Kansas City Pagan Pride :: PPD 2000

KC Pagan Pride Day III

One thing that I am not known for these days is my participation in pagan events. There are several reasons why I don't take part, but for the most part it is because of the number of "pretenders" I generally encounter on the streets and have encountered at events in the past. Pagan Pride Day III was a pleasant change. During the past five years or so, it seemed that those I noticed of the Pagan Community were far from the kind of people I wanted to be known for associating with. They either were deep into some fantasy role playing viewpoint or thought that this was some sort of fast fix to their problems and that it was something that came easy to whomever wanted to gain from it. When you tried to explain to these people that this was not a game and it wasn't something that you could acquire easily, you were not looked upon kindly, especially by those who stood to profit from those inside the "Easy Come" "Gimme gimme" Neo-pagan movement.

Pagan Pride Day showed me a side of the Kansas City Pagan Community that I had not seen. The first thing I noticed when I walked up was a Goth looking female, but I also noticed that she stood out in the crowd of rather normal looking people. Yes, there were people who dressed their parts, but for the most part this crowd was normal looking, people you would not suspect as being a part of the Pagan Community if you stumbled across them walking down the streets. This was a pleasant surprise.

After all the stress that I have put on some of the people inside the community, after some of the differences we have had in the mail list, and despite the fact that there will still be some differences in opinion about paganism, I was given nothing but a warm and friendly welcome by those I was introduced to. The conversations that stemmed from my attending this event showed me that there are a few "old-timers" like me that are involved in the group, and that we do share a lot of the same opinions. In fact, what really fascinated me when it was all said and done was how none of these shared thoughts had never revealed themselves in the list because there are a lot of young people inside the KC Pagan Community that could benefit greatly from the ideologies that were shared during PPD III and the dinner I attended afterwards.

Attending Pagan Pride Day III had its winners as well. The Witches Voice network, which found itself having financial problems this year due to a change of servers and high internet traffic, benefited from a silent auction. The real winner however was Wayside Waifs, a local animal shelter, which gained the support and attention of the pagan community for this event. It was because of the groups past contributions to charity and its choice of charities this year that I, and most of the HRS household, attended Pagan Pride Day.

To RavenSpirit and the rest of the crew who put this year's Pagan Pride Day together, as well as those who supported them, excellent job people. Does this mean that the members of HRS and myself will attend more events in the future? Can't say, but at least this event didn't drive us back into the shadows again.

Mark "Stryder" Stilwell