Well, duh! The WWWomen First Annual Tribal Rally, USA. What, this doesn't happen in your virtual community?

IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME.

Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away...oops, wrong intro. Sorry. One fine day, in the beautiful city of San Francisco, Sue Levin, Kathleen McMahon, Liz-her-name-is-Liz (and others), put together a site on the Web especially for women. They created a bitchin' directory of women-centered web pages and a handy little search engine to go with it. They also threw on a few discussion boards, because they love the odd flame war just as much as you and I do.

---

And then a cool thing happened. Acquaintances that began in the forums of WWWomen.com morphed into real-world friendships. Eventually, a group of folks, from all over America, Australia, Canada, Great Britain (and of course the odd---and I do mean odd, South African) self-organized into a cohesive little community. Communication moved beyond online chatting and email to cookie exchanges at Christmas and treat swaps with members in other countries.

---

Recently, a group of eight WWWomen.com community members decided to get together at the H.S. Clay House B & B Inn in Augusta, Missouri, for a weekend of face-to-face introductions, wine tasting, good eats, and non-stop talk. Our virtual town mayor/ Living Legend/Hostess With The Mostest, Harriet, pulled all the particulars together to make the weekend possible.

When the WWW8 returned from the weekend, there were such glowing reports of the fun and camaraderie experienced, it seemed a shame not to have a more permanent record of the gathering. Thus, this here site.

---

What you'll find: each of the women below---Becky (OH), Cindy (IA), Harriet (MO), Jan (IN), Kate (IA), Pat (TX), Sadie (OR) and susan (KY)---tell the tale, in their own words, of what this weekend was to them. Click on the "Keep Drivin', Dude" graphic on susan's page for Some Final Thoughts, contributed by each member. For a fun and well-done pictorial account of the USA Rally, be sure to stop by Amy's Tribal Rally Photo Gallery.

Our "Aussie contingent" had a Tribal Rally Down Under in May, to complement the gathering of stateside sistren. For the skinny on the "Convergence in Canberra," check out Kirsten's awesome Tribal Rally Down Under!

What I hope you'll get: a vibrant sense of the extraordinary friendships which have sprung up in the WWWomen global community.

(God willin' and the crick don't rise, there's even talk of a SECOND ANNUAL TRIBAL RALLY USA, in a location TBA, in 2000. Next year in Hawaii? Whaddya say, girlies?)

Meanwhile...get yourself a glass of wine, and box of Ding Dongs (or better yet, a package of Tim Tams), and enjoy these stories of the WWWomen Tribal Rally!