Hi Friends,
I have just returned from Burning Man, and I can’t stop thinking about some of the wildly imaginative and profoundly moving art pieces that were out on the playa this year.
One of my favorites was Naga and the Captainess, designed by three women artists from the Bay Area: Cjay Roughgarden, Jacquelyn Scott, and Stephanie Shipman. It was just stunning. The attention to detail (the captainess’s quarters and each treasure chest full of oddities) along with the magnitude of the serpent and sinking ship were mind blowing. I’ve heard a rumor that the serpent is going to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, which feels like the perfect forever home for this piece.
Other art pieces had profoundly moving messages. You know how people ask how you are, and it’s too difficult to explain how complicated and hard things are, so you just say “I’m Fine”? The art piece “I’m Fine,” by Oleksiy Sai, DJ Anatoly Tapolsky, and Vitaliy Deynega speaks to this. It was built from bullet-damaged street signs brought to Black Rock City from Ukraine.
Here’s a photo of the art piece up close, lit up at night, where you can more easily see the war-damaged signs.
Another moving piece, Nova Heaven offered a tribute to the 405 lives tragically lost at the Supernova Festival in Israel on October 7th, 2023. The 140-foot shade structure is a replica of the Supernova Festival site main stage. Under the tent, 405 wooden angels spiral up six pillars, each angel carved with the names of lost lives. In front, a large arch reads WE WILL DANCE AGAIN, asserting resilience and hope in dark times.
This year’s temple, The Temple of Together, was one of the most intricately designed, beautiful temples I have seen in all my years attending Burning Man. The temple is a nondenominational, sacred space where people leave tributes to loved ones who have passed or something from their own past that they would like to release. The morning I wandered in, a group was putting up a tribute to the Israeli hostages; on the other side of that wall, there was a memorial for those killed in Gaza. And right outside, a Christian prayer service was happening, and I wondered where else in America, or in the world, could differing belief systems be honored together peacefully in one space.
I’ve been going through some challenging health issues this year, which I have written about in previous posts, but the worst part of it is the fear and the worry I carry with me, especially when I’m awaiting test results (like I am right now), so I wrote the words FEAR and WORRY on a wall of the temple, hoping that when the temple burned, some of my fear and my worry would float away with the ash and smoke. The temple is burned the night after the man burns, and in contrast to the fun, energetic party atmosphere of the man burn, the temple burn is a time for quiet contemplation and reflection: a time to honor the dead, allow love and grief to flood in, and let go of things that no longer serve us.
While some of these art structures find their way into a second life as public art in various cities (You can find Burning Man art in San Francisco, Reno, Las Vegas, and others), some art is burned (an acknowledgement and celebration of our impermanence), and some of it is dismantled and the wood is used to build houses for Habitat for Humanity and other organizations.
I often think about the hundreds and hundreds of hours that go into an art piece that will be destroyed, and how this offers a lesson for us all—in my own life, I have spent hundreds of hours on writing projects that go nowhere, so the joy must be in the creating rather than the creation. For this week’s writing prompt, we’re going to explore the lessons of impermanence by leaning into the process and destroying the outcome. This may even allow you to take risks in your writing that you might not take otherwise.
What You Will Need
A timer
A place you will be unbothered
A piece of notebook paper and a pen or pencil
The Exercise
We’re going to write on paper for this exercise, because we’re going to rip it up when we’re done. That means this is a great time to write about something that makes you uncomfortable, something you might not want to share with anyone else. Maybe you will write about your darkest secret or a feeling you have had that you’re ashamed of (could be jealousy, desire, fear, or something else). Maybe you start with this sentence: It would be much too dangerous to write about______________________. Or maybe you try writing a fictional scene you’re having trouble with (knowing the pressure is off because you’ll be ripping it up). Set your timer for 20 minutes and write, knowing no one will ever see what you’re writing.
When your 20 minutes are up, take a deep breath, and rip up what you’ve written—no cheating: rip it up even if (or especially if) you love what you’ve written. If you have written it once, you can write it again, even better the next time.
How did this go? Did this exercise make you feel uncomfortable or did it set you free? How would this change your writing life if you started with this prompt every single day as a warm-up exercise? Let us know how it went for you in the comments:
Bonus Prompt
Start with a review of an art show, a theatre performance, or a film, and allow your observations to move into a personal story. One of the best examples of how to do this well is Roxane Gay’s “What We Hunger For.” Check out the essay, and then set a timer for 20 minutes, and try writing your own review/story. If you’re working in fiction, write a review from a character’s perspective. What does the review reveal about this character?
Thank you for being here with me and a special thank you to paying subscribers who make it possible for me to continue this work. If you’re finding these prompts helpful, please consider becoming a paying subscriber. Paying members get all the prompts, access to the entire archive of 125 prompts (and counting), and free virtual, generative writing workshops. And also all my gratitude.
I’ll also be teaching a 4-week virtual writing workshop (it’s on writing about place) with Story Studio Chicago. I would love to see some of you there! More info may be found here.
Until next time,
Suzanne
My books: Almost Somewhere, Bad Tourist, & Animal Bodies
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My friend Meri Mac sent me your link and got me to sign up so I am new to the whole stack world. I was rather disappointed that comments seem so few....as I am hardly without. The Burning Man topic, Art sent me into relapse as I suffer from Racing Brain syndrome. Most people over 70 have it as well as OCD of some form. Instead of working on the assignment, I spent about 6 hours finding a letter exchange between my Great Aunt Gertrude (the reason Meri wanted to dump me onto your site) and William Carlos Williams...which I then decided to transcribe while simutaneousy researching whether the Ezra she mentioned in another letter might be Ezra Pound.
Burning Man is the catalyst to this comment though. Last week I drove down from Tahoe to San Diego via 395. As carefully as looking for wildlife, occasionally you could spot a Burning Man RV slowly making it's way back to a clueless Grandparent....the gray dust simulating Snoopy's Pigpen, a streaming telltale. Some reminded me of those off roaders who come out of the desert with their trucks caked with mud...and remain that way for about three months.. a badge of adventure to broadcast their adventures. I have seen signs at the RV rental places.."NO BURNERS"...but have never monitored the self car washes to see if they hold equal predjudices.
About two years ago I was moving my Bobcat back to the Bay Area. The day before I had a new tire put on in Carson City...they had failed to tighten the lug nuts down. I was climbing Brockway Summit with this heavy load and the entire wheel came off...flying by me. It was in the middle of a construction zone with a CHP in attendance. I spent a full day attempting to figure out how to tow the rig back to Carson for repairs. AAA laughed at me. The Tire place ignored me. I then moved on to the big players...Semi truck towing companies. Finally one of towers mentioned as an aside, "You know that this is the very worst weekend of the year to get a tow?"...."How so??" I asked. "Burning Man just finished! Every Tow truck in the State is headed that way!"
Fantastic writing exercise-THANKS!