Paul Addis

[Simon of the Playa]

given the right conditions, environment and chemicals, ANYONE of us could be "Paul Addis".


perhaps those that condemn so haughtily will find this out one day.


the hard way.

[gyre]

I only add this to the discussion because it was interesting to me, not being there, to hear that the 2007 early burning of the man was something that had been discussed, perhaps as a joke, perhaps not, for over a year. I didn't appreciate this fact before. Not sure if this is really meaningful here, but it would be interesting to hear from people who were there.

An old joke, and it has happened before.
One of the road signs coming in said, Burn the Man on Monday
A certain person in the Bay area took that sign home.

Re warnings, I talked to people at the Man after the fire was out.
They said no one took the warnings seriously.
If the accounts are accurate, maybe people came out from the base to see what was up?
That's all I know.

A lot of people were very upset.
I was surprized how angry they were.

Later in the week, he was back on the playa.
Someone had a flyer or poster he gave them.
I suppose I could have met him then.
Didn't bother.

[Nipple]

"This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

I'm a relative outsider, but it is interesting watching "oral" history being passed on.

[theCryptofishist]

There aren't a whole hell of a lot of BART commuters on Saturday nights...
So, it probably got the dinner and movie or barhopping crowd. Which is a smaller crowd.
As for the smell--well, I could've told you that trains and colons don't mix well. No, I don't like the use of this sort of public resource used for suicide.

[wh..sh]

And good riddance.

What a sad thing to say...

given the right conditions, environment and chemicals, ANYONE of us could be "Paul Addis".

**kisses SoP's hand, Godfather style**

[Sail Man]

My point was: Someone took their own life. That person had family, friends. Regardless of what he did, his final action will negatively affect many.

Suicide should not be an option for anyone. Maybe I have a bleeding heart, but FUCK!!!

No you don't have a bleeding heart. What you do have is a firm grasp on the truth.

A fact I am all to aware of, more so, of late.

I have seen emotions that run the gamut after a suicide. Some, like this weekend, are those of devestation, profound guilt, distraught. All the way through indifference, and even anger (which is pretty common actually).

Knowmad, yes, we do see the morbid on a fairly regular basis. Though most of us become immune to it, there are always those calls that just grab you by the nads and leave you shaken up. I've seen some pretty fucked up shit, but those certain calls that take their place in my "best of" list are the ones that I would say I dwell on the most. Most of us that do this job truly care about people, and that empathy factors in when dealing with a fucked up call like I had this weekend. And, a fair bet, that most of us deal with trauma a lot better then we deal with pt's puking on us. Rip they're arm off and we're like, whoa! check it out, the watch still works! But when they puke on our boots, now thats fucked up!

Which is why the number one call on my best of list starts with:
A BOOGER THE SIZE OF A GOLF BALL!

[ygmir]

And good riddance.

What a sad thing to say...

given the right conditions, environment and chemicals, ANYONE of us could be "Paul Addis".

**kisses SoP's hand, Godfather style**

no, no really, I'm not thinking nor saying anything..........

[Simon of the Playa]

having tasted madness, i can offer up this.

to live temporarily or full time in the dream like state of psychosis and mental lability is scary as fuck.


it's scary as fuck coming back and trying to deal with the damage done to others and yourself.


it's scary as fuck ruminating over what is real and what is not, and what that actually means.


yes, i pity Paul, he wandered too deep into the Heart of Darkness, and never came out.


all of you that pass judgement, remember that you too just might be living in a glass house while you're throwing those stones.


or someday, you might move into one.


either way, until you have sat down and dined at the Insanity Table, you really should not critique the meal, or the unlucky diners.


because when you do, it's then that you'll realize just how frightening and deceptive the Plate Before you actually is.


Rest in Peace, Paul...no one DESERVES mental illness, and the heart-breaking tragedy of suicide.

[theCryptofishist]

(((((Simon)))))
God, I love you sometimes...

[theCryptofishist]

((((Fishy, I Hug you!))))

Thank you, I needed it so bad.

[Bob]

There aren't a whole hell of a lot of BART commuters on Saturday nights...
So, it probably got the dinner and movie or barhopping crowd. Which is a smaller crowd.
As for the smell--well, I could've told you that trains and colons don't mix well. No, I don't like the use of this sort of public resource used for suicide.

Smaller, but plenty of people work retail, and crowds came into town to watch the penultimate match of the baseball tournament at the bars or the big screen at City Hall. Maybe baseball fever set him off. Maybe he's a Cubs fan. He chose early Tuesday morning to burn the Man to have the fewest possible number of people interfering, yet still have an audience.

Anyhow, now he's a permanent landmark under the foot of Market, near the starting point of the Saint Stupid's Day Parade (weekday schedule), and nearly in the basement vaults of the Fed building. Wouldn't be surprised if that was part of the plan.

It just irks me that well-considered reactions to some stranger's passing seem so fucking rare among all the rote "sorry for your loss"es and "my heart goes out"s . Then, when it's a suicide, all the rote sob-sibling sentiments like "hope he's in a better place". First, people, he's *dead* and not coming back, so I don't think he's checking Kayak for flights to Thailand. Second, given that he lived his life rather loudly, wishing him "peace" or a "better place" seems akin to shitting in his casket. Third, suicide is always a violent act, though arranging for a train to spray your bowels on a station trackway and possible on waiting passengers seems a bit more violent than most, and worth acknowledging.

[Ugly Dougly]

Ye gods, I have avoided this thread. New respect for Simon.
Few of us know what to say. "I'm sorry" or RIP is the safest route, since none of us know what led him to make that final choice, and what he saw with his eyes.

I just see that many of us take his act personally. If he had interrupted a rugby match we wouldn't give his passing any thought. But he defiled the Sacred Burn, and oh no, we must revile this evil person....

He's gone. I can't tell him anything now. I can't even offer any comfort to his loved ones. He must have been in a dark, frightening place, and he must have been 100% devoid of hope to make the choice to end his life. I hope we can learn from this. (Which, I guess, is the closest I ever get to saying "amen".)

[theCryptofishist]

It just irks me that well-considered reactions to some stranger's passing seem so fucking rare among all the rote "sorry for your loss"es and "my heart goes out"s .

Just a thought here. Maybe people can't really get over that whisper in the back of their heads that says "You will die, too". Maybe asking them to be rational is asking too much. Maybe you have to give them weeks or months to be able to get some emotional distance from the horror of the realization that we are all mortal. Yes, we knew that before. But we forget it anyway.

Until it's back in our face, again...

[Mojojita]

I guess I mostly feel that losing anyone in this way somehow diminishes us all. I know we can't reach them all, but they are all worth trying to reach.

[Simon of the Playa]

Smaller, but plenty of people work retail, and crowds came into town to watch the penultimate match of the baseball tournament at the bars or the big screen at City Hall. Maybe baseball fever set him off. Maybe he's a Cubs fan. He chose early Tuesday morning to burn the Man to have the fewest possible number of people interfering, yet still have an audience.

Anyhow, now he's a permanent landmark under the foot of Market, near the starting point of the Saint Stupid's Day Parade (weekday schedule), and nearly in the basement vaults of the Fed building. Wouldn't be surprised if that was part of the plan.

It just irks me that well-considered reactions to some stranger's passing seem so fucking rare among all the rote "sorry for your loss"es and "my heart goes out"s . Then, when it's a suicide, all the rote sob-sibling sentiments like "hope he's in a better place". First, people, he's *dead* and not coming back, so I don't think he's checking Kayak for flights to Thailand. Second, given that he lived his life rather loudly, wishing him "peace" or a "better place" seems akin to shitting in his casket. Third, suicide is always a violent act, though arranging for a train to spray your bowels on a station trackway and possible on waiting passengers seems a bit more violent than most, and worth acknowledging.

interesting.

should one's death be the greatest performance piece of all if we are but merely players of parts?

why should G*d decide when and where and how?

for myself, i've always pictured a high speed Larry of Arabia hurtling thru space, thelma and louise ride to the next Station.

im sure others would prefer to go in their sleep, when they're old.

some might wish to be with loved ones.

others, to blast off into oblivion.

i suppose it really does not matter how you get there, and you WILL get there.

those still waiting can only ponder the Journey, pack their bags, and wait.........or not.




free will is messy, but it's all we got.




I once had a long argument with a friend whether or not a Funeral could be a Celebration.

i said it could...



we went back and forth over what Death is, what Loss means, and for those left behind, how to mark someone's passing.




when my time comes, Please get Drunk and celebrate...celebrate Life, celebrate memories, good and bad.

if i choose the time and the place, it will probably be as colorful and dramatic, and also condemned.



If Anything, i hope Paul has Wi-Fi in the afterworld so he can read this shit and peruse the reviews...




something tells me this will become a "cult classic", which is probably in line with what he wanted.

[Roberto Dobbisano]

.

[theCryptofishist]

I once had a long argument with a friend whether or not a Funeral could be a Celebration.

i said it could...

Your friend wasn't Irish. I don't like a whole lot about Irish culture, mostly because it is foisted upon us in a very bastardized form every March, but I think they got that right. Better than those old meditteranian widows dressed in black years after the death of their husbands. But of course, I'm the person who gets on this board and tells others how to mourn.

I suppose that's a scene from the Seventh Pony, Roberto.

[aserendipity]

Fishy ,
They wore black in Spain because they were all related.
My Grandmother had 13 children.

[theCryptofishist]

Greece and Italy, too. As I understand it. I only went to Spain...
Yeah my Polish Great-Grandmothers had 10 and 13 children... There are a lot of cousins, I guess, but my grandmother was upwardly mobile and didn't mix with all her sibs, and then my mother got mad at my grandmother crossing my Aunt Barbara out of the will, so I'd only recognize the last names. And one of the last names is rather common... For Polish people.

[Box Burner]

Your friend wasn't Irish. I don't like a whole lot about Irish culture, mostly because it is foisted upon us in a very bastardized form every March, but I think they got that right. Better than those old meditteranian widows dressed in black years after the death of their husbands. But of course, I'm the person who gets on this board and tells others how to mourn.

Much of Irish culture was bastardized by English (high)culture. Irish history and culture were kept as oral tradition carried and told by the bards, or harpers. When the English could not conquer the Irish they set about trying to break their spirit by destroying their traditions. Much was lost and much was bastardized. Of course what we get of Irish tradition here the USA has been even further bastardized.

[unjonharley]

Your friend wasn't Irish. I don't like a whole lot about Irish culture, mostly because it is foisted upon us in a very bastardized form every March, but I think they got that right. Better than those old meditteranian widows dressed in black years after the death of their husbands. But of course, I'm the person who gets on this board and tells others how to mourn.

Much of Irish culture was bastardized by English (high)culture. Irish history and culture were kept as oral tradition carried and told by the bards, or harpers. When the English could not conquer the Irish they set about trying to break their spirit by destroying their traditions. Much was lost and much was bastardized. Of course what we get of Irish tradition here the USA has been even further bastardized.

I would say more like catholicized

[TomServo]

[jkisha]

For some, suicide is an acceptable option.

[TomServo]

Agreed, JK.

[gyre]

"Go fish."

[Box Burner]

Your friend wasn't Irish. I don't like a whole lot about Irish culture, mostly because it is foisted upon us in a very bastardized form every March, but I think they got that right. Better than those old meditteranian widows dressed in black years after the death of their husbands. But of course, I'm the person who gets on this board and tells others how to mourn.

Much of Irish culture was bastardized by English (high)culture. Irish history and culture were kept as oral tradition carried and told by the bards, or harpers. When the English could not conquer the Irish they set about trying to break their spirit by destroying their traditions. Much was lost and much was bastardized. Of course what we get of Irish tradition here the USA has been even further bastardized.

I would say more like catholicized

Yes that very much too.

[aserendipity]

okay
so now let's do a new thread
press restart please

[cowboyangel]

Oh this is sad. I was there the night Paul lit the man. It caused danger to people standing around the man, overloaded work for the DPW and delays for those of us waiting to get our art installed. Paul was a disturbed man. I send my sympathies to his friends and loved ones.

[mdmf007]

Suicide has always vexed me, I just dont get it. On the other hand I have never hurt enough to see it as a means to an end or as a solution to a problem.

MDMF

[theCryptofishist]

It is the act of a very broken person.