Black Rock City, Nevada
in the co-op gallery, down towards 15th, I was looking at a resin and wire hand that an artist was making, and we started talking about his inspirations...
it would seem that this was a project he was creating for burning man...
burning man... what's that???
well, for years, artist friends kept telling me about burning man...
i kept saying that i would go, but it just never became a priority
[afterall, that is the same weekend of the Telluride Film Festival, which still holds dear in my heart]...
something shifted for me on my 2004 birthday in Alaska
i came back, started studying kendo, became involved with the fire dancer community in Portland, and decided that this was going to be the time... i was going to burning man!!! i was ready...
2005 , the year I got my spanking and rang the bell...
2006 , see you on the playa...
these pages are presented this way as i have pledged to myself that 2005 will be the first of many years with my playa family.
when i arrived at the gate, the greeters said, "Welcome Home".
two days later, i knew what that meant... not just as words, but as a warming to my soul of a place i had never known, a feeling never before felt, and a way of seeing life that i hope to never forget...
we; as i now consider myself a convert, a devotee, one of the community; might leave the playa, howling at the parting rays of the sun as they bow under the black rock hills; but the playa does not leave us... it has only a temporary physicality, to remind us that all we do is not of the earth or for marked gains, but of the soul and mind, to carry forth and spread a sense of family connection to all that we engage every day. i keep howling at the setting sun, sometimes with the eyes of those around me raising brow, as i must embrace them too for someday they might pilgrim to black rock and understand our ways and embrace our family...
