Group singing, particularly “Brighter Than Today” which has gotten to be pretty much the song of the season for me.
Acknowledging and working with dark themes — cold, danger, extinction, loneliness — and facing them as a community and as humanity. This is a big part of what makes Solstice work as a ritual for me. I’m going to come in vaguely mopey and anxious but glad to see people; completely break down crying at least once during the ritual; hug a lot of people; reconnect with a community I don’t see nearly as much as I should; and have an awesome night.
Things that seem like areas for improvement:
Both events I went to this year had microphones cutting in and out. Even with experienced sound people involved, this still happens. It’s easy for me to laugh off technical problems, but they still are disruptive.
The Berkeley event seemed to have a lot of extra food. It’s much better to overprovision than underprovision, but the error seemed pretty high. I found myself wondering if the dinner aspect of the event wasn’t well publicized.
Even with the suggested donation above the ticket price for the Berkeley event, the overall price was much less than I would be willing to pay. This is inefficient! Sure, I can add the extra to my end-of-year donations, but mumble mumble fuzzies and utilons mumble.
Things I don’t like that didn’t happen:
“X Days of X-Risk”. It wasn’t in the Berkeley program this year, and honestly I had kinda forgotten about it until seeing this post. I find “Twelve Days of Christmas” annoying for being repetitious, and “of x-risk” is too many consonants to sing. It wouldn’t have ruined it … but I will gladly take “When I Die” over “X Days of X-Risk” any day.
Things I am not worried about:
Cultiness. It is totally okay for Solstice to be the cultiest thing we ever do. It’s certainly the cultiest thing I did all year.
Berkeley, and the Sunday Assembly one in Mountain View. I care more about the Berkeley one, and much of the reason I went to the other was to see what differences that group was doing with their liturgy. Much more sedate emotionally, although pretty energetic musically: they have a rock band instead of a choir; they opened with “Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog”. They still did “When I Die” and “Do You Realize?” though, and their venue allowed candles. Also, I think they have a running gag about playing “Wonderwall” that I didn’t quite pick up on.
Oh cool, glad to hear from someone who went to the Mountain View one—I’d be interested in any more thoughts/impressions you have on that. (I’ve talked to them and looked over their script/setlist, so I have a rough idea of what happened, but curious how it felt to someone familiar with LW)
Things that persistently work for me at Solstice:
Having it happen at all.
Group singing, particularly “Brighter Than Today” which has gotten to be pretty much the song of the season for me.
Acknowledging and working with dark themes — cold, danger, extinction, loneliness — and facing them as a community and as humanity. This is a big part of what makes Solstice work as a ritual for me. I’m going to come in vaguely mopey and anxious but glad to see people; completely break down crying at least once during the ritual; hug a lot of people; reconnect with a community I don’t see nearly as much as I should; and have an awesome night.
Things that seem like areas for improvement:
Both events I went to this year had microphones cutting in and out. Even with experienced sound people involved, this still happens. It’s easy for me to laugh off technical problems, but they still are disruptive.
The Berkeley event seemed to have a lot of extra food. It’s much better to overprovision than underprovision, but the error seemed pretty high. I found myself wondering if the dinner aspect of the event wasn’t well publicized.
Even with the suggested donation above the ticket price for the Berkeley event, the overall price was much less than I would be willing to pay. This is inefficient! Sure, I can add the extra to my end-of-year donations, but mumble mumble fuzzies and utilons mumble.
Things I don’t like that didn’t happen:
“X Days of X-Risk”. It wasn’t in the Berkeley program this year, and honestly I had kinda forgotten about it until seeing this post. I find “Twelve Days of Christmas” annoying for being repetitious, and “of x-risk” is too many consonants to sing. It wouldn’t have ruined it … but I will gladly take “When I Die” over “X Days of X-Risk” any day.
Things I am not worried about:
Cultiness. It is totally okay for Solstice to be the cultiest thing we ever do. It’s certainly the cultiest thing I did all year.
Thanks! Curious which events you attended? (I’m guessing Berkeley and Seattle, but wasn’t sure)
Berkeley, and the Sunday Assembly one in Mountain View. I care more about the Berkeley one, and much of the reason I went to the other was to see what differences that group was doing with their liturgy. Much more sedate emotionally, although pretty energetic musically: they have a rock band instead of a choir; they opened with “Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog”. They still did “When I Die” and “Do You Realize?” though, and their venue allowed candles. Also, I think they have a running gag about playing “Wonderwall” that I didn’t quite pick up on.
Oh cool, glad to hear from someone who went to the Mountain View one—I’d be interested in any more thoughts/impressions you have on that. (I’ve talked to them and looked over their script/setlist, so I have a rough idea of what happened, but curious how it felt to someone familiar with LW)
Not sure what else to add, but if I think of anything later I’ll do so.