (not just conference
attendees passively consuming information from paid "experts" and
"professionals") who inexpensively and on a volunteer basis organize and
conduct the event themselves as a temporary green "village", take care of
themselves (preparing food, providing their own entertainment and
presentations from within the group itself, cleaning up, etc.), and decide
among themselves by consensus the present and future directions and
content of OACC as an informal "organization".

A Special Wide Invitation For a Special OACC.

For OACC XXV we are putting the invitational call to ecological people out
far and wide, just as we did for OACC I in 1980, all over North America
and to
friends and allies around the Earth.  From its 1980 birth OAK has been a
seed for bioregional organizing, with a resolution passed at the first
OACC calling for a "congress of congresses", which convened in May, 1984
with the first North
American Bioregional Congress/NABC I on the tall-grass prairie near Kansas
City. That organizing effort came primarily (with essential support and
collaboration from the Kansas Area Watershed Council/KAW; KAW celebrated
its 23rd year this
May) out of OACC and the Bioregional Project of New Life Farm, Inc. (The
9th Continental Bioregional Congress is planned for July, 2005.)

WE HOPE TO SEE YOU AT OACC 25!


____________________

Vince