2004 held many challenges for DOTA. We launched the lofty goal of beautifying our camp dome, creating a planetarium on the playa and a bigger kite fly, all the while dealing with intense sorrow and loss over the recent death of our comrade and brother, Dave Kennedy, who died suddenly on August 13. Not only was Dave our beloved friend, but he was the creator of the Bok Globule dome, which we had to race against time and struggle to complete without his guidance.
This year we worked harder than ever before, leaving us exhausted almost every night. We cried every day and worked through those tears. Every strut we bolted, every corner we anchored reminded us of Dave and how hard our hearts were breaking.
2004 became a year of love and resolution and of triumph. As we acquiesced to our grief individually, we gathered communally to hold each other and heal our pain. We celebrated to the life and playa dreams of our friend. We comforted each other and grew in the process, individually and as a family.
We had yet one more death to mourn-- our playa sister Lyx, who died last year as a result of a sudden illness. Lyx was an amazing artist and musician, who had met her soulmate on the playa last year. In remembering Lyx, we promised to look to her life as an inspiration to live each day to its fullest and to pursue our passions with abandon.
Each person in camp contributed something to the harmony and lovingness that were so
wonderfully pervasive this year in DOTA. Our many newbies were outstanding and seemed to fit in without exception (are you sure youve never been to Burning Man before?). Maybe it was the spirits of Dave and Lyx watching over us, pouring their love down on us, and maybe it was our shared grief and anguish that united us. But this year will be always remembered for those intimate moments that we all shared which has helped us to heal and find resolution, and carry on into the default world as we try to make our way back to our lives outside of BRC.
An unforgettable moment of 2004 is the 3 mylar kites that we flew out to the temple
burn. The kites were created as symbols for Dave, Lyx and of DOTA as a whole. Two kites flew high and strong, while the third had great difficulty staying up. The third kept falling out of the sky and eventually had to be gathered up when it crashed to the ground. A thought occurred to me then that the flailing kite was us, DOTA. Because, while Dave and Lyx flew high, reflecting the loving light of the fire down on us, silently inspiring us from high above, we couldn't stay up there with them no matter how hard we might try. We aren't ready. We are still here on the ground and we had to let them go on without us. It turned out to be a beautiful metaphor for our troubled year and our amazing week on the playa.
2004 Kite Fly
Thursday morning promised a beautiful day as DOTA aviators awoke to blue skies and cool breezes. It seemed as though the violent dust storms of the previous two days had at last subsided. We got up, began work on the Dome and started putting together our kites. But it was not to be... as 4:20 grew closer, the winds reversed direction and came ripping in, bringing two days of accumulated dust with them. White out conditions quickly dampened our hopes for the kite fly and we retreated to shelter to wait out the storm.
