By Sunday at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, just about everyone is on a continuum from weary to exhausted...especially the workers, many of whom have been on the Land for weeks. In this photo you see Scorcher who was sound asleep in the hammock until we had to wake her for her 6 p.m. shift as Triangle Traffic coordinator.

Now, coordinating traffic at Triangle is a huge job. Lois Lane is a narrow dirt road that runs the mile from the Front Gate/parking area to "Downtown" where the kitchen tent & stages & community center & crafts area & health care tents are located. And Triangle is the main hub of Lois Lane. All vehicles must be coordinated so only one is on a particular stretch of the road at a time, and on Sunday the wheelchair-accessible shuttle vans and tractor-pulled flatbed "buses" are making constant runs out to the Front Gate with departing campers and their camping gear. The walkie-talkies are sputtering messages nonstop.

Although some lucky campers are able to stay for Sunday night's Closing Candlelight Ceremony at the Acoustic Stage--meaning they'll pack up and leave on Monday morning--many women have to get on the road Sunday because they can't take any more time off work and/or have long distances to travel to get back home.

The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival is an annual event that draws thousands of women from across the United States, Canada, and as far away as New Zealand. Even if you've never been to Fest before--in which case you'll be lovingly identified as a Festie Virgin--the first words you hear when you pass through the Front Gate are always, "Welcome home." And in ways it is hard to articulate, that's just what it is: home.