O.C.F. Caretaker's Journal O.C.F. Caretaker's JournalI really don't want to wax
philosophic, but I will say that if you're alive, you've got to flap your
arms and legs,
you've got to jump around a lot, you've got to make a lot of noise, because
life is the very opposite of death.
And therefore, as I see it, if you're quiet, you're not living. You've got
to be noisy,
or at least your thoughts should be noisy and colorful and lively.
--Mel Brooks
Monday 30 October Steve was at the dentist today---having a wisdom tooth extracted. I would like to say better him than me, but then again I have had all four of mine yanked out already. For nine out of every ten people, at least one wisdom tooth remains underneath the gums, and so most people usually need to go through a procedure like this at some point in their lives. During prehistoric times conditions were obviously much different than they are now. Diet perhaps consisted of a lot of coarse roughage, raw meat and bones, along with a lot of grit mixed in. This tended to wear the teeth away at a much faster rate than our current cooked and processed foods do today. Not only did they wear down on top but they are also received more wear between. Midway through life another set of teeth would appear and cram the worn teeth together again, a positive survival advantage. As humans have refined their eating habits over the eons, so did the jaw gradually evolved to become smaller, no longer able to accommodate that third set of molars. In fact, before the advent of antibiotics, many people would die from infections caused from impacted wisdom teeth. By the way---they are called "wisdom teeth" because they usually appear during a person's late teens or early twenties, which has been called the "age of wisdom". Going by that I think that perhaps they should be named the "know it all teeth", but that is another story altogether. I spent this classic fall day enjoying life by shopping and chopping up materials to build a temporary roof over Jill's Crossing, a project I hope to complete by the end of this week.
Sunday 29 October Today we returned to Pacific Standard Time. Ostensively what this means is that we are given that hour of sleep back that was taken away in the Spring. The added hour also paradoxically means it is suddenly getting dark an hour earlier. Morning safety is the main reason that we return to Standard Time in the wintertime and Daylight Saving Time is observed to save energy in the summertime. The British were the first to recognize and use the benefits of DST in 1916 . The United States instituted it for seven months during WWI and then reinstituted it during WWII. After that States were free to observe DST whenever and where ever they wanted, which made things more than a bit chaotic at times. Enter the Uniform Time Act of 1966 which stated that DST would be from the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. The law did not actually state that DST must be observed, only that if it was done, that it must be done uniformly. Even today Hawaii, Arizona, and the eastern time zone of Indiana still do not observe DST. In 1986 President Reagan signed Public Law 99-359 into effect, which changed the beginning of DST to the first Sunday in April. It is estimated that the country saves 300,000 barrels of oil each year with that extra month of DST. One question I would usually get when I was a bartender was why didn't we stay open the extra hour. The answer is that bars actually close at 1:59 AM so when the time change happens at 2:00 AM they are already closed.
Saturday 28 October It's National Chocolate Day, a fact I know many in the Fair Family can well appreciate. However Chocolate is probably the one thing that doesn't really need an appreciation day, as it is practically universally worshiped as the Food of the Gods. Researchers at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego have found that chocolate contains anandamide, a chemical that mimics marijuana's soothing effects on the brain. Switzerland leads the world in per capita chocolate consumption at 22 pounds and this does in fact explain perfectly (at least to me) the reason why the Swiss have not been to war in over 500 years. Americans eat roughly twelve pounds of chocolate per person per year which means we might not be quite as carefree as the Swiss, but the huge population of the United States does nevertheless make us the overall world leader in chocolate consumption. The Mars Company produces about 100,000,000,000 M&Ms each year to try to keep up with the demand. Unfortunately that's only a mere 25 M&Ms for each man, woman, child on Earth---but the upside to that is that there are millions of other great ways to get your chocolate fix. Today was Highway Pickup and despite an inch of rain falling last night, we had a sunny morning and a good turnout. Howard McCarthy must be commended as a saint of the first order for organizing this event each time. And how about dem Ducks against Arizona State today, huh? ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE! A heartstopper would be putting it mildly. The entire town is abuzz from the game, massive intakes of chocolate, and perhaps even a few other celebratory consumables as well.
Thursday 26 October All week I have been steadily filling, plugging, and securing the six-packs and finally finished today. As they say, "It's a dirty job but someone's got to do it." I had lots of time to walk around in the nearby woods and secure floatable stuff, etc. I've been doing a lot of thinking about the Leave No Trace campsite motion that will come up at the next board meeting. I am starting to be concerned that it might not have the necessary votes to pass, and if it doesn't it is only because they're not out here finding all this *ding-dang* stuff all the time like I am. I am convinced that a LNT campsites policy, combined with a lighter footprint of the permanent booths, is the next essential step in the longterm health of our forest ecosystem. Hopefully, anyone else who feels as strongly about this point as I do can be at the November board meeting and help hammer this point across---so to speak. Tonight was at the Outdoor Program Equipment Swap at the EMU and I got a couple hundred bucks for some of my old gear. Gearheads abound at such a gathering and it strikes me that although outdoor equipment is a hip and trendy thing, most of the stuff will probable never see hardcore use. What it really comes down to in these type pursuits is desire and determination, something that you seem to either have or else you have not. Nevertheless, when I see all that shiny looking gear in one place my feet just start itching for that one incredibly big Indiana Jones type Hollywood feature length exploit that will never likely happen to me in a million years. Just let it be said that I do understand the allure perfectly. On the other hand I must readily admit that being the Caretaker of the Oregon Country Fair is a grand adventure in its own right, and so in so many respects I am already living that dream.
Wednesday 25 October On this date in 1854, during the Crimean War, Lord James Cardigan led a charge of light cavalry over open terrain against the well-defended Russian artillery at Balaclava. This has alternately been described as one of the most heroic episodes in British military history and as one of the stupidest. Like Pickett's Charge of the American Civil War some nine years later, it was a case of outdated military tactics being used against modern weaponry. On horseback and with sabers drawn the British 13th Regiment charged into an ever narrowing valley, which had the effect of squeezing the troop closer and closer together. The Russians poured artillery fire into the advance from all three sides. Men and horses were cut down several at a time. After a charge that was over a mile long the British temporarily overran a stronghold before realizing that they are totally without support from the rear. They were forced to retreat back through the terrifying gauntlet of bursting artillery shells. Perhaps an equal amount die on the retreat as on the attack. Of the 673 men in Cardigan's disastrous charge, nearly half are killed. Of the horses, 475 were killed outright and 43 more were later shot due to their wounds. Read a lengthy but fascinating account of The Charge of the Light Brigade or Lord Alfred Tennyson's famous poem of the same name. Theirs was not to reason why--Theirs was but to do and die--Into the valley of Death--Rode the six hundred.
Tuesday 24 October When I begin these entries I start with a sentence like this one. Then I write a couple more and the sentences begin to relate to one another. Soon I start to move the words around in the sentences and the sentences themselves around to help the flow. I'll connect them together or break them apart. I'll substitute words for ones that express my meaning more clearly. As the paragraph starts to form about a central concept I will usually delete entire sentences that no longer quite fit. As I get towards the end I might reread it several times, make more changes along the way, then run the spell-checker over my work. Everything must be just so. It must have a beginning , a middle, and an end. Unlike speech, which at times is little more than a verbal stream of consciousness, writing is a very calculated form of expression. What is written can forever after be grammatically dissected to reveal the tiniest nuance of form, style, tone, or meaning. Since I am publishing this over the Internet I don't want my words misconstrued. I keep things simple and positive, or at the very least oblique and metaphorical. The great thing about a website though is that if something seems out of place after uploading it, I can easily change it---as I have done numerous times. Not so with email, which once sent can never be brought back and revised. It's a good idea, I will tell you now, to wait at least 24 hours before sending an emotionally charged email. Reread it after that and if it still sounds good, then let it go. Often just the act of writing it will clarify one's thoughts or release one's anger. In these cases the delete button is your best friend.
Monday 23 October In 1658 Archbishop James Ussher, Primate of All Ireland, after intense study of biblical events and several leaps of faith, concluded that the world was unquestionably created on 23 October 4004 BC. Therefore (according to this) the Earth is exactly 6003 years old today---due of course to the fact that there was no year 0 since the zero hadn't been invented yet. Fundamentalists, championed today by creation scientists such as Dr. Duane Gish, believe that Ussher was correct in his opinion. Hearsay and opinions can thus be created and passed around until they take on a life of their own, then regarded as fact by some---and so it can be within our own Fair Family. Email has become the latest and greatest weapon for spreading gossip practically instantanously, while listbots and forwarding can place these messages onto the hard drives of complete strangers to the sender. Opinions are however probably best formed during a discussion where the subject is in context and not the product of frustration staring at an impersonal computer monitor. False opinions are like false money, struck first of all by guilty men and thereafter circulated by honest people who perpetuate the crime without knowing what they are doing.-- Joseph De Maistre
Sunday 22 October We're all back now from the Board Retreat on the coast, where we do our annual review of things past and dreams of the future. This was the first time since I have been going that it wasn't raining the most of the time, in fact the weather was splendid, which made sitting through two solid days of meetings sort of tough---but breaks at the edge of the wildly furious Pacific Ocean were reinvigorating to all of us. Back here alone on Site my perceptions of the world are suddenly quiet again, away from the din of crashing surf, whistling winds, and the clatter and clamor of twenty-some people talking about the Fair. Don't get me wrong, I can do my share of rattling on too, and very often at the expense of a perfectly good opportunity to shut up.
Thursday 19 October Tommy and Dobbs were out to try to nurse Princess Blueberry back to health. After replacing her carburetor we realized that the gas was bad, a legacy from when diesel was mistakenly delivered into the gasoline tank during the Fair. That is a long story that I won't get into. Once the old gunky stuff was drained off and fresh gasoline put back into the tank, the starter proceed to die a quick death. Fairly typical of the way things go around here I would have to say, but then again pretty typical the way one thing leads inexorably to the next in life itself. Later I went for a run around the Site and though it's usually hard to push myself out across that metaphysical threshold, once I get in to it my mind begins mapping out ways to extend the run to the limits. I started running again soon after my motorcycle broke down, and I had the realization today that that running and riding are actually similar in a strange sort of way. Obviously the body runs, while with riding the bike does the work, and one is relatively slow compared to the other---but there is still that basic forward motion space-time continuum whatever it is thing heavily going on. The endorphines are kicking in while running and adrenaline is rushing to my brain from the subtle yet omnipresent healthy fear on the motorcycle. Of course the human body doesn't have that cornucopia of choices that is readily available at the local pharmacy and so those enhanced awarenesses that I feel are more than likely pretty closely related to each other. All I can say for sure is that the natural high is the best and only one for me. Tomorrow I am out off to Yachats with the rest of the employees and Board for the Annual retreat and so Iwon't be back to this Journal until Sunday. Mushrooms are popping up everywhere, worth a look if you'r a budding mycologist---or you can look at things like this logjam, if that is what floats your boat. Marc Donofrio will be filling in for Steve and I and I am sure he would like to see any of you all out here this weekend.
Tuesday 17 October Rain, much needed, is falling now. Each winter before the ground water starts to rise, we fill the six-packs with water and plug them with specially made concrete blocks that probably weigh a hundred pounds each---this so that the hydrostatic pressure does not damage the vaults. My eighteen dollars and thirty-three cents before taxes was probably well earned today. At Politics Park I noticed that, in true Oregon Country Fair style, three of the plugs were resting in the sludge, at the bottom of the pit. Deciding that raising them was far easier than making new ones, I proceed to do just that with the help of a couple T-posts, rope, and a come-along. After filling and plugging everything, I screwed boards across the doors to convey the fact that they are out of service. Despite this desperation has (on more that one occasion in the past), driven someone to break in, remove a plug, reinstall the toilet, and do their business. Stupid human tricks like these give me all the job security I will ever need---or want.
Monday 16 October Last night Bill Verner was starting to doze off in his tent when he heard some sniffing, grabbed a flashlight, and for an instant was face to face with a coyote. Probably attracted to the nearby chicken farm and prowling about, or so goes our theory anyway. There is always a lot of scat scattered around but these creatures are so stealthy that rarely do you see one. Deer on the other hand are plentiful and, seeming to realize that the Site is a safe haven during hunting season, are relatively casual and unafraid. It's A Beautiful Day. Along with the clouds lifting there has been a temporary post-electoral respite of the email barrage along with, dare I say it, collective sigh of relief from the employees over some of the results. Storm clouds both literal and figurative are probably brewing just over the horizon though--- but gladly we listen to those glorious sounds of silence in the meantime.
Saturday 14 October Back at the town office for round two of the battle against the ivy. This time I rallied David Hoffman, Gunther, and Palmer to the cause and we were able to make good headway, although there is another good session there before I am satisfied. There are also four Western Red Cedars next to the building that need to come out before they get much bigger. Cutting down trees goes completely against our grain, so to speak, but in this case they are in the totally wrong place. Tonight was the long awaited Annual Meeting. The reports were held first for a change, a good decision because everyone got to hear them before they all left. It was obvious that most of those attending were sick and tired of all the rhetoric that has been whipped up lately and the election results basically reflected that. Without further ado, here are the results in order of most votes gotten: Dr. Jim Newhall, Jack Makarchek, Brad Lerch, Marlene Monette, and Bear Wilner all have two year Board seats, and Diane Albino is the two year alternate. Why don't we all go back to being teddy bears and faeries again? In 1926 A. A. Milne wrote a series of stories for his son, Christopher Robin. The boy's toy stuffed bear, tiger, donkey, and pig were the characters. Winnie-the-Pooh was published on 14 October 1926 and has sold over twenty million copies since that time.
Friday the 13th An auspicious day for friggatriskaidekaphobes, what with the Full Moon and all. I'm a believer that you make your own luck so today was good as good an excusers any to be even more careful than usual. Others apparently agree as it is estimated that each Friday the13th costs America hundreds of millions of dollars through train and plane reservation cancellations, absenteeism, and reduced commerce. I had a hard day at the office today, pulling up ivy out of arborvitae and chunks of concrete out of the yard, and not really so bad actually---but then how often do I get a chance to use that line? Tomorrow is our Annual Meeting at the WOW Hall 291 West 8th at 6:30 p.m. With all the politicing going on this year, this promises to be the most interesting one in years. Thirteen candidates are vying for only six spots on the Board of Directors, and while it may not necessarily be "time for a change", it certainly is competition for a change this time, so get on out there and "Vote! Vote! Vote!". See ya'll there.
Thursday 12 October The Hardly-Davidson is sidelined by a seized sparkplug that snapped off in the head. Even an easy-out attached to an air impact wrench failed budge it, and I therefore have had to seek professional help. HD stands for hundred dollars, which would be the increment of currency that these machines use in terms of maintenance. Driving the Jeep around is now like driving around in a big square box, but it is a warm dry box. Today there was time to catch up on personal chores like laundry and a haircut. Our local barber has it on good authority that Bi-Mart is beginning construction. Inspired by the local Elmira High School cross-country runners who are now using the Site to train, I got myself out again. The Site is a serene golden scene, the fields and paths cropped, soft but not soggy, and perfect for running for the time being. Sweat mingling with the cool mist keeps my body at a comfortable temperature, while my brain uses the elevated bloodflow to contemplate stuff like the dichotomousness of man in Nature and the nature of Man---as that pertains to the Fair of course. After running there is that delicious afterburn that lasts until the next morning---then a sore body until repeated. The homefire is burning for the first time this season and there is hot soup in my belly.
Tuesday 10 October Early Monday morning the skies opened up and dropped an inch of much needed rain. It's only the second time that it has rained since the Fair, the other time being Labor Day when we had eight-tenths of an inch---so we are still well under average. The change is immediate though, with the dust washed away and thirsty plants being refreshed. For the first time it actually begins to seem like Autumn as leaves fall through the air and earthy smells reach the nostrils. Last night was the annual Employee Evaluation meeting, something akin to sticking red hot pokers in my eyes as far as I am concerned. I can't help but saying that the concept of little checking boxes on stapled together 8 X 10 sheets of bleached tree fibers to describe a human being seems more than slightly ludicrous, but then that's just me. Marc Donofrio was out this afternoon and I was showing him the ropes, as he is going to be doing my job for a month while I am away studying Spanish in Guatemala for a month starting 8 November. I was demonstrating how to clean the filter on the aquarium and when I plugged the pump back in, the electricity suddenly went off. Tried the breakers. Tried the Main. Went outside and noticed that the Ware House was out. Tried the main Fair breakers. We went and got Steve, who was out on the tractor. Houston we have a problem. Checked the Zenn Barn, it was out too. The entire Chickadee neighborhood out and it's all my fault, yet fortunately the rest of the world survived the awesome power surge of my fish tank pump. Steve calls EPUD. They come and dig a giant hole in Chickadee Road. It's a bad splice which I now have as a souvenir. It's totally dark and quiet except for one kerosene lamp--when the lights finally flicker back to life and I am returned once again to the 21st century.
Sunday 8 October A weather forecast for three weeks ago predicted 70 F high and 40 low, and a chance of rain that never came. The forecast for today was something quite similar, and Indian Summer is now going full swing. It's been one of the warmest Summers in recorded history. The hole in the ozone is at a record size, as big as the entire continental United States, and extending over populated regions for the first time ever. Most scientists agree that an irreversible trend towards global warming has begun. Less forests equal more carbon dioxide and more solar heat reflected into the atmosphere. Warmer air holds more water vapor which in turn holds more heat. Nobody has the slightest clue where this cycle will lead. The thermal mass of the oceans tend to separate causes and effects by perhaps a hundred years, a mere blink in geologic time, yet long enough to make human denial of the problem possible. What is more quantifiable is the fact that although 99% of the species that have lived on Earth are already extinct, 30,000 additional species are going extinct each year, thousands of times faster than happened even during the most turbulent times of the fossil record. As bio-diversity is eliminated new organisms in the form of viruses and microbes may develop which could lead to global epidemics. Of course all this is assuming that a rogue black hole, giant solar flares, or killer robots run amok don't get us first. Read all about it in 20 Ways the World Could End. The weather sure has been lovely. Have a nice day!
Saturday 7 October The Autumn site cleanup workparty was held today and the turnout was pretty good, all the usual suspects shall we say. There could always be more, but that said, the dozen or so who were here got a lot done. Main Camp is finally buttoned down and the rest of the Site is in good shape going into Winter, although there is still more to do. A big thanks to all who of you who gave up your Saturdays to come out and help, we all know who we are.
Friday 6 October William Tyndale was probably born in Gloucestershire, England about1494. He studied at both Oxford and Cambridge and became a strong supporter of the movement for reform of the Church. He became fluent in seven languages. His opinions quickly led him to controversy with his fellow clergymen and about 1522 he was summoned on a charge of heresy. He left for London and determined to translate the Bible into English. Tyndale was firmly rebuffed there by a clergy uneasy with the idea of the Bible in the vernacular. Tyndale left England under a false name and landed in Hamburg in 1524. He visited Luther at Wittenberg and in the following year completed his translation of the New Testament. Shortly after the printing commenced the city magistrates ordered it stopped. Only a few sheets were saved as Tyndale fled to Worms. Here the printing was successfully carried out and translated copies of the New Testament arrived back in England in 1526---and were given a very hostile reception by the Church.What had Tyndale done that was so heretical? Well he had translated the Greek word for 'elder' as 'elder' instead of 'priest', he had translated the Greek word for 'congregation' as 'congregation' instead of 'church', the Greek word for 'repentance' as 'repentance' instead of 'penance' and so forth. In trying to create a faithful rendering, Tyndale's translation exposed the errors of the church---and in so doing challenged its authority. At the time, King Henry VIII's chancellor, Sir Thomas More, called him "one of the hell-hounds that the devil hath in his kennel discharging a filthy foam of blasphemies out of his brutish beastly mouth". Eventually an English spy in the Netherlands betrayed Tyndale to the imperial authorities. He was arrested in1535 spent eighteen months in prison before being found guilty and condemned as a heretic. For another two months they tried to break him and then on 6 October 1536 he was hauled out to a public square and asked to recant. Instead he cried out, "Lord, open the King of England's eyes!" The executioner was forced to strangled him until he was dead, and then he was burned at the stake for good measure. Sir Thomas More also had John Tewkesbury, Richard Bayfield and James Bainham burned at the stake for not renouncing what Tyndale had written. Out of the original six thousand Bibles that were printed in Worms, most were burned, and only two survive today. The same year the New Testament in English was actually printed in England and before long other scholars were hurrying the great work to completion---ironically under the license of King Henry VIII. In 1611 Authorized or King James Bible was published, of which about 50% of it is attributable to Tyndale although he is not credited for the work. No man has done more to enrich the English language. It is said that William Tyndale is the man who taught England how to read and showed William Shakespeare how to write.
Thursday 5 October In the wake of the vice-presidential debate between Cheney and Leibermann tonight it is interesting to note that it was exactly twelve years ago on this very night that Senator Lloyd Bentsen delivered his most famous sound bite of all time. After Senator Dan Quail repeated robotically for the third time that he had spent an equal amount of time in the Senate as John F. Kennedy and was therefore equally qualified to be President, Benson produced his coup d'éclate by stating "I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy". Quail had the last laugh though when he rode George Bush's coat-tails straight to the Vice Presidency of the United States of America, and offered up this fine enlightening thought on what it must be like to be just a heartbeat away from the most powerful job on Earth. "One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is---to be prepared." Dan Quail wasn't just setting around waiting for ol' George Sr. to croak either, no sir, he was busy thinkin' about philosophy and stuff, like this here gem on the true meaning of democracy. "Our government, unlike many governments, and particularly the governments of where the people that founded this country came from, is a government that is derived from the people that consent to govern. The freedom that is based in the people that then elect their representatives to represent them in a free, representative democracy that we have today." Huh what? This is so deep that maybe I should enter it into the OCF's Wayne Morse Memorial--Name That Slab of Granite Contest, which by the way is what we are going to have since we are going to be having since the Board is donating $1000 to the fund. Ya'll should start searching for your quotations now too because this one is going to be hard to beat, unless it's too long in which case it will be a crying shame because it so perfectly captures the spirit of our governmental ideals---but then I digress. Our man Dan took his second run at presidential candidacy this time around, but was very quickly eclipsed by an even greater master of the verbal gaffe, his old boss' son, George W. Bush. Now that the new contender has come to town and Dan Quail rides off into the sunset, it is only fitting to let him have the last word. "Well, they've been shooting at me and I'm still standing. I'm sitting right now, but I am standing tall."
Wednesday 4 October Spent a good part of the day working on the woodshed I am building. It is taking more time than expected (which is to be expected), but I want this to be a solid and worthy addition to the Yurt. It does feel a little hypocritical lecturing on and on about temporary stuff here at the Fair while all the while building for the the Ages, but that is the difference one must agree, between three days and 365. There is constant joy in my life because that magical feeling of working here at the Fair is never-ending---crazy as that may sound to some. There wasn't another person on Site today as far as I know, yet it is predicted that the gorgeous weather will last at least through Sunday and there are always those little surprises waiting to be discovered about the place. I am going to keep saying this in one form or another---a visit to the Site, especially during the off-season, is a great way keep many things in perspective.
Tuesday 3 October It is the tenth month of the year according to the Gregorian calendar. October comes from the Latin word octo, for eight. October was the eighth month in the early Roman calendar, and later became the tenth month when the ancient Romans moved the beginning of the year from 1 March to 1 January. They tried to change it four separate times and naming after Germanicus, Antonius, Faustina and Herculeus---yet none of them stuck and so now it is what it is. The days seem to be racing by now as Night overtakes the shortening days. This is my favorite time of year because of the crisp air and earthy smells, each day a beautiful gift, not to be wasted or taken for granted. I ride my Harley-Davidson motorcycle nearly everyday and (with the almost sole exception of traveling to Burning Man) I have not used my Jeep at all since I bought the bike just before the Fair. The uncongested country roads here curve gently through the low rolling hills and beautiful rural scenery. Much has been said about the allure of riding but it is something that can seemingly only be accurately felt through actual experience. The slightest touch steers eight hundred pounds of chrome and steel effortless through the curves, and a small twist of the wrist produces acceleration, speed, and that intoxicating rumble from the big 1350cc V-Twin shovelhead. The Site are looking mighty good right now, although we could certainly use a good shot of rain. I wish I could say the same for the Family side of the Fair but for there we have slid deep into our annual rites of difunctionality, as the last Board Meeting illustrated. As Caretaker I feel it is a really great idea to keep my nose out of the politics, while at the same time, as a human being it is difficult to do so. Easy as it is to second guess and criticize, I realize too what a difficult job being on the Board is. I thought Rivka's statement was powerful and moving. Everyone in this organization means well although perhaps it could be diplomatically said that sometimes there can be such a thing as too much passion. About the only insight I would give participants is to not try and represent anyone but yourself. This includes the Board who were elected because of the individuals that they are, and should not attempt to vote anyone's conscience but their own. It's an interesting life though!