The Ground Below Zero: 9/11 to Burning Man, New Orleans to Darfur, Haiti to Occupy Wall Street

by Nicholas Powers

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2013

Reviews

[Don Shewey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicholas Powers was among the first black presenters (if not THE first) at Horizons, the annual conference of psychonauts in New York City. I don’t remember the topic but his intriguing talk encompassed psychedelics and social justice and referenced Burning Man as crucial to his worldview. I tracked down this collection of writings for the Village Voice, the Indypendent, and others, and it’s been sitting on the To Be Read pile for a few years now. Happy to finally dig in to this personal, idiosyncratic, defiant, poetic account of his forays to the heart of suffering, disaster, and potential transformation. He doesn’t just read in the newspapers about 9/11, Katrina, Darfur, the earthquake in Haiti, Occupy Wall Street — he shows up and writes about what he sees, feels, and thinks.