9d • Introductions
The First of many Welcome posts!
To you, the inaugural members of Clearwater Village, I offer a thank you and a huge welcome hug!
Help me welcome you and each other!
I was reminded just last week that the first online community I built was back in 1997!
It was centred on Irish Dance, and in particular the show Lord of the Dance, created by Michael Flatley. The website for the show had a 'Visitor's Book', and many fans posted there about seeing the show, and slowly a community built up as people responded to others' posts. Soon, a few of us who were 'tech savvy', started building websites, and I would host a regular 'Storyteller Room' chat in ICQ (we didn't have anything like we have today!) I also hosted a regular SCDS - a synchronised CD session. One of our members loved creating midis and he made us all a CD of a live show's soundtrack. We would all get together in the 'Storyteller Room' and there would be a countdown, and on 'Go' we all started our CD at the same time and then typed into the chatroom our comments as we all listened to the show together.
Amazing friendships were formed, a lot of the members in the US were able to meet up at performances of T2 (a second troupe that started touring through the US), and it was a great community. So in 1998 when Michael Flatley announced he would retire from the lead role in the show and his final performance in Lord of the Dance would be back where it all started in Dublin, the idea of a 'Gathering' started. Such was the popularity of the idea that more than 60 of us, friends from all over the world, descended on Dublin in late June 1998 to meet face-to-face for the first time! So many stories and connections came from that!
And there were those who couldn't make the journey, who lived vicariously through our stories posted to the 'VB' (Visitor's Book) with whom I'm still friends today. Friends for nigh on 30 years, and we still haven't met face-to-face.
That's the power of community.
That's the power of building connections.
And that's the power of the 'interwebs'!
It's what I hope we will see grow and develop here, in Clearwater Village.
Connection.
Compassion.
Companionship.
And a real feeling of belonging.
I invite you to think of other women you would love to see here, women you admire, enjoy having a laugh with, and have some good conversations with. While I might be the 'guide' here, I want you to feel like this is your community, a place to come and simply be, rather than do.
Pull up a chair, and one beside you for your friends. Check out the Welcome Guide I'm developing in the Classroom, say hi if you haven't already, introduce yourself, and settle in with a beverage of your choice, the Cafe Under the Tree is always open!
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The First of many Welcome posts!
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