This message was received on 7/09/2010 at 7:30am.
Hey there! I
saw that you have some stuff posted about the Gathering of the Juggalos from
2009. I would be more
than willing to interview on behalf of Juggalettes. I have attended the Gathering
every year since 2003, with the
exception of 2008. Each year had been more eventful and fulfilling the the
previous year. I have seen artists that
I never thought possible and have found friends that have respected, loved,
taken care of me, and helped me than
even my parents ever would.
Most religions
preach what we practice. We live day to day looking at the people around us
and realizing that
although they came from an entirely different walk of like, they are worth
something and have something in common
with me, even if it is just music. Most people search for a place where they
can belong and be accepted for who they
are. Not everyone is able to get that from their family, their school, their
job, or anything else in their lives.
Juggalos don't care if you are rich or poor, don't care what color you are,
don't care if you are overweight or
have tattoos or piercings. We celebrate the fact that we are all different
with one common interest and one common
bond. People who are different from what society deems is right or perfect
need a place that they can go where they
can feel that they are the norm and they are worth more than the thirty seconds
it takes to judge someone and throw
an insult. Psychopathic Records gives juggalos a place and a time where we
can all feel as if we are perfect and
accepted; if not to society, at least to each other!
I was once the
same, the norm, and looked at people and thought that I could judge who they
were or their worth in an
instant. I heard "Let's go all the way" from the Bizzar album and
saw the video and realized that I had it wrong.
The lyrics made me feel as if there really is a chance for people to have
what my parents promised and never
delivered, unconditional love from a family; a chosen family.
How many people
do you know that can honestly say that they are surrounded by people who love
them BECAUSE of who
they are, not IN SPITE of who they are?? Juggalos can say it and feel it and
we chose to live it. This
unconditional love that we share is what all people want and yearn for and
truly need in life. Why judge us and
cover is with a shroud of negativity for wanting one of the most basic of
life's necessities? Why not celebrate the
fact that a few more lives were literally spared and given meaning just because
there was a couple of guys who grew
up poor and picked on and hated who decided that no one should have to feel
like that and wanted to give them a place
where they could FINALLY feel that the fact that we (juggalos) live really
matters to someone.
I am thankful
for my juggalo homies. They come second only to my children, who have deemed
themselves
"Juggalittles". Their love and respect is what has kept me going
through some of the most horrible things that life
could have thrown at me. My friends, my chosen family, are the people that
I can look at and know that no one can
hurt me or my children ever again. I know that these, my perfectly dysfunctional
chosen family of juggalos would
literally put their lives on the line to make sure that we are safe. How many
people can truly say that without
question??
I'm sorry to
have ranted almost endlessly, but the Gathering is once again drawing near
and I my mind has been
affixed upon the complete feeling of our Shangri-La... Heaven, so to speak
for those of us who want to escape the
mundane everyday life and relish in a small park where we can let our true
selves be seen, heard, and loved without
judgment or consequence.
Thank you for
your time and for making your attempt at learning about the gathering a more
honest and open experience
than most other people who have tried to "infiltrate" us and find
out what the hype was about. Thank you for
actually seeing that the people that you were interacting with were accepting
of you without question, as none of the
other writers and photographers have bothered to do. If you decide to go to
the Gathering again, you are more than
welcome to stay with me and my homies!!
Have a wicked
weekend!
Patti
-South Central PA