This was written and typed by Karin Zirk.

The Background

All people learn differently. All people teach differently. We need to get as many different voices and different styles of teaching going so that we can educate as many different people as possible. Hopefully, we can reach out to the folks who don't come to Main Circle. And last but not least, we want to make Main Circle fun!!

The Idea

Instead of having a handful of people stand in front of everyone at Main Circle and say the same things over and over again (pick up your orange peels, shit in the shitters, etc.) small crews of people would wander about the gathering. This would allow for more fun stuff at Main Circle like singing, music or sharing of workshop information. Also, we wouldn't keep holding up dinner for the lectures.

The crew would wander about and at each camp they came to would introduce themselves and sit with that camp for a while. They could share knowledge, personal interests, and make friends. The crews would have copies of the Mini Manual to give to folks who were new to the gathering process.

This would serve multiple functions. We would all get to know each other personally. We would have the knowledge & ideas being shared come out of the mouths of many people instead of only a few. We would be doing a proactive Shanti Sena & Clean Up mission by seeing where problems might occur before they do and hopefully allowing for some education of people in a one on one setting. Also, we would do Fire Watch. If we saw a fire ring we could explain the hows and whys of Rainbow fire circles and maybe help folks get a safe community fire going.

As originally conceived, every morning after breakfast circle we were going to ask for people who wanted to help with Wandering INFO. When breakfast was done, we would circle and discuss what was going on, where problems were, how people could plug in, and all the other variables of each gathering. (Maybe spend 1/2 an hour on the circle.) In addition to the Wandering INFO Crews, folks from all the main areas of the gathering would participate in the circle and share what was going on with Welcome Home, CALM, Kiddy Village, etc. Then the crews would go off and share knowledge and themselves.

The Experiment @ the SCROLL Regional 1997

Most of the experiment never got a chance to get off the ground. Due to this gatherings lack of focus and other problems, we seemed unable to coordinate breakfast circle with our "Co-operations/Wandering INFO Crew" circle. And in fact, never even got our "Co-operations Council" happening at all. We did however, severely limit the amount of stuff discussed at Main Circle and the area was no more trashed than last year. In some respects such as orange peels and butts, there was much improvement.

The few folks who went out and did Wandering INFO had very positive results. One brother did it in the parking lot and talked to people as they were arriving. I personally found that a few camps showed no interested in speaking with us, yet when we walked away they ran after us and asked questions.

Karin's Opinion

I think Wandering INFO is the wave of the future. We are a family. How can we work as a family if we don't know each other? Some people come to a gathering not knowing anyone, and by meeting the Wandering INFO Crew, they will have made some friends who can then help them plug in and make more friends.

We always pretend there are no leaders in Rainbow, yet the same folks stand in front of us time and time again speaking the same words in the same way over and over. Many people who have a good understanding of what's going on don't feel comfortable or have no interest in speaking at Main Circle. Wandering INFO gives these folks an opportunity to share their unique perspective. And if a camp gets visited by two or more crews, so much the better. Each crew will have something unique to share.

I think for this to really work, we need to have a focused gathering with Breakfast Circles to use as a jumping off point into the "Co-operations Council/Wandering INFO Crew Council".

This is just a starting point for this concept and I would like to see other ideas thrown in.

I will be focalizing Wandering INFO Crew. I will be on the land on June 24th. Much help is needed. To plug in before we get to the land you can reach me: Email: kzirk@earthlink.net

Or leave a message on the SCROLL Hotline 619/226-5797

To plug into Wandering INFO Crew on the land: we'll be working hand in hand with cooperations camp, so connect up with it there.

Love,

Karin