Mountain Views News          Saturday, October 2, 2010

12

THE WORLD AROUND YOU

 MountainViews-News Saturday, October 2, 2010 

Part 2 Burning Man Series by Kim Clymer-Kelley


There’s No Place Like Home – 

Getting There

 Last week I 
shared about 
arriving at 
the Burning 
Man event 
in northwest 
Nevada. 
Here is the 
rest of this amazing week of “being home”.

 In the middle of the camping area on the edge 
of the open playa is what is called “Center Camp” 
which serves as kind of a community center for the 
city. Straight out on the playa from Center Camp is 
a giant structure that is topped with a sculpture of a 
Man. This is designed by different artists every year 
and is the focal point of the event. A half mile past 
the “Man” is the “Temple“. This is the Spiritual hub 
of the community and is also designed and built by 
different artists every year. The special energy of the 
Temple is felt the moment you enter it. The walls are 
filled with messages to loved ones … telling them 
they are missed … telling them they are sorry … 
telling them that they are forgiven … telling them 
they are loved … telling them they are not forgotten. 
Markers are left in the walls of the Temple for anyone 
who feels moved to write to someone they have lost 
in their lives. The walls are decorated with plaques, 
photos, cards, artwork, flowers and mementos. Time 
spent there is solemn, emotional, healing and very 
spiritual.

 The week long festival culminates in Burning of 
the Man (on Saturday night) and Burning of the 
Temple (on Sunday…the last night). The ceremonies 
attached to each burning are diametrically opposed 
to one another. When the Man burns, the crowd is 
charged with the excitement of a heathen sacrifice. It 
is preceded with an elaborate performance by the fire 
conclaves who twirl fire hoops, fire sticks, and poi 
socks. This is followed by an incredible pyrotechnic 
display that ends with the Man exploding in a giant 
fireball. When the Man finally falls to the ground 
the crowd rushes the giant bonfire and dances 
wildly around it. The Temple burn on the following 
night is a very somber affair. The crowd is silent 
and respectful as the Temple is quietly and slowly 
engulfed in flames. This year the intense heat of 
this burn caused giant dust devils (reminiscent of 
the Kansas twister in the Wizard of Oz) to emerge 
from the structure one after the other, sending 
towering pillars of glowing embers dancing toward 
the circle of spectators only to dissipate into thin 
air before reaching the perimeter. One could not 
help but feel that those whirlwinds were really all of 
those remembered within the walls of the Temple 
reaching out to communicate with those who had 
remembered them. I have always had a fascination 
with tornados. I remember spotting a good sized 
dust devil in the distance on the way up to Burning 
Man this year and telling Charlie that I had always 
wanted to stand in the middle of one to see what it 
felt like inside. I am sure that the appearance of these 
beautiful twisters at this ceremony was my dad’s way 
of saying, “I got your message ... I love you and miss 
you, too.”

 Our time in Black Rock City is spent touring the 
art installations on the playa, flitting from camp to 
camp visiting others we know, and participating 
and partaking in the events and offerings that all of 
the camps have to give. Late in the week I decided 
to make an appointment with the HeeBeeGeeBees 
to get a massage. By the time I had finished, the 
temperature had climbed considerably so I decided 
to put on my boots and my leopard print boxer briefs 
and to put 
my skirt, belt 
and bra in 
the basket of 
my bike and 
rode home 
topless (as 
is common 
practice on 
the playa). 
Upon 
arriving back 
at camp, I 
noticed that 
my bra had 
somehow 
fallen from 
my basket. I 
hopped back 
on my bike 
to retrace my 
route. Several 
blocks from 
camp I saw ahead of me what appeared to be my 
bra still lying in the dust about 75 yards down the 
street. But something else caught my eye just to the 
right of it. Heading straight down the middle of 
the street coming directly toward me was a rather 
large and well formed dust devil. In a split second 
decision (seeing this as an opportunity to experience 
something I had always wanted to experience), 
and without a second thought I lined my course 
up dead center of its path and continued pedaling 
with determination and without the slightest change 
in speed. As it approached I held my breath and 
squinted my eyes and rode right through the heart 
of it feeling the fine grit of the dust swirl around my 
face and half-naked body. I exited the other side to 
a huge roar of laughter and cheers and a passerby 
with his hand up to high-five me. “You just made 
my entire week!” shouted one of the spectators from 
his shade shelter, lifting his beer to me. “Way to go, 
DOROTHY!!!” hailed another. The reaction took me 
by surprise and embarrassed me since I was totally 
in the moment and experiencing something of great 
meaning to only myself. I high-fived the guy in the 
street, picked up my bra, turned around and rode 
back to camp a hero. This was a moment that could 
only happen in Black Rock City. It is one that in its 
magic and its spirit holds so much of what is the 
essence of Burning Man and of that sort of twisted, 
Brigadoon-like city, Black Rock City, NV. There 
truly is “no place like home.”

Ask jai……

It has been reported 
that the White House 
will seek sweeping laws 
enabling law enforcement 
to more easily eavesdrop 
on communications 
traffic on the web. In 
these times rapidly-
changing technology the 
administration argues 
that it needs these new 
powers in order to keep 
pace and that modern digital systems aren’t 
as easy to monitor as traditional telephones. 
The government wants communications 
companies to redesign their systems and 
information networks to more easily facilitate 
surveillance, and to provide law enforcement 
with back doors that enable them to bypass 
existing security measures. These requests 
may seem extreme but they are hardly 
unique. Just recently the governments of 
the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and 
India threatened to ban BlackBerry devices 
unless Research In Motion (the company 
that created the BlackBerry and runs the 
service) gave those respective governments 
access to their encrypted communications. It 
is also hardly a secret that China has already 
built a massive internet surveillance system 
to better monitor and control its citizens.

Once only seen in Eastern Bloc countries, 
this wholesale surveillance of citizens has 
moved into the democratic world as well. 
Governments like Sweden, Canada and the 
United Kingdom are on the verge of passing 
laws giving their police forces new powers 
of surveillance, in many cases requiring 
communications system providers to 
redesign products and services they sell. A 
large number of countries are also passing 
data retention laws, forcing ISP’s and retail 
companies to retain customer data in for 
future forensic purposes.

This administration is hardly the first to seek 
expanded authority for digital eavesdropping. 
One law required telephone companies 
to better facilitate backdoor access into 
their digital phone switches and since the 
beginning of the “War on Terror”, the NSA 
has built quite the substantial eavesdropping 
systems within the United States.

Measures such as these can often be very 
dangerous for citizens of all countries. The 
very notion of requiring private companies 
to redesign their communications products 
and services in order to facilitate government 
eavesdropping shows the extent to which the 
drive for more security actually results in a 
lowered security profile in the long and short 
run. Communications systems designed with 
the no backdoor capabilities are on their 
face more secure than systems with those 
capabilities built in. While the need for our 
legitimate security agencies to keep pace with 
the latest technological threats to our safety 
is very real, we must be sure that we don’t 
make the mistake of fixing something that 
isn’t broken.


Ask jai is a weekly column that will strive to honestly answer your job search 
questions relating to job searching techniques, networking skills, resume 
writing and interviewing. The employment situation is getting better, however, 
it is still a challenge finding were the jobs are located and how to get pass the 
“gate-keepers”. As an Executive Recruiter I was privy to working directly 
with Corporate Recruiters and understanding their process in selecting which 
candidates to interview and hire. I will candidly answer your questions, 
possibly bluntly answering you questions, but I will be totally honest. My 
objective is to help you achieve your employment goal. 

IS IT REALLY BROKEN?

Q: What is the proper protocol regarding thank you notes and how soon after an interview should 
I send one to the employer? Mr. Etiquette

Dear Mr. Etiquette:

 It is always a “good thing” to send a thank you note. I know candidates who were not hired 
because they did not send a thank you note to a prospective employer. Job seekers should include 
thank you notes or letters as key components in the interviewing process. There are employers 
who believe that receiving a thank you note from a candidate is the ultimate “closer” to making a 
hiring decision. Sending a thank you note to the employer or interviewer demonstrates that you 
can follow-through, and would be a considerate employee. Your thank you note should be short 
and to the point, addressed to the person, include the date or day you interviewed, the position you 
interviewed for, the reason why you are interested in the position and the company. End the note 
with a strong closing statement (i.e., I am looking forward to joining your team) and offer to come 
for another interview or to contact you for further information. Be sure to sign with your complete 
name, include your telephone number and an e-mail address. 

 You should send a thank you note with in 24 hours after an in-person or telephone interview. Yes, 
send a thank you note even after a telephone interview. Always request or get the name and contact 
information of the interviewer or interviewers and send them a thank you note. A majority of job 
seekers usually send e-mail thank you notes, and this is immediate and appropriate. However, if you 
want to distinguish yourself from the other candidates, send a handwritten thank you note.

 

 A hand-written thank you note implies that you have taken the time to send a personalized 
message. Select a professional style note card or paper that reflects your personality. Do not choose 
quirky note cards or flamboyant paper. Thank you notes or cards should always be handwritten. 
Thank you letters are usually lengthier; computer generated, written on high quality paper and 
includes your signature. I suggest that you send a thank you note to anyone that assisted you in the 
interview process, this would include: receptionists, assistants, and everyone who interviewed you at 
the company. You never know who is included in making the hiring decision. Do not write the same 
message on each thank you note. Individualize and personalize every thank you note, card, letter 
or e-mail. Do not forget to send your referrals and references a handwritten or e-mail thank you 
note everything you complete an interview. This will keep them on board and continue to give you 
excellent recommendations. It is always appropriate to send thank notes and people really appreciate 
receiving them. 

THE OL’ PIG SKIN

KATIE Tse ..........This and That

More of THIS and Less of THAT

RICH Johnson

 
Here’s a little 
exercise in free 
association. What 
do the following 
phrases bring to 
mind? Falling leaves. 
Shorter days. Men in 
spandex. By powers of 
deduction I perceive 
that you’re thinking 
about football! I 
wasn’t brought up in a 
sports-loving family, 
so I didn’t have fond 
rituals of dressing in 
logo-ed sweats and 
jerseys, gathering round the TV to cheer and 
boo as the favored team jousted a rival. My only 
childhood sports memories are of Thanksgivings 
at my Aunt’s. My cousins would camp out on 
couches for the afternoon, leaving only during 
commercial breaks to fetch a fresh beer.

 Now I’m the stereotypical wife who reads, 
surfs the web, or writes this column while my 
husband absorbs himself in the games, letting out 
an exuberant hoot every now and then. When 
we were dating, I pretended to be interested by 
asking honest questions like, “Which colleges 
are these, Babe?” To which he’d patiently sigh 
and reply, “These are the pros, Honey.” “Oh,” I’d 
concentrate on the many tiny revolving icons on 
the bottom of the screen, carefully listening to 
the commentary. After exhausting all logic, I’d 
ask, “How can I tell?” He’d pause and say, “Well, 
these are the Saints. They’re from New Orleans.” 
To me they all have states and mascots, so how 
am I supposed to tell the difference? “Oh, okay.” 
I’d say, acting as if I understood.

 I must say, though, that I prefer football to 
baseball, basketball, and soccer. My reasons 
for this are purely cinematic. Since I don’t fully 
understand any of these games, I appreciate 
football because the camera is pulled back far 
enough for me to see everything, and there are 
frequent breaks, which give my brain time to 
register what just happened. 

 Basketball is beyond me. I understand the 
basic concept, but they are always deep in each 
other’s armpits, moving all quickly for me to tell 
what’s going on. 

 
Soccer is the opposite extreme. Its players are tiny 
specks on a large field. I find myself squinting 
to try to tell who’s who and what they’re doing. 
I have problems with baseball as well. The first 
camera shot focuses on the pitcher and batter, 
and the following shots usually show the men in 
the field, only coming back to the action on the 
diamond when the ball returns there. Televised 
baseball has the tedious length of a live game 
without the beer and hotdogs of the stadium. 
However, there’s a special place for baseball in 
my heart, because baseball means spring and 
summer and late, warm nights. Something we 
won’t see again until football season is soundly 
laid to rest for the year.

 Just how dumb do our 
politicians think we are? 
And I’m referring to both 
sides of the aisle, down the 
middle of the aisle, and out 
the door leading onto the 
street. First, it’s those nasty 
Republicans filibustering 
to stop passage of the 
small business bill. 
Second, those dastardly Democrats refuse to 
schedule an immediate up and down vote on 
continuing the Bush era tax cuts. 

 We see the top of the iceberg. It is our job, 
democrat, republican, green party, or anarchist 
to look below the surface and discover what 
other reasons keep each side from supporting 
specific pieces of legislation. I suspect we 
will find the truth lies in those pesky little 
amendments tossed in the last minute. They can 
make all the difference in the world, and usually 
do. 

 Maybe it’s time to review how governments 
work.

 Socialism: You have two cows. The government 
takes one and gives it to your neighbor. You 
form a cooperative to tell your neighbor how to 
manage his cow.

 Communism: You have two cows. The 
government seizes both cows and provides 
you with milk. You have to wait in line for long 
hours to get the milk. It is expensive and sour.

 Capitalism (in theory): You have two cows. 
You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of 
cows.

 Capitalism (in bureaucracy): You have two cows. 
Under the new farm program the government 
pays you to shoot one, milk the other, and then 
pour the milk down the drain.

 Switching gears, a friend brought up a fascinating 
term in our language today: Complisults. Have 
you heard of it? The complisult; the word, an 
invention of writer Stanley Bing, is an insult 
designed to sound like a compliment. It’s what 
we have called a back-handed compliment. Mr. 
Bing tells us the best complisults are the ones 
that befuddle the intended victim at first. Here 
are some good ones:

 “That’s such a nice dress. It does wonders for 
your figure.”

 “I am truly impressed at how intelligent you 
sounded during your presentation.”

 Some end up on letters of reference.

 “You would be truly fortunate if you could get 
this person to work for you.”

 “I can’t recommend this person too highly.”

 Someone could complisult me with: 

 “Not bad for a weekly column in a small local 
newspaper.”

 “I couldn’t have written it better myself.”

 Being overweight is often a magnet for 
complisults. In a doctor’s office on the scale 
when the nurse says, 

 “Wow, you don’t look like you weigh that 
much.”

 “For a fat guy you sure don’t sweat much.”

 Or my personal favorite, spoken by the 
honoree at a birthday party:

 “I’d rather be with you guys here than all the 
beautiful, smart people in the world.”

 Finally, and on a serious note. I have a 
friend who is suffering from a liver disease. His 
prognosis is not good, and extending his life will 
rely heavily on a donor. My friend has taken up 
the cause of trying to promote people becoming 
organ donors. Go to organdonors.gov for more 
information. They will tell you that an organ 
donor can help as many as 50 people. WOW!

 Have a nice week.


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