No Borders Free Bookstore
Raymond Soulard, Jr.
http://www.geocities.com/scriptorpress/ ... store.html (http://www.geocities.com/scriptorpress/nobordersbookstore.html)
The book selection process has been aimed toward as much inclusion as possible: writers of many cultures, races, male and female. The psychedelic anthologies, six of them as of 2004, have gotten into many people’s hands information they would not have had otherwise. To further involve people’s creativity in the project, 2003’s titles featured a blank book for people to make for themselves.
In keeping with 2005’s theme regarding the psyche, my partner Kassandra ***** & I plan to bring the following texts:
• Jorge Luis Borges-“Circular Ruinsâ€-a short fiction about the nature of dreaming and reality.
• William Faulkner-“Barn Burningâ€-a short fiction about racism and the darker places in the human heart.
• Philip K. Dick-a story or essay not yet chosen by this master of speculative writing.
• Herman Hesse-a story or essay not yet chosen by the author of Steppenworld and Journey to the East and other beguiling modern masterpieces
• Jack Kerouac-a story or essay not yet chosen by a writer profoundly interested in the strange depths of the human mind.
• A Seventh Anthology of Writings About Psychedelics-contents not yet chosen.
It is very gratifying each year to do this project, to see how people react to the idea of free books, to see how Center Camp accumulates with people reading, to participate in a way that connects the rest of my year to Black Rock City in a profoundly meaningful way. I am told by countless people at BRC how they long for something to read during quiet hours and how my gift to the city means so much to them. The gifts received from people are as heartfelt in their spirit as the ones I gift out. Some offer barters which I refuse, and a few newbies even offer money which I also refuse! It takes some people time getting used to the gift economy but I love it, and do my best to help others to understand it.
In addition to the Burning Man Books I bring other titles from my Scriptor Press library, including works by myself and artists I have met over the years. These titles include:
Orpheus & Eurydice: Making the Lyre (1999) by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
Ferry Tales (1999) by Ric Amante
North of Jersey (2000) by Joseph Ciccone
Pawn Title Keep Car (2001) by Barbara Brannon
Spirit World Restless (2004) by Judih Haggai
Lastly, I bring Scriptor Press Samplers, a yearly anthology of writings from my press’s literary magazine, The Cenacle. There are five of these as of 2004.
At the burn each year, I push to the front of the crowd and toss in a box of books as a kind of purge; the rest I bring back home. There is nothing from my bookstore that remains on the playa.
B. An itemized budget which includes material costs, transportation of materials to and from the playa, equipment rental, and expendables (fuel, water) etc. Please be sure to total your budget. We do not pay for camping expenses like food, water, camping gear, and your personal transport to and from the event. Have you researched your needs and realistically assessed costs?
******My request for grant money involves two things. The cost of doing this project has increased every year, and my employment situation has often been fairly precarious. Freelance editors often have to take what work they can get, and they often live pretty well on the margins. If I were awarded grant money it would very much help me to realize coming again this year, and contributing to this event I love, this city that indeed has changed my life, as I was told it would many years ago.
BUDGET
Laser printer toner cartridges 5 x $110 each = $550
Boxes of blank paper (10 reams/box) 6 x $25 each = $150
Card stock paper for book covers (100 sheets/box)
10 x $10 each = $100
Total cost = $800
C. A schedule and /timeline which reflects your budget e.g., when materials will be purchased, when stages of construction will be completed, etc. Grants are distributed in installments which will relate to your schedule. Please include a playa timeline as well which details your set up and cleanup schedules.
******The process for making new books is already under way. I’ve selected the authors and am now creating the text files for the books. Kassandra and I will design each book including fonts, cover design, etc., and come June we will start to make copies of them. It takes a long time to make the estimated 1300 books (24 copies each of approximately 44 titles), so it has to begin at the beginning of summer to accommodate the shear amount of time at the computer and printer. Set up occurs on the Wednesday of the event, and clean up occurs at the end of each day, about dusk, and at the end of the event itself.
D. Detailed drawings, sketches, and plans, hand-drawn or computer generated. You may also send maquettes or photographs of them with your proposal.
******I will include some photos from previous years.
E. A well thought out clean-up plan, with adequate crew to complete it. YOU MAY NOT LEAVE ANYTHING ON THE PLAYA. A performance bond will be withheld from your grant until after the event if you don't complete your project or clean up your site.
******We bring out books in large plastic crates and take the remainder out with us the same way. It takes little time, and is done during the break down of whatever camp we’re with that year.
Have you previously attended Burning Man, and are you aware of the difficulties inherent in creating anything in a harsh wilderness setting? You proposal should answer all of these questions.
******This is my seventh year going, and Kassandra’s second. The desert has many kinds of weather challenges, mostly for us a matter of keeping books from blowing away in dust storms. We weather it well by experience, and have no worries about harming the playa in any way.
By way of final statement, I’d like to thank you for considering my proposal. This is the first time I have requested funding for my project, and I hope it is granted. My experiences at Burning Man inspire me year-round to carry out the ideals of the people who attend and contribute to the city, and I wish to keep going for years to come. By way of this project I am able to meet many more people there than I would otherwise, to spend time talking to newbies and veterans alike about their experiences, to deepen my understanding of the magic occurring there by learning how it affects others. It is the most special place in the world to me, and I bear it in my heart, and think about it through my writing always.
Sincerely,
Raymond Soulard, Jr.
Begin forwarded message:
From: Lady Bee <xxx@burningman.com>
Date: Wed Mar 2, 2005 1:08:45 PM US/Pacific
To: "raymond xxxx" <xxx@mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: NO BORDERS FREE BOOKSTORE
Dear Raymond -
On behalf of the grant committee, I'd like to thank you for submitting a proposal to us. We have made our decisions for 2005, and I'm sorry to say that we will not be able to fund your project. We received over 140 proposals this year, and our budget enabled us to fund only a portion of projects we really liked. The quality of the proposals was high, and decisions were very difficult. In the end, we were able to fund only 30 projects - about 20% of what we received. In your case, we couldn't consider your project for funding as we do not fund activities - only art installations on the open playa.
Sincerely -
<>/<>/<>/
Christine Kristen aka LadyBee, Art Curator
it's too bad their funding is so restricted...there is much art at Burning Man that is not 'installations on the open playa'...
online version of mine is at
http://www.geocities.com/scriptorpress/ ... sbookstore (http://www.geocities.com/scriptorpress/nobordersbookstore)
is the hard work i've with others put into this not legitimate for even consideration?
first time in seven years of bringing this project i've asked for monetary aid, and apparently my project doesn't even qualify for consideration...
this is pretty frustrating...that one 'kind' of art is fundable and every other kind isn't...there is so much art at BRC not on the open playa...
i suppose this rant is pointless, and i am working on my own funding per usual, but damn, i thought i'd take a chance this year...if they said 'your project sucks' i would have thought 'ok you suck too' but this is different...
i've kept out of the BORG vs. BORG2 thing but now am wondering if there's some point to the protests...
ah well...if nobody funds it, nobody can have a say in its contents...i keep on being one of the anonymous people who come to BM, help to people it with good art and good vibes, and never show up on the radar screen of the people who have taken it upon themselves to spend the fest's money in just their own way...
man, disappointing.
such a noble thing - to distribute pearls of culture to those in a perfect environment to receive.
but as you say - you continue to offer your gifts as an independent entity - a valuable act and a rarity these days.
don't know much about bm funding but do know that someone who gets a book from the heart of ray, gets more than the book.
Sorry, man--- I can relate. If only I could count the number of grants I've not gotten (school-related, not arts)....I reckon they were looking specifically for visual/conceptual art installations?
Whatever. Don't let anything stop you doing what you love, Cen. :D
Paint a flower on the cover of each book, pile them in a visually pleasing manner (installation) and then see how the stack of books errodes over time. If books remain after a certain amount of time, torch them. Create catchy title: Erosion of Knowledge or something? I guess that's more what they want, but what you're doing seems fine too me like it is.
ha brilliant!
performance art
write & print the book - have someone photograph you writing & printing the book
put it all on a stage
and voila!
grant, please!
hehe, nice...thanks for the support...it turns out four people are deciding the fate of funding for an event that draws 30,000...no wonder this year this is a rebellion going on to turn the process of funding on its ear...at first i didn't like the idea, but now i see its necessity...
look here to see what is happening:
http://www.borg2.org/ (http://www.borg2.org/)
portion of note sent to BM organization:
What remains true is that Burning Man benefits fully from every kind of art that is brought to it...if there were merely art installations, it would still be an impressive event, but not the city of Art that it is, with people coming to share and experience a virtually infinite variety of creativity...that's what makes it special...it is not simply a museum in the desert...nobody knows who is going to bring what, and it's easy to assume that there will be a little of everything, and always something new...
as for the cost of projects being an issue, when i put out more than a thousand dollars to fund my project every year, it stretched my budget to the limit...if i had ten thousand dollars i'd bring a much larger project, elaborate in every way...i'd build a bookstore, fill it with enough books for every person who comes to the city, instead of bringing about two crates' worth and setting up on a rug in center camp in the dust...i'd do more if i had more money to do so...but i do what i can...so this argument doesn't really hold water for me either...
i spend a lot of my time defending Burning Man from detractors whose points are not so far off base...sure there is no commercialism there, and if there were the event would die that year...but there are more insidious ways for the heart of an event to die...i'm not sure what i think of BORG2...at times they are serious to the point of snottiness, at times they are too goofy to be taken seriously...i do know, however, that on the ground level there is a lot of discontent...it is the kind of discontent that bears with it a great deal of love and commitment to carry on...for now...but it exists...
i care a great deal for Burning Man, it is as much part of my life as anyone else's...i love the egalitarian spirit and try to live it out every day of my life since 1999 when i first went to BRC and found the possibility of doing it for real could happen...but i am disappointed with things i am beginning to see...i did not apply for funding thinking i would get it, i know the pot of cash is small and the hands reaching are many...and i will find a way to scrounge my and my partner's path to BRC anyway...what bothers me is that the official line are art is not in spirit with the event itself...and no amount of rationalization is going to sway me from seeing that clearly...
i believe fully that anything this event needs could be had by asking...that the funding pool could be larger, that the volunteers to help select the art could be as great and varied as need be...but for this to work, the door has to be opened...there remains even now so much untapped potential in the worldwide community that nobody there in SF has to feel like they do it all and others simply enjoy the result...