Minister of Free Inquiry (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} aethyrflux) wrote,@ 2008-04-06 21:04:00 |
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laughter, tears, and gratitude
...:::explored the SF Bay Area, toured Hawaii, sacrificed everything in Phoenix, participated in the Burners without Borders community picnic in Pearlington, and now i'm back in ATX to work with the Burning Flipside Design and Fabrication Team:::...
Before I left Austin, I managed to simplify my life. It took me over two months to do so. In that time, many of my goals metamorphosized. By the time I reached San Francisco, I was completely open for whatever the fates had in store for me and I was energized with enthusiasm. I found a rideshare through craigslist to get out to the West Coast. He was eventually headed back up to work on the Buffalo Field Campaign, and he had adventurous spirit inspired me to trust in my own skills and adaptability to survive and thrive in whatever circumstances I encountered.
So, when I arrived in San Francisco, I was ready for anything. I certainly didn't expect to hook up with a group like The Tantric Circus! As I have said before numerous times, I truly felt honored & blessed to work with such a talented group of individuals. But, after using all of my skills & abilities to the nth degree for three weeks in Hawaii, I felt rather stagnant in the Bay Area. I continued to devote myself to work in the temple space in Oakland that I lived in; but I craved more expansive projects.
The next thing I knew, I was talking with Carmen Mauk, Co-Director of Burners Without Borders, about the plans for a community picnic in Pearlington, Mississippi (where BWB originally went to do disaster relief in 2005, after rebuilding the Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Biloxi), and I knew that I had to go there and participate. However, there weren't any people driving from the West Coast, and I didn't have the money to fly at such a late date. However, there was a group of folks from Austin headed out there!
I met "Oopey, The Evil Superhero" through Craigslist rideshare, and we set out for Austin in his Subaru station wagon. Before we even reached LA, the damn thing started overheating. We took it to a mechanic in CA & they said that they fixed it; but it overheated again around 7 or 8 hours later... about midnight on Easter, while we were driving through Phoenix.
We called AAA & a tow truck took us to the nearest mechanic. All of my luggage was stolen while it was in the lot at the mechanic, waiting to be fixed. There wasn't anything with any real street resale value in any of my bags, but it will cost me thousands of dollars to replace everything... my khaki utilikilt, my Stewart clan weathered hunting tartan & black Prince Charles jacket... my red & blue daishiki... Guatemalan textiles from my Grandmother... my black Marmot hiking jacket with a DPW patch on the left shoulder, a BWB patch on the left breast, and an Antarctic exploration patch on the right shoulder... two tailored dress suits, all of my ties, dress shoes... sigh.
Well, I suppose I needed to make a sacrifice at the crossroads in order to prepare myself for the next phase of my journey... I finally arrived in Austin to meetup with the BWB:ATX crew & headed out to Pearlington MS for the community picnic.
While we were out there, I helped the BWB project to build a bathroom addition for an elderly gentleman who had spent the last couple of years helping other people recover from Katrina and had developed health issues that made him unable to help himself anymore.
Our Pearlington adventures were often quite delightfully surprising... I certainly didn't expect that I would be singing "Ring of Fire" with harmonies from the one-and-only Action Girl, and our videographer, Rob! After our first day of work, we all went out to sing karaoke together in the most delightful dive bar you could imagine, "Turtle Landing" (I must pause to recall that during the BWB:ATX Canyon Lake Cleanup, we encountered Turtle Medicine). I had also never before conceived of, much less tasted fried ravioli... mmmmm, spicy!
The next morning, Tom Price & Pharaoh gave a pep talk to the Americorps volunteers & some of the local youth who were in attendance, and then they proceeded to create burnable art for the next few hours, with the assistance of IQ (another volunteer who came with us from Austin). They made a humanoid effigy, a boat, a castle, a spiral staircase, a really awesome dragon, and finally, they built the scales of justice.
That evening, we had a delicious community potluck with ample meat provided by Patrick... including BBQ brisket & his famous signature Ginger Chicken
We hosted the premiere screening of the final edit of "Burn on The Bayou" to a crowd of about 200 locals, who were overjoyed to see their story displayed on the big screen, when so many people from disaster relief organizations & the media have overlooked them... and no matter what sort of constructive criticism I may be able to provide about any aspect of The Burning Man Project: these people's laughter, tears, and gratitude confirmed for me that this mission was indeed a success.
You can read more about the BWB "Return to The Bayou" project in entries written by Patrick & Carmen @ the Burners Without Borders Blog.
--
One of my best friends had shared a story with me before I left that seems all too real to me, now: Cruising Blues. Perhaps this is not too dissimilar to the lesson that Candide learns at the end of his adventures, "We must cultivate our garden." Or, more to the point, maybe this is an illustration of the essential moral in the Hobbit's tale, "There And Back Again" ...that one can appreciate home all the more after a long adventure!
However, I have always said that home is where my boots are, and I am still feeling a strong nomadic pull in my life. I suppose that I really just want to feel useful, and I will go anywhere I need to in order to participate in a productive project. I have definitely learned much about the human condition and my own particular processes & goals in my recent endeavors, and I will continue to write about these experiences for some time...
In the meantime, I will be devoting myself to the Burning Flipside Design and Fabrication Team, as well as working on some of my own personal projects (and courting a certain special someone ;~}). Last Night's fundraiser for Camp Atlantis was asmashing success, and I look forward to seeing how that project will continue to transform...
--
Before I left the SF Bay area, I attended the premiere screening of Antero Alli's new film, The Invisible Forest. I picked up a copy of the workbook, "Towards an Archeology of the Soul", and I gifted him a set of the divination deck (which I just happened to have with me) that I had created with some friends using his Neuro-Tarot formula. I asked him some questions and he gave me some answers that I will have to describe in another post, entirely...
...:::explored the SF Bay Area, toured Hawaii, sacrificed everything in Phoenix, participated in the Burners without Borders community picnic in Pearlington, and now i'm back in ATX to work with the Burning Flipside Design and Fabrication Team:::...
Before I left Austin, I managed to simplify my life. It took me over two months to do so. In that time, many of my goals metamorphosized. By the time I reached San Francisco, I was completely open for whatever the fates had in store for me and I was energized with enthusiasm. I found a rideshare through craigslist to get out to the West Coast. He was eventually headed back up to work on the Buffalo Field Campaign, and he had adventurous spirit inspired me to trust in my own skills and adaptability to survive and thrive in whatever circumstances I encountered.
So, when I arrived in San Francisco, I was ready for anything. I certainly didn't expect to hook up with a group like The Tantric Circus! As I have said before numerous times, I truly felt honored & blessed to work with such a talented group of individuals. But, after using all of my skills & abilities to the nth degree for three weeks in Hawaii, I felt rather stagnant in the Bay Area. I continued to devote myself to work in the temple space in Oakland that I lived in; but I craved more expansive projects.
The next thing I knew, I was talking with Carmen Mauk, Co-Director of Burners Without Borders, about the plans for a community picnic in Pearlington, Mississippi (where BWB originally went to do disaster relief in 2005, after rebuilding the Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Biloxi), and I knew that I had to go there and participate. However, there weren't any people driving from the West Coast, and I didn't have the money to fly at such a late date. However, there was a group of folks from Austin headed out there!
I met "Oopey, The Evil Superhero" through Craigslist rideshare, and we set out for Austin in his Subaru station wagon. Before we even reached LA, the damn thing started overheating. We took it to a mechanic in CA & they said that they fixed it; but it overheated again around 7 or 8 hours later... about midnight on Easter, while we were driving through Phoenix.
We called AAA & a tow truck took us to the nearest mechanic. All of my luggage was stolen while it was in the lot at the mechanic, waiting to be fixed. There wasn't anything with any real street resale value in any of my bags, but it will cost me thousands of dollars to replace everything... my khaki utilikilt, my Stewart clan weathered hunting tartan & black Prince Charles jacket... my red & blue daishiki... Guatemalan textiles from my Grandmother... my black Marmot hiking jacket with a DPW patch on the left shoulder, a BWB patch on the left breast, and an Antarctic exploration patch on the right shoulder... two tailored dress suits, all of my ties, dress shoes... sigh.
Well, I suppose I needed to make a sacrifice at the crossroads in order to prepare myself for the next phase of my journey... I finally arrived in Austin to meetup with the BWB:ATX crew & headed out to Pearlington MS for the community picnic.
While we were out there, I helped the BWB project to build a bathroom addition for an elderly gentleman who had spent the last couple of years helping other people recover from Katrina and had developed health issues that made him unable to help himself anymore.
Our Pearlington adventures were often quite delightfully surprising... I certainly didn't expect that I would be singing "Ring of Fire" with harmonies from the one-and-only Action Girl, and our videographer, Rob! After our first day of work, we all went out to sing karaoke together in the most delightful dive bar you could imagine, "Turtle Landing" (I must pause to recall that during the BWB:ATX Canyon Lake Cleanup, we encountered Turtle Medicine). I had also never before conceived of, much less tasted fried ravioli... mmmmm, spicy!
The next morning, Tom Price & Pharaoh gave a pep talk to the Americorps volunteers & some of the local youth who were in attendance, and then they proceeded to create burnable art for the next few hours, with the assistance of IQ (another volunteer who came with us from Austin). They made a humanoid effigy, a boat, a castle, a spiral staircase, a really awesome dragon, and finally, they built the scales of justice.
That evening, we had a delicious community potluck with ample meat provided by Patrick... including BBQ brisket & his famous signature Ginger Chicken
We hosted the premiere screening of the final edit of "Burn on The Bayou" to a crowd of about 200 locals, who were overjoyed to see their story displayed on the big screen, when so many people from disaster relief organizations & the media have overlooked them... and no matter what sort of constructive criticism I may be able to provide about any aspect of The Burning Man Project: these people's laughter, tears, and gratitude confirmed for me that this mission was indeed a success.
You can read more about the BWB "Return to The Bayou" project in entries written by Patrick & Carmen @ the Burners Without Borders Blog.
--
One of my best friends had shared a story with me before I left that seems all too real to me, now: Cruising Blues. Perhaps this is not too dissimilar to the lesson that Candide learns at the end of his adventures, "We must cultivate our garden." Or, more to the point, maybe this is an illustration of the essential moral in the Hobbit's tale, "There And Back Again" ...that one can appreciate home all the more after a long adventure!
However, I have always said that home is where my boots are, and I am still feeling a strong nomadic pull in my life. I suppose that I really just want to feel useful, and I will go anywhere I need to in order to participate in a productive project. I have definitely learned much about the human condition and my own particular processes & goals in my recent endeavors, and I will continue to write about these experiences for some time...
In the meantime, I will be devoting myself to the Burning Flipside Design and Fabrication Team, as well as working on some of my own personal projects (and courting a certain special someone ;~}). Last Night's fundraiser for Camp Atlantis was a
--
Before I left the SF Bay area, I attended the premiere screening of Antero Alli's new film, The Invisible Forest. I picked up a copy of the workbook, "Towards an Archeology of the Soul", and I gifted him a set of the divination deck (which I just happened to have with me) that I had created with some friends using his Neuro-Tarot formula. I asked him some questions and he gave me some answers that I will have to describe in another post, entirely...
