“And maybe it’s just the time of year
Or maybe it’s the time of man
And I don’t know who I am
But life is for learning
We are stardust, we are golden
We are billion-year-old carbon
And we got to get ourselves
Back to the garden.”
~Joni Mitchell
Yay. Skoolie week(s). This year has a new wrinkle. It’s a long story that started two years ago when there was a mishap at Skoolie Palooza and the organizer of many years decided to hold the event in California. The short version is that the CA police threw everyone out for holding an event without a permit. There was a caravan of over 500 school buses that drove back down to Ehrenberg, AZ to the BLM/Arizona Land Trust land where it had been held previously. Many of the event-goers were mad at the original organizer, and he decided he was done organizing (I use that word very loosely). So, some savvy entrepreneurs who already were a non-profit bought up the trademarked name “SkooliePalooza” and paid him for the right to the website and tried to hijack the event. They announced LAST year that skoolie would be held in Ehrenberg as it almost always had been, but they were going to get permits, rent porta-potties, and dumpsters and that there would be a charge to anyone who wanted to attend. They apparently didn’t know skoolie people (people who live full-time in school busses) very well, because they (skoolie folk) basically gave a big “fuck you” and said they had been holding this event every January without asking permission of anyone, or having to follow anyone’s rules, and certainly were not going to PAY to go to BLM land where anyone can go for free. So the new trademark owners backed off a bit and said they would “allow” an “ungathering” last year. (As if they had the power to stop hundreds of school buses from camping on BLM land). It went smoothly last year with the new owners (hereinafter referred to as “The Hijackers) not having much to say about anything that went on.
THIS YEAR, they decided to send out notices that SkooliePalooza would be held a week early. So many school busses showed up, along with vans and other sorts of RV’s, most of us not figuring out until the last minute that this was to be the hijacked event and the REAL Skoolie gathering (or “un-gathering”) would be held as usual the last week in January. I decided to split the difference and come mid-week of the hijacker’s event and stay through the weekend when the REAL Skoolie event will happen. As should have been expected, many of the real skoolie people arrived early and were none too happy with the hijackers deciding who could camp where, setting up family areas, music areas, quiet zones, etc. Skoolie has been happening since 2017, and I have only been the past few years, but my take of the event is that it is best described as “Feral.” It is primarily known for being (among other things) a big musical event. The first year, I moved after the first night, far up the hill so I wouldn’t be kept up by the extremely loud techno music that played until nearly dawn. Being an old person, I went down several nights, listened to music, danced and headed back up the hill around midnight (usually when the party was just getting started.) I’d move farther and farther away each night so I could sleep without the bass rattling my van windows. But this year, the hijackers set up a WhatsApp page (is that the correct term?) and had an open forum for their followers to complain about quiet hours and encourage them to call the police on anyone violating their (Hijacker’s) quiet hours. The Whatsapp people were non-stop complainers, so I quickly removed myself from the group. I think the hijackers purposely set up division, so that next year they can move the event, blame the discontent on the “OG Skoolie people” and charge people who like all the rules to come to their event instead. They even went so far as to say that this would be the last year in Ehrenberg because the land had been sold. (This turned out to be an outright lie).
At any rate, once I disengaged from the WhatsApp page, I went down into the main area. As in past years, there were lots of hippies, young and old, lots of vendors selling everything from tie-dye apparel to handcrafted jewelry, and this year, even cannabis products. (Not sure how they are getting away with that on Federal land, but they are.) I’ve met up with old friends and made some new ones. Peace, love, brotherhood. It’s all still there, just like always, in spite of the hijackers trying to spoil it for everyone. There are people making coffee in the mornings and giving it free (with a tip jar adjacent to the cups), and plenty of loud dance music every night. It’s been a beautiful event.
I camped way up the hill from the event (and down the hill from where I usually stay near the asphalt factory cliff). My new friend Patrick invited me to stay next to him and Kitty came over from CA. We’ve been hanging out and had a campfire several nights. From up the hill we can still hear the music slightly, and can see the flashing disco lights and spinning flames from the fire dancers. For me, it feels like home. I feels like peace. It feels like the remnants of Woodstock. I like it.
On Friday, Patrick left to go meet his boyfriend and Kitty returned home. Greg, who I met this summer in Flagstaff came in his short skoolie and a new friend from Q came with his car and tent. We ventured down to the main event around 9:00 p.m. when the music was getting started. It was pretty quiet and we wandered around a bit. There were a couple “disco buses” playing music with flashing lights and a few people dancing. Most didn’t come out until after we came back to our campsite and went to bed. The party really gets going around midnight. Still, we had a good time, talked to a few strangers, and still got to bed at a decent hour.
Here are some random photos from SkooliePalooza, 2024:
Lessons From The Road: I have come to believe social media is ruining this country if not this planet. When I was in the Magic Circle, I joined the MC Facebook page at the suggestion of my neighbor who said I could find out what “community events” were happening both within the circle, and just outside the circle at a section called “The Lit Cactus.” There were some posts about events, but the FB page consists mostly of Karens (my definition being “privileged white women with too much time on their hands who want to police everyone else) making paranoid posts. One such post said “Be aware of a suspicious young man wearing orange pants and a yellow shirt. I saw him out near the wash close to sundown, looking at the ground. I questioned him about who he was and where he was staying and why he was looking at the ground when it was getting dark. He said he was looking for rocks. I think he’s up to no good, so keep an eye out for him.” A response came back: “That would be my special needs son (or some wording to that effect). He was out looking for luminescent rocks and you can only find them at dusk. He’s harmless, and I’d ask that you not only leave him alone, but I’d prefer he not know about this post.” This is quite typical of the posts on this page. They sound the alarm about a truck they saw pull down one road, stop and turn around. Ooooh! Yes, that certainly warrants casting dispersions on someone who decided that wasn’t a good spot for them. They often make posts about “strangers” pulling into the Magic Circle (the circle is probably a mile in diameter?) to come “look at naked people.” I can assure you that NOBODY is driving up that rutted road to look at the naked people who are posting these accusations. If anything, people are FLEEING the area yelling “My eyes, my eyes!”
Likewise, at Skoolie this year, I joined WhatsApp hoping to get a calendar of events. Instead, my phone blew up each time some stupid, young, privileged, white woman made a post complaining about the loud noise of Techno Music after 10:00 p.m. Dozens of these Karens were making posts encouraging people to call the cops, or getting together to go confront the “offender” as a group or try to run him/her off. SkooliePalooza is quite well known for their dance music blaring well into the wee hours. That’s why I stayed about a mile away from the music section last year. I couldn’t sleep with the thump, thump, thump of the bass if I stayed any closer. Skoolie people are also quite well known for living in school busses on BLM land with their families because they have some serious issues with rules and regulations. They live the life they choose, outside the boundaries of society because they live life on their own terms. I finally had enough, and before removing myself from the group chat, I posted: “If you came here for quiet or with the idea of controlling other people, you are clearly at the wrong event. Perhaps if you all put down your phones, stopped your whining and went outside, you might actually have a good time.” It was immediately met with a lot of hearts and thumbs-up emojis, but they continued on for hours afterwards, still complaining and trying to figure out ways to control others having fun. These are people who just want to be miserable and draw others into their misery. I opted out.
It also occurred to me that many young people are heavily affected by social media, especially TikTok, YouTube and Instagram. When I left Kofa last week after my visit with Jonah, I passed by Van Life Pride. I went there the first year and it was fun. Last year it was hijacked by a young woman who posed so many restrictions that it sounded absolutely horrible to me and I stayed away. This year as I looked over, I saw lots of young women wearing “I Dream of Jeannie” pants, young men and women with purple and blue hair, heavily tattooed women with gigantic breasts under their wife-beater undershirts. I’m perfectly OK with how ANYONE dresses, or what they do with their hair. I just got the feeling that these people were simply trying too hard. It then hit me that they were “YouTube Ready,” or as my friend Kitty calls it, suffering from “Main Character Syndrome.” They have to be “on” all the time. They are ready for their close up on YouTube or Instagram. I find it quite unappealing.
On the bright side, at the OG Skoolie event, I met several new friends, and connected with some of the old friends I met here last year, and some I met on the road throughout the year are coming this week. It should be a great reunion.