Burning Man writing exercise “Glitter”
“Glitter” (LJ)
Raver Scabies. Burner Herpes. It gets everywhere, and it’s impossible to make it go away completely. And just when you think you’ve gotten rid of it all, 3 months later you’ll pull out the camping mat you used at the burn for when a friend stays over, only to realize that was the one thing that you forgot to de-glitter, and now your living room, sleeping bag, cat and friend are gifted with a sparkling.
Loose glitter makes a huge mess and is not permitted at Burning Man. However, the appropriately named Glitter Camp has a lotion-like concoction that can be applied to skin. My first year at the burn when I was doing a shift at the Centre Camp stage there was a guy who’d gotten glittered, and after hugging him I got hug-transmitted glitter. The next day Jody and I decided to get shined up, so off we went to Glitter Camp. I ended up with think red sparkles on my chest, and multi colours everywhere else. Then, for the first time, I biked around baring my chest. I guess the sparkles made me feel less self concious? I was a bit iffy, but Jody said “Really Robin? Don’t put your camelback back on, it’ll ruin the sparkles”. So off we went, with my camelback in my bike basket. I think that was the day we discovered the Tetris blocks, one of the reoccurring art pieces. That was the year they were out on the playa, and they could be climbed.
After about 24 hours of glitter, we decided that spreading glitterrific joy all over the camp was wearing a bit thin, so after attending Poly High Tea we decided to go to the Human Carcass Wash. Once I got to the front of the line I ended up getting a “pre-scrub”, which consisted of a few people trying to vigorously scratch the glitter off before going through the wash. Post wash, a lot of the glitter was gone, though I suspect a fair bit was recovered after spending a few more nights in a glitter infused sleeping bag. I wonder if the tent still has any remnants of glitter, 3 years later.
