OTBKB has one hell of an exclusive. A Park Slope friend and her ten-year-old daughter are enroute to Burning Man and she will be sending me daily diary entries. I’m convinced that there will be some way for her to email me from there although Burning Man is decidedly low tech. Ther’s no electricity, no showers, no stores, no commerce at all. Make art. Barter. Walk around naked, ride a bike, paint your body blue.

We spent a few days with Burning Man Mom and Child in San Francisco and she drove us back to the farm, her mini-van stuffed with camping equipment, lanterns and kites from Chinatown, a Butane stove and two bikes that they picked up from a guy who sells cheap bikes to those, who are goint to Burning Man.

At Burning Man, 40,000 people camp out, create sophisticated temporary dwellings, bring RVs and generators, huge amounts of water for drinking, cooking, and cleaning, food, materials for shelter and decorations for your abode and your body.

Burning Man is not for the faint of heart. It’s like Woodstock in the desert without the bands (though there’s lots of homemade music), without the mud. 107 degrees heat and sand.

I can’t wait to hear what Burning Man Mom has to say.

For those who still don’t get what Burning Man is, I’ll try to explain: it’s a seven day counter-culture city in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. A utopian experiment if you will, where 40,000 people come together and build wild dwellings, create art projects, workshops, parades, art installations, theater and more. There’s music, there’s talk. I imagine there’s sex, drugs, green politics, visionary babbling, profundity a go go; a ‘we have seen the future and this is it…"

Anything you can imagine. On the last night, they burn the man, an effigy of a human, an act of catharsis and cleansing.

For another attempt at an explanation, the Burning Man website is a good place to start.

You’re here to create. Since nobody at Burning Man is a spectator,
you’re here to build your own new world. You’ve built an egg for
shelter, a suit made of light sticks, a car that looks like a shark’s
fin. You’ve covered yourself in silver, you’re wearing a straw hat and
a string of pearls, or maybe a skirt for the first time. You’re
broadcasting Radio Free Burning Man — or another radio station.

You’re here to experience. Ride your bike in the expanse of
nothingness with your eyes closed. Meet the theme camp — enjoy
Irrational Geographic, relax at Bianca’s Smut Shack and eat a grilled
cheese sandwich. Find your love and understand each other as you walk
slowly under a parasol. Wander under the veils of dust at night on the
playa.

You’re here to celebrate. On Saturday night, we’ll burn the Man. As
the procession starts, the circle forms, and the man ignites, you
experience something personal, something new to yourself, something
you’ve never felt before. It’s an epiphany, it’s primal, it’s newborn.
And it’s completely individual.

You’ll leave as you came. When you depart from Burning Man, you
leave no trace. Everything you built, you dismantle. The waste you make
and the objects you consume leave with you. Volunteers will stay for
weeks to return the Black Rock Desert to its pristine condition.

OTBKB: YOUR SOURCE FOR BURNING MAN 2006