The I and Me/The Summit 2

[Anonymous]

I didn't make it to the summit.  What was the whole costume party thing?  What was the purpose/challenge of it? How were characters picked?

[Anonymous]

What was the Urban Challenge? They sent you to a mall to meet people or something? To talk to people? What was the purpose?

As far as the costume party was concerned...It was supposed to have you put your "Contract" to use. THAT'S RIGHT! The costume party came AFTER the contract. The purpose was so you could feel your way through your neighborhood and use your contract. Basically it was just another dumb thing to do in the Summit. I thought it was really gay. For example: someone in my Summit had to play Mr. Rogers because he was a real hard ass. It was supposed to make you use the tools you had already learned. But in actuallity it just made you even more afraid to stand up in front of the group. The staff who were running the Summit had already picked out what it was that you were supposed to do, just like they had picked out your contract for you. The staff picked out what character you were supposed to be. They kind of had a vote on who was going to get what character by proposing the character then saying "ok, who do you think should play...Jane from Tarzan?" People would say "Max." The staff would say "No, who else?" Eventually the group would pick the right person and they would be chosen for the role.

I guess the whole point of the Summit was for you to "Find" yourself, I guess. But in reality, it was just a terribly frightening thing to go through. Having to stand up in front of 20+ people and talk about your feelings. Fuck, it's hard enough to talk in front of 20+  people and talk about football. The staff made fun of you by playing games, litteraly. They would play with a "Bop-It" toy while we were all standing around.

What made things worse was the fact that when people were done with "Finding" their "Contract" they would act all high and mighty. They would get lifted, litteraly, onto the shoulders of the rest of the group. They would then participate in the confrontations when you were at the front of the room just trying to get that shit over with. They would be able to dance around and be all happy once they were done and basically rub it in everyone elses face who wasn't done.

Man that was some fucked up shit. I've got to read my Summit journal to remember what happened.

[try another castle]

Sounds like they changed some things. In my summit, the carrying around happened after the party. The party happened in two parts. The first was the actual "party" where everyone milled around and did their thing, and the second part was when each person went up in front of the group and played out their character. Similar structure to the contract. When the staff felt that you "nailed it", they played "Fame" and you got carried around by the rest of the peer group. I actually didn't mind the party too much. I thought it was the only thing from the Summit that was actually marginally funny. But this is compared to all of the other crap you had to go through, so it isn't saying much.

I also recall the party happening the day before the contracts instead of the day after.

Yeah, and the point of the urban challenge was to "make the world a better place" (not literally, but at least feel like we were) it was based on a writing assignment we had the night before. That was the part where you worked your contract, since the contracts were the day before.

So it sounds like it changed around, and the party became the part where you worked your contract, instead of the urban challenge.

Did you guys still get keys? We each got a key. (I think in the Summit reunion.) I remember hurling mine into the middle of a large grassy area on my college campus to get rid of it when I first started deprogramming myself and working through all of that resentment. Yeah, I know, totally dramatic.

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[ This Message was edited by: sorry... try another castle on 2006-01-14 19:22 ]

[banana rama]

i was the last one to fulfill by character role.  i dont remember why they picked princess leia.  probably cuz i had a real potty mouth and could be pretty harsh.  the whole thing was rather humiliating and the effects to this day have been troublesome.

the whole placement of the hands thing was harsh for me as my bone-structure wouldnt allow it.  they conceded to this and allowed me to let my arms go inward--palms still up.  the fact that i had to tell them this and ask permission was incredulous.  anybody could see that i was in pain--my face was contorted from it.

i had to go back into town to complete the urban challenge.  the first time was in spokane and the second time in bonners ferry.  supposedly the schools thought i split the second time and kept trying to pick me up.  i had to walk all the way back to bca--little me in my stick legs.  i learned that i had to bullshit and lie to get through this, like giving my money to a homeless person.  funny that i felt guilty.

at the time i was a vegetarian--still am--so the fare they gave me was rather meager.  not saying they everybody enjoyed eating stale sandwiches, but i think i just got a slab of cheese and mayo.

i remember tidbits, but my memmory lacks continuity.  i remember instances as splotchy  or indistinct, except for a few key experiences.  one day, i suppose, i wont be scraping the pieces together into the semblance of a remembered past.  perhaps i dont want to or there is a reason i cant.

[Anonymous]

Yup, they played that damn "Fame" and it was madd hard to keep people up in the air for like 4 minutes. There was one really REALLY fat staff member in ours and they like cut the song off after like 1 minute. She was too damn fat to carry around for that long! hahahah. But there was a mingeling thing before you went in front of everyone. It was kind of strange don't you think? Well, I guess everything was strange there. Instead of saying "Nailed it" they said "Sing it!" That indicated to you that you could then sign your contract and get lifted up or whatever.

They did a lot of acting out little skits also for the kids when we came back from breaks. Like they would play the song from Chariots of Fire and run around the room in slow motion and trip everyone to illustrate that things should be a "Win Win" Then they would do it after the game and they wouldn't trip each other, but pat each other on their backs. That was some fucked up shit.

About the only thing that was remotly ok about the Summit were the breaks. They were madd long and there were a lot of them. But they were kind of bad too. You never knew when you were going to get called back in. So there was this terrible waiting. Sitting on the edge of your seat.

Another thing I just remembered about the Cosntume party was the costumes themselves. You had to make them. They gave you some shitty supplies and you had to make makeshift costumes. Then they had you come in and evaluated the costumes. Every person got yelled at that theirs wasn't good enough. That they had to go back and only had like 10 minutes to fix shit. That just made things even more stressful.

At the begining they made everyone get a partner for the whole Summit. This person you were to keep an eye on. They were to be your support, or something. If they were out of "Agreement" so were you. One person straight bounced, and no one knew where he went. We all thought that the staff were playing a trick on us or something. We thought it was a part of it. Well it wasn't. This dude was like "Fuck you, I'm gone" He just walked out during a break, went back to the dorms, packed, and walked away. It was pretty gutsy I think.

[banana rama]

was there something in which they rocked each participant to, like, "your song?"  or was that the i and me?

[Anonymous]

No! That's was the Summit too! I forgot about that. I can't remember when that was but it was weird too! I remember they brought in John Gurney for me, he and I are sort of friends, SORT OF PEOPLE, and it was supposed to be this great thing. Well it freakes me out to think about it now. I don't remember what that was all about but it did happen, I know that.

[banana rama]

the lights were all dim and shit.  one staff member--a female-sang along with good ol' lennon's "beautiful boy (darling boy)" to a grown man.  weird, i say.  was it before the life-boat?

[If u want to know..then a]

Omigod, we almost dropped someone when we were trying to fly them (not to be mean, but they were the biggest person in there), so none of us could keep them up.  They shut off the music and yelled at us.  They didn't care whether it was our fault or not, and then one of the staff had to step in and help fly them around!  I was laughing because it turned out to be the same staff that yelled at us!

[absolutebest]

I still look back fondly on my IWTL, but I'm actually quite glad I never went through this.  The more and more I hear it just seems weird.

I still don't understand the "your song" part and haven't heard anything about the red/green game.  I'm just so curious about the Summit.  It seems like it was just one long, drawn-out workshop to make you feel as low and uncomfortable as one possibly can, followed by a building up of sorts in which they build you to feel a sense of euphora (half because of what they do, half because the shit is over... you're essentially done with the program).  I'm just blabbing now, but this is the only way that I can make sense of this thing.  

Oh, did they read anything out of any books or anything?  The Prophet maybe?[ This Message was edited by: absolutebest on 2005-10-27 11:53 ]

[Anonymous]

I can't remember them reading anything out of the Prophet, but I don't rule it out. As far was what the reg green game detailed...I don't really remember except for the fact that they seperated everyone into two groups and made them sit on opposite sides of the building(or the breakroom). The two groups couldn't be able to see or hear one another, they had to be seperate. I know that staff members had to relay messages between the groups. But I don't know what the actual game looked like. The POINT of the game was to realize that both teams could be right. It was to emphasize the "Win Win" "Tool." Like I said though, I don't remember how the game was played, just the outcome.

One girl in my group thought that she was "Dirty." She thought it was another sort of a "Disclosure Circle" and started to say all this weird shit. I think she said something like "I didn't do my dishes when I was living in the OSD."

My Summit took place at RMA's campus at the time. It was in that building on the hill or whatever, Emerson?!

But you are correct in your thinking that it really didn't have much to do with emotional growth. It was just one very long mind fuck where they broke you down and made you feel like shit, then somehow by lifting you up on their shoulders and playing John Denver or "Fame" they built you back up.

I know that when everyone saw people coming out of their Summit, holding roses and going "Pssstt" they thought it was lame, and it was. But coming out of the Summit myself, that's actually how I felt. Mind you it wasn't a real feeling or anything, but I was just so damn happy to be done that dancing was easily the best thing to do at the moment. It was a strangely happy moment (But not as happy as the WHITE SOX WINNING THE WORLD SERIES YESTERDAY! I'm from Chicago, sorry.)

Why do you still look back fondly on your I Want To Live? That shit was fucking dumb. OOOHHH hit a pillow for a long time and imagine that it's your father or the bully at school. I thought that shit was lame. It had this big reputation surrounding it also. Maybe that's because you could always hear yelling coming from the "Propheet Room" (what ever one that happened to be) and it scared the crap out of you if you just got there. Actually it scared the crap out of you even if you had already done it.

Did anyone ever assist, or help or support, with a propheet? I can't remember what that was called, but I had to one time. I did the Childrens again, and it was just as weird the second time around as it was the first. The only thing that was different when I was supporting was the fact that I didn't get yelled at as much in the rap. That was all. I had to do the same stuff as I did when I went through it the first time. The Diads or whatever (Yelling at someone: "My father told me...My mother told me.." Man, why didn't we burn that place down?!

[try another castle]

I remember the scariest thing about the IWTL (and some of the workshops, mainly the I & Me) is seeing the older students come out of them and they had lost their voices, and you would wonder WTF they did in there that would make them scream themselves hoarse within such a short amount of time, and what was so special about the IWTL versus the other propheets that would make people lose their voice.

I honestly don't remember why that was, myself.

To answer your question, yes, I supported a propheet. It was the childrens.

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[ This Message was edited by: sorry... try another castle on 2006-01-14 19:22 ]

[Anonymous]

You're right. Seeing someone not be able to speak after like half a day of shit, that is scary!

[Anonymous]

I supported in a Truth Propheet with three of my other friends, all of who had been there longer than I had.  Funny thing is that they all were dirty as hell and got busted when the RMA Underground of '96 got busted.  The Truth was a cakewalk as a support.  It was pretty fun, really.  I had a mellow facilitator, though.  Nicole Rauls (Rawls?), I think.  Maybe it was Laura Curos?  I dunno.  |I think it was Nicole's first propheet as a facilitator, if anyone remembers her?

As far as the IWTL is concerned, yes, I remember it fondly.  I was a real angry kid that kind of fell between the cracks in both the school and my peer group.  Plus, I always thought I was getting pulled until right before my IWTL (I actually did after the Values).  The legendary Sheila was our facilitator and my team leader, Tony Almaras, made an important appearance.  I was angry as hell and really hadn't dealt with shit yet.  The IWTL is the first time I was really focused on within my peer group.  It was also the first time I really opened up, found a voice and let myself be angry.  I just remember walking out feeling like a new person.  After that the entire school's perception of me changed for the better.  I didn't really change that much (was never much of a rap presence or "powerful" older student), I just let go of a lot of shit in there and felt better about myself afterwards. That is why.

My next question is this... Did The Summit really have to be five days?  It seems like they could have done it in two, but just wanted it to be a long, grueling process.

[absolutebest]

That last one was me, sorry...

Adam