Talk to God Phone Booth

 

Talk about a random throwback!  This pic popped up in my Pinterest feed and sent me hurtling back to Black Rock City, 2010.  Picture it:   Burning Man, 2010.  Sunset.  My 3 friends & I happen upon this phone.  "Talk to God".  Hah!  No way did this dusty old contraption work.  At best it probably spat out a pre-recorded message saying "Fuck your Burn" or something.  I inserted a quarter and started dialing.

Lo & behold, I got a dial tone!  So I decided to call the most un-godlike person I could think of: my mother.  Just to let her know I wasn't dead in an LSD-related accident of some kind.  (Burning Man averages about 1 death per year, which isn't that bad considering the 70,000+ person attendance rate at the one I went to).  I rode a giant flashing pirate ship one night only to find out that it had run over a person the following night--that was our 1 death in 2010.  Or so I thought.  I can't find any details about a death in 2010, but I remember it plain as day.  A dehydration-induced delusion, or was it just not recorded?  Who knows. 

I have no memory of what we talked about on that rickety old phone but needless to say I was impressed it worked, and I'm fairly sure it gave me my quarter back after hanging up, though that may be another sun-induced delusion.  We didn't have cell service out there in the middle of nowhere, yet this analog phone somehow worked like a charm.  That someone found it cool enough to share a picture of online says a lot because there were so many mind-blowing art installations at that event, and I'm sure at every Burning Man since.  That the picture then found its way to my feed after all these years feels like maybe God did receive my call after all.  

Would I want to attend Burning Man again?  Ehh, no.  Conditions are too harsh for my wimpy ass.  Too hot/dry in the daytime and too cold at night with far too much alkaline dust (my lips were swollen to thrice their size by Day 8 when we left; some kind of allergic reaction).  But I'm grateful I got to go for the experience.  It's one of the most memorable and insane things I've done to this day.  And I'm sure glad I got to experience this once-in-a-lifetime trip before the billionaire set took over.   When asked to describe it, I'm always at a loss for words so maybe these photos taken from around the 'net will tell the story better than I can:

The camping setup (aerial view)

Art installation




People of Burning Man





Night time in Black Rock City





Nudity is common, yet you rarely hear of sexual violence on the playa

The Temple, which burns on the final night

Can you hear me NOW, God? 📞.

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