Theophony: 2012 Burning Man art installation

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Pillars of the Saints: follow-up

Last year was awesome. This year we're gearing up for another art project, so stayed tuned!

Pillars of the Saints: Burning Man project

unbelievable

time is flying by. i've been so busy that i haven't taken the time to write about it. and now it's too late to remember everything... but i'll try.





July: Liz Middleton visited, Whitney's B-day and Flint/MI Playground Build

August: Rock the Bells (8 hs of awesome Hip Hop in an outdoor concert), Playground Build and personal time in Twin Falls/ID, Green Bay/WI Playground Build, Woodburn/OR Build and visit with Matt Forness in Portland




September: Burning Man, the wdydwyd? project, Heather in town for more than 3 weeks
(starting in August), Design Day in Austin/TX, Pirates Rock Orchestra Puppet Show in SF, Ra in town for a weekend visit!, Playground Build & personal time in Vancouver & Whistler, Folsom Street Fair, Design Day and Playground Build in Illinois, Thursday night church at Dolores Park Church, Design Day in Buffalo/NY for an ICE RINK!, and my first visit to Burbank.

on the go

i just finished 2 very challenging playground builds of my own: in Detroit on 10/20 and in Dallas on 10/27. then, i flew back to SF just in time to give a workshop on "Engaging Youth in your Community-build Playspace project" at the KaBOOM! University of Play conference on 10/28. then, i seconded for the U Play! playground build in Oakland on 10/29... finally, i flew to austin (where I am now) to second for Tabitha's last project (a field refurbishment) before she leaves KaBOOM!.

amidst all this travel, i managed...
-to go to LA for their Burning Man Decompression Party on 10/15;
-to host a pre-halloween accessories party with my roommates on 10/22;
-to visit with my cousins John and Louise (and their spouses) while in Dallas;
-to see MOS DEF & TALIB KWELI (!) in concert at the Mezzanine on 10/30;
-to go out on 6th street in Austin with my co-workers for halloween.

whew! will i ever give it a rest? maybe, but i won't even have time to think about it until veteran's day weekend and/or thanksgiving.

but first i go to tucson, az, for a design day meeting next wednesday, and after that, i head to NM to second for another project manager's playground build.

been a while

... since i've had time and stillness to write 'bout myself online. it's not that i'm too busy; it's just that i'm usually too distracted. there's so much happening for me to stop and tell about it all. (not that i have to, but) i want to describe everything i've seen, done and heard, but i also want to be relatively quick about it. so, just to save the time, i'll attempt a somewhat brief list of everything since i last wrote something of substance... plus, i want to catch up so i can start keeping better track of all my random and wonderful life experiences.

okay, let's see...

-after a little stop in western NC to see my fam & friends for july 4th, i lead a playground build project in buffalo, ny. this build was the first time i TRUEly felt really awesome about the work i do for community groups. it was a real, grass-roots build done without the support of any umbrella organization. our community partner was a struggling neighborhood association that merely recognized how desperately they needed a safe playground for their kids. it was very challenging yet rewarding project... also, while up there, my second and i got to visit niagara falls for the first time ever! july 5-9

jen and i at niagara falls, canada

-i helped (or seconded) another project manager's playground build in minneapolis. july 11-14

-i stayed over a day in minneapolis to lead a design day meeting for a new project there (to be built in 2 months time). july 15

-i got handed off another project, and i traveled to lead a design day meeting for a build (to happen take place 2 months later) in chicago. july 18-19

-i lead a playground build in wasilla, ALASKA!, and my second & I had an incredible time sightseeing, fishing & flying in south-central Alaska. july 22-31

wet on build day in wasilla

whitney & i on a glacier lake

watch out, whitney's flyin'

the glacier lake we landed on

fishin' in AK

caught

-i finally took a day off to run errands and enjoyed some of downtown san francisco (like the ferry building, City Car Share, Museum of Modern Art, shopping). august 2

-i lead another design day meeting for a new playground project (to be built 2 months later) in detroit. august 15-16

[recap: i had 3 projects on my plate, and i just finished 2 of my own projects.]

-mardie oakes and my brother, tony deifell, (aka MoTo) got married at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Marin County, CA. the wedding camp weekend* was extraordinary in so many ways, including a house concert with The Weepies, a taco truck for the rehearsal dinner, kite flying, massage, a beautiful wedding ceremony, vintage wear, home-style dinner, an interactive reception, a really cute photographer that they hired, a Polaroid guest book, a make-your-own-cupcake wedding cake, a surprize roller-disco party with black-lights and booze, and a pristine location with so many amazing family and friends. august 18-21
*this special event and time with family is the first of a series of recent random fun moments that have reminded me how much i love living in SF.

mother and son

mom & dad dancing, as always

on the way to the surprise wedding roller-disco

-i traveled to miami to second for another project manager's attempted* playground build in miami. august 22-24
*this build was cancelled due to threats of hurricane katrina, which grazed fort lauderdale the night before the day we would have lead the build.

-i flew back to SF (& to where my sister heather had been hanging out on her own after our brother's wedding the weekend before)... and immediately started packing for Burning Man. august 25-28

-i planned, organized and managed a community of 21 burners in camp wdydwyd?. august 29-september 5
*our event: to take portraits of folks answering the question, why do you do what you do?, and a 4x8 live-painting project, open to any passers-by
*our location this year: ego x 7:20
*our members' origins: san francisco, los angeles, asheville, durham, atlanta, new york -> all of which made for a really awesome intentional community of people
*my highlights: all the diversity of EXTREME and AMAZING art there, an INCREDIBLE time with my sister heather, the freedom, my borrowed beach cruiser, the expanse of black rock city this year, and our portrait project... among SO much else.

siblings

siblings & the man

the last crew to leave our plot of BRC land

[recap: i've just returned from a whirlwind of wedding events, work travel, and a week of Burning Man paradise... but i still have those same 3 projects on my plate... yet, i love it all and i especially love living in SF.]

-i just got handed off another playground project, and i went to lead a design day meeting for a build (to be done in 2 months time) in dallas. while there, i stayed with my cousin louise and her husband justin. september 7-8

-i helped pack our office to move up to san mateo from redwood city, ca... and later, that next weekend, i go to the Power to the Peaceful festival (w/ Michael Franti) in golden gate park with my friend kirsten. september 10

-i lead my build (and closed the project) in south chicago. september 12-16

chicago kick-off

-i returned to our new office space and enjoyed it (& being home in SF) for a whole week. my boss (the director of project management) and our administrative assistant (Laura) fly out from DC to help settle us in, and thanks to their help, it looks great! well, laura had never spent any time in SF, so i showed her around town, we had sushi at Central Station (mission x 17-18), we ended up in north beach, and we drove to work the next morning together. september 19-21

-i got all dressed up in my brown-n-black zebra, fly-girl outfit, and i went down to the SF civic center plaza to dance, people-watch and enjoy the 2nd annual Love Parade (originating in Berlin after the wall fell.) i love SF. september 24

photo shoot after love parade (w/ borrowed tina turner wig)

-i lead my own playground build (and closed the project) in minneapolis. september 25-29

wet on build day

-i came back to a weekend full of bluegrass in golden gate park with my friends, whitney (from work) and kirsten (from corey). we heard gillian welch, tony rice & peter rowan, dolly parton, doc watson, earl scruggs, steve earle, the be good tanyas, emmylou harris, stiff dead cat, and guy clark. september 30-october 1

-finally, i'm home for a bit... AND i lead my own design day for a new playground project (to be built 2 months later) HERE -- in san francisco! october 6

design day meeting in SF

-today, mardie & i went over to their friend jim's place to watch the blue angel's fleet-week show over the bay. (it was such a beautiful and perfect san francisco day, too.) then, we went out to dinner with mardie's friends richard and jen to betelnut (on union st). finally, after tony finally got home from a 9-day business trip, i left MoTo to very randomly (and independently) stop by an art opening event at the Galeria de la Raza. i admired the art, had a couple drinks and went on my way back home again... ah, i love san francisco.

now, coming soon:
-Burning Man decompression parties in SF (tomorrow) and LA (next weekend)
-filming dinner party at MoTo's on monday.(there's a film with will smith (The Pursuit of Happiness) being filmed right outside mardie & tony's, oct 9-13.)
-my playground build in detroit (oct. 17-21)
-my playground build (with eye-candy as my second for the week) in dallas (oct. 24-28)
-halloween and day of the dead in san francisco
-seconding for another project manager's playground build in southern new mexico (Nov. 14-18)
-home (nc? or ct?) for thanksgiving
...

wdydwyd?

my brother, Tony, wrote:

Finally got around to getting all those portraits we did at Burning Man online. We still have about 20 images to add... Special thanks to Hope for helping scan most of them, to Jeremy for helping me out on some technical glitches on the web site, and to many of you who helped with the fun process of setting up a table and shooting the portraits on the playa. Maybe well do a roaming portrait studio a few times again this year?

And here's my portrait.

back to the grind

okay. (if anybody's out there) i may be little late on the uptake, but nearly 2 weeks into the new year, and i'm starting out just great. no really. things are going relatively well for me. (relatively as in relative to what life has offered me thus far... not relative to the rest of the world b/c i can't even imagine going there... it's unfathomable.)

i returned home to SF on the 3rd from my home in the mountains of north carolina. being with the fam was great, but a little hectic and a little stressful. with that many loved ones around, everyone wants to know everyone else's business, so there's very little privacy most of the time. regardless, it was nice to rest and be thankful for family, food and... new life. yes! there will soon be a new Deifell among us -- the first of the next generation! child of my brother David and his wife Elizabeth! it's so exciting!... and yet i'm so far away. :(

nevertheless, it was nice to return west and to call this place home too. i'm settling in again... but not for long b/c soon the travel for work will pick up again. i leave for a day trip to Pahrump, NV, (65 miles west of Las Vegas) tomorrow to begin another playground project there with the Salvation Army. next week i go to Columbia, MD, to take a course and a test in playground safety in order to become a certified playground installer. the following week we have our staff retreat in Hershey, PA... to know more about where i am and when, see my itinerary list to the right.

other trivia about the life of hope-alicious:
-"hope-alicious" replaced "hoperino" at Burning Man 2004
-bought my tix to BM 2005 (and i can't wait!)
-got a new jacket & pants for biking to work during the cold, rainy season here
-eating healthier: little to no sugar, more greens, more balance, etc.
-tried out an indoor rock-climbing gym near my house (as a guest of my roommate)
-skipped my yoga class tonight b/c i'm poor now (after the holidays and BM tix)
-attending Spirit Rock mediation center this saturday for an all day meditation retreat... more on that to come.

love parade and BM decompression

this past week i actually spent at home in SF! it's the first whole week i've had here! and just shy of a miracle! so i had to live it up! i went to the first Love Parade in the US (originally held in Berlin), the Bluegrass Festival in the Park (for free!), a bar in the Lower Haight for Indian house/techo, a lounge/bar in the Mission near me, and the Marin Headlands (Center for the Arts)... there is an endless amount of things to do or places to see here. it's incredible.

i'm beginning to meet more people, but it's slow... i've reconnected with a friend from my church youth group in CT. she and her husband just moved out here from Philadelphia, and i'm super-glad they did. they and their friends are very good people... also, at the love parade, i ran into a couple that i met at Ann Dupre's wedding in Black Mountain, NC, a couple of years ago, and i met some awesome guys through them! the best part is these guys are avid music-goers, and now i have them to explore SF's music scene!... oh, how the world rotates and brings people together! God is so good.

today, i'm going to the Burning Man Decompression party in Potrero Hill. ($10 with a costume, $20 without.) i'm going with my brother Tony, his fiance Mardie and some of their friends... and i'll be covered in pink! it'll be grrreat!... more later.

tuesday through saturday this week i am building my second playground (as lead project manager from start to finish!) in London, Ontario! it should be awesome but cold! it's supposed to get down to 40 degrees F on the day of the build! hopefully volunteers will still come out for it... more later.

life's fullness

So much to say, so little time and energy to be spent on updates. I spend quite a bit of time on the computer, on conference calls, in the plane and out on playground build sites, and I sometimes forget that there is more to life that work.

Burning Man was a good reminder of Life's fullness! It was incredible out there. The sun, the wind, the high-pressure days and nights, the pocket of desert surrounded my beautiful mountains... The diversity of artistic expression spralled out in an organized fashion across a pre-historic lake bed. By day and by night, the playa's culture and ambiance would never cease to amaze me... the art installations, the art cars, the costumes, the music, the theatre, the dance, the theme-camps... the love, the openess, the positive sexual energy, the freedom... After just a few days, I felt more at home and settled than I've felt in a long time. It was liberating and inspirational.

Our theme camp was "WDYDWYD?" It means whatever you think it means, but we used the definition "why do you do what you do?" for our camp's "event." Basically, we took (and gave out) b&w polaroid portraits of people who would hold up their answer to the question on a piece of paper in front of them... soon, everything will be up online.

After Burning Man, I dove right back into work and began traveling all over again... visiting our playground manufacturer (the one KaBOOM! buys from exclusively), building a playground in Ottawa, Ontario, leading a Design Day in Tulsa, OK... Next week I go to Pittsburgh, PA, to lead my first build. That means that this project is mine, from start to finish. I'm the one that helps the community organize the entire thing, and I'm the one that will be running the show on Friday, Oct. 1... Yep, the playground is built all in one day! 200+ volunteers show up at 8 in the morning, and the playground is built in less than 8 hours! It's a great event because the community comes together with their funding partner in the project, and they produce an incredible child-designed public playspace in no time! (The planning process takes about 2 months--beginning with a Design Day with the kids and the adults of the community.) So, that's my job in a nut shell... or rather, that is the tip of the iceburg, so to speak. More to come later, I'm sure.

Lastly, my sister Heather came for a visit this last week. It was so great to spend time with her, especially because we're perfect partners in crime but also because we're such close friends. We had a great time out and about, exploring the city and meeting new people. I hope to find the time and energy to continue that on my own.