[Coco] Short Sunday CoCoFest WebCam

[Boisy Pitre]

A lot of traffic has flowed through the list on this topic, and I,  
being one of the principals of this thread, have read everything that  
everyone has had to say.  Those who know me can attest that I do not  
shy away from controversy; I speak my mind (to a fault perhaps) and I  
call them as I see them.  My delivery may not be agreeable and my  
poignancy may be uncomfortable, but I believe that the message is  
correct.

The bottom line is this:  you DO NOT have to be rich or well off to  
attend a fest.  You do have to have the desire to go.  Then, you have  
to have the ingenuity to make it happen.  I am not going to get into  
the details of my financial situation like others on here have.   
Honestly, I do quite well for myself, but when I attended my first  
Chicago Fest in 1992, I was a 21 years old "poor as a church mouse"  
college student with no job.  Up until that time, I could only DREAM  
of going to a Fest.  For years as a teenager, I would get the Rainbow  
in my mailbox every month, and every so often, the RainbowFest Report  
would be featured, along with pictures of the notable and famous.   
Believe me, I would have given my right arm and leg to go to the  
fests back then, but the truth was my family didn't have much money,  
and there was no way that they could pay for me to go.

So in 1992, I scrounged up enough money (and it was a paltry sum) to  
buy a Greyhound ticket from Brookhaven, Mississippi to Chicago,  
Illinois and rode in a crowded, uncomfortable bus for 24 hours  
straight.  When I finally got to Chicago, I met up with Scott McGee,  
who had agreed to share a room with me prior to my arrival.  We went  
dutch on the cost of the hotel, then ate sandwiches and drank cheap  
cola from the local supermarket in Schaumburg.  I had the best time  
of my life that weekend.

Very shortly after that fest, I was lucky enough to land a job at  
Microware, and from then on, I was more easily able to afford the  
cost of flying to fests and forego the sandwiches and cheap cola for  
something a little more substantial.  With the exception of the 2000,  
2001 and 2002 Chicago CoCoFests, and the 2000 PennFest, I have made  
every fest from 1992 until the present, including the Atlanta ones.   
By attending these fests, I have met some of the smartest, most  
talented people that I have had the privilege of knowing.  One of the  
fruits of attending these fests has been the collaboration that Mark  
Marlette and I do, and the subsequent creation and growth of Cloud-9.

This is my story.  If you don't want to come to the fest, that's your  
prerogative.  I personally think that attending the fest should be  
the goal of every CoCo-loving individual on this list, because it is  
a rich and rewarding experience.  I think even more so, those that  
consider themselves the leaders, or movers and shakers, should be  
there because it shows their commitment to the community.  And  
because of my own personal experience and hardship, I simply have no  
sympathy for those who give excuses year after year.

Boisy