Jaded
by The Great Quentini,
Sheriff-by-Consensus,
Black Rock City
I'm known as the Sheriff of Black Rock City, Sheriff-by-Consensus. That
is, if you think I represent what you would have as a Sheriff in our town,
forget the real police now, if I represent what YOU would choose for Sheriff
of our town, then you vote for me by saying "Howdy Sheriff"
whenever you see me. If everyone says "Howdy Sheriff" when I
walk by, then I am Sheriff. Until that happens I'll just keep doing my
job, and that job is to blow peoples minds.
What - you thought I was going to arrest people? Well that's the gist
of me being jaded. Being Sheriff was supposed to be fun, We made up the
city, we can make up the public servants. But this year I had trouble
communicating this simple paradigm shift. Probably its just me and my
moods, maybe I've just been going too long, but it feels like something
drastic has changed. I know every year it is different and I have celebrated
that difference. But even with all the growth some basic community values
persisted and even expanded.
This last year, I felt like I was around people acting ordinary. By that
I mean that they didn't seem to be aware that social communion at BM is
EXTRAordinary. It's not about how you dress or what you do, but for me
it is about what you bring to the event, spiritually, artistically, etc.
I come to BM to be challenged, or more accurately, to have my own personal
limitations challenged. When I see another artist taking their art further
than I could possibly have imagined then I am stretched. I stumble over
the limits I have placed on my own thinking, acknowledge them, and then
expand. That's scary and rich and life changing.
But 2001 I was never scared, I could have sleepwalked through the whole
event. This isn't said to blame anyone. The point is that when I first
came, you had to be awake. There were 5000 people stoned out of their
minds with flame throwers, so if trouble was rolling down the street,
everyone was awake, aware, and as a result ALIVE. No one was paternally
caring for us, we had to do it, each of us, for ourselves. Personal responsibility
made BM strong. Without danger, BM shares more and more with shopping
malls (OK, it still is an extravagantly adorned shopping mall, and you
can't buy anything, but none-the-less there is no need for personal responsibility
in a mall and last year little need for the same at BM).
OK, I'm Jaded, its me, no one did anything wrong, things change, but I
wish I could make BM "spiritually dangerous" again. I wish by shear force
of personality I could create a spiritual catharsis for 26,000 people,
but I haven't. The hidden invisible mysteries of BM were taught to me
through modeling. Early on I was surrounded by thousands of old timers
just doing their thing. I learned by watching (monkey see, monkey do).
How do the few old timers left model to the ravenous horde? Very little
in the outside world prepares you for the intangibles of BM. Maybe they
are lost forever.
