My favorite Christmas PostSecret

from the 12/25/2011 batch

Perpetuating the myth?

I sent a letter to the editor of the Aspen Daily News today:

In her article published Sunday, 11/6/11, titled A multimillion dollar season, Carolyn Sackariason refers to the Merry Go Round restaurant on Aspen Highlands as "the old grocery store that was hauled up by the late Whip Jones, the former owner of Highlands." In an article titled Aspen Highlands restaurant ready for an extreme makeover published on 2/17/11 in The Aspen Times, Jeff Hanle says this is a myth; "The building was constructed from a kit that was apparently popular with grocery stores, according to Hanle. It is a myth that the building served as a grocery store elsewhere and was moved in sections to its perch at mid-mountain at Highlands." Which is it? 

Details, details.

Burning Man 2011

Burning Man thoughts:

The overarching impression is how inadequate any attempt to describe Burning Man is.  To try to explain what it's all about, why it's so awesome, why it's not so bad, why people go, why I want to go again; I know that I will fall far short of adequately conveying even a small part of this to anyone who hasn't been.  But, in the same spirit that took me to Burning Man despite my apprehension, here goes.

Radical self reliance, radical self expression.
Off the charts creativity (some of it at amazing expense).
Mind-boggling.
Cooler than I could ever have imagined, no where near as hard as I feared.
"Welcome home."
Generosity.
Gift economy.
Sunrise first day.
Feeling of participation due to French Maid Brigade parade.
Great weather: cool down, low wind but nice breezes, no rain.
Sand is way worse than dust.
CARCASS WASH!
Nighttime was like an anarchic Disney Parade of Lights (or a Parade of Lights on acid).
Wonderful lack of body consciousness.
Nudity inescapable (not really a problem).
Drug use not in your face.
Dubstep inescapable (boo).
Ear plugs an absolute necessity if you want to sleep.
Spray-on sunscreen rocks!
Plush fabric makes the dust more tolerable.
In terms of getting away from it all, like a shorter Grand trip where you don't have to know how to row.
At BM, you don't pick your experiences, your experiences pick you (ie, cede control).
I've never before willingly hugged so many strangers and near strangers.
Celebratory atmosphere at the Man burn.
Reverential atmosphere at the Temple burn.
Surprisingly emotional exodus.

During the weeks of preparation, a Burning Man veteran told me, "Don't be surprised if you hate it at first."  Thankfully, this was not my experience, perhaps because I was warned, perhaps because I purposefully went in with an open mind and a willing spirit.  Burning Man was so much cooler than I ever could have imagined and so much less difficult than I feared. Now, I will grant you that I was very lucky as a first-timer. The weather was the best that it's been in years; no day long dust storms, low wind but nice breezes, no rain (which turns the dust into mud), wonderfully cool at night.  Due to a wet spring, the playa surface was ideal, hard and smooth.  Due to my travel companions, I was invited to camp with an established theme camp so was able to rely on a group of highly experienced Burners to ease my entry.  Since I arrived late and left late, I avoided the 4, 5, 6+ hour long waits to enter and exit. In addition, my camp was set up when I got there so I was spared a lot of initial uncertainty and anxiety.

For the most part, at least among the people I saw and the places I went, there was an amazing lack of censure.  It is an exercise in self selection.  You're not going to go to Burning Man if you're not willing to be tolerant and because most everyone has arrived with this philosophy, there's an ease to the playa. There's also a communal aspect, people looking out for one another.  I stopped on the playa due to a problem with my bike and immediately, a roving bike mechanic materialized at my side.

The carcass wash.  What, you're wondering, is a carcass wash?  I've decided that the carcass wash was my favorite aspect of Burning Man, due in part to the fact that it was something specific to the French Maid Brigade camp and its neighborhood, our little awesome ritual.  One of the Maids brought a pressure washer.  When he felt the urge or received a request, he would fire it up and yells of "Carcass Wash!" would spread from our camp.  People would then materialize in the street in front of our camp in various states of undress to be treated to a shockingly cold and fantastically refreshing carcass wash, a fine spray of a shower as we all hopped and danced around.

Burning Man is 24 hours a day. The playa never sleeps. However, I got a reasonable amount of sleep, as a conscious choice to not try to cram everything in and because of ear plugs. The dubstep, an annoying thumping electronic music, was round the clock noise which would have made sleep elusive without ear plugs.

The dust was remarkably tolerable.  Granted, as I've already stated, we didn't have any real dust events.  But, as opposed to the grittiness of sand, the dust was much finer, a lot like talcum powder.  Given the choice between dust and sand, I choose dust.

A benefit of Burning Man for me was being forced to disconnect from my electronic connection to the outside world.  I've had a few vacations where I've had that experience, RAGBRAI, my Grand Canyon river trips.  At Burning Man , I had to unplug but I didn't have to ride my bike 60 miles a day or know how to row a raft.

Tickets go on sale January 18, 2012.

An edifying read

Rolling Stone's June 9, 2011 issue has a highly edifying read entitled How Roger Ailes Built the Fox News Fear Factory which I found revelatory.  A persistent topic of conversation amongst my dinner companions is why the Democrat's messages are so consistently drowned out.  We had been approaching the topic as a compare and contrast of how the Democrats are messaging versus how the Republicans are messaging.  After reading this article, I believe our starting premise is off base.  It's not the Democrats versus the Republicans; it's Democrats AND rational Republicans versus the rabid dogs of Fox News.  It's appalling and distressing to read Tim Dickinson's analysis and realize how much sway Roger Ailes wields over the way that policies are formulated and implemented.  The graphic (on the website, a slideshow) detailing how Fox New coordinated its distortions of President Obama's State of the Union address is particularly telling.  Distort, Attack, Repeat.

A recent academic study found that the ignorance of Fox viewers increases the longer they watch the network.

Ailes' strategy exhibits an outrageous disdain for the very people who make him successful, the Fox viewers.  In turn, Fox viewers' anger and frustration is remarkably misplaced.  Most Fox viewers resent what they see as the condescension and elitism of President Obama and other intellectuals.  In fact, these are the individuals in positions of power who are actually working in others' interest while Ailes and those of his ilk, solely to advance their own self-interest, are mercilessly manipulating the Fox viewers, playing on and intentionally deepening their ignorance.  In short, Ailes is exploiting the hoi-polloi in order to solidify his own upper class interests.  

He'd make an excellent comic book villain.  The problem is that this is real life, not a comic book, which leaves us desperately seeking an effective foil. 

Shuffle and Repeat

Very much looking forward to KT Tunstall's return to BellyUp Aspen at the end of next month. 

In anticipation of which I have my KT Tunstall playlist on shuffle and repeat. 

Great review of Madame Trudeaux off her newest album, Tiger Suit, on NPR's website. I particularly like "it stomps and rolls with glammy antagonism, and Tunstall gnashes through it with a candy-coated sneer."

15 Things You Should do in 2011

Here are some recommendations for your 2011. Feel free to add your own.

1. Move. Even if that means just parking further away from your office and hoofing it to the front door. I hesitate to use the word "exercise", since that word has negative connotations for people. Here it is in a nutshell: Moving is good. It gets your dopamine levels up in your brain. It makes you feel good. The end.

2. Turn off your TV. You are exposed to violence and just plain sadness and negativity when you watch TV. Afraid you'll miss your football/basketball games? Watch them at a friend's house. Which leads to...

3. Spend more face-to-face time with people. Texting is great for brief comments and questions, and email is great for quick communication, but actually take the time to see people in person.

4. Get enough sleep. My great-uncle took naps every day of his life. He's still alert and healthy at 98. Enough said.

5. Ask yourself, "Does it really matter?" Will winning this argument help you feel better? Will it give you a greater sense of satisfaction? Only very temporarily.

6. Ask yourself, "Is this in my best interest?" And then listen to your answer. And act on it.

7. Trust your inutition. It is right 99.9% of the time. And that remaining .01%? That's the part where you're not sure you should have listened to your intuition, but months, years from now you'll realize you did the right thing.

8. Spend part of every day in silence. Turn off the music, TV, anything that makes noise. Just sit. And be.

9. Read. And if you aren't into reading, listen to books on iTunes, MP3, CD, whatever.

10. Create a budget. You know what's scarier than having to follow a budget? Not having one at all. I'm not talking about a budget in minute detail - just know what you are paying for each month, and how much you are paying for it.

11. Take your medication as prescribed. And if you aren't taking it, see #7. Maybe you aren't taking it for a good reason (side effects, it's no longer effective, etc.) See your doctor. And be open and honest with him/her.

12. Learn to be okay with impermanence. Once you come to terms with the fact that every single thing in life is not permanent, you start appreciating it more.

13. Travel. Even if expenses are tight, find a way. Even if you are a tourist in your own city or state. People were meant to visit other places. It makes your neurons happy.

14. Make a list of lifetime goals. Some people call this a "bucket list". That sounds kind of morbid to me, but whatever you call it, write down the things you want to accomplish in your life - no matter how outlandish they may seem. The fact that you've written your goals down means you've taken a huge step towards accomplishing them.

15. Unplug. Spend at least 2 hours every day away from your iPhone, Blackberry, laptop, anything electronic. Sounds easy, right? Try it.

by Dr. Stephanie Sarkis for Here, There and Everywhere, A Psychology Today blog