The Bond of the Story // RUX Third Weekend Guest Blog
“Storycircle was billed as being like dipping your toe in the RUX water, but if you've never experienced something like it before you come away drenched in the love, respect, and trust these people have for one another.”
The following blog post was recently written by Chris Clair, a first-year Rural-Urban Exchange (RUX) cohort member, about his experience at RUX’s Third Weekend gathering from August 9-11, 2024, at Carter Caves.
RUXers & their loved ones come together for a square dance on Friday night of Third Weekend, led by caller Will Bowling and accompanied by local musicians.
This is my first year in RUX. Opening weekend, we traveled to Campbellsville. When I got home friends would ask how it was and I would say, "I don't even know where to begin describing what I just did." I was emotionally and physically drained. The second weekend, in Owensboro, I felt more prepared. Still, when I walked in the door at home on Sunday, while I felt like I was better at explaining the logistics – the who, what, and where – of what we'd done, I still struggled to put the emotional aspect of it into words.
The Third Weekend schedule at-a-glance with the weekend's planned activities.
Being part of a group that deals with one another so openly and honestly, and that confronts the most pressing issues in our Commonwealth – and society – today through brutal honesty and the willingness to be simultaneously totally open and totally receptive is exhausting. It's also difficult to put into words, particularly for someone who hasn't experienced it.
Then along comes Third Weekend at Carter Caves State Resort Park and in Morehead. "RUX-lite," or so we told the friends and family we brought along. And we worked to convince them it would be exactly that during the first night and full day. There was square dancing the first night with a live caller and local musicians. That followed a potluck with flavors from around the Commonwealth and the world.
Saturday morning there was a cave hike led by a state park guide and a nature hike led by a local botanist, Channing Richardson (husband of Amy Le Ann Richardson), that definitively answered the question, "What's the difference between a botanist and someone who's read the Audubon Field Guides?" When you ask Channing, "What's this plant?" you get genus and species and a history of the plant's habitation of that particular forest, at the very least.
Third Weekend attendes hike in Carter Caves State Resort Park.
Later in the day, the focus shifted to Morehead for crafts, more hikes, local beer, pizza, and a RUX talent show featuring shadow puppets brought to life by the children of RUXers. After that, many returned to the resort to spend time around the campfire, or chatting in the lodge or in their rooms. Talking and listening after all, are two of the actions that give form to RUX.
Even Sunday morning, with its geologic hike and workshops covering using moss to foster curiosity, papermaking and clay, and writing, continued to RUX-lite theme – innovative and informative, but not necessarily intensive.
And then came the storycircle. What happens in storycircle stays in storycircle, so specifics are out. Suffice it to say of the 30-odd people sitting on the picnic table benches under the roof of the Welcome Shelter in the woods at Carter Caves, a third had never experienced such a thing. People bared their souls, exposed their pain, described their fears, and shared their wisdom. We laughed, we cried, and afterward we hugged. Many visitors looked drained from what they had just experienced, while some seemed exhilarated. No matter their condition, they had a RUX family member or friend nearby with whom they could share a smile, a touch, an understanding look.
Storycircle was billed as being like dipping your toe in the RUX water, but if you've never experienced something like it before you come away drenched in the love, respect, and trust these people have for one another. And when some of the friends and family got home and their friends asked how it was – what they did – they probably relayed wonderful tales of the hikes and workshops, and the talent show, and the campfire songs and stories, and the fantastic weather, and the exquisite potluck dishes, and the square dancing, and the local beer – all loosely but lovingly organized by RUX alumni.
Storycircle, though, defies description, even if one were free to describe it. Like RUX itself, it must be experienced fully to be understood. It's fascinating to me that RUX brought this outside group into the storycircle – in my opinion the most intimate setting in RUX apart from one-on-one side conversations.
That's how RUX rolls, though. It's about openness and trust. And from that perspective, who better, really, to bring into the storycircle, and the wider RUX experience, than friends and family – the people we trust the most?
—Chris Clair
Chris Clair lives in Frankfort, Kentucky, with his wife Kimberly and cats Lucky and Nulu. He grew up in Southern Oregon and later spent 19 winters in Chicago and New York before migrating to the Bluegrass State. He worked for nearly 30 years as a journalist covering sports, schools, government, and finance. He now works in the communications office for the Kentucky Public Pensions Authority. In his spare time, he enjoys motorcycle riding, reading, walking, and writing his own short stories. Despite and because of his career in journalism, which often uses tension and conflict to tell deeper truths, Chris is committed to the idea that there is more that connects us than separates us – across the rural-urban gap, across ideologies, and across income disparities. Everyone has a story, and it is through the telling of those stories that we connect with one another.