What I Learned This Year At Bonanza: A Love-Note to my Rocky Mountain Generation (#19)

Bonanza Campout. 
Music Festival. 
3rd Annual in Heber, Utah. 40 minutes out of my hometown. 
Tucked underneath the Jordanelle Reservoir, a giant dam looms over the festival grounds. 
Keeping us safe, while reminding us of our impermanence. One brick could fall and we would all wash away in seconds. :)

This was my third time exploring this land at River's Edge. I've gotten quite familiar with it.
Outside the grounds, it's fairly pristine marshland. Catch glimpses of herons and deer just across the highway. There's a cool, refreshing tributary running through the backside of the fest, where all the VIP cabins are perched. The high mountains and tall damn around us keep the space surprisingly shaded. Camping tents and chairs colorfully line up blocks, row after row outside the stages fences. 

These are my people. 

Millenials. In crotch-rocking high-waisted denim shorts. 
20-something-year-olds rolling on Molly. 
Crop tops. Glitter. Bros. Beer pong. Giant pupils. 
I'm not ashamed of us. We're fucking awesome. 

We're the gayest, most compassionate, most accepting, most driven, hardest working generation yet. You know Imma stand by these facts. I love my generation. You can talk all the shit you want about us on how we still live with our parents, drown in debt and don't believe in the 40 hour work week and I'll still say yep that's us. Still proud. 

These are my people. 
Rocky Mountain type people. Here from Park City, Salt Lake City, Mount Olympus, Little Cottonwood, Provo Canyon, Zion, St. George, Ogden, Moab. And we're all here in this tiny canyon, together. The music is the motive but the people are the reason we all go. To be together. To be with the tribe. I reconnected with so many old friends. I could make a list but this story would get too long and I'm trying to make a deadline I set for myself yesterday. 

Not only did I reconnect a slew of people from my loving past, but I also was given the opportunity to connect deeper with new friends and friend's new mates. Festivals like this are a chance to bring along a new pal to meet the Lit Bonanza Fam. 

Yeah, my best-friend is about as Bro-ey as they come. He has big muscles, tattoos, wears flat-brim hats and he looks great in a tank-top. He's also the most solid presence in my life. Never judged me once. Saw me for who I am. Loved me anyways. Judge these people and miss out on some serious loving'.

Sometimes I had to break away and wander alone. I brought along with me, for her first festival, my best girl-friend/ human fairy. We practiced un apologetic self-care every moment of the festival. Constantly asking ourselves, what do I need? Then going to get it. That's freedom people. Best way to thoroughly enjoy yourself. 

I love having my camera with me at festivals. I love capturing the faces in this place. The lighting here is incredible. Every one is dressed up in their best - their own personal best. There's no dress-code, no rules. These people we see, especially women, are expressing themselves through their clothing and accessories with complete liberation. Most of them probably grew up getting dress-coded and shamed by older white mormon men like I did. Getting this kind of expressive freedom is important for us. We should celebrate it. For some girls that meant next to nothing, for others, that meant all the flowing fabrics. For me, that meant tiny yoga clothes, glitter and a hat. I keep it simple. 

If you can really embrace the state-wide reunion that happens every summer at Bonanza, you will leave with a heart full of love. If you are some one with enemies that you avoid, this ain't the place for you. Because nobody here is enemy. I realized at this festival, as a newly single-lady, that Salt Lake City has my back. Just like I always say the Universe is cradling me with love, I saw with my own eyes and felt it in my own heart and bones at this festival that my fellow Utahns are cradling me in their arms with love and acceptance. I am nurtured by every soul I connect with. I am loved for who I am, because they saw me when I was who I am not. And they see me now that I am. I am not hiding. We don't need to hide. 

We are the generation of social equanimity. 
I'm sticking to that claim HARD. 

So thanks for warming my heart, Bonani Tribe. I know it's gooey and cliche but the family we have here in the Rocky Mountains takes up a huge space in my chest. My soul is warm and replenished from spending a weekend surrounded by all of you. Capturing all of you on film. Capturing that happiness that our youthful freedom brings. Capturing that deep-seeded connection between us all. 

And if I'm being honest, I would say that all the drug use can cloud that connection and create insincerities between us, but I'm not here to judge. Every one gets to celebrate however they want.

I know that my heart is warmest with a lotta loving, music and a little whiskey. Pick your poison! I will still love you. 

Thank you Utah. Thank you Salt Lake City. Thank you Park City. Thank you friends. Thank you family. Thank you to all the adults who made that festival happen for us <3 

See you next year. 
Jane.