Writer’s Spa Vacation: Labor Day & Burning Man

It’s Labor Day and what am I doing?  Getting stuff done.  The house got vacuumed; the dishes, washed; the laundry, folded; homework, sent out; manuscript sent, off.  Phew.  This is what Labor Day boils down to:  that thing that we call “me time.”  But here’s the paradox of true adulthood:  that so-called “me time” often just means running little errands that have fallen to the wayside.  Yes, I’m taking a deep bath in the burbling jacuzzi of a giant To Do List.

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Most of my friends are off at Burning Man—running around naked, getting sunburnt, tripping out on LCD lights.  Every year, I get invited by some friend who wants to get her freak on in the desert.  I’ve never been.  Usually, I feel bad when I refuse.  But life always gets in the way.

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“Ah, Khanh.  I know you’re a Burning Man person.”  And maybe there’s a bit of the burning man spirit in me (whatever that is) but, if so, then I already have enough of it to last the rest of the year.

Burning man

All throughout grad school, I taught at a summer program—FSP—that helps underrepresented kids get a jump start on the school year at UCLA.  And after grad school,  during my time as a professor, I was often out of town in places that were the exact opposite of fair, sweet, humid Iowa:  Beijing and Shanghai, Seattle and Paris, Korea and Morocco—all these were purposefully chosen to be a pendulum swing in the opposite direction.   I never did FSP after that.

Grinnell's Main Street Downtown:  where a tractor parade is not an uncommon sight.
Grinnell’s Main Street Downtown: where a tractor parade is not an uncommon sight.

But this year, I’m teaching at the program for the first time in almost a decade.  And—flood of memories:  I remember so much the things  I love about it—the importance of the work, the meaningfulness of the exchanges with the students who, themselves, are genuinely interested in learning.  And I also remember the fact that FSP is also bound up with Burning Man—the conscious decision not to do it.  Isn’t it funny how entirely unrelated things can stir the memory gland?

Yes, like clockwork I got asked again if I wanted to go Burning Man–this time by a friend who is, for lack of a better word, a stripper.    “No, I’m taking a spa vacation this year,” I responded cryptically.  I’d rather spend my Labor Day vacuuming.  I’d rather fold clothes.  Dostoyevsky worked in the fields in order to feel good about himself—thoughts like that flit through my head as I sweep the leaves off the porch.   At the end of that great sauna, I can sit with my computer on my lap with a frosty libation and type a few lines that someone, someone special, might enjoy reading.

 

Happy Labor Day!

6 thoughts on “Writer’s Spa Vacation: Labor Day & Burning Man

  1. Khanh – I always like that saying, ‘you are where you need to be.’ To me it means that if you’d rather fold laundry, teach at that program or just stare out a window then go to Burning Man, you shouldn’t go. If you really needed to be at Burning Man, all those other things wouldn’t be important. You’d be there. Make sense?

    • Margot–you are too wise. I guess part of the joy of where I’m at is being able to turn down dates to the dance…just as those young phillies in old black and white movies say, regretfully, that their dance card is full. Yes, to stare out the window at the figure in the distance knowing that it is an island you will never visit is a distinct pleasure.

  2. you were a teacher’s assistant for a class that i took at ucla in 1999. i found your blog through an article by you in the huffington post. of course, i could never forget the person who read li-young lee’s always a rose aloud in class. i was the quiet girl with a stutter who probably sat in the back corner of the class room.

    i have been keeping up with your blog for the last month or so. so happy to have found it. and so happy to hear your voice again.

    megan

    • Dear Megan,

      You have no idea how much this makes my day. I love it when a student tells me that they have been touched by the experience. I do remember teaching that lovely poem by Li-Young Lee. And thanks for following the blog. I hope you enjoy it and share it. They say when a bell rings, an angel gets its wings. But I do believe that when a teacher is remembered, clouds do part and a choir sings brightly in the sky.

      Best,

      Khanh

  3. Love that picture of the carved wooden temple with the flame motif on the roof. Very apt for Burning Man, even if it’s not. Where was it?

    If you need beta readers for your book, happy to oblige. Love noir detective fiction and would be great to read one about an Asian detective.

    • Audrey–thanks so much for the kind and generous offer. I’d love to have you help me read through the book and, along the way, get some pointers. BTW: That temple–it’s at Burning Man. Khanh.

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