4th of July
July 4, 1995, Midnight
"Well maybe I'll see you on the fourth of July" ["Good" Better Than Ezra]
Tonight as the sultry sun dissolved into the sharp edges of the black mountians, the evening sky soaked up all the colors of the day and re-painted the horizon in blues, jades, purples and whispers of pink.
All of the renegades, rebels and die-hard 'indies' migrated to the massive table of earth that we call 'dry lake.' And then like so many performance artists, we all proceeded to participate in a true celebration of independence, freedom of choice, involvement and mostly...of style.
Chemical artists, frighteningly gifted amateur pyrotechnicians, enlightened the faces of the children with amazement and visual magic tricks. Watching the barely visible little ones as they were silhouetted against a rainbow of dancing lights and magical fire showers, made us all stand still in awe of the power of wonder.
The night became surreal, time vanished, distance merged with illusion and the air literally came to a stop. Layers of smoke and light ignited and held us all willing captives in a sea void of water and a night of limitless potential.
As I moved among the shadows of unknown faces with my friends, shooting stars were all around us, not simply falling across the sparkling sky, but as if by some curious twist of this enchanted night, they lost all sense of direction and lazily arched their sparkling trails across the land, over our heads and right back down on the cool tile floor of clay at our feet.
I was alive tonight!
Holly Sharpe-Moore
∞Experienced and written in the desert outside of Boulder City at 'Dry Lake,' near Las Vegas, in southern Nevada.
Photos by Holly Sharpe
~PEACE

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