Tara

"Are you a story teller?" she asks me on the dance floor.

"Yes" i reply over the enticing performance of the Goddess Alchemy Project.

She takes my hand and leads me off the floor. We weave thru the crowd at Portland's impressive Village Building Convergence evening show. We find a spot to sit, between the eco-friendly building supplies and the progressive bookstore.

She begins breathlessly, "At Burning Man, my friends and i were doing an aerial performance at the center camp stage and after our show you came up and said you had an important story to tell us.” Her eyes seek confirmation from me. ‘Is this you? Are you the right guy?’ I nod for her to continue, I did not remember saying it was an ‘important’ story, but never one for modesty, i certainly could have.

“That was such an amazing story, about the princess and the three secrets. It was a turning point for me and my life and i never thought i would see you again and i just moved to Portland. And here you are.” i had to explain to Tara that i was not actually living in here. And i was quite touched by the impact the story had had on her.

Last fall, Sabrina could not understand why I went around Burning Man telling the same small set of stories. Besides my need for practice to getting better, it is interactions like this one, sometimes months and years later – that feed the soul (and yes the ego) of this wanna-be bard.

Below is the video which convinced Rob Jones to go to Burning Man "i dont want Hitler angry with me."