Request for donations for Azul's trip as a healer to Burning Man!

Dear Friends and Family,

I am departing from New York City this Sunday to spend 8 days in the desert of Nevada to participate in Burning Man, an experiment in a temporary community!

What is Burning Man?

Everyone who attends the event is encouraged to participate by offering a good or service as a gift. This year I am grateful to be serving as a healer with Shamandome, a group of 22 healers who will be offering healing services throughout the week. We are all trained in and/or studying shamanism and different healing modalities. I will personally be offering support to the shamanistic healers and assisting in workshops about shamanism. Out of respect to tribal cultures, we call ourselves "shamanistas" because we do not claim to be "shamans," a name which is reserved for extensively trained individuals who are traditionally members of a tribal community.

What is a shaman?

My trip will cost about $2000 and I have paid for it out of pocket. To help support my trip, I am requesting donations from anyone who feels moved to contribute to the costs. A donation of $1, $10, $100 or any other amount would be greatly appreciated! Any extra donations will be donated to the infrastructure of our camp for this and coming years.

I will create a special Burning Man wrap-up newsletter to let all sponsors know how the event goes which will be published when I return to New York in September.

Thank you for your generosity!

Much love,

Azul

To make a donation, please visit this secure PayPal page:

Azul at Burning Man 2008

taking it to the next level

god
goddess
great spirit
creator
universal life force energy
my mind's eye
that feeling
love
breath
wind
sun
sky
air
sleeping
dreaming
writing
music
dancing
living
uncertainty
meltdown
connecting
being
opening
pterodactyl
allah
rama
g-d

midnight oil

It's what I burn when I want to do more today than I seem to have time for.
It's also when I burn the candle which has two ends.
It's also a band from the 80s which was really fun but then got played out in the 90s and 2000s.

Hey kids, ever heard of them?

See/hear them on YouTube by clicking here

not much to say

Did a lot of listening today.

purple tutu

All I have to say is:

purple tutu!
purple tutu!
purple tutu!

[for Burning Man]

the evil that produces good

In my reading today I came across the story of a beautiful courtesan, Lou Andreas-Salomé, whom Nietzsche called an evil woman. She captivated the hearts and minds of many men in her time, yet remained a free spirit, a free agent.

Her story recalls Goethe, Faust, sufism, Rumi, paradox, divine comedy...

She continues to inspire and captivate posthumously.

source: http://www.freud-museum.at/cms/online/freud/chronolg/1921-d.htm

how do you spell "conniption?"

So, I was with my friend LJ Daimel today.
We were both in like the 99th percentile for spelling as children.
She used the word "conniption" in conversation and we got to wondering, how do you spell "conniption?"
We both spelled it out in unison, spelling bee style:

conniption. c-o-n-n-i-p-t-i-o-n. conniption.

Later we googled it and discovered we both were correct with our spelling.

How do you like that?

conniption defined

thunder and lightning!

So the thunder and lightning are back!
I find it so comforting when the rain comes again.
All of a sudden the air lightens up and there is an ominous breeze.
Makes for really good sleeping and dreaming, I always say.
I love it when it rains because it also takes the pressure off of having to have an eventful day, like when it's sunny and warm and you feel obligated to do all these things and be social and such.

I know you know what I'm talking about.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this: feel free to chime in with a comment!

an orchestra of 200 electric guitars

Out of Doors at Lincoln Center tonight...
the build up was a bit long and I was wondering, will there be a payoff?!!?!?!?!
(standing there, feet shuffling, heavy bag resting on the ground between legs)

it was in three parts
long slow progression and then part three really delivered!
it was quite beautiful, this crowd of people in the beautiful weather

I believe most of us were made proud, as the harmonies became more complex
that we showed up, and stayed until the end
that we gave it a chance and were duly rewarded by a great performance

BONUS was to ecstatically dance to the band Liquid Liquid in the next act

read about Liquid Liquid and that the song White Lines (Grandmaster Flash/Melle Mel) was actually sampled from one of their songs

Alas, I LOVE MY AMAZING LIFE!!!

in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions...

John Hughes dies at 59

Coney Island gratitudes

1) conversation with Manny
2) seduction research
3) writing desires in the sand
4) no floating diapers or syringes
5) wonderful company
6) splashing and jumping in the water
7) flirtations
8) packed a lunch
9) beach afterglow and sexy hair
10) clear night full moon

Lake Wallenpaupack Synchronicity

I just got back from working on a job at Lake Wallenpaupack in the Poconos in Pennsylvania. I knew this job was meant to be when I heard where we were going to be located:

Lake Wallenpaupack was the place that my Grandpa took all of us to in the summers of 1976-77. I remember it as a magical place where everyone seemed to be in a good mood and had so much fun! The only sad thing I remember is that I accidentally lost my brother Mike's Sergeant Murphy action figure in the sand after burying it so I wouldn't lose track of it. Well, I buried it so well that everyone lost track of it including me.

I remember hearing kids playing on the water all across the lake: splashing, swimming, in motorboats, canoes, and kayaks... they were a little bit older than me and they were having so much fun playing with their friends. I was having fun with my siblings and cousins, but I definitely remember thinking to myself how fun it would be if I was playing and laughing with a whole bunch of friends...

After those two summers, we didn't go back to that lake for vacation. This past weekend, 32 years later, was my first visit back to Lake Wallenpaupack - and hopefully not my last!

The amazing thing about my job is that it involved talking to a whole bunch of people that were a little older than me but had met each other and spent time with each other there on that same lake during those same years. It was so mystical and eerie to realize that any one of them could have been in those groups of laughing kids I remembered from when I was six years old.

I love my amazing life!

There I am with the life preserver looking pretty happy at Lake Wallenpaupack, circa 1977

And here's a close up with my Aunt Mary Helen