November 10th - 13th, 2023

Join frequent and beloved Not Sorry faculty member, Naomi Westwater and Common Ground Pilgrimages on our first ever Mary Oliver pilgrimage on Cape Cod in November of 2023!

This pilgrimage, with space for twenty pilgrims, will examine Mary Oliver’s Pulitzer-prize winning poetry collection, Dream Work, and its themes of nature, connection, and longing. Using Common Ground’s traditional mix of sacred reading, rigorous discussion, meditative walks, and guided journaling, Naomi will lead pilgrims through close engagement with Oliver’s poetry, encouraging them to reflect on questions like: how does observing the natural world connect me to others? How am I called to wildness, and how am I called to rest, by the world that surrounds me?

For its terrain, the pilgrimage will take the rugged, sublime beauty of Cape Cod’s southern coast in autumn, with Auto Camp Cape Cod as its home base. As with all of Common Grounds’ pilgrimages, the trip will feature daily hikes designed to immerse you in the landscape, allowing you to soak in the tiny details of this environment that Mary Oliver loved so dearly. Pilgrims will share communal meals of delicious food and conversation and retreat to rest each night in one of Auto Camp’s gorgeous Airstream Suites, where they will be surrounded by nature but provided with every possible comfort.

We want this pilgrimage to provide a moment of deep peace and reflection for those that partake, a space where they can catch their breath and center themselves before being plunged into the welter of commitments that characterize the end of the year. While the Cape is familiar territory for many in our organization, and perhaps for many of you, we cannot wait to see how differently we experience it in late autumn, free of the sunbathing tourists who throng its shores all summer. We are likewise thrilled to be able to devote a trip to Mary Oliver, an artist to whom we have never previously dedicated programming, but whose work is much beloved amongst us all. We hope you are excited, too.

NAOMI WESTWATER she/they

Naomi Westwater is a queer, Black-multiracial singer-songwriter and producer from Massachusetts. They weave in and out of Folk music, flirting with rock and jazz. Naomi holds a Master of Music in Contemporary Performance and Production from Berklee College of Music. She was nominated for a 2021 Boston Music Award for best singer-songwriter. Naomi’s 2021 EP Feelings was featured in Under The Radar, WBUR, Vanyaland, WGBH, Allston Pudding, and The Bluegrass Situation. More Info: Link to EPK | Website | Instagram

Naomi will serve as faculty on this trip.

COLETTE POTTS she/her

Colette is an educator, family therapist, and parent of three Harry Potter fans. She serves as chaplain on our pilgrimages and happens to share a life with Matt Potts, the co-host of Harry Potter and the Sacred Text. Colette is currently working at a Harvard teaching hospital, researching early psychosis in adolescents and the benefits of early intervention through family therapy. Her real love, though, is helping parents raise the loving children they mean to raise, using caring communities to make it easier – and more fun.

Colette will serve as chaplain on this trip.

COURTNEY BROWN

Courtney serves as Projects Coordinator for Not Sorry. Born in Louisiana and currently residing in the DFW area of Texas, Courtney received her BS in Secondary English Education at LSU Shreveport and taught ninth grade literature for five years before becoming full-time caretaker to her two kids.

Now, Courtney organizes pilgrimage details, and when she isn’t doing that work, she enjoys visiting the library with her daughter and son, riding her bicycle around Fort Worth, and testing craft cocktails her husband makes for their regularly scheduled neighborhood gatherings.

Courtney will serve as logistical coordinator for the trip.

What's Included:

Lodging and and all meals from the evening of November 10th through breakfast on November 13th
Transportation around the Cape once we gather
One-on-one chaplaincy sessions with Colette
Guided hikes
Customized journal
Time and space to reflect on the powerful poetry of one America’s most beloved modern writers

pricing/LOGISTICS:

We will be walking up to 12 miles each day, sometimes on hilly terrain. We won’t rush, but we expect to be tired at the end of each day.

We will stay in the cozy Classic Airstreams suites at AutoCamp Cape Cod (all rooms on this trip are private)
People who have attended another Common Ground pilgrimage will receive a 5% discount for trip cost
Registration is first-come, first-served
We will reach out to the first registrants with a link to make their payment within 48 hours of receiving their registration link
When you sign up through our registration system, it will act as a waitlist, and we will let you know via email once a spot has been confirmed for you
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at commonground@notsorryproductions.com

COVID POLICY:

We are so excited to begin traveling with you again, and as always, our first priority is to make sure that the trips are safe for everyone involved, including the communities we visit and the people who host us. To that end, we are keeping a close eye on the evolving COVID situation and will update you as frequently as we can if the situation with the pilgrimages changes.

Below are some potential expectations we could have in terms of covid safety. Depending on the recommendations of international health organizations at the time of the pilgrimage, we may institute any or all of the following guidelines. Please understand that signing up indicates your willingness to cooperate with any of these rules as your pilgrimage faculty deem necessary:

Wearing masks indoors or outdoors, no matter group size
Social distancing, both indoors and outdoors
Getting proof of a negative COVID-19 test within a certain number of hours before arrival
Getting a negative COVID test upon arrival at the destination
Proof of vaccination
Quarantining upon arrival to destination country

On our end, we will refund fully any payments made for the trip in the event that we at Common Ground Pilgrimages have to cancel due to change in travel restrictions, variants, etc.

By making payment, you acknowledge the above precautions and are willing to follow them, or any similar recommendations, when you come on the pilgrimage.

REFUND POLICY:

Please be sure you can attend the event before booking. If an unforeseen circumstance does occur, we will do our best to find a replacement for you. If we are able to get someone to take your place, we will refund your full payment minus a service charge (10% of the full payment). For cancellations within six weeks of the beginning of the trip, we are not able to find replacements. We strongly urge you to purchase travel insurance in the event of a personal conflict, health issue, or unexpected circumstance.

Mary Oliver: Cape Cod, Massachusetts