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Burning Man 2012: The Journey Home

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On Tuesday of last week, my husband and I, dusty, weary and battered returned to Ocean Beach from Black Rock City – a sort of desert Brigadoon, appearing and disappearing every year on a Nevada dry lake bed every end of August.

Going to Burning Man is more commitment than holiday and more journey than destination. For us, while the 2012 Burning Man pinnacle is complete, the journey is not. A pile of shoes covered with the almost-white alkaline powder of the Burning Man Playa wait to be wiped off with vinegar and repaired. Tutus are piled in a corner, waiting for a good shake out, too delicate to wash. Lining the hall I’ve got washed garments air drying including a re-fabricated bridesmaid’s dress, a well-worn white morning coat, a plaid wool maxi, a pair of bright green poly-pro overalls, a skirt that was once a table cloth, a pink faux-fur jacket, hand-made bloomers and other odds and ends.   [Read more…]

As to Alaska, All I Can Say is “Wow!” (with a sprinkling of other “W” words)

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The other day we rented a car from Enterprise in Anchorage, Alaska, to drive south of the state a ways. Up to then the only words we had to describe what little we had already seen in the state they call the “Last Frontier” was: “Wow!”

And it had barely begun. Believe me. Those mudflats and sparkling waters, near where we hiked the day before, along with a stop on a mountain called Flat top, where cold winds gave life to our aging bones – all that was, indeed, “Wowful” but when I steered our midsized Kia onto the highway to Homer it was like rolling along a highway in the Twilight Zone, watching a world open up to us unlike any we had ever seen or dreamed of.   [Read more…]

DUMBSHIT Airways

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By Bob Dorn

Nowhere can ostentatious American dumb be seen in such sharp relief as when your international flight lands and you board the connecting flight home. Maybe you were impressed by the effete flight attendants and Spanish passengers who spoke your language and two others, but now, exhausted and nearly unconscious aboard the plane bound for San Diego, you look at the in‐flight television offerings and find blurbs meant to attract your eyes; words like these describing an installment in a Showtime serial: “Sean and Matt spend a day bonding together.”

Aside from the whisper of man‐sex in there, that blurb could only appeal to people whose kids bear those names. It’s a cinch that Delta did not for a minute consider offering Sean and Matt’s special day to fliers on the Madrid to Atlanta run; after all, passengers could see more interesting stuff going on in the seats around them. But look at the phrase, “bonding together.” That’s where stupid really lives in Delta’s in‐house tv guide. Which word could best be eliminated? Why didn’t Delta simply say S and M “spend a day together”? I know, I know, that’s inert, and lays there all flat, like Mitt Romney’s version of “America the Beautiful,” or the joke he might tell. Like Romney himself, the phrase, “spend a day together,” seems to lack something. So, the Delta blurber inserted “bonding.”   [Read more…]

Field of View: Sweet Home Chicago

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Tell anyone you’re headed to Chicago and you’ll get a list of must-sees and -dos. I couldn’t even begin to scratch the surface during my short stay, but here’s what I learned:

  • They don’t call it the Windy City for nothing. A more appropriate name might be The Wrath of God.
  • As soon as you feel one raindrop, no matter how small, run for f$%*ing cover. Whatever you do, don’t listen to the locals when they, “Should be nothing―just some scattered showers later.”
  • People don’t honk a quick f$%* you in Chicago; they scream full-on sentences with their horn that’ll make you blush.
  • The views are breathtaking, especially from the John Hancock Observatory and the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower).
  • If you can, load The Blues Brothers soundtrack onto whatever device you have. You’re going to want to listen to it.
  • The buildings go all the way up, and the architecture is remarkable.
  • Visit Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria.  I preferred the “Lou,” which had the freshest tomatoes that I have ever tasted. But if you’re a meat lover, the “Malnati Chicago Classic” is for you. Just beware that beneath the cheese is a layer of thinly-sliced sausage covering the entire pie.
  • Oh, while visiting Lou Malnati’s you might see Trueblood actor Joe Manganiello and squeal like a little girl before calling your husband to get credit for not chasing the hottest werewolf on TV down the street. I’m just saying that might happen.

All photos by Annie Lane, except where noted.   [Read more…]

Field of View: An Alaskan Adventure

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My trip to Alaska was the result of a year of planning and not-so-patiently waiting. I knew it would be wonderful, especially to see old family friends after such a long time, but I never imagined it would become an experience of a lifetime.   [Read more…]

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