American Dreamer: Reaching for the Golden Apple
Bay Guardian City Editor Steven T. Jones is driving to the Democratic National Convention in Denver, stopping by Burning Man on the way there and back, reporting on the intersection of the counterculture and the national political culture.
By Steven T. Jones
Burning Man is thick with deep drifts of dust this year, making it a difficult and tiring bicycle trek to make it into the deep playa, where San Francisco artist Peter Hudson and his crew are building Tantalus. But it's worth the ride, particularly if seeking a great take on the American Dream theme.
Like most creations out here, it isn't up and running yet, but it will be by tomorrow when the event officially begins. Still, even in its static state, it is an art piece that already resonates with my exploration of how the counterculture sees the national political culture.
Tantalus looks like a red, white and blue top hat, with golden arms and bodies around it. And when it spins on Monday, powered totally by the manual labor of visitors working four pumper rail cars, they'll see that man – a modern American Tantalus -- reaching for the golden apple that is being dangled just out of his reach and falling back empty handed.
It's a telling metaphor for such a big week in American politics.
At the Democratic National Convention, which I leave for today with Kid Beyond in an all-night drive, Barack Obama and the other Democratic Party speakers will try to define that Golden Apple and explain how they'll help the average American reach it.
The news that Joe Biden is Obama's running mate has slowly trickled out to the playa with the new arrivals, but nobody here really cares much. Everyone is too busy setting up or getting adjusted (including to the first big dust storm today), and when we do talk politics during rest breaks, Biden seems to everyone an understandable if boring choice.
There are plenty of political junkies out here, including two friends who let me crash in their RV for the last two nights and who are both headed to Denver in the coming days. Donnie Fowler will be staffing Al Gore, whose speaking slot on Thursday right before Obama will upstage both Clintons. His sweetie Heather Stephenson is with Ideal Bite (their logo is an apple minus one bite, apparently reached by someone) and is headed out Monday to appear on a panel on alternative energy on Tuesday at 1 p.m., along with Mayor Gavin Newsom, the mayor of Denver, and the governor of Colorado.
“The American Dream to me is not having barriers to achievement,” Stephenson told me when I asked. It is Tantalus getting some apple if he really reaches for it. Fowler says it's, “the freedom to pursue your own dream without interference by government or social interests.” But, he added, “The American Dream is more a collective dream than an individual dream.”
Others now on the playa will also make the trek to Denver, including four members of The Philadelphia Experiment, a performance theme camp that will take their politcal dance troupe to the convention for a few days before returning to the playa. (I'll have more of these fascinating folks in a later post).
There is a bit more political provocation than normal out here in Black Rock City, which is usually fairly apolitical. Around Center Camp, there's been some guerrilla posting of messages urging personal action in fighting the power and saving the planet. And the usual series of signs that greet visitors driving in feature pointed quotes by people such as Thomas Jefferson, William T. Sherman, and Alexis de Tocqueville (but not a single quote by a woman)
But most of the political statements out here are in the artwork, like Bummer, a massive wooden Hummer replica slated to burn, or in the little bits of Americana that people work into their costumes or onto their bikes. For all of the idealism in action at Burning Man, there's always been a decidedly outside vibe and sense of alienation from the larger political culture.
Whether that can change, or if this year's theme and timing indicate the beginning of that change and a philosophical return from the desert, remains to be seen. But I'll resume my search for clues on Friday when I return from the convention.
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