For a couple months now I’ve tried, although not very diligently I must confess, to plan a bonfire in November with specific intention. Myself and a handful of friends are on board and we have the wood pallets… but a location still eludes us and now that it’s November, I’m starting to realize I really don’t want to see the idea itself go up in smoke.

The point of this bonfire is to purge ourselves of some things that we might imagine have intrinsic value, but in reality only weigh us down or bind us to the past or an empty ideal. Having a drink around a warm fire with friends is awesome in itself, but this would be a little dose of liberation and an opportunity to grow as well as share and get closer to one another, too. I plan to throw a few old, drama-ridden letters into flames, but not before reading them aloud. There are some photos from before the age of digital cameras, too, that myself and some friends would rather not risk having end up online. I’ll pass those around for a final glance before tossing them in. Some may just have a few items of clothes to fuel the fire that they should have let go of long ago. I know a guy who wears socks long after his bare heels and toes are worn clean through them. He really needs to burn those damn things and stop the madness already. Each person’s level of involvement is up to them as long as the spirit’s there; a spirit which resonates in this scene from Six Feet Under…

We fully intend to rake up, collect the remnants and clean the area afterward and it seems bonfires are perfectly legal here outside of city limits… so we just need a perfectly legal property to do it on. Any suggestions?