Prologue:
The following was written in 2007 about a Fathers, Sons, Brothers (FSB) event in Santa Cruz, CA. Men of all ages, from a variety of SF Bay Area men’s circles, participated in this event which included an epic game of Capture the Flag. 

In 2004, Dennis Speer of Legacy Division, Western Region, Mentor, Discover, Inspire (MDI), bought  88 acres of wilderness nestled in the mountains near Santa Cruz. He named it Glen Andrew and his vision was to dedicate this land to be used for men’s activities and as a recreation place for various organizations serving the disadvantaged.

The barter system was in use for these organizations and participants saved space and time in their agendas for making Glen Andrew more user friendly: improving roads, trails, parking, camping, kitchen facilities, fire circles, and the sweat lodge. Trading manpower for use of the location allowed for very low registration fees, which enhanced attendance.

Attending FSB ‘07 were about eighty older men along with forty young men and boys from five to eighteen. It was amazing, delightful, even hopeful to see boys, young men, adult males, and elders together in the wilderness with no modern distractions: working, playing, eating, and learning together.

MDI provided a wonderful game: a sophisticated, life-lesson-packed version of Capture the Flag called The Legacy Game. It was an all-day event and there were four teams/tribes/communities, each of whose goal was capturing an opponent’s flag. This was achieved by learning critical life lessons from the ‘Gods.’ (Our ‘Gods’ were guest elders Henry Block and Bob Grant. Both men were very old, and both knew this was likely their last men’s weekend. Indeed, both men passed away within a month of the event.)

Block and Grant’s invitations to the event, and their accommodations at it, were a gift from us to them. But their advent—just the fact that they showed up—was a tremendous gift from them to us.

Now, in Capture the Flag: the Legacy Game, when one is taken into custody while attempting to snatch the opponent’s flag, he must approach the Gods for a ‘verdict.’ However, the Gods can only be approached by standing on one leg and declaring “I am out of control! I don’t know what I’m doing and I need help!”

Block and Grant oozed forgiveness—possibly an indication of the state of mind attained when a man has one foot in, and another other out, of this world.

Throughout FSB, the boys and young men stepped up and were given roles of leadership or management of many aspects of the weekend—including the Legacy Game. It was a treat to see them running strike, which is the final clean-up to close the event. A standard for our men’s circles is to leave a site cleaner than we found it, and this bunch was highly cooperative and easily led.

Lessons for growth were abundant: kids taught the adults and vice versa. The kids taught each other, and nature taught us all. Boys who had done the FSB the year before, and young men who’d attended an event at the same location two weeks before, were eager to return to Glen Andrew, to continue growing and giving to the site. 

I really can’t say enough about witnessing the ancient rite of men passing legacy on to the next generation. How capable and powerful these youngsters were! A frequent comment I heard during the Saturday Sacred Fire Circle was how much the fathers wanted to have fun with their sons. The sons, likewise, wanted quality time with their dads.

This event inspired an experimental paradigm shift among some men’s circles in the SF Bay Area: a move from being separate, isolated communities to becoming a communicating, cooperating collective of men’s circles. The context was Global Village. The purpose was cross-pollination of methods, techniques, and ways to serve communities. The intended results were endless.

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Epilogue by Dennis Speer:
Glen Andrew was classified as a Timber Production Zone… and we paid a tidy sum to the man we bought it from to extend the loan to 2010 harvest time. That was our ace-in-the-hole to be able to keep Glen Andrew.

But, as for so many, 2008 was devastating. By 2010, when the loan extension ran out, construction had halted and our timber was now valued at [a fraction of the price before the crash.] And so it goes. We miss being able to host events up there and even wished to buy it back when we got ahead again. Now, it is a Memorial Forest, and going to a Land Trust to preserve it as forest land.  Should anyone have an opportunity to get land to serve the Men, email me @ dennis_speer@hotmail.com, subject line Glen Andrew.

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About the Author

Michael “Burnsie” Burns has been active in men’s circles and teams since 1986 when he graduated from Sterling’s Men, Sex, and Power. He is 78, retired, has been married for 27 years, and is a member of both EBCOM and MDI. He has no children and is committed to supporting men, teams, families, and communities. His focus and attention are centered on his wife, Pat;
on personal fitness; and on mentoring, and awareness.