Caleb Schaber aka Shooter

wedeliver · Post by **wedeliver** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 11:12 am

For a number of years I have heard to antics of Caleb aka Shooter, his efforts in so many fields, from the war in Iraq, to fighting for more for the DPW folks and others who without them BM wouldn't be what it is.

Real guy, real life. he will be missed.

2003 DPW roster

Caleb Schaber, Shade Construction Manager (AND DESTRUCTION MANAGER0

dj_john69 · Post by **dj_john69** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 12:48 pm

and what happened ??

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 1:43 pm

He suicided.

dj_john69 · Post by **dj_john69** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 3:15 pm

damn, thats too bad.

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 3:24 pm

His funeral is going to be here in Reno, I will post when/where when I know more.

cowboyangel · Post by **cowboyangel** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 7:13 pm

Please do. I'd like to go.

wedeliver · Post by **wedeliver** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 7:34 pm

I salute you man.

Through early morning fog I see

visions of the things to be

the pains that are withheld for me

I realize and I can see

that suicide is painless

It brings on many changes

and I can take or leave it if I please.

The game of life is hard to play

I'm gonna lose it anyway

The losing card I'll someday lay

so this is all I have to say

suicide is painless

It brings on many changes

and I can take or leave it if I please.

The sword of time will pierce our skins

It doesn't hurt when it begins

But as it works its way on in

The pain grows stronger...watch it grin

suicide is painless

it brings on many changes

and I can take or leave it if I please

A brave man once requested me

to answer questions that are key

is it to be or not to be

and I replied 'oh why ask me?'

suicide is painless

it brings on many changes

and I can take or leave it if I please

try to find a way to make

all our little joys relate

without that ever-present hate

but now I know that it's too late, and...

suicide is painless

It brings on many changes

and I can take or leave it if I please.

The only way to win is cheat

And lay it down before I'm beat

and to another give my seat

for that's the only painless feat.

suicide is painless

it brings on many changes

and I can take or leave it if I please

'Cause suicide is painless

it brings on many changes

and I can take or leave it if I please.

...and you can do the same thing if you please.

[youtube][/youtube]

tubahurl · Post by **tubahurl** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 11:15 pm

Like so many of us,
Life can occasionally give you a right cross,
The time we spend participating in the human condition,
Can quite often be such a burden,
I do not claim to have ever met â€œShooterâ€

Toolmaker · Post by **Toolmaker** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 1:54 am

Caleb was great.. One of the fuinniest things I liked was when he got together with other folks in front of the org offices to protest the worker policies. There were like 3 or 4 protestors 2 of them with funny paper bags on their heads. As much as I disagreed with some of his views in the past he was usually more correct than I in his opinions and he certainly put in work for what he believed in. He certainly helped me grow some.

May he rest in peacefull bliss.

wedeliver · Post by **wedeliver** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:24 pm

I agree Toolmaker. Complete street theatre that was!

http://mkultra.bz/

Here is a little piece from the Seattle Times that kind of helps explain a bit of the man.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/n ... ur19m.html

"They kidnapped five people today," one e-mail began. "How are you?"

How am I? Worried sick about Caleb Schaber, 33, a Seattle artist who has been sending me dispatches from Afghanistan. He got there a few months ago after stints in Iraq as a contractor and a journalist. Schaber has become my eyes and ears in the Middle East, a pen pal like no other. He knows the ease of a night at the Five Point Cafe but also the uncertainty of war in a place we only read about. He reminds me of how much we complain.

For all our cracks about Dick Cheney, there are more serious shots being fired in the world.

"They are shooting machine guns outside my hotel," he wrote Feb. 10. "Anyway ... ."

You may recognize Schaber's name. He was one of the artists behind the monolith artwork placed in Magnuson Park in 2001, and a bartender at the Blue Moon Tavern.

In 2001, Schaber ran unsuccessfully for mayor, seeking to represent the city's fringe populace. Schaber was more interested in art, anyway, and made annual sojourns to Burning Man, the Nevada art festival.

While working as a construction manager at Burning Man, Schaber befriended members of the National Guard who were headed off to Iraq. Schaber wanted to go, too, and tried to enlist, but the Army wouldn't take him, he says, because of tattoos on his hands.

So he posted his rÃ©sumÃ© on Monster.com and got a job managing a crew of Pakistanis to build living quarters for the military in Iraq. The contract ran out and he was sent home, but returned to the Middle East after creating the Northern Nevada News Wire (www.nvnewswire.com). For six weeks, he worked as an embedded writer in Kandahar, Afghanistan, with an Army unit from Nevada.

Now he's back behind a bar, this time at Kabul's Mustafa Hotel, where, according to its Web site, "Thursday night kabob night is a must."

Schaber is drawing, painting and learning to speak Dari. And despite the occasional sound of machine-gun fire, he still walks the streets alone. He will return to Iraq in the fall.

But why? Why leave the art and friends that he so loved for a place where Americans are clearly in danger?

Some 250 foreigners have been taken captive in Iraq since the United States invaded; 39 have been killed, according to The Associated Press. Afghan militants have been copying Iraqi insurgents, kidnapping security and aid workers â€” mostly in Kabul.

"I am a thrill-seeker," Schaber explained. "I am not a person who can work a normal job. While I am not a supporter of the invasion in Iraq, I believe in my friends who are soldiers."

Being there, he said, "has been the apex of my life."

"I don't support the invasion," he said. "But I believe we must see this through, or the world will be a worse place."

He still misses his friends in Seattle. Discovery Park. Movies at the Varsity. His ex-girlfriend.

For all the complaining we do, Schaber told me, "The rest of the world is far more terrible on civil rights and freedom."

Worried as I am about Schaber living over there, I am grateful, too: He's teaching me to better appreciate life here.

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 5:10 pm

There will be a Memorial burn for him at/by the Frog Pond on Saturday at duskish.
Usure still when the real funeral is going to be,
but I am building a replica Monilith to burn like the one
in the above story to represent him in passing.
There will be some fireworks and a fair sized pile of wood, many from Reno, Winnemucca, and Gerlach/Empire will be there.
If you come, please do not plan on shooting guns as many of us have frayed nerves.
Save the bullets for church on Sunday.

wedeliver · Post by **wedeliver** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 10:03 pm

Thanks for the information on Sat at the Frog Pond. I heard there might be somthing in Reno, Friday Night, any word on that?

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 10:13 pm

There has been some talk, but not sure yet.
I will prob find out more soon.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:51 am

Said talk has been on Tribe.net. It may be a better place to catch up with it.

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 10:02 pm

There is an official memorial planned in Reno on Friday night.

If you need info on this, please send me a PM.

pinemom · Post by **pinemom** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 7:43 am

Last night, I witnessed... in a very bi-partisan view, some pretty horrible things done by supposible burners to a fellow burner.

I met Caleb's current girlfriend.

And I viewed a bunch of people give her the cold shoulder and everyone seemed to be giving all their support to the x'girlfriend.

Considering the circumstance of Calebs passing and who was with him that HE chose to be with him at this time. I found this so horrible a tradgity.

People, you know who you are, you should be so ashamed of yourselves.

If you see her today/tonights playa ceromonies.Be more sensitive to what she went through/ is still going through/ and will be going through for a very long time.
No one can pull that vision from your mind or heart.

I did get to spend a wee bit of time with her last night after the service. And as I do with any new burner I meet, with open eyes and open heart.

She Loved him very very much. And its who he wanted to be with at this time of his life.
I am not saying that he didnt love the previous girlfriend, for I do not know her or him or the relationship on why it had dissolved.

But living in the present...Deb was his lady of choice.
Grant her that respect folks.
She was extremely hurt by folks we're suppose to know as burners.
She felt alone.
She felt outcasted.
Someone took her memorial pictures off the fireplace... when she was packing up and saying goodnight.
She turned and those precious few pictures she had are now GONE!

Im telling you, I dont know either side of this situation,
nor would I take a side in any event.

Im simply stating that she is not the enemy.
Give her respect and understanding of what she has witnessed... lived... and lost.

~Namaste~

cowboyangel · Post by **cowboyangel** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 9:40 am

I was sad reading this Pinemon. Here's my post from Tribe about Caleb's Ocean Beach memorial last Thursday. I've met Amanda, and I send her lot's of love too. This is a time of grieving and supporting and loving.

When the Community Gets Real
Yesterday, 10:25 AM
Like last night. At Caleb's memorial at ocean beach. Deb, Howeird, Ali Baba, Aidan, Samantha (my wife), Fko, Francis, Chassie and me, Cowboyangel. Most of these people I was meeting for the first time. Deb is deep beautiful, profound like a wild river and steady like a giant redwood. It was delightful beyond words to meet Fko. Samantha said he was the sweetest guy anyone could meet. She loved everybody there as well. Me too.

Chassie, a friend of Caleb's from way-back time did some shamanic chanting and praying with copal, the incense of the Aztecs. We passed a cigar as each of us said something for Caleb. The wind was blowing like a mother, but thank God I had a road flare to start the fire with.
It felt like we were all on a kind of mystical playa for the time. Aidan brought a crystal Buddha, who watched over us all.

In typical Caleb fashion, the cops came towards the tail end to tell us that we had an illegal fire. Deb straightened them out with honest, gutsy words. I used a fire extinguisher, that I had brought to BM 07 to use for my TruthBurn fire art event. Now, it put the fire out to this tribute to a dear friend to us. Oh yeah, we used beer, ocean water and other mysterious liquids to douse the fire too.

What makes virtual social networks, like this one, real, useful and exciting, is when we finally meet each other. I've always enjoyed that.

Love,
Cowboyangel

**burn** · Post by **burn** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 9:51 am

I will make a concerted effort to ensure that Deb has someone to turn to tonight.

pinemom · Post by **pinemom** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 10:02 am

Thank you for sharing Cowboy Angel!!!

Thank you Risky!

~Godspeed~

cowboyangel · Post by **cowboyangel** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 10:08 am

Hey Burn, please tell Deb that Cowboyangel and Samantha send a lot of love. I sent her a private message at her Tribe mailbox

We love her!

**burn** · Post by **burn** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 11:04 am

Home again, home again, jiggedy jig.

The burning of the Monolith was incredible.
The bacon plentiful. The weather perfect.

I'm sure oneeyedick will fill you all in and add a pic or two (hint hint).

I wish I could say there was no drama.
It was worse than we expected, and better than we expected.

Tell Deb that Cowboyangel and Samantha send a lot of love

I think she might need some more.

cowboyangel · Post by **cowboyangel** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 3:10 pm

yeah. there's an ugly fire-storm of hate directed at her at Tribe.

I wish people could let things rest and remember that this is a difficult time.

Sail Man · Post by **Sail Man** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 4:18 pm

cowboyangel wrote:yeah. there's an ugly fire-storm of hate directed at her at Tribe.

I wish people could let things rest and remember that this is a difficult time.

I bailed on tribe for the last few months after the great moderator wars of 08 and have just recently been visiting again. Tribe just seems to denigrate into flame wars from time to time, unlike eplaya. I don't understand the difference between the 2 forum's or why the underlying vibe seems so different. I seriously doubt the Deb would have received such a cold shoulder here. I did offer her support on Tribe, which she acknowledged and it really burns my ass that she would be shunned so badly at a memorial for Caleb as Pinemom talked about. I have seen what happens when people shoot themselves and/or get shot. And it ain't pretty. She witnessed Caleb actually pull the trigger and the aftermath of that action. She needs the support of fellow burners, our love, our ears. Cowboyangel, thank you for taking the time to pm her and send her love and good vibes.

If I recall, Deb's from the Toronto area? Can anybody correlate that? If so any idea if she's planning on returning there at all?

cowboyangel · Post by **cowboyangel** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 8:47 pm

Thanks Sail Man. eplaya is a kinder gentler place. Deb is a good lady.

Kinetik V · Post by **Kinetik V** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 9:36 pm

cowboyangel wrote: eplaya is a kinder gentler place.

It wasn't always that way....but even at it's worst I'd still take this place over Tribe.

cowboyangel · Post by **cowboyangel** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 9:42 pm

Hey Kinetic, nice to see you man!

Kinetik V · Post by **Kinetik V** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 9:46 pm

cowboyangel wrote:Hey Kinetic, nice to see you man!

Good to see you again too!

Toolmaker · Post by **Toolmaker** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 3:52 pm

Sail Man wrote:
cowboyangel wrote:yeah. there's an ugly fire-storm of hate directed at her at Tribe.

I wish people could let things rest and remember that this is a difficult time.
I bailed on tribe for the last few months after the great moderator wars of 08 and have just recently been visiting again. Tribe just seems to denigrate into flame wars from time to time, unlike eplaya. I don't understand the difference between the 2 forum's or why the underlying vibe seems so different. I seriously doubt the Deb would have received such a cold shoulder here. I did offer her support on Tribe, which she acknowledged and it really burns my ass that she would be shunned so badly at a memorial for Caleb as Pinemom talked about. I have seen what happens when people shoot themselves and/or get shot. And it ain't pretty. She witnessed Caleb actually pull the trigger and the aftermath of that action. She needs the support of fellow burners, our love, our ears. Cowboyangel, thank you for taking the time to pm her and send her love and good vibes.

If I recall, Deb's from the Toronto area? Can anybody correlate that? If so any idea if she's planning on returning there at all?

This is a perfect example as to why I avoid tribe like the plague. Sad that some people feel that drama is more important than the purpose for the memorial. I don't know the details or folks involved but shame on em each and every one. Keep the drama in its own place if you need it to live. Don't muddy up the efforts of others meant to be positive with all that negative shit.

Toolmaker · Post by **Toolmaker** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 9:48 pm

http://calebs.wordpress.com/

Deb Prothero · Post by **Deb Prothero** » Thu May 21, 2009 5:47 am

Thanks to everyone for your kind thoughts about Caleb.

I've been home for just over a week now and I'm trying to catch up on everything that was written while I had less internet access. Also had to get home for my eplaya password, my mind drew a complete blank on that one.

Thanks especially to those who attended the memorials in Ocean Beach, Reno, Frog Pond and Seattle. I believe we've done a fine job of honouring Caleb's life with stories, fires and coming together.

I couldn't have got through the last month without the support of many of you here: Kevin and Elizabeth, Bev, Dick and Becky, Risky, Pinemom and Titwi, Howeird, Ali and Francis, Chaski Garcia, fko, Cowboy Angel and Samantha, Wheelgunner and Susan, Tracy, Gary and Twila, Ang and Susan, Eric and Nola.

AND special thanks to all the many burners who sent condolences by email or private message. The support offered was more than one could expect and I was in shock most of the time so I'm not sure I thanked everyone in person. Just know you made each moment more bearable for me.

Getting through the nasty stuff would have been impossible without the intervention of some wise people. I hope that I never meet this kind of vitriol from this community ever again. I had no idea it was possible for a human to treat another as I was treated sometimes. I guess Caleb should have warned people that he'd chosen a stable partner and was hoping to leave the drama behind. Thank you Pinemom for having the courage to say what needed to be said.

Caleb and I were building a dream to create an art gallery/studio/newsroom in the Gerlach train station. I intend to follow through with those ideas and look forward to hearing any great ideas that others have for that space.

May our memories of Caleb carry us forward into the light,
Deb

PS Here is a video memorial I made of Caleb's pictures and mine over the last few months.
[youtube][/youtube][/youtube]