Where I live, outdoor festivals and events are a common events. Our council loves putting on these events, and it’s not uncommon to see a festival every week in the summer months. Obviously, winter’s less conducive to hanging around outside, but you’d be surprised at how many people will turn up to an event with their umbrellas and raincoats. Some festivals I’ve recently enjoyed have been the world music concerts held at one of the parks in the inner city. Over the weekends for the past few weeks, all sorts of musicians performing all sorts of music from different cultures and perspectives have been playing to my local community. We’ve enjoyed jazz, African sounds, Bollywood dancing, and salsa, just to name a few. It’s amazing to see how well all of these musicians manage to engage a crowd that’s of all ages, interests, and backgrounds. It’s great to see hundreds of people dance around in front of the stage, mimicking the different dance styles and really getting into the flow of the music. Different styles seem to invite different dancing styles, and the crowd picks it up magnificently—everyone from little kids to businesspeople to the elderly! Outdoor festivals are a great way to get together all the different groups in a community, and to do so through an outdoor event that encourages cultural diversity is even better. It’s definitely something that I love about my city, and something that I wish they’d encourage more of. After all, what’s better than seeing a huge group of strangers get together and dance to the same music, and to the same beat, with the same smile? I can certainly say that there’s not much else I’d prefer to do on a sunny day! A quick sidebar: my mother called me the other night and (I kid you not) actually suggested for me to look into tattoo removal. I mean I knew that she was never really encouraging of the idea of body art, but I really didn’t know that she was that strongly against it!