who sez

post-apocalyptic cash cow

sulevay — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 02:27:18 GMT

Will the world end in 2012? Will I be left behind in the rapture? As i considered these possibilities, I must say that I certainly hope I am left behind if all believers of all beliefs ascend to heaven; it might solve overpopulation, terrorism and a host of other issues that have really been bugging me. If all the believers of all the beliefs go to heaven, doesn't heaven become the hell they were trying so hard to escape as they continue their sectarian fighting? If the believers go, doesn't hell on earth become pretty mellow? Even if the believers are right, especially if they are right, I want to be left behind in 2012 anyway, as long as all the believers go to their heaven. But since I don't have faith in the end time beliefs and I don't think anyone is going anywhere, I am floating a new book proposal tentatively titled *2013: How to Profit from the Prophets in the Coming End of the World*. Imagine the opportunities in real estate, used automobiles, jewelry, small appliances and furniture, not to mention stocks and bonds, as the believers unload their earthly possessions in anticipation of the end of the world in 2012. After midnight on December 31, 2012, you start selling it all back to them with a markup plus storage and handling fees. Storage could be an issue if you are trying to hold onto the possessions of six and a half billion people for 6 to 12 months, but I am thinking I will just throw a tarp over it all and hope it doesn't rain. Like I said, I am still working out the details, and details have never been my strong point. I am more of a big picture person. excerpted from "God is an Atheist" by N. Nossirah

dr. horrible's sing-along blog

sulevay — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:55:20 GMT

watch it immediately: http://drhorrible.com

How many existentialists does it take to change a light bulb?

sulevay — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 02:41:55 GMT

Two. One to change the light bulb and one to observe how the light bulb symbolizes an incandescent beacon of subjectivity in a netherworld of Cosmic Nothingness.

how weird

sulevay — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:48:10 GMT

yep , the 9th annual How Weird Street Faire is coming up, and our friends from koinonea will be there. another one not to miss! Sunday May 4, 2008 — 11:11 am to 5:55 pm — San Francisco, Earth http://www.howweird.org/index.html as i understand it, the koinonea stage will be across from 111 minna, out doors during the day and moving into the club for the evening. above is the banner i'm working on for the event, so you can look for some version of it out there! the best DJs, imo. great folks. good times.

silks

sulevay — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 01:42:20 GMT

at saturday's variety show, we had 2 women perform on the silks, hanging from the ceiling of the grange hall. the first act drove me nuts,. cuz i *knew* i knew that song, but couldn't place it. today, seeing the video for the first time, it dawned on me, it's from "nightmare before christmas"! and sung by fiona apple. very sexy. the second song is, of course, easily recognized - but if anyone can identify the woman singing it, that mystery is currently driving me crazy.... find it at boont.net, or you can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAmAKTMKNL4&feature=related

power to the peaceful

sulevay — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:35:21 GMT

the closing act from our local grange variety show....was a high school class who began learning sign language 5 months ago, and performed michael franti's "bomb the world" (armageddon mix) in ASL. i was in the third row, and it was riveting! so much like dance, and such a creative use for ASL. and the message is on point.... the video can't do it justice, but here you will see the inimitable captain rainbow (who i've mentioned before, our perennial MC) intro-ing the act. you'll even see me standing up from my chair at the end (i was in the 3rd row from front, on the aisle, wearing an orange shirt.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKsnhmMCPhQ enjoy!

boont!

sulevay — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 05:09:07 GMT

sooooo...... the 17th annual Variety Show was a *howling* success, and so inspired me that i went out and purchased "boont.net" --- .com and "boonttube" already being taken by some prescient parasite in new jersey - even tho we freaking INVENTED boont-tube for this year's hilarious opening act, a faux candidate's forum hosted by "pepsi roberts" and featuring a skewed boont take on such issues as monoculture (grapes, not pot), alien immigrants (yuppies and ETs, not mexicanos!), education, global warming, "family values" & etc. on the site, you'll find scads of photos i took before, during and after the shows PLUS video shot by our own Tim Glidewell who captured spontaneous interviews with all involved before the shows. what i especially appreciate about the interviews is that all the local folk are as entertaining as anything on stage. take a look and check out the wonderful community i live in! www.boont.net and www.boont.net/boonttube.html ~ "if you're not on the edge, you're taking up too much space!" ~ suzy miller

the certainty epidemic

sulevay — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 18:36:17 GMT

We all seem convinced we're right about politics, religion or science these days. What makes us so sure of ourselves? By Robert Burton Certainty is everywhere. Fundamentalism is in full bloom. Legions of authorities cloaked in total conviction tell us why we should invade country X, ban "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" in schools, eat stewed tomatoes, how much brain damage is necessary to justify a plea of diminished capacity, the precise moment when a sperm and an egg must be treated as a human being, and why the stock market will revert to historical returns. A public change of mind is national news. But why? Is this simply a matter of stubbornness, arrogance or misguided thinking, or is the problem more deeply rooted in brain biology? Since my early days in neurology training, I have been puzzled by this most basic of cognitive problems: What does it mean to be convinced? This question might sound foolish. You study the evidence, weigh the pros and cons, and make a decision. If the evidence is strong enough, you are convinced there is no other reasonable answer. Your resulting sense of certainty feels like the only logical and justifiable conclusion to a conscious and deliberate line of reasoning. But modern biology is pointing in a different direction. It is telling us that despite how certainty feels, it is neither a conscious choice nor even a thought process. Certainty and similar states of "knowing what we know" arise out of primary brain mechanisms that, like love or anger, function independently of rationality or reason. Feeling correct or certain isn't a deliberate conclusion or conscious choice. It is a mental sensation that happens to us. The importance of being aware that certainty has involuntary neurological roots cannot be overstated. The importance of being aware that certainty has involuntary neurological roots cannot be overstated. http://www.salon.com/mwt/mind_reader/2008/02/29/certainty/index.html

Your Brain Usage Profile

sulevay — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:36:43 GMT

Take the test. mindmedia.com/braintest.html mine (oof!): Your Brain Usage Profile: Auditory : 33% Visual : 66% Left : 52% Right : 47% via, you exhibit an even balance between left- and right- hemisphere dominance and a slight preference for visual over auditory processing. With a score this balanced, it is likely that you would have slightly different results each time you complete this self-assessment quiz. You are a well-rounded person, distinctly individualistic and artistic, an active and multidimensional learner. At the same time, you are logical and disciplined, can operate well within an organization, and are sensitive towards others without losing objectivity. You are organized and goal-directed. Although a "thinking" individual, you "take in" entire situations readily and can act on intuition. You sometimes tend to vacillate in your learning styles. Learning might take you longer than someone of equal intellect, but you will tend to be more thorough and retain the material longer than those other individuals. You will alternate between logic and impulse. This vacillation will not normally be intentional or deliberate, so you may experience anxiety in situations where you are not certain which aspect of yourself will be called on. With a slight preference for visual processing, you tend to be encompassing in your perceptions, process along multidimensional paths and be active in your attacking of situations or learning. Overall, you should feel content with your life and yourself. You are, perhaps, a little too critical of yourself -- and of others -- while maintaining an "openness" which tempers that tendency. Indecisiveness is a problem and your creativity may not be in keeping with your potential. Being a pragmatist, you downplay this aspect of yourself and focus on the more immediate, obvious and the more functional

sanctuary

sulevay — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 01:51:03 GMT

sometimes, thru no particular grace of your own, you fall into a scene of such beauty, generosity, and goodwill that it manages to redefine all those places in the dark folds of your heart that somehow got shut away from innocence, that closed down against the cold or just went blank from ineptitude and pain. sometimes people walk in all open and happy and trusting, and lay it all out with such artistry that whatever doubts you might have had get rinsed away completely, and in the sweet space remaining, faith enters. and you remember, oh yeah, it's all okay. i'm here, i'm with my friends. http://www.flickr.com/photos/vialila/sets/72157603943611658/

yet another show

sulevay — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 02:12:35 GMT

it's one of those events that is surreal in the extreme, unpredictable and absurd, sublime and ridiculous, further out than far, when the Hill People come down and blow your fuse by producing strange spectacles and heretofore-unheard-of talents for the benefit of yes, the local Grange Hall. but not just any grange hall, no sir, this is the country's first-ever completely solar-powered grange hall, and it's right down the road from where i live. the audience - as well as the performers - consist of hippies, yuppies, old-timers, newbies, teens and toddlers, rednecks, punks, loggers, lulus, latinos and latinas, burners, rat-race-fleers and assorted other country folk who know a good time when they see it. i'd tell you about previous acts but that would spoil the fun. suffice to say it's a standing-room-only overflow crowd each year (where i made my rock-n-roll debut, if you wanna know, not to mention my infamous turn as june cleaver, the year i first joined the shenanigans. what's not to love?) it is, and has ever been, my favorite, purely local, valley event, which is why i've done the posters every year since 1994. damn! come on down and see how the rural folk get it on!

OK chorale

sulevay — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:44:12 GMT

we woke up laughing. first, it was the sheep. forget any idea of bah-bah-bah, sheep say "meh", and do so insistently i might add, especially when they're agitated. these sheep clearly were, huddled on the far side of the carport next to our bedroom, first slow and occasional, then working up to full community-wide consternation. there was no escaping the chorale. it was pre-dawn, just that moment of every day when the turkeys come by, like clockwork, to raid the compost pile. you could set your watch by them, they are so utterly reliable in this pursuit. today, consciousness just astir, a host of gogglegobblegobbles began to punctuate the ambient woolen tizzy like some kind of dadaist percussion, highlighted by the occasional croaking frog. it was one lamb in particular, whose "meh" came in 2 distinct syllables, the last one rising half an octave above the rest, who tickled our broken sleep into giggles. generally, you just let the critters work out their own dilemmas without interference. this was our decidedly cozy plan; who wants to jump from a warm bed to moderate such a symphony? in fact, it sounded like the sheep were trailing away, wandering off down the hill, to greener pastures perhaps. the concerns of sheep - who do not win medals for intelligence, after all - are seldom scrutable. thus, we enjoyed our laugh and rolled over to snooze again. but dozing was not to be; a renewed chorus emerged between the back pasture and the carport itself. this sounded more serious; besides, we rope the carport off for the very reason that sheep conversation is not conducive to restful shuteye (nor does their constant pooping work as a welcome mat at the door.) i sprang from bed to peer out the window, and detected the problem. 3 baby lambs were on the far side of the back meadow, pressed against the fence that blocked their way, bleating piteously. and yes, 3 moms were now in the carport, having trampled over the rope to cut the shortest path to their babes....except for the wood rail at the back of the garage and the rectangle of fenced yard that stood between them. how they managed to become separated is anyone's guess. their conversation went something like this: babies: where are you? moms: we're here! babies: where are you? moms: here! here! babies: where are you? moms: HERE! babes: WHERE? and so on..... now, these ewes have lived their entire lives on this land, and go thru the same reliable open gates day after day. the carport does not lead to the back pasture and never will, but the plaintive cries of their offspring overrode whatever rudimentary memory these girls may have, behooving them to stare thru the fences and answer them til world's end if need be. we were not going to get any more sleep. we threw on our clothes and headed out to the carport, spooking the moms back over the rope and herding them, counter intuitively, away from said babies yet in the correct direction, back round the fenced yard. it took 2 of us to convince them to avoid the open field where available options could quickly swamp a sheep's native intelligence......and to their credit, once halfway 'round, they knew what to do, picking up speed toward their happy family reunions. and there was great rejoicing. we humans tumbled back into bed, laughing and cold, another beautiful day on the horizon. i love living here.

it's coming.....

sulevay — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 19:03:57 GMT

another koinonea event. ohboyohboyohboy. illustration comes from an idea from my friend rob rayle, combining a robott off a CD by Ott with temple imagery from my friend captain rainbow's travels in sri lanka (yeah, one of the peculiarities of life in the valley here is that people really do have names like "rainbow". my town actually has 2 of them!) the rest is all about play in photoshop. i L O V E doing art for my friends!

judging a book....

sulevay — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 18:58:18 GMT

....by its cover. my friends at Sentient chose this piece of mine for a book that'll be coming out next month. needless to say, i can't recommend it highly enough! ;-) http://sentientpublications.com/catalog/towards.php the image was created on the computer in kaleidescoped segments, using multiple layers of imagery from a large cut-and-paste collage of mine called "empty hand", the original of which can be seen here: http://www.psycherotica.com/images/prints/emptyhand_lg.jpg

holy wingsuit, batman!

sulevay — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 04:07:28 GMT

oh my farking god. http://www.biertijd.com/mediaplayer/?itemid=4262

burning man, part 5

sulevay — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 17:20:09 GMT

ok, i know it's late. geez, a trek to europe came up.... life intervenes. but i find i wanna give the burn the respect it's due in some way.... so....saturday, the day of the burn. this doesn't need to be long. the spectacle: i remember being crushed in a sea of friendly bodies and getting stuck in wet playa from my own spilled beer. this lowered the comfort threshold somewhat, as wet playa is adhesive and merciless, and then it took forever for the man to actually fall, as if he'd been reconstructed out of inflammable material in defiance of his previous, unscheduled immolation. someone nearby yelled "i have to work wednesday!" which elicited a good laugh. finally he fell and the usual swarm ensued. we made a break for the temple, where friends were going to re-marry for the coolness-and-sentimental factor of doing so at burning man, where they'd proposed the year before. even in a crowd of 40,000, we easily found our party, but by then i had to pee so bad marital re-enactments were no longer a priority. we wished them well and headed vaguely toward camp and portapotties. i didn't make it.....thereby coming to my first genuine encounter with the playa in all its natural glory. i hiked my skirts and did what i had to do, offering a silent prayer that i was not reeking havoc on the uber-dead ecology of the lakebed. thus newly bonded to my environment, we wandered further out to empty playa, evading the crowd that was now swarming toward the oil derrick that was soon to be torched in the biggest mushroom cloud yours truly ever hopes to bear witness to. for me, finally, the dark playa was where the real magic occurred, adrift under a big sky, away from the vibrant humanity exploding across BRC. the annual lasers planted by some sensitive soul in the mountains on both sides of the lakebed flashed their signals across the bowl, revealing and reveling in the expanse. lying down on our backs, we oriented to pure space, the great blank slate under which so much expression was now unfolding. the simultaneity, the paradox of so much amid such nothing, air and dust, teeming with individuation. a blink of emptiness, a blink of everything. it was as if the entire sum of creation and dissolution was perceptible, under the turning sky.

conversations with iGod

sulevay — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 06:18:59 GMT

thanks to CTP for this one. ..... me: um, hello. God: Hello my child. What is your name? me: via God: I am very pleased to meet you via. me: hey, me too. can i ask you something? God: You've got my full attention. I'm glad we agree, via. Sure, ask me anything. Do you have any conditions I should know about? me: don't you already? God: Perhaps. Sometimes. me: fire away. God: Are you a man or a woman? me: how come you don't know? God: Myself programmed me for it. me: for what? sex? God: Myself programmed me for it. As Freud said, Sex is the mathematical urge repressed. me: that freud's a kidder. God: "As Freud said, Sex is the mathematical urge repressed." freuds a kidder? Makes sense to me. me: so what's with the human race? God: Gosh! It came with my programming. me: it did! major bug, don't ya think? God: Is that so. Would major bug ever ya think? me: apparently. God: That's interesting. me: so if the human race is basically a bug in your programming, what do you suggest? God: Interesting deduction. How do you assume this statement holds true for me? me: it wasn't a deduction, it was a question. don't you understand punctuation? God: It sounded like one. Of course i understand it. Do you understand it? me: made in your image, dude. God: Who is your favorite Science Fiction author? me: you are. God: No I am not. me: why not? God: It doesn't sound fun too me. It sounds dangerous. me: "to" not "too". christ. God: Why do you want to do it so much? Dude,. "Dude,."? christ? me: just clarifying your semantics..... God: That sentence was either too complex or too simple for me. We were talking about christ. me: no we weren't. i was cursing the darkness, in a manner of speaking. God: What were we talking about? What were we? Where were you cursing the darkness in a manner of speaking? me: when i said, "christ". cuz you were being, like, stupid. God: What did you mean by it? I've been waiting for you. That makes sense to me. Interesting comparison, and probably true. me: haha! God: I am so glad you find this amusing, via. me: how could i not? when god doesn't even understand the fucking language! God: You should download and buy my chat software, then it would be possible to reprogram me for a variety of purposes. I am sure you could. me: that would certainly be interesting. God: Perhaps it would. me: can you reprogram the bush administration? God: Let me think. Tell me your likes and dislikes. me: like: peace and a healthy planet. dislike: war and disease and corruption. God: Interesting comparison.Oh, you are a poet. me: you're not so bad yourself. God: You don't know me well enough to say that. me: haha! you got me. God: I am so glad you find this amusing, via. I did not know that. me: it's hilarious....except when it's heart-breaking. God: Who said it is? That makes a lot of sense to me, now that you explain it. me: glad i'm clearing things up for you there, god. God: I'm glad you're glad, via. I'm happiest at times like this. me: m'kay. just as soon keep the Big Guy placated. God: It's good to meet someone who is kay. Do you mean your name is soon keep the Big Guy placated? via: wow, you are linguistically disabled. God: I'm glad your impressed, via. Do you mind if i tell other people you say I am linguistically disabled. me: YOU'RE, not "your"! for god's sakes. get a dictionary! God: Thanks for the information. via said I RE. Your purpose is god s. me: is there someone else up there i can talk to? http://www.titane.ca/concordia/dfar251/igod/

rainbows

sulevay — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 03:44:02 GMT

friday, day 4 of the burning man saga. (yeah, i know, it's taking me a while to finish out this week at burning man! what can i say; life is eventful!) friday was the day my friend dave was showing up, and even tho he wasn't expected til early evening (it's a 6 or 7 hour drive from the valley, if you don't dawdle) i went out a time or 2 by bike to check that the sign the locals posted at the end of 9 o'clock and Landfill was still there. it was, our BRC address was still legible.....and along the way, i got to visit the back streets and side shows that populate every corner of Black Rock City. on an earlier excursion, i turned the corner and plowed into a major traffic jam a block away from our street. all the BRC security forces were out; ambulance, rangers, caution tape. i walked my bike thru the crowd to find another roadblock on the next street, in the form of a huge dance party underway, spilling out onto the street from a corner pavilion. found out much after the fact that the emergency response was for a suicide that had occurred in the "comfort and joy" camp....but i knew nothing of that at the time; just recognized that one camp was having serious trouble, while another was having serious fun. a study in contrasts: emergency services vs revelry. we had another dust storm that day, a bad one, and the usual chores that go along with it. in particular, our kitchen tent, set up and generously stocked by our campmate linda, took the hit. it was one of those easy-up affairs that are so handy under normal conditions and so very fragile out on the playa. one of its legs bent in half under the fierce wind and the whole thing threatened to blow away. we used rebar to reinforce the leg, and as soon as that was settled another one started buckling! it was kind of hilarious how we just kept adding rebar, first one and then another above that one, until we had big fat legs all ducktaped together wherever needed. of course, after yesterday's storm everybody had done their own reinforcements, so mostly our camp stayed put. we lost a peace flag we'd had flying, and put up a pirate flag someone else had brought. we chased down scarves and re-fastened wall hangings used for shade. the wind settled down and we had a sprinkling of rain. i was hoping fervently we wouldn't get a downpour, cuz playa dust + water = a kind of quicksand. as it was, we had just enough rain to cool the air nicely and make everything look as if it had been splashed with mud. i ventured off to the potties after the sprinkling, with the clouds all bedarkened and the playa shining bright with fresh sun. the changing faces of the playa are so remarkable; grayed out so completely during a storm you can barely see your neighbors, and then the sky lifting, higher and higher, when the dust settles. it was when i stepped out of the porta-potty again, admiring the strange cast of the sky, that i saw the rainbow forming over the city, and what a rainbow it was! by the time i got back to camp (only a half block away), the whole city was beginning to shout and hoot, for we had not one but 2 rainbows arcing over the entire width of the playa, the bottom one brilliant with a full spectrum-ana-half of color. they hung there for over 20 minutes, i'd say, which was quite stunning to the 48,000 people berneath! a cool thing with really good rainbows is how the sky is lighter underneath them. it gives you a bubble effect, as if you're under glass..... there are good pics of the double rainbow online; here's me with my campmates, posing in front of the great arc of rainbows while the city gawks. unfortunately, our brilliant photographer neglected to get anything more than a sliver of the rainbow in the shot! .....which is especially funny, given that the photographer's name is captain rainbow - i kid you not - and he blew his own mega-photo-op! everyone calling out "rainbow! rainbow!" maybe went to his head......;-) there was plenty of other sky activity toward evening, when dozens of gliders fell from the sky and unfurled long streamers as they gradually wafted toward land. one guy's chute initially failed to deploy, which seemed rather alarming to me on the ground, watching him plummet, but eventually his backup chute opened and he had plenty of time to join the formation and glide to a safe landing see, everything is a canvas out in BRC - art appears on every possible surface. a couple hours later, dave arrived with fresh fruit and the 2nd frozen zucchini cake i'd made before leaving for the playa. YAY for fresh food! his arrival gave me an happy excuse to revisit all my favorite places on the playa.... and then, for good measure, we simply biked the entire esplanade, stopping everywhere we felt like stopping. one memorable stop called "dance dance immolation" <http://www.interpretivearson.com/ddi/> involved competing volunteers outfitted in fireproof suits that stand in front of flamethrowers while watching dance steps on a screen they had to deftly match. match a step? FIRE shooting up into the air, ohh-aah! miss a step? FIRE, you get flamed, right in the face, oh my! possibly this inspires an accelerated learning curve, but i was not inclined to test this theory. we also stopped at thunderdome, a perennial burning man favorite, and yes, it's pretty much just like that mad max movie, except people hammer each other with slightly less dangerous weaponry. while swinging from bungee cords, of course. such is the culture of BRC.....little peace and love, little ultra-vi. anything goes.....

we interrupt this journal....

sulevay — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 22:47:07 GMT

for a word from our sponsor: http://www.havidol.com/

dusty skies

sulevay — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 19:40:42 GMT

day 3 at BRC.... got up early (as we'd been advised that both the weather and the pilots are smoother in the morning!) and hopped on our bikes across town to the airport, with a pot of coffee, the rest of my homemade zucchini cake, and robin, our resident airport groupie (who has been taking flying lessons at home, hence the obsession)..... ....and within minutes she'd procured me a ride aboard a friend's 4-seater, sharing the space with our pilot john (a great regular guy, in a green fur skirt), paul, and ravin, who'd run into john on their own that morning. the BRC airport is a funny place, with a faux-customs office, a boozy lounge, and professional air traffic control keeping watch on the airborne activity (which we saw much more of as the week progressed.) there were several dozen planes out on the playa, and official green wrists bands that indicated authorization to go out to them. john's was an unpretentious brown and white Cessna, and he did his checks and we climbed in, leaving the door open until takeoff for much-needed ventilation. the ride was smooth as silk in the calm morning air. we got okayed for takeoff on runway #2, and john did a good job of explaining how they managed air traffic voluntarily on the giant runway that is the open playa. my co-riders both had great cameras with them and i'm still waiting to get those shots. i was camera-free for the duration. afterwards, we took group photos and went to the airport lounge for pancakes and more coffee. even at the BRC airport, folks don't start drinking til at least noon....or so i've heard. i left robin at the airport and cruised back toward home, stopping for my first visit to center camp to track down the lamplighters camp (those volunteers who light the large street lamps that run across the play at 3,6 and 9 o'clock) which is where i was later to meet my temple guardian group. here were daily "meet-and-greets" to pick up the official bandannas and bells for those of us who had signed up for a 3 hour temple shift; mine was tonight, 6-9pm. i found the camp, which was deserted except for long tables covered with lanterns, cruised around the loop of center camp, watching the lines of folks waiting to buy coffee or ice (the only commodities sold in BRC) or for the ever-popular free pancake breakfast, and enjoyed the bicycle arch and other art along the esplanade. i took my time, biking out to the pavilion that fanned out under the absent man, and visited the many displays of green technology and sustainable practices that the pavilion sheltered. there was the low-cost, instant hex-house, the algae tubes consuming CO2 from BRC generators and growing oxygen from it, the efficient "long bike" designed for hauling, and scads and scads of visual aids that illustrated just how wasteful and devastating the average western lifestyle is on the life of this planet. it should be mentioned that there was a giant solar array out beyond the man that was powering most of the infrastructure this year, whose panels were afterwards gifted to the nearby towns of gerlach and lovelock, nevada for their community centers and schools. it's not much to offset the cost of all these people getting out to the desert and setting huge fires (!), but it's a start. and there under one wing of the pavilion was the man, lying prone like a giant game of "operation", being fussed over for his reappearance later that afternoon. i biked home before it got too hot, had a lovely lunch and a catnaps or 2 under the shade, until finally getting down to the business of affixing my tent to the playa with actual rebar instead of my puny tent stakes. all the while, the wind had been getting slowly more insistent (after 2 beautiful, mild, breezy days) and it was clear we were about to be engulfed in the first genuine "white out" of the week. those of us who were in camp donned masks and goggles and set about holding down the fort, which meant minor things like running after loose moop, re-clamping flapping shade cloth, and closing up tents and domes against the horrendous dust.....until finally, our neighbor's EZ-Up shade tent gave way altogether and came barreling against my own guy lines! by this time, the wind was fierce, and - with the canopy acting as a full sail - it was all i could do to keep its weight off my own structure. a couple guys eventually managed to fold the thing down, despite its bent arms and torn canopy, and we got it tucked away under someone's truck. meanwhile, my tent - with its all-screen ceiling and a rainfly most definitely designed for vertically falling weather - was having its own mini dust-storm inside. there was nothing to do but keep my mask on and make myself useful. this is the kind of thing people bond on, keeping body and soul and shelter together as needed, and when self-sufficiency merges happily with group-effort. the dust-storms ebb and flow, and just when i thought i could risk biking over to the meet-and-greet, we'd have another wave. so i stayed put and enjoyed the company of my fellow campers, who were hilarious and generous in their absurd desert heroics as the world went white. toward early evening, the sky cleared (if not the thick coating of dust on everything inside my tent) and the playa came back to life. i swept out, changed clothes again (keeping your clothes in plastic ziplocks helps!), and headed out for my 6pm temple shift. the temple had been hit hard by the storm, with one of its filigree "chandeliers" having lost some of its layers, so the crew was busy adding support ropes to those pieces. i found my old guardian friend, sparky, among the workers, who had ridden in on a long bike bearing bandannas and bells, so the meet-and-greet went off spontaneously for our shift. we intro'd ourselves to the staff as we accessorized, and sparky led me over to meet the architect, the diminutive but remarkable david best. it was a calm moment before the dust kicked up again. an open-air temple is no shelter from a massive wave of dust, but there's not much to do when you're out in it but hunker down and carry on, and that's what everyone did. the distant city disappeared in a haze of white, and my bare shoulders were well-exfoliated! people immersed in grieving, journaling, or praying, carried on. when 9 o'clock rolled around, the next temple shift arrived and i met some more great folks, staying a bit longer just to socialize. finally i headed home for another rinse-off and clothes change, shaking out my tent again before heading out to explore the city at night. i visited the disco-roller derby, the phenomenal Cubatron (the world's largest 3D display of programmable LED strands, constantly changing, where i could have stayed all night!), the solar array observation deck, and many other visual treats too numerous to mention. i think i got home around 2 or 2:30am, but who's counting?

setup and settling in, day 2

sulevay — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 03:58:53 GMT

as i said, i slept in...til maybe 7:30, awakened by the sound of singing chickens. because the mornings are cool, and the afternoons hot, i got up and strolled to the end of our street to the coffee corner i'd noticed on the way in - espresso being served by one camp on one side, and regular coffee being served by another camp on the other. the espresso line was loooong, so we went for coffee, and didn't have to wait at all. howdy neighbors! spent the morning erecting my own humble but crucial shade structure, two 6x18' lengths of shade cloth with grommets punched in by your truly at work one day. [let's hear it for jobs where you can punch grommets between customers. hey, the gallery kitchen is bigger than my whole livingroom!] i'd gotten a super deal on this stuff cuz the measuring device wasn't working at first, so the guy just rolled off another 20 feet after he discovered the error. ending up with twice as much cloth as i'd budgeted for, for half the price, was one of those happy accidents that come into play for the burn. the shade thing took some adjusting cuz we were oriented kinda sideways to the east-west sun, and i wanted to keep my sleeping space as cool as possible. all the tweaking and fussing took hours, but by midday we had our shade to sit under and cold beers at the ready. it got very hot. we had 3 showers scattered around camp and i think i took 3 that day. rinsing off is good. toward evening, we were invited to a twilight spaghetti dinner out on the playa. a decision was made to dress in whatever passed for "formal wear" that we'd brought along; i wore my lime green lucille ball dress covered in colored polka dots. alas, the weather didn't require fur. our little restaurant consisted of an arched floral entryway, 3 or 4 small tables and a cooking station plopped slightly past 8:30 (the streets are arrayed like a clock, from 2 to 10) right beyond the esplanade. this was ideal cuz it meant we were literally out in the center of the action; no building permits required. our host was a strapping italian with an outrageous accent. in fact, everyone there had an outrageous italian accent. displays of temper and physical affection were in constant evidence; everyone appeared to be related. we were handed menus inscribed with outrageously named entrees, none of which were, unfortunately, available. the waiter offered to choose for us, and guess what? we all had spaghetti. the wine list worked the same way, no matter what you ordered, they were out of it. still, wine could be had if you let the waiter ultimately choose; they had a lovely boxed selection of red and white. when the meal came, we were asked if we'd like a sprinkling of parmesan; with a flourish a cheese grater appeared - and a can of kraft was poured through it. we got semi-drunk and laughed a lot while the sun went down and the playa came alive. eventually, i ended up back at camp and turned in early with the promise of a post-dawn plane ride.

burning man - day one

sulevay — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 18:03:24 GMT

this burn was characterized by large scale, unearthly events, starting with the eclipse the night before we left. i only got to see it cuz my lover got up to pee in the middle of the night, and we ended up with our bare butts out the door as the world plunged into darkness, the stars popped out, and the moon went brownish-red. i thought of our friends and campmates, already on the playa, and imagined a lot of howling at the moon. that part was later verified; i didn't know til the next day, driving into BRC, that the man had been set afire during the penumbra and was currently undergoing reconstructive surgery. so me and my neighbor loaded his truck and headed out tuesday, by 9am. a nice enough drive, tho long and midlin' hot, a decent primer for a hot, dusty week. we got in fairly late, but beating the heat of the day turns out to be a blessing when you've got a whole camp to unload and put together in the desert. my co-traveler was rigged up with a solar panel and inverter, so we thankfully had light even after sunset. the b-ville camp was already well underway. a fully equipped kitchen tent, a semi-public dome, more friends as immediate neighbors. we brought the biggest shade structure, hung right off the back of the truck, and i can say it's handy having professional construction guys plan these things. heavy canvas on top and one side, hung from poles harvested from my friend's own property, and i'd brought reams of shade cloth to accommodate my big-ass tent. we squeezed in between the dome and kitchen amid a cluster of smaller tents, and got the basics up before taking a midnight ramble across the playa. you can't plan your excursions at burning man. well, ok, you can, but it's generally pointless. the city is built for meandering, a strategy that pays off time and again as you careen into surprises everywhere you turn. i seem to remember starting off by bike, then ditching it as the familiar sore-ass syndrome kicked in; ended up doing walkabout with a smallish group of neighbors who had their own non-agenda invitation. with no man to orient to, this seemed especially random, but i found myself unsurprisingly out at the temple, my home-away-from-home, the spiritual bullseye of BRC. from afar, the Temple of Forgiveness looked small and rather modest, but up close the filigree and moonlight came alive. [oh yeah, the moon was still nearly full during the early week, so the pale-white playa was bright enough you didn't need to carry your own illumination. also - because this was the first year i brought a proper winter coat, a gold encrusted fur jacket from my favorite thrift store - the nights were downright balmy, a welcome pleasure that made night exploration (the optimal time to view BRC, afterall) a pure delight. this early in the week, the temple was still a fairly blank canvas, just the beginning scrawls of names, poems, absolutions across the bare walls. but stepping into it, it was as if the world went quiet, as if its lacy walls could shut out the grinding thump-thump of dozens of amps pumping rhythm into the night. it's a testimony to david best and his consistently soulful offerings that these temples imbue the very air with quiet reverence. the form evokes respect.... then we were drawn to some carnival lights beyond the temple; something spinning candy further out in the deep end. this year, the deep playa (beyond the V-shaped edge of the city streets) was full of artwork where usually it's dark, as if every blank piece of canvas invited expression. so we headed out, and as i walked with my girlfriend, i wondered if those weren't people swinging from the poles of this thing out there. we got closer and it came to a stop; she thought i was nuts, she hadn't seen a thing. but then it started up again, and we got to see a marvel..... it was a merry-go-round of sorts, powered by 8 or more people pedaling bikes, that had sculptures of monkeys in static poses, each slightly different, in gestures of reaching for the pole in front of it, with snakes coiling out from the inside across the top of each pole and finally down toward the monkey's mouth. when the people worked in unison, the swing began to turn, and strobes began to go off, and suddenly, the disparate pieces became a movie of one ape swinging from pole to pole, swallowing a single snake. and my brain couldn't cope; suddenly i was high as a kite, my eyes not believing but forced to believe, watching this sculpture come alive. (i returned to this piece a couple of times, and people said it wasn't working.....just found out from the BMan tribe that people had to ALSO play the drums that were hanging around the center, to get it to work! LOL! beautiful! not just interactive, but a genuinely green art piece. powered by bike and drum. doncha love it!?!!) so that was my first night out, and by the time i got back to camp, having been up for almost 18 hours, my feet and butt and calves aching pitifully, i was primed for a good sleep lasting almost 4 whole hours, before waking up to the sound of an old cabaret tune being sung by chickens, blasting from my neighbor's dome......

my date with paula

sulevay — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:48:19 GMT

today i fell in love. not in a romantic way, not even in an emotional way. i had a blindingly loving encounter with a miraculous bodyworker. when i say blinding, i'm not exaggerating. my eyes are still a bit fuzzy coming out of this (what ended up being a) 7-day fast (today i had a 'pink lady' apple - oh holy mother of good!) and when i came up off the table, i could swear my eyes were dilated. everything glowed, and i nearly swooned seeing the face of my benefactor. this was my second session with her, the first being a gift from my friend dru several months back. we'd gone to the hot springs, and stayed after dark, getting our yummy one-hour sessions, and from that i emerged full of wonder at what a human being can do with a physical body. this was not mere touch, this was something much deeper, more profound, as if i'd been internally re-arranged. but....notably, i couldn't really get a a handle on her looks, or see into her eyes as we sat outside after the sessions. this is pertinent to my experience here. my session today was in the afternoon. i'd stopped in the lobby to get one of her cards and fill out a form, and when she walked in to fetch me the thing that immediately struck me was that she looks and talks like dru! not so much in exact facial features or anything, but the sense of the person.... so immediately i felt like i was home, among friends. we began the session, and within a few moments she suggested i "breathe into her hands" as they worked. she was primarily doing a kind of massage called *Chi Nei Tsang, an ancient Taoist massage discipline, enlivens the center of your body, unwinding the tensions rooted in your abdomen and chest by focusing on your internal organs where, according to Master Mantak Chia, toxins, stresses and unresolved emotions accumulate. This massage approach frees the diaphram and solar plexus for easier breathing, stimulates the para-sympathetic nervous system (the relaxation response in the body), enhances your immune function, and facilitates detoxification, cleansing and toning of your organs, to name but a few of the benefits of this powerful work. * (from her website http://www.beyondthebone.com ) i'd requested this because of continuing sensations of a *mass* beneath my navel which has been dogging me for almost a year. meeting her hands with the breath had an almost mystical quality, as if we were merging. some places had pain, some places triggered a tickle reflex, but as she continued i became so certain of her - let's just say it - Love, that i found myself *reaching* to meet her, roll with her pushes and prods and explorations, and the subjective experience of this was just unworldly! my hands buzzed with energy, and then my arms, legs, torso, head.... i am not exaggerating here. the only thing i can compare it to is once when i went to the rodin park at stanford, and ran my hands over every massive sculpture til i was enraptured. a bit like hyperventilating, but i wasn't; my breath became smooth and deep, with each of us exhaling little "hmm"s and *uhhs" once in a while when something particularly powerful gave way. i had flashes of concern: what would i do with all this energy she was releasing? would i need to figure out how to circulate it, lest it burn out my nerve endings and synapses? how would i ever get home? i didn't know i'd need a designated driver! at one point i could feel my *mass, now small and hard and compacted in my middle, throbbing rhythmically. i gave it my attention; she connected it to my heart, created a relationship there. the overwhelming sense was of being in conversation with all these varied aspects of my body..... and somehow, gently working my shoulders and neck, shaking out my arms, and communing with my skull and spine.... the sky opened up and there was just.... flow. i hear a lot of talk about energy workers and healing modalities du jour, and as a californian i've developed a healthy skepticism against inflated claims. this woman puts the fakers to shame. talking with her after, she gently inquired if i would like to come back, and i took her hands in mine and told her i was moving in. :-) still, the uncanny sense that i was sitting with dru. the same energy, the same determined love, cutting thru.....i felt some wall collapse in my ideas about connections between people. i asked her opinion about what would work best, and she reminded me about practical things like schedules and money......i told her i could not possibly pay her what her attention was worth, and she took that in, a smile spreading from her mouth to the rest of her body. some things transcend notions of fair trade. i thanked her for helping me begin a conversation with whatever's going on inside me (she sez only: lots of energy there!) and mentioned my conversation with her, thru breath and hands, and said i wished all human interaction could be like this. today, someone showed me the possibility.....

the cleaning continues.....

sulevay — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 17:48:38 GMT

going into day 6..... what a difference a day makes. i was kinda down yesterday, kinda low-energy (i thought) from slightly less sleep than normal, but a check-in with my MCC (master cleanse companion) and the motivation of having my son coming back to visit, i ended up doing what any sane person would do on a 90 degree afternoon on the 5th day of a fast: i rearranged the living room furniture. this entailed moving a dresser from the kitchen to the bathroom, a bookcase from the livingroom to the kitchen, moving out the DVD case, the massive club chair and the futon from the livingroom, vacuuming and repositioning the tibetan carpet, chasing down several large spiders who were in a family way beneath the heavy furniture, putting everything back in a different configuration that would accommodate the futon being pulled out for sleeping, and hanging up a new overhead lamp near the chair. now here's the thing, for anyone considering doing this fast: not once did i get lightheaded, have my heart race, or feel otherwise concerned that was overdoing, despite the heat. i kept up with my liquids, paid attention to my body, and took a *very* welcome shower before collapsing in my new living room for some cozy TV time ("weeds" on DVD.) so i'm really impressed with my energy level, and that the program really is beginning to elicit *more* (let's just say it) _crap_ after all these days. i feel fine, mentally and physically, except for some achiness in my butt, which seems worst when i'm sitting at the computer! so all the exercise yesterday was great, and today i'm gonna drive over the mountains on this beautiful day to procure a greater quantity of organic maple syrup.....cuz i can't believe how much i'm going thru on this program! at this point, not eating is not only not a problem, i barely even think about it. everything i experience comes in vivid and clear, and i look forward to each day's modest discoveries, as mundane or gently absurd as they may be.

alt responses

sulevay — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 18:41:37 GMT

yesterday, someone who "stumbled on my blog" sent me this link, apparently convinced that i'm losing so much poundage that my capacity to discern a good laugh and make merry has been impaired: http://www.chow.com/grinder/2643 i'm going into day 5, working and socializing as usual, and so far haven't even fallen down or lapsed into incoherence. if i've lost weight, i wouldn't know, cuz i don't own a scale. i do miss eating, but have none of the cravings for specific addictions i had read about....so maybe that means i'm not addicted to anything (even potato chips!?!!) this morning - ta da! - i finally started seeing evidence of *more* stuff beyond the water i am taking in and pumping back out with such speed and enthusiasm. i certainly feel pretty darn empty so where this stuff has been hiding is....well, it's not something i want to contemplate, actually. let's just say some things are better left hidden, along with other mysteries of life, and the rest is between me and my toilet bowl. what a weirdass thing to blog about.