Burning Man

The Man. This years' theme is "The American Dream", hence all the flags. Spiral staircases inside the tower lead up to a great viewpoint.

This year, 50,000 inspired, intrepid people drove deep into the middle of nowhere to spend a week celebrating life, art and community. They congregate in an enormous circular formation around an 80 foot-tall statue of a man. In one week, they create and dismantle Black Rock City, a somewhat fully-functioning city complete with roads, addresses, a post office, a police department, a medical clinic, a museum and of course, a roller rink. And in this city everything* is free.

There is something for everyone in Black Rock City. In fact there is more than enough for 7 days of 24-hour-a-day enjoyment for anyone of any age and inclination. You can relax in coffee shops, sipping lattes and debating the international sociopolitical future or you can ride around the desert on the roof of a Cheshire Catmobile, dancing to techno music and drinking mojitos. You can take a crystal healing workshop, do a flow yoga class, or get strapped down to a table and tortured by waterboarding. You can go to the Red Eye Diner and order a grilled cheese or go to the Spirit Wind Cafe and order an Aura Cleansing with a side of Life Purpose Clarity. Or strip naked, have a friend paint a flower on your chest go for a stroll through the desert. There are wine bars, steam baths, enormous art installations and thousands of smiling people who, for one week each year, have the time and inclination to enjoy your company, and want to be your friend.

At night, world-class nightclubs blast electronic beats from internationally renowned DJs. Hundreds of massive green laser beams crisscross the darkness from all angles, making the night sky appear plaid. Typical nightwear consists of faux-fur shin-length overcoats, knee-high (preferably pink) patent-leather boots, interpretive Dr. Seuss-esque headwear, ten or more glow sticks of various colors and at least one blinking light of dubious origin. Extra points if the blinking light is buried under your three-foot afro wig.

Can you name this song?


The weather is always hot and sunny with a chance of brutal sand storms. "Burners" (residents of Black Rock City) will often say things like "remember the sandstorm we had three years ago — it was a TOTAL whiteout!" Apparently this year there were two fully-respectable whiteouts that lasted all or most of an entire day. Some burners enjoy the whiteouts. They wear dust masks and goggles and go mingling through the city, waving, laughing and often riding unicycles. There are huge tents of hammocks and good books, another fun way to pass the hours of a sandstorm.

An inspiring aspect to remember: all the yoga studios, coffee shops, wine bars, hammock tents, etcetera, are all brought here and constructed by fellow festival-goers. The guy who makes the lattes actually built a huge geodesic dome, covered it with canvas, brought rugs for the floor and a dozen tribal drums, hundreds of pounds of coffee beans and crates of milk and he is giving it all away. Same with the wine bar and the diner. You don't need to trade them anything directly. It is their pleasure to be part of this amazing community, a place that Alex Grey calls "the freest place on earth".




See you next year on the playa.
Love,
Dan

*OK, you can buy coffee drinks and ice from the Burning Man organization, but that's it.

Just for fun, here is a link to some great photos on Flickr by Steph, a photographer who is not Dan.

suse posted on 2008-09-11 at 1:23 am

nice job dan-- it was almost like i was there... "that was unexpected"

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Kim posted on 2008-09-08 at 9:15 pm

Pauline... I like how you called them "googles"... they should be called that from now on.

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KK posted on 2008-09-08 at 8:50 pm

the one of you in your straw hat, goggles, and chai.

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Mom posted on 2008-09-08 at 6:55 pm

It feels like you were on a movie set. I see the hat,the googles, the mask and the scarf all came in handy. Thank you for sharing. hugs and kisses oxoxoxxo

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KK posted on 2008-09-08 at 6:16 pm

my favorite pic of you from now until forever.

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