Program Descriptions

Laird Schaub - Sunday, Aug. 11
Using the Moment of Disagreement for Insighting, Instead of Infighting
When someone disagrees with you, what is your first response? How many said "curiosity"? For all those who answered something else, Laird Schaub will explore what typically happens in the moment of disagreement and how our cultural training gets in the way of getting information we urgently need about how we're perceived and what others think about issues we care about. After pulling the pants down on our dysfunctional conditioning, Laird will offer ideas about how to do it differently, emphasizing the advantages of getting a little help from your friends (as the bumper sticker says: "It's more fun doing it in a group").

Laird Schaub is a nationally respected leader in the intentional communities movement, and has been an administrator for the Fellowship for Intentional Community since that network's inception in 1987. He writes a regular column in the FIC's Communities Magazine, has contributed as a writer to each edition of the FIC's celebrated Communities Directory, and is a founder of Sandhill Farm, an income-sharing, agricultural community in northeast Missouri. Laird is a charismatic speaker and has been offering his skills as an outside facilitator and consensus teacher for the past 15 years and has done trainings and workshops all over the country.


Getting Real - Monday, Aug. 12
Getting Real is a process of deep personal sharing, learning, and conversation about questions that really matter to us. In a lively, interactive format designed to enhance personal awareness and build community, we will play a modified version of the Getting Real card game. During the process, we will: answer self-revealing questions, share feedback and self-talk, create our own "wild cards," and communicate with the intent to "relate" vs to "control." The results are often profound, frequently heartwarming, always provocative, sometimes disturbing, and altogether entertaining.

WARNING: Playing this game could push the limits of your comfort zone!

Susan Campbell, Ph.D., has been a relationship coach and teamwork consultant for 35 years, specializing in helping her clients learn from change, diversity, and conflict. She is currently president of Getting Real Resources, a training and consulting firm focusing on helping individuals, teams, and the larger culture make the shift from "being right, safe, and certain" to "being real, unique, and open." She is author of 6 books and 3 card games related to this mission.


HAI Workshop - Wednesday, Aug. 14
Come explore the balance in your own humanity through interactive exercises, guided visualizations, and sharing with others. Balance between mind, heart, body, and spirit. Balance between individuality and community. Exploring the alpha and omega of being human so one knows where one's balance point is. It promises to be fun, heartfelt, and informative!

Laina Dicker, MAT, CHT, is a joyful, loving mish-mash who defies pigeon-holing. Laina is a leader for the Human Awareness Institute, and a co-leader for the monthly workshops of the Self-Awareness Institute. And oh yes, she rides a Harley.


Between Consensing Adults - Sunday, Aug. 18
Consensus Skills for Intimate Relationships
Most of us don't grow up learning the skills to support healthy, loving relationships with a partner, let alone with more than one partner at the same time. Consensus decision-making relies on the faith that everyone has a piece of the truth, and that we don't proceed forward until all have given their wisdom and come to a shared understanding. Whether for large groups or relationships of two, learning a framework for cooperation based on listening and mutual respect can lead to greater harmony and happiness.

Tree Bressen is a group facilitator who's been involved with the communities movement for over a decade and living in intentional communities since 1994. She also works with political activists, schools, worker co-ops, and other nonprofits. Her work arises from lived experiences, and an enthusiasm for growing the cooperative skills that enable us to build a better world together.


Discussion: Food in the New Culture - Monday, Aug. 19
How we approach this most basic need in the light of creating a new culture has proven to be a surprisingly complex issue. Can we uphold the values of genuine equality, compassion, non-dogmatism and support for diversity of human needs and beliefs; and at the same time exemplify high standards of non-violence and ethical treatment for other forms of life? Do these concepts apply to all life forms equally, or just those evolutionally similar to our own? This open discussion and a follow-up forum will provide an opportunity for these and other questions on the topic to be examined in detail.

You can see the results of a recent survey taken of past campers regarding food needs here.


Facing the Mask - Monday, Aug. 19 and Tuesday, Aug. 20
Exploring Authenticity through Theatre Methods and Dramatic Dialogue
To survive in our families and our culture, we have developed ways of presenting ourselves that often obscure the genuine pain and beauty of our shared humanity. In this workshop, we will explore what is behind the habitual masks and roles that inhibit intimacy and a deeper aliveness. Using methods from psychodramatic therapy, sociodrama, improvisational theatre games, and Playback Theatre, we will have an opportunity to release ourselves from roles that no longer serve us, to play with new ways of being and relating, and strengthen the authentic connection to our deeper self that allows greater love and expands our choices in relating to others.

Judy Dolmatch, MSW, is a nationally certified practitioner of psychodrama and group psychotherapy. She has worked in mental health settings for 25 years, and conducted trainings in psychodrama, action methods, and improvisational theatre for public and professional groups. in 1995, She founded the Rogue Valley Playback Theatre, a troupe of improvisers who portray real life stories shared by audience members, and presented the Playback Theatre Workshop at NFNC Summer Camp 2001.


Auction - Monday, Aug. 19
Expect to be amused and surprised by the variety of unusual items and services donated by fellow campers for bidding. Previous auctions have included such offerings as "1000 kisses" and "a morning serenade". Auction proceeds help to support and improve summer camp.

Open Sessions - Wednesday, Aug. 21
Participants gather in a circle, and are invited to identify any issue for which they have some genuine passion and are prepared to take some personal responsibility. Each person writes their issue on a piece of paper, announces it to the group, and posts the paper on the wall. When all issues are posted, the participants are invited to sign up for the issues that excite them, and an informal schedule of concurrent focus groups is created. People can move from group to group as inspiration moves them, and the governing motto is "vote with your feet!"

Geoph Kozeny has lived in intentional communities since the early '70s, and has been on the road as "The Peripatetic Communitarian" for 14 years, visiting over 300 diverse communities. He is a featured columnist for Communities Magazine, and was a co-creator of the Communities Directory. He recently completed "Visions of Utopia: Experiments in sustainable Culture," a video documentary about the visions and realities of intentional communities. He loves to entertain with his guitar and silly songs, and amuses himself with nonstop puns (an annoying or endearing quality, depending on your mood).


Going Deeper - Thursday, Aug. 22
This presentation is designed to dive a little more deeply into some of the possibilities for growth available at camp.

Sharon Byrd facilitates conflict resolution and a monthly Human Awareness Institute (HAI) support group. She is also a presenter at HAI community nights. Sharon brings her joyful heart, mind and humor to all that she does.


Role-Playing/Game Show - Friday, Aug. 23
Role-Playing for Intimacy is 1-part Acting Class, 1-part Gestalt, and 2-parts Love. Through fun, non-threatening interactive exercises, we will explore how platonic and sexual role-playing can be used for building intimacy with yourself and with your partner(s). Learn to bring your fantasies to life AND channel your excitement to further your growth!

The Sexuality Game Show takes our conscious play to the utmost! The entire community will be divided into 6-8 teams for a spirited contest of “reality-game-show” type challenges, custom-designed for maximum playfulness, consciousness, and sexiness!

Daniel Phoenix is a speaker / healer who received his MA in Counseling Psychology from CIIS in San Francisco and his BA in Socio-Cultural Anthropology from Tufts University in Boston. In 1995, he founded Treasure Map, a consulting firm that uses custom experiential programs to teach community & personal development to the business world. In addition, Treasure Map is also directing 4 chapters of the Layoff Lounge, a national organization devoted to helping people in career transition.


Forum - (various times)
The Forum is a group process developed at ZEGG to provide a stage for whatever is happening inside the person: one's true motivations, deep feelings, ideas and emotions. The Forum helps facilitate transparency, sharing and clarifying unsolved situations of daily life, and it can be a catalyst for one's own personal growth.

For a detailed examination of the development and use of this process at ZEGG, see What is the ZEGG Forum? in our document library section.


Fishbowl
The Fishbowl is a type of discussion group where only some members participate (often either just men or just women), while the others observe silently from the perimeter of the room. This provides a unique sharing opportunity for the participants and an equally unique learning opportunity for the observers.

Communication Game
In this most popular camp event, campers work cooperatively to arrange 3 short "dates" for each of them to be held that evening. The early process involves idea sharing, goal setting, negotiation, feedback, and win-win problem solving. Then, the evening events provide chances to make connections that may not have occurred otherwise at camp. The game is typically played twice, with each gender taking a turn at the "invitation" phase of the game.

Lighter Side
Participants create and perform skits to illustrate humorous events that they have observed or experienced at camp.

Lady Luck
Lady Luck is a game of chance where campers pull a name from a hat to spend some time getting to know someone new or coming to know someone already familiar even better.