Stanislaus Pagan Pride Alive & Well!

Dorothea in front of CHS banner in our pavilion

This is a late report, but a good one nonetheless. Dorothea, a seminarian at Pacific School of Religion who's doing field work with CHS, and I drove to Modesto for the Stanislaus Pagan Pride Day. The last time I was there was for PPD in 2004 and I think that may have been the most recent PPD in Modesto. This community, like most, has had some struggles, but I'm happy to report that they've coalesced into a wonderful group. All very helpful, very friendly, and very enthusiastic.

Several members drove to Lafayette when Victoria and the Pagan Alliance performed a ceremony to honor Wiccan military casualties. They come to PantheaCon in San Jose in February. I saw their crew two weeks earlier at the Sacramento Sacred Harvest Festival Honoring Pagan Pride Day.

They were kind enough to provide us with a pavilion and people to set it up for us. The site near the riverside was shaded by Valley Oaks native to California with lots of their unusual looking acorns covering the ground. We used them to prevent our flyers from being blown off the table by the wind.


Our booth

A producer, cameraman and interviewer Martin Sargent from Revision3 came to interview me for a Web Drifter podcast. Martin interviewed me a few years ago for a now-defunct late night show called Unscrewed with Martin Sargent for TechTV. Martin and I participated in the main ritual as more and more people browsed the booths and gathered to watch the circle from outside. Thankfully, Dorothea covered the CHS booth while I gave a talk, attended the ritual, and conversed with Martin for the interview. Martin's a wise guy, so I hope I held up under his jesting.

They extended warm hospitality, fed us, and treated us like visiting royalty. I even won two prizes in the raffle drawing!

Dorothea and I joined fellow presenters Oberon Zell and Michael Gorman, and others for dinner to fortify ourselves before the long drive home. I enjoyed our lively conversation tremendously.

I'm glad to have been invited and I wish this community continued healthy growth.