A humming bird in bee's clothing

The phone rang, I looked at the number, its Dianna. She called to try and figure out what the heck I'd said in the rambling message. We had a great conversation. She totally came clean, took responsibility for what she said at the party (previous post: Accept the challenge) and even expanded her viewpoint. She accepted that there are many diverse ways that we can contribute at Burning Man. I apologized for leaving such a long message. It'd have been a lot more appropriate to talk in person or at least with her on the other line instead of an answering machine. In the end, we both came to a greater understanding of each other's perspectives and more mutual respect.

I learned that the OBOP theme camp revolves around everyone working as a team. There are team leaders and there are workers. Its kind of like a bee hive. You have your worker bees and drone bees. In 2003, I did not work for anyone. I had my own ways of contributing (eg. First picking oranges for several hours hear in good ole California, then handing out the 11 boxes of oranges to random Burners on the Esplanade over a period of three days). Just like any good bee hive, the Queen bee and King bee along with their chosen nobility, were unable to process my random maverick currency - only the coins of drones and workers are recognized at OBOP. I was a humming bird in bee's clothing.

Ultimately, I am super grateful to Dianna for being so authentic with me on the phone on Thursday. "You made my day, Dianna." I said. Its so cool to be able to acknowledge what's actually happening and base my decisions on this instead of getting triggered into past unresolved trauma and hopping on the same old not-so-merry-go-round. This can be called spontaneous capitulation. Now, I know that I will stay somewhere else. It has nothing to do with not fitting in, not belonging, not being liked and everything to do with staying at a camp that has a style that I am comfortable with. I like to practice yoga, tai chi and play the didjeridoo. Duh! Why hang out with folk who drink too much etc. My presence in that kind of environment is incongruous and disruptive. Who wants a silly yogi aesthetic cue ball around when you want to get loaded?

Of course, I did a lot more than hand out a 1000 oranges. I had a blast performing at the OBOP's Palladium as well as playing for a thousand folks at Center Camp. I was also honored to pick up garbage. Special thanks to all Earth Guardians!