On Being Lucky
Sometimes I think about how lucky I am.
In 2007, I was there at Burning Man as The Man was burned early by a prankster, Paul Addis.
In 2010, I got to meet the man who did it. You may be able to tell in those photos that I appreciated this particular man’s free spirit, showing up to an event, years later, wearing face paint idolizing him!
In 2012, he jumped in front of a subway train. Not so merry, after-all.
The San Francisco Chronicle wrote about Paul Addis after his passing:
Addis served nearly two years in prison in Nevada after the August 2007 stunt in Black Rock Desert in which he set the 40-foot-tall man-statue ablaze ahead of schedule. He told The Chronicle after his arrest on arson and other charges that Burning Man had become too suburban and needed spontaneity.
“This was not an act of vengeance, it was one of love,” Addis said. “A love of the ethos that is fading at Burning Man. There’s no sense of spontaneity. No sense of ‘F- it. Let’s burn this down.’ “