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A Tumbled Account of My Constant Search for the California Dream. at times it may not seem that these mundane pictures of my life in a suburban concrete waste-land have anything to do with chasing the endless possibilities for freedom, beauty and radical self expression that this Golden State has to offer. but remember. reality is a complicated one, and it is not as straightforward as we might think.

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- The 2006 Woogie Stage My thoughts on Lightning in a Bottle: The summer after graduating high school I had some very loose plans to go to Burning Man with some friends. Dangerously loose plans by any real burner’s standards. We would have died. It didn’t happen 10 months latter after my first year of college, I had my first summer job and had been working for two weeks straight, so when my mom saw an article in the local paper titled “Better than Burning Man?” she set it aside, and told me I should take a weekend off and enjoy the summer. (Please thank my mom for how this all turned out next time you see her) So I packed up some camping gear and drove over the little mountain range in Santa Barbara to a camp ground for something I could never have understand at that time. I remember while waiting in a crowd of overly punctual Burners, seeing little clouds of playa float from recently smacked camp chairs into the air like only playa does, and not knowing what these strange superbly well dressed people were gossiping on about. Another party, another campground maybe? Those were the first moments. What can I say about the weekend? It was LIB 2006, It was a barely put together, safety third, all-night thunderbolt of life! I was 19 and in a totally foreign environment and loving every minute of it. I got bit by that party and it was all over. I knew I needed to go back. And go back we did: a year latter, better prepared and with my good friends Greenz, Molly, and Kelly. A year after that we had a bit of rain, comped tickets, electricity, a full bar, DJs, a lounge and were a dozen strong. Throughout college I talked to everyone I could about LIB, and even after going to the Burn, I expressed how personal and intimate LIB was compared to the metropolis of Black Rock City. Before I had playa dreams, I had Lightning dreams … for years. I will always be proud to say Lightning was my first. So as this weekend draws on, it really does sadden me (in an unexpectedly deep way) to not be with all of you, my good friends, my other family, my wolf pack, the tribe. So dance extra hard, and hug a stranger and think of me, and after the face-paint is washed off, the tents packed down, the vests put away, the sloppy trough food consumed, and the car cleaned out: tell me what I missed and rub it in my face, and really really live it up, because despite what ever changes have occurred in these last five years, and what ever negative things I may have said in the last 12 months: The Do Lab’s Lighting In A Bottle festival is still something amazing to be experienced by those about to be struck. -W

- The 2006 Woogie Stage

My thoughts on Lightning in a Bottle:

The summer after graduating high school I had some very loose plans to go to Burning Man with some friends. Dangerously loose plans by any real burner’s standards. We would have died. It didn’t happen 10 months latter after my first year of college, I had my first summer job and had been working for two weeks straight, so when my mom saw an article in the local paper titled “Better than Burning Man?” she set it aside, and told me I should take a weekend off and enjoy the summer. (Please thank my mom for how this all turned out next time you see her) So I packed up some camping gear and drove over the little mountain range in Santa Barbara to a camp ground for something I could never have understand at that time. I remember while waiting in a crowd of overly punctual Burners, seeing little clouds of playa float from recently smacked camp chairs into the air like only playa does, and not knowing what these strange superbly well dressed people were gossiping on about. Another party, another campground maybe? Those were the first moments. What can I say about the weekend? It was LIB 2006, It was a barely put together, safety third, all-night thunderbolt of life! I was 19 and in a totally foreign environment and loving every minute of it. I got bit by that party and it was all over. I knew I needed to go back. And go back we did: a year latter, better prepared and with my good friends Greenz, Molly, and Kelly. A year after that we had a bit of rain, comped tickets, electricity, a full bar, DJs, a lounge and were a dozen strong. Throughout college I talked to everyone I could about LIB, and even after going to the Burn, I expressed how personal and intimate LIB was compared to the metropolis of Black Rock City. Before I had playa dreams, I had Lightning dreams … for years. I will always be proud to say Lightning was my first. So as this weekend draws on, it really does sadden me (in an unexpectedly deep way) to not be with all of you, my good friends, my other family, my wolf pack, the tribe. So dance extra hard, and hug a stranger and think of me, and after the face-paint is washed off, the tents packed down, the vests put away, the sloppy trough food consumed, and the car cleaned out: tell me what I missed and rub it in my face, and really really live it up, because despite what ever changes have occurred in these last five years, and what ever negative things I may have said in the last 12 months: The Do Lab’s Lighting In A Bottle festival is still something amazing to be experienced by those about to be struck.

-W