festival reflections

for the second year, my partner and i traveled to the berkshires for unifier festival, an expressive arts gathering in tolland, MA, to photograph.

i’ve never been a festival person. i love all the elements involved: sky, trees, tents music, bare feet, unbridled expression, firelight. but most festivals i’ve been to have felt too contrived, too centered around becoming uncentered, that ultimately i usually feel more alienated than when i came.

unifier is different, though. for what it’s worth - there are kids, everywhere, a lot of them. running amok, yet unsupervised, in this grand inter-parenting village ecosystem, and reminding us that the goal is not to become so blacked out that we’re out of our minds, but to return us to the magic of childhood - wonder, security, playtime, fearlessness. unifier feels like summer camp. you can drift on the breeze between field, to forest, to listen, to talk, to move.

mostly, though, there is the sweetness of this shared intention: to be really, really nice to people. open to new relationships. to make space for new possible connections. it is a magical thing, a world where everyone is actively trying to be nice. one i want to live in, maybe always.