My friend who went to Burning Man with her daughter never sent even one email about her days there. She promised me a daily diary that I would publish to satisfy the curiosity of OTBKB readers. Well, she didn’t come through. Nothing. Nada.
We still know as little as we did before about Burning Man, the week-long counter-culture, arts festival for 40,000 in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. Hopefully, she’ll have lots to tell when she gets back tomorrow. And pictures. A t-shirt. Something. Nu?
Anyone else from Park Slope who reads OTBKB go to Burning Man?
Your comment about getting a t-shirt from Burning Man is an example of how ingrained our consumer culture is in your psyche and how burning man sets itself apart, if only for a week. For a week, participants live in a city void of commercial advertising, vending and money…a place where other participants create bars, shops, art, and interactive events to help or amuse other participants free of any exchange except a smile or a thank you. You’d think they’d develop a culture of moochers, but you’d be suprisingly wrong, instead the reciprocity emotion kicks into high gear and you find most people want to give and help each other more than they would do elsewhere. At least for me, this revelation helped me see the positive side of the humans spirit when I was in a stage in my life when I feeling human’s where inherently negative creatures. Add to it the idea that anyone at Burning Man can express themselves in whatever way they like as long as they are not hurting the experience of other participants and you have a weird, wonderful community that develops. The community that is created is overwhelming to most who attend for the first time. I’m not surprised your friend didn’t write to you. It is a place to live in the now and experience, not waste your time trying to explain to people not at the event. I hope that helps and I hope your friend who who attended reads this and agrees with what I wrote.
Burning Man is one of the most interesting festivals. The art, music, dance and creativity are celebrated there. Over twenty-thousandths people gather here early, from all over the world. The last day is the most spectacular. It is a ritual destruction by fire of a human effigy named Burning Man while people are dancing around it. .