Burning Man & Spider Man

The Temple of Transition at sunset

It’s been a while since my last blog. Lots has happened. There’s still a lot for me to process. My Burning Man experiences are swimming around my head, so I’ll get one or two of those images out of my head and into print.

Thursday, August 25^th: after a day working on my Burning Man art project, the One Mile Clock, I was back in my camp out in the middle of nowhere. I was actually out on the edge of Black Rock City but it felt like the middle of nowhere. Four days before the gates opened to the general public, my area of the city was totally undeveloped. My nearest neighbor was over 10 blocks away.

From my camp, I could see all the way across the city where the Burning Man was standing on his pyramid. The Temple of Transition was visible off in the distance looking like a Salvador Dali painting. The sun was setting with the Playa dust playing havoc with the light. I was sitting there enjoying the sight, the sunset and a martini.

I had just finished washing 18 hours of accumulated Playa dust off my body and was enjoying dust free skin. It was relaxing: Ice cold martini, clean skin, the Burning Man glowing in the distance and the Temple of Transition glowing beyond the Man.

Out of nowhere, I hear, “So! How are you enjoying your Playa TV?”

I was so engrossed in the view, I didn’t hear him pull up. OK. I’m partially deaf. That could have had something to do with it. I’m just sayin’…

Without my noticing, a Cushman three wheeled vehicle pulled up next to me. A life sized Spider Man was mounted on the back of the Cushman. It looked like Spider man was humping the rear window. Question: Was Spider Man mounted or was the Cushman???

I burst out laughing. Playa TV! Perfect! And I’m watching the Playa like it’s the most engrossing TV show ever!

And you know? It was.

Spider Man and his Cushman driver drove off and I settled back into my camp chair waiting for the next program.

Thanks for listening,

Jerry L. Hanson