Post #750849 by KonaKaiBaby on Mon, Sep 14, 2015 10:47 AM

Thanks everyone! First chance I've had to respond with all of the event prep (and recovery/disaster zone clean-up!), but I really appreciated all of your comments and support. It helped a LOT when I was getting bombarded.

We were thankfully able to put it all aside and have a wonderful event. The Rockabilly Luau was a huge success! About 130 crazy Vermonters (and some surprise Bostonians) came to Rockabilly the night away until about 3am. We had an amazing band (Moxley Union) and my husband surprised me by putting together a house band of his own (The Moon Frogs! Our home is Frog Moon Hollow :) and performing a bunch of classic Rockabilly songs for me.

The cyber aggressor/stalker thankfully did NOT show up. Phew! I heard that she was thinking about it, but I told our mutual acquaintance that I had called the local police barracks to give them a heads-up, and that seemed to dissuade her. And the torrential downpour might have helped, as well :wink:

Thanks so much for the offer, kkocka! But I'm trying to just disengage completely. I just want her to leave me alone. Since I blocked her on FB, shut down messaging on our public page, made it so that I have to approve all comments on the page first, and our mutual friend told her that she would not be her message carrier anymore, things seemed to have quieted down. Crazy that we'd have to go to these lengths, but I guess that's one of the pitfalls of social media and the extreme openness it evokes.

tikilongbeach, GREAT photo! I love it!

I have been ruminating on the cultural appropriation issue more and more. As a student of comparative religion, I guess I've always been in this mix to some extent. I was the only white student in classes on African religion at both Temple U and Yale and the only non-Jewish student in classes on Jewish culture, identity, and literature. I've been an observer (and participant, when invited) in religions and cultural celebrations from Seder to vodou rituals to coming of age initiations and grieving/burial rituals in multiple traditions, and much, much more. In many cases, there was some reticence and hesitation at first, but in every case, once they saw that I had respect and appreciation and a genuine desire to learn, I was welcomed and encouraged. So after decades, my experience tells me that appreciation and respect are the key elements in this issue. If someone of a certain tradition, who I knew and respected, came to me and had an issue with it, then I'd welcome a dialogue with them and I'd want to hear what they had to say. But an out-of-the-blue cyber aggressor who is a total stranger (and has no connection to the tradition in question)? I think not.

Enough of the heavy stuff! Just for fun, coupla party pics: hubby and I in our '63 LeSabre and a few wacky friends taking over the bar and trying some "creative" mixing in the tiki lounge...