David Hatch, 5/3/00: Another delightful May Day is now history, and everyone I've talked to had an outstanding time! It took place at the usual location (what we now call the MayDay field) at Wheeler's near Charles' house and most of the usual gang showed up, even though it was a Monday.
 The one thing that has impressed me the most are all the young people that came, (most of whom their connection to Wheeler's escapes me) - but they contributed by drumming, doing amazing tricks with soccer balls, and helping to clean up at the end of the party.  The dance around the Maypole was as fun as ever - no one got wrapped up on the pole by the streamers as Susan did last year. Ramon (with his accordian, of course!), Bishop, Wilder and Penny helped provide the music at the pole. Penny, as has been the case the last few years, did a bang-up job dyeing the sheets (quite a lot of work) then we ripped them into strips and tied them together down at the Maypole that morning.  Amongst the surprise arrivals this year was Michael Morningstar, and I had a good chat with him about the "old days".  He says it was Bill that pushed him up on the cross when MayDay was held on Hoffe’s hill some thirty years ago.  Like everyone else who hasn't been here for years and years he couldn't figure out where Hoffe's hill was any more, because the whole landscape has been so transformed over the years by tall fir and pine trees.  Peggy and Bishop spent much of their time entertaining their dog Ben, who is a sweetie - a cross between a Mastiff and a Labarador.  Ramon and Judy equally had their hands full with Winston, who managed not to get in all the trouble he did last year! Coyote and Denise, as usual, were some of the last of the "old gang" to leave.   The weather got weirder as the day progressed - the usual trade wind of April began sweeping in during the afternoon, then it clouded up around 5-ish when many people began to leave.  After that the sun made a surprise re-appearance for a while and it was delightfully warm down on the Mayfield.  Then near sunset, I had gone up the road to where Kingfisher was having a sweat. Such luminaries as Bill, Pieter Myers, and our dear ex-County Supervisor Ernie Carpenter had just come out of the lodge more resembling cooked lobsters than anything else, when a "trace" of rain occurred - the sky directly overhead was nearly all blue, and sure enough, a rainbow appeared in the east!  A fitting climax to a wonderful day! Badaba,
Pam Read Hanna, 5/5/00:
 Remember how David & Penny's little artsy hobbit tree house at the California M* looked? It was surrounded by trees & vines & there were bright beads & feathers, scarves and rag rugs, kaleidoscopes & prisms & little objects d'art everywhere you looked - on windowsills with shells and there were bells hanging from the ceiling among drying herbs. Now segue to Morningstar New Mexico where they had adobe walls & niches with pictures and windows made of colored bottles. Corn & chiles hung from the ceiling with the bells and the herbs. And everywhere paintings, collages, line drawings. ART.
 Here's your roving reporter in the Morningstar Diaspora, talking from inside the magic bottle of those memories as we enter the same world in Austin, Texas. Didn't take Findley & me long at all to grok that this was essentially the same scene - only more of it. Vintage Morningstar.  Twenty-two O Nine South First Street in Austin is the home of David & Susan's gallery, Alternate Current. Susan's flowers surround & adorn it. Her tiles, David's paintings & collages as well as multi paintings & drawings of other artists explode in living color. This is an artist's enclave with a funny little thrift shop, two other galleries and a potter's kiln with Raku pottery & a frame shop. There's a work shed, a storage shed & a sheltered commons area. Susan & David's little trailer bedroom is surrounded by flowers and vines & a tiny garden in front of another tiled shed with those magic bottle walls. David's paintings & all kinds of sculptures & found art are everywhere. Everywhere you look. It's unreal. No--it's super-real. Just like Morningstar used to feel.
 David gave us a copy of his movie, Six Miles of Eight Feet, starring David Lee Pratt himself. It got into the Sundance Film festival. I've watched it five times now & every time I catch another subtlety. IMHO, this is a fine & profound movie & David Lee is so good you wouldn't know it was David if you didn't know it was David. Dig? That's my stock highest compliment for any actor.
 Findley & I slept in our truck in the parking lot under spreading trees for those two nights. A rooster crows at the break of dawn, and the sun shines on little garden plots in every side nook. Squash & cucumbers & beans & tomatoes everywhere are growing green. And there are cats watching for mice & hanging out doing their cat number, & one artist told me there are goats and chickens just another block away. (This is in the heart of old downtown Austin. How do they get away with this?) All the artists collect beautiful, (mostly metal), junk & the sculptures they make are a trip. Funny and beautiful. Their landlord is an artist too & has clever revolving junk sculptures on his roof & he lets everybody get away with being himself/herself. Reminds me of Lou & Bill Wheeler & Michael Duncan too actually. It's SO unbelievably cool.
 In the morning, the first person Findley saw when he got up was David hauling trash. Findley said, "Pratt, you still DOING that?" (David was the self-appointed trash hauler & garbage collector at both M*'s simply, he says, because nobody else does it fast enough to suit him). Some things never change.
 Jane & Al (double M* alumni) & Asa Hartz (NM M*) & Winston from Austin (M* NM) made it to stand on the spear side. Also, Tommy Hancock's daughters, Traci & Connie showed up. (Tommy Hancock & his Supernatural Family Band were adopted by the NM M*). The distaff side was well represented too, but funny thing. Mis amigos & amigas son tu amigas & amigos. MOST of the people at the wedding were friends of both David & Susan. It's a package deal. Once you become acquainted with Susan, you're so glad she picked David & if you knew Susan before, you're so glad David saw the light & grabbed this woman.  She reminds me of my dear friend, Klea (NM M*). This wedding was a merge of artistry and a marriage of minds, hearts and talent.
 OK, the wedding. They had a tent pavilion set up & through the bamboo gate is the commons/patio where they had the wedding tent canopy with a black monkey doll in a white dress named "Moonflower" sitting on top. Asa & I (mostly Asa) put together a gazillion farolitos with sand & kitty litter in paper bags with candles to light everybody's way (i.e. the NM contingent was well represented). There was even a bubble machine as you entered the gate.  Caterer friends set up tables & roasted meat & they had a torch singer on keyboard named Carmen who was a hit & later this amazing 6-piece all-female band (Faux Paws) playing fiddles & concertinas (Shoshanna, you'd love to jam with them) & a dulcitar (guitar strung like a dulcimer) & an oboe & cello & percussion triangles & sticks & drums & wooden & metal spoons & they made a magic sound into all the night. Children darted & danced through the crowd.  It was altogether lovely - and fun!
 Susan told me later that all this stuff was done for free - the flowers, the food, the champagne, the music - people just pitched in for this event. I really got off on witnessing this. Feel like 10 years were just tacked onto my life. I'm not kidding. It was like being in a Morningstar tribal world again, but distilled & mellowed to an amber squash color. Something like that.
 Anyway, two little 8-year-old flower girls distributed rose buds, and sparkling confetti & bubbles fell from the sky, & David & Susan walked through the bamboo gate to the canopy where the preacher was standing. The Preacher, "Snappy Tom" was another trip. His ordainment came from a mail order in the back of a Rolling Stones magazine. He had a thick Ozark accent & a funny downhome hip manner but the ceremony was full of the lovely traditional words - sickness/health - joy/sorrow - richness/poorness - as long as ye both shall live. All that. It was good to hear those words spoken with so much love and understanding. OK, so I'm waxing sentimental.  So sue me!
 They threw the bouquet, cut the cake, had a guest book, danced the first dance, - the whole enchilada - all in this little artist's enclave with about 100 people attending I'd say. The little shed with colored bottles in the walls & Susan's tiles & David's painting with the flower goddess (a happening of flowers) at the entrance & the little garden of rocks & flowers & sculptures & tiles & ironwork chair in front of it - that was the bar from which flowed champagne & red & white wine & light & dark beer. There was music & dancing, conversations & eating & dancing and music. And conversations. I had the best time since a Hale-Bopp viewing party in Nashville. Better.
 Susan's aunt and her two good-looking grown kids, Clara & Jake, were there as well as David's two sons - blond Leo from Santa Fe and tall dark Ross from Boulder - (thick as thieves - hung out with each other the whole time).
 The whole thing folded telescopically in and out on itself (as Sandi Stein has said) "like beads & feathers strung haphazardly together, held in place by relationships and shared interactions."
 After we left on Sunday eve, we stopped at Gero's where Tommy Hancock & his Supernatural Family Band played their gig. (Findley had met Tommy at Celso's bar in Arroyo Hondo, near the NM M* & brought him to the land where he became fast friends with David & all). He brought his family to M* and Charlene (Tommy's wife) told me that it changed their lives (for the better, she said). This is the first time they'd seen us with our clothes on since the '60s but when we walked in, they recognized us just the same & dedicated their first two songs to Findley & Pam, & gave us a bunch of their CD's & Tommy's book, "Zen and the Art of the Texas Two-Step". What a sendoff!  After we got home, we discovered a song about the NM M* on one of the CD's, entitled "Bapook" which is the hippie name of Peter Bradford. Tommy sings about Harvey Mudd & how he set Bapuk up in Taos as a jeweler. All true.  It's a hoot. Beedee beedee beedee, that's all folks. Badaba!

Winston Taylor, 5/5/00: Howdy, folks! The all-girl band at David and Susan's wedding is called "Faux Paws" and they play AmerFrench-style music (I'm still trying to figger out if it's
Canadian/Acadian or zydeco-Louisianan-style music, but whatever it is, it sure is purrr-ty). Their logo is a cat's paw-print. I've known one of these ladies since the 80s.
 David's "feeder" movie, "Six Miles Of Eight Feet" IS truly amazing, very subtle. This reminds me of "Sling Blade", in that that project was first promoted by a short feature called "Some Folks Call It A Sling Blade" before it got made into "Sling Blade". That's what a "feeder" is (I THINK that's the term) and I see the full script behind David's short being made into a full-length film with at least the impact "Sling Blade" had. What I really liked about the film was that it was puuuure Texas...without even trying to be. Most all human (not to denigrate the landscape, which is beautiful!) characteristics I like about this place were capsulated in that 15-20 minutes of celluloid. Having done some stage and student-film-type work, David is, IMHO, a superb actor. So was everyone else in this project. Look for it; spread the word...ESPECIALLY if you've got ANY sort of film contacts. E-mail me and I'll send you a copy of the video...free, too, so long as I'm able. FYI: I have a HOME e-mail address now as well as this 'un: winstontaylor@webtv.net. Contact is welcome. THIS Winston don't bite, neither...well, not very hard, anyways.
 I can't hold a candle to Pam's description of the wedding, but I CAN tell you that even cynical old me shed a tear or two...shuffled a clog now and then to the music, adored watching the children dance. This 50s-ish couple, David and Susan, looked like a couple of prom dates totally infatuated. I don't think a social event has moved me as much in many a year. The variety and NUMBER of that variety, of people was truly inspiring. Love, Winston.

Tomas Diaz, 4/17/00:
What do I know?
Who passes the authority down through our pecking order of command?  Each day, as they pass in review, salutes a memory, seen or thought of.  We hear whispers and cries in this lighted darkness of ours, we see.  Speeches and chants, voices of our education from our birth to our now are spelled out in our absorbing small brains.
Did the dinosaurs complain to god when they looked up and saw their time frame coming to extinction? Why am I writing this trite verbalism, when I know that the world will plunge into the next fiery ball that roams by this small planet?
Are we going to paste and tuck our verbs into a cylinder of titanium and blast it into space? When did one being look at another being with self-respect? When did one man ask another to stop pissing in our shared drinking water? When did civil become a word we could understand? All these answers are in our thoughts and the way we live in these times.... We are being rather well in our state. Then some of us are breaking the egg for pleasure.
We have a horn at work that will make you jump into the air. It is similar to those that truckers use, but louder. I have been accused of being loud and boisterous at small dinner parties at fine restaurants. Maybe someday while sitting at one of these fine restaurants, I’ll look up and see my time frame coming to
extinction.

Tomas Diaz, 2/16/00: There is a world where people work in the fields, they labor to bring life to a family.  Some of us work in unique places.  I work alongside the concrete piers that hold water to provide a channel of depth, a pool of water.  I talk to young men, blue bananas on their heads, rings in their ears. They labor for money, they do what they have to do to make ends meet.  They work on floating steel towboats that push 25,000 tons of commodities on the river. The Captains and Pilots of these vessels put the 25,000 tons of commodities into the lock where I work; this requires nerves of steel. It is like threading a needle, without touching the needle. You only get one chance, so they move slowly, methodically and deliberately. Their stomachs do not last long, ulcers are a way of life, they work for the money. They place the young men with their bandannas  out on the far edge of the tow, they use these young men’s eyes and ears to guide them by any way of communications available. It takes quite a long time to move 25000 tons, it take the same amount of time to stop this great cumbersome mass. We measure the stopping distances in miles.
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Where is the world headed, I see a man grasping an object. The man is paralyzed. Electronics are used to move his muscles, he learns to use electrons created by batteries to stimulate his muscles in his body. Laurel said  this morning that one of the high school girls at Heath High Schoo; in Paducah, Ky. that was paralyzed by gunfire, is using this type of stimulation to stand and walk. This is good stuff.
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Where are the folks of Morningstar? England, Australia, California, Oregon, Kentucky, Hawaii, North Carolina, New Mexico, WV/Maryland, Texas, Arizona, where else?
Laurel and I saw twelve turkeys just down the street by Crooked Creek. We pulled into a dirt driveway and watched the turkeys, only thirty feet away from us.

Tomas Diaz, 4/29/00: It is raining again. While walking across the dam, I saw a snake swimming in the water. It seemed hurt, in some kind of pain. What its circumstance was I do not know. It tried to swim with its head up, but its head would fall back to the water. It could raise its head, but not as far as it wanted. I watched for a few minutes, it was beyond my reach mentally and physically.
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Where is this civilization headed where men in black robes decide the fate of the word god on our mottos? I thought that when man saw a beautiful sunset, he said in amazement, "Oh gawd",  "Gee Willakures", "Ah" or "Oh god?" Is there any other reason to put this word in a motto? Who decided that god was a religious word? It is an expression of the world that we do not understand. Who is confused? I think that I should be a judge, I am perfectly qualified to put the world back in its place, but I know that eventually the power would impale me on the strait and narrow.
Walking together, we have common bonds. Nothing else is needed. No need to speak or write. We have lived on this planet together, that is all that is needed. Walking together, we have this common bond. It has been a pleasure knowing you. That is all that is needed. I have no place to go, no agenda, no goodbye to say. Just a note, something to highlight the space we have enjoyed together on this planet. Just a note saying that it was not in vain. We have put meaning into this world of ours. A body has to speak, a body has to share a moment in time, we have done that very well and now the world knows. Nothing else is needed but peace of mind. An emotion to share. Take care of your self.
Tomas Diaz, 5/12/00: Spring 2000 - Someone asked me recently, "Am I sick?" No, I am not sick. My body aches like everyone else's. I may act sick; you may know the sickness, the sickness of seeing injustice and sitting still and not doing anything about it. That sickness I am guilty of. Also the lazy sickness of writing, sitting and seeing on this earth. Laurel and I have recently come back from a wedding in Philadelphia. Philadelphia is not a place I would want to live in, too many people and machines in the atmosphere. A person could spend a year picking up litter in one square block. I did see why Ben Franklin stopped over when he did. At that time it was a heaven on earth. We stopped in Washington DC and the same can be said of it. The earth is very nice there, but it has been polluted with a million footprints trampling the earth, the great stampedes.
 The Shenandoah Valley is a sight to see in the spring and fall. A gentle man told me that the skies are polluted with smog in the summer because of all the traffic moving along the rim of the mountains at that time. Laurel and I traveled though the area at the right time.
Kentucky is one large dark green forest in the east. The folks there are truly rugged individuals. It is nice to hear voices about weddings and may poles. Friendly colors and dreams in NM. We spread words nicely on our brown rich breads.