Chapter 1: https://withtwoesses.medium.com/holly-and-her-dusty-pranksters-chapter-1-f4656b418a5c
Chapter 2: https://withtwoesses.medium.com/holly-and-her-dusty-pranksters-chapter-2-c70a642ffc74
Chapter 3: https://withtwoesses.medium.com/holly-and-her-dusty-pranksters-chapter-3-aad87a15dd6f
Chapter 4: https://withtwoesses.medium.com/holly-and-her-dusty-pranksters-chapter-4-6154af4a99bf
Chapter 5: https://withtwoesses.medium.com/holly-and-her-dusty-pranksters-chapter-5-104f291bf1cc
Chapter 6: https://withtwoesses.medium.com/holly-and-her-dusty-pranksters-chapter-6-cded9621b72
In 2018, Dilated Peoples lost one of our campmates to an awful, aggressive recurrence of brain cancer. Burning Man was such a big part of Mastahnick’s life and — through short videos that he compiled to chronicle his playa adventures each year — he inspired *so* many folks to take the plunge and experience that crazy place for themselves. If you haven’t seen his creations, you can find them here. They’re delightful. You might even glimpse a porta-potty prank or three.
I originally had the idea for this piece in 2016, while on my second burn. It occurred to me that when we (and other camps) pranked people, the experience was so jarring for each prankee that it might very well fundamentally change their entire perspective of Burning Man. I also felt like there was/is a dearth of fictionalized writing about happenings on the playa, not only for outsiders who have never visited that alien world firsthand, but also for burners who had. The art that exists out there is — by far — my favorite part of the experimental community that materializes seemingly overnight each non-pandemic year in the Nevada desert. But physical/visual/performance media have never called to me as a creator in remotely the way that the written word does. So I decided to take a stab at contributing to the art of Burning Man in my own tiny way.
I came across this line from Neil Gaiman one day in 2019, while I was struggling to maneuver Holly and Polanco out of their camp and into our prank: “You have to finish things — that’s what you learn from, you learn by finishing things.” I resolved then and there to finish this story, in part, as a way to honor and memorialize our dearly departed, always-smiling Mastahnick. He didn’t get to finish everything he wanted to finish. Nor will any of the rest of us.
Huge thanks to my dear Jon and fellow bookworms, EJ and Kris, for slogging through early, far-worse-than-mediocre drafts and providing such constructive feedback!
Thank you, Scratch ’n’ Sniff for continuing this prank tradition. And of course, a big distanced hug to all the rest of the Dilated Peoples for helping change my life for the funner.
-Casper
