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Now the millennium�s really here, and the world yawns By Bill Varble What if they gave a new millennium and nobody noticed? A year ago there were fireworks in the world�s great cities, preachers proclaiming the end of the world, crowds buying the stuff they would need when everything fell apart due to the Y2K bug. And it wasn�t even the real millennium. "It really was almost maddening," says W.L. Stevens. Rogue Valley residents this year are planning to greet the actual millennium with parties, prayer, meditation, a labyrinth, even karaoke. But without Y2K hype. Stevens, of Medford, was among those who wrote letters to the editor last December pointing out that the new millennium didn�t begin until Jan. 1, 2001. "The whole thing was, instead of 19-something it was 20-something," he says. To recap: There was no year zero. That means that the year 1 A.D. was the first year of the first millennium, and that the 2000th year of the first two millennia (assuming a correct calendar, which ours isn�t, but that�s another story) ends today, and the new millennium begins at the stroke of midnight. As the Rev. Paul Robinson of the Medford Congregational United Church of Christ in Medford puts it, "This is the millennium for those who know how to count." Last year on this day, Oregonians watched the East Coast on television at 9 p.m. our time to see if the lights went off. People took money out of banks. A Y2K preparedness task force had sprung up predicting varying degrees of chaos. "I was definitely surprised," admits Bob Scott, a spokesman for the task force. "I think some people who couched their warnings like prophets were very embarrassed." The FBI even got into the act, producing the Project Megiddo Report (named for the ancient Israeli city said to be the root of the word Armageddon), which warned that militiamen, white supremacists and apocalyptic cults could "present challenges" at the dawn of the year 2000. Even the Mail Tribune�s food editor was inundated with requests for recipes for canned hash, Spam and hardtack, the unleavened bread used by old-time sailors. That was then, this is now. "This is the real millennium," says Brian Kerns, music director of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ashland. Kerns is among organizers of an event called "Walking a Sacred Path to 2001" planned for 72 hours straight this weekend at the church. The event centers on a 37-foot labyrinth being constructed in the church. It�s based on the labyrinth found at the cathedral at Chartres, France, dating from about 1220. Built of canvas, the path follows a curved route. "It�s a way of creating a physical motion to create a spiritual experience," Kerns says. "You�re able to focus your mind on things beyond the mundane." The Conversations with God Center in Ashland plans a world peace meditation beginning at 4 a.m. today. Meditators plan to time their efforts with others around the world, which is the reason for the odd time. CWG plans a drum circle from 7 to 9 p.m. and a "conscious New Year�s Eve celebration" from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. On tap: music, karaoke, guided meditations, visioning sessions, games. CWG is a nonprofit group based on the work of best-selling author Neale Donald Walsh of Ashland. Sufi dancers will gather for a New Year�s Eve of Sufi practices and dances of universal peace at 7:30 p.m. at the Bundini Building in Ashland. More prosaic sorts of dancing are planned for the Old Ashland Armory, featuring the classic rock of Thirty Years After, and for the Bella Union in Jacksonville, the Red Lion in Medford, Jack�s Tally Ho in Talent, the Firefly in Ashland the Standing Stone in Ashland. There are two nudist parties. The tone is very different from last year, when members of the Rogue Valley Y2K task force were predicting gas lines, power outages, looting and emptying of supermarkets. What happened to all that? The Y2K group�s Scott, a computer programmer, says it�s clear there was a real risk, and some real problems, with some oil pipelines and other systems. He believes the snafus weren�t bigger only because of work that was done to avert them, especially with the nation�s computers. "It was risk management," he says. "It�s like insurance. You don�t use it if your house doesn�t burn down." Scott stocked up on dried beans and rice and other staples, some of which he�s since donated to nonprofit groups. Some groups say they�re not holding observances this year because they did so last year. Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Medford, which held a special midnight mass on Dec. 31 last year, is one. Eastwood Baptist Church in Medford is another. "We celebrated last year," a spokeswoman said. Why celebrate the faux millennium and not the real one? "The fear gave it a lot of energy," says Robinson. "It got associated with a lot of theological things. In 1000 A.D., everybody thought Jesus was coming. What�s ironic is the dating thing has nothing to do with Christians. It was done by the Romans. And we�re not the only people with a calendar." It�s 5761 on the Jewish calendar, 1421 on the Islamic calendar and will soon be the year of the snake on the Chinese calendar, which begins on the second new moon after winter solstice. One caller asked Robinson if the world was coming to an end. "You mean the whole future is determined by whether some computer geeks remembered to put a rollover date in their programs?" Robinson asked. One celebration has already begun, the labyrinth event, which started at 5 Friday afternoon with a fire dance on the lawn. It features a Tibetan-style sand mandala, a goddess alter, Christian focus hours with Episcopalians and Congregationalists, American Indian flutes and drums, solo musicians, chanting, an organist, blues, Zen meditation, Indian raga, the Southern Oregon Repertory Singers and more. Kerns says it�s for people who want to do something more than blow on a horn or kiss somebody. "If you believe there�s going to be some great change, it�s a good place to be," he says. "You can focus your spiritual energy to influence what that�s going to be." Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.