Fresh from five days in the woods of the Olympic Pennisula last weekend, I’m speaking today with my friend and colleague Ben Browner, co-founder of MANiFEST, to unpack the experience.
What began as a longing for Finn (Ben’s co-founder) simply missing his friends after becoming a father - has become the largest annual men’s gathering in the Pacific Northwest.
In this Crow’s Nest conversation, Ben and I debrief while everything is still fresh: the arc that men move through from the first day’s trepidation to the final night’s crescendo; the sacred slaughter and the combat training and the drum circles and singing together, and the moment a dissonant perspective rattled the whole container but became a gateway into mutual commonality by the end of the week.
We also talk about the brave experiment of inviting women in as ambassadors - what the facilitators called the “Other than Male Council” - and what it revealed about how much preparation men actually need before this kind of gender reconciliation can begin.
Connect with MANiFEST on the official website here.
For men seeking this kind of work, in just over a month, I’m co-stewarding the Cascadia Men’s Conference (Aug 6-9) in the Squamish Valley.
While we share overlap withe MANiFEST (including some of the facilitators), this gathering is steeped in the soil of the Minnesota Men’s Conference, started by Robert Bly (Iron John) over 40 years ago.
Tickets include all meals and accommodation.
