Donna Campos: I've been 'out here' about two years now. I travel a fair amount, making it difficult to have dreamwork be a regularly scheduled part of my life.

VQ: Do you think the travel affects your dreams?

DC: Hey -- I love this question; it's been haunting me for days now.

I spent last week in NYC and stayed at a hotel on Times Square. I hosted the Dream Studio from there and it inspired everybody to begin an attempt to meet each other in our dreams in Times Square. Somehow that also evolved into a decision to try to meet disguised as animals. (Feel welcome to look for me -- I'm the llama with the long eyelashes and the bad attitude) So. . . . yep, it affects my dreams.

When I travel for fun the sleeping part of the trip is a part of the adventure. The hotel room/cabin/strange house/ tent/cabana/pension/RV is different and exotic. Whether the bed is too soft, too hard or just right -- I tend to be hyper-aware of my surroundings and wake up a lot. I also tend to sleep later in the morning. And all these things conspire to improve my dream recall.

When I travel for business, however, I usually get short-changed on sleep. It's hectic with long days full of packing, rushing to the airport, catching a cab, checking into a hotel, working into the night, and late dinners of large-portioned restaurant food. All these things conspire to make me want to cocoon at night -- just pull a blanket around me, sleep soundly and tune everything out. Dream recall dwindles.

For work this year I've traveled across the country twice in a motor home. RV travel has really captured my dreaming imagination; I've remembered close to 100 RV or bus dreams in the past year.

And there really wasn't any dream groups meeting near my home anyway. So I logged on specifically to explore what was available on dreams in cyberspace.

VQ: Had you dealt much with dreams, either your own or those of others before being involved with them in cyberspace?

DC: Sure. I had vivid recall as a kid. Had my first lucid dreams (inspired by Carlos Castaneda) in my late teens. In my late 20s I started to take my interest in dreams seriously, keeping a detailed journal, reading everything I could on the subject. I also had the good fortune at the time of living down the street from dreamworker Jill Gregory of the Novato Center for Dreams -- so I took classes from her. And all along, of course, friends and family would share their dreams with me.

It was wonderful! Suddenly, the world seemed full of dreamers -- all of them with something to share.

VQ: Was your contact with them mainly via e-mail or by other means?

DC: There's a Dreaming Section bulletin board over on Compuserve in the New Age B Forum and that was initially my first contact with online dreamers. I still spend a lot of time there. (This is gonna sound like a plug but it's important, I think.) The bulletin boards on Compuserve are great in that they let you know when someone's responded to your post. It's a little thing but it really helps keep bulletin board conversations going, keeps them vital and interesting. It's one of the things that make that corner of cyberspace feel like a neighborhood.

This is straying from the subject, Victoria, but I think it's interesting; the New Age Forum has 'produced' half a dozen marriages so far. A big camping trip is planned for next week. There's a big campground called "Hell" in Michigan and everyone wanted to go there but no luck -- apparently Hell is full.

About a year later, I started the Dream Studio.

VQ: Did you have a dream that spurred you to start the Dream Studio?

No, not a specific dream. But, you know, dreams are always rich in the call to creative, courageous responses to life.

Have you a "first book to read" suggestion for those starting out working with their dreams.
DC: People ask me that all the time. What I suggest (and what works best for me) is to simply go to a bookstore or library and see what dream book 'falls off the shelf' at you.

Where would you direct people to start with "dreams in cyberspace"?

DC: Electric Dreams without a doubt.

Victoria 8*)

mermaid@alphalink.com.au

http://www.alphalink.com.au/~mermaid/

Interview conducted by Victoria Quinton
mermaid 8*)

http://daemon.apana.org.au/~mermaid

[ now http://www.alphalink.com.au/~mermaid/ ]