in September 202, energy all pent up because of Covid, I did the most ambitious project of my life up to that point. I decided to build an effigy on top of my school bus and burn it at burn night, the year BurningMan was canceled. I had been working with the motif of hats for a little bit so I decided to build a Rene Magritte hat, the Belgian artist. One of my artist friends, Cristina Fletcher drew a particular Magritte painting on the side of the bus.
I was not going to get a permit from the police or the fire department, because — well — likely I would not be able to obtain it. So i prayed they would forgive me when the time came.
And the time did come. We built it, and burnt it. It was magnificent. The flames were 20 feet above the bus. And as it was near done, a few police cars showed up and then a fire truck. Someone had called them alerting them of a potential fire. They put the fire out, whatever was left of it. Then the engine captain went up the roof of the bus to inspect it. As he stood up, the crowd cheered and he surprisingly raised his arms in victory. To this day, I have no idea why, but that sealed the deal. I knew I was home free. He told me we had to wait for the fire marshal but not to worry, he will talk to him about how sound the structure was. The fire marshal came, yelled at me and sent me on my way with no penalties or jail time. That night was epic. We stayed up until dawn basking in that energy.
