NMScene

So Current tv, a station on dss and cable ran a set of documentaries about this year’s burn, some of them are hella good and were almost, and i stress almost, like being there this year, minus the hellish heat and unending windstorms. check them out.

i cant help it, you must watch. i’ll get back to all the nifty burning man shit soon.

Ms Betty is slinging Sushi at Sushi Gen sundays. She deliviers the best sushi service in town. Sushi Gen makes bad ass sushi at good prices, All you can Eat for 20 or if you get the coupon in the alibi half off your order. Ms Betty wants to serve you the most delicous sushi on the planet, so go eat some, damn it.

ps dont forget to tip her well.

The lead up to this year’s burn was, I thought, more substantially planed out, but as I was soon to find out still sorely lacking.

Ideas and work for a trip of this scale have to happen months in advance. When I decided to go last year, I bought my ticket almost six months in advance and had begun learning the necessary things around then too. I began buying things about four months in advance, and, as someone who has liked to party camp for some time now, had most of the necessary items and was lacking a lot of them also.

Just a side note, those of you who are close to me will know the names of these characters I’m going to be writing about, but, I’ve decided to go ahead and change their names. My best friend, Don, went with me last year at the last minute. After his experiences last year he decided that he must start attending every year he could. After the burn he made friends with two other burners here in Albuquerque, Gail and Abby, who were also first time burners last year.

The first time I met Gail was for Halloween. Don and Gail dressed up as burners for Halloween, and we met them downtown. I was dressed up as a zombie, which was quite fun cause the costume didn’t involve much outside of some makeup and blood. Don and Gail looked like lost snowboarders. Over next few months Gail was around more and more, and we began to talk about what we all wanted to do for the next year’s burn. Gail and her friend Abby had decided on a “hacienda.” It would be all inclusive and cater to every whim. Don wanted to hold boundary pushing seminars, and wanted his own space. I wanted to have some kind of bar or café so I could mingle and meet new people.

This is, more or less, where all of our troubles started.

Around January, we decided to all get together so that we could come up with plans for what to build. I had just bought my ticket as had Gail, as they’re up to a hundred dollars cheaper the earlier you buy them. Don has repeated several times that he was going to either buy a RV or a Trailer for us to sleep in. This was a great relief to me, as last year I towed a small teardrop with my car. It was not a pleasant experience in any sense of the matter. (If you decide to do the same, please be sure that it is new and in good condition. Older teardrops just take too much damn time to deal with. Plus a shower/private bathroom is king out there)

So we all get together at Gail’s apartment. Her friend Goose, who I really didn’t know but liked, was there at her place too. He wanted to go and experience this mystical place we had all been talking about like it was god. Goose, which is his nickname, is from Iran. He is skilled in carpentry and I thought would be a good addition to the team, having both the tools and space to build most any project.

We got together and started throwing out ideas, needs and wants. Gail wanted only one thing. The Hacienda. It could only be that one thing and any variations on it were scowled upon viciously. Drew really wanted a foundry exploration space, and so, with great reluctance, agreed to have a extra space added on in the back. I wanted a bar, just a small space for that and a separate space for cooking. Gail was insistent that this entire structure be made out of plywood. I suggested, because of the size of the thing and the difficulty in producing, we look into other alternatives like large party tents that you can rent. She got even more insistent, that her hacienda couldn’t be made out of anything other than what she wanted.

I had had enough. Don was also having tension with Abby, who was getting mean when she drank, especially around Don. Don and I decide to go off to get some food for every one, which would help to cool us all down. I knew that this wasn’t going to work. I told Don that what they wanted was just plain stupid and that I was going to go ahead and do my own thing. He was quickly coming to the same conclusion, as far as I could tell, as Abby was making the situation worse for him.

We came back with the food and I told them that I couldn’t be involved with the project, I apologized but it just wasn’t for me. I tried to do it as friendly as possible but the look on Gail’s face wasn’t a happy one. I decided that I had had enough and went home.

Months went by, summer came, finally. I had been listening almost religiously to Burncast, a podcast done for the burning man community. Every Tuesday a new episode comes out and quickly made my life less miserable. As a courier I have to deal with the worst weather here in New Mexico, and this winter was bad. The warm thoughts of the playa kept me going through some really dark days.

What can one actually say about Burning Man that isn’t lost from the reality of it?

For those of you who have never gone, which, I assume, is most of you reading, I can give you a description of the basics.

Burning Man is an art and culture festival held just north of Gerlach, NV in the largest dry lake bed in the world during the week leading up to the Labor Day weekend. This year somewhere between, 52,000 and 61,000 people attended. The official tally isn’t out yet but the number seems about right from what I experienced this year.

The festival, to me, has four key principles and several others which I won’t get into here. The first year I kind of just brushed them off and said, yeah, eh, some hippy shit that I don’t really care about, but, after the results of this years burn they really got ingrained on my mind and have changed, for the better, my attitude about a lot of things I think I experience in life.

The first that is a leave no trace event. You have to pick up every bit of crap you bring up there and deal with it yourself. There are no trash cans for the public to use and “moop” (matter out of place) is encouraged to be picked up right away. That means don’t be dropping your plastic water bottle and cigarette butts all over the place.

Second is the idea of “radical self reliance,” meaning that you need to bring in everything you need to survive for a week, and more for your friends. There are no circle K’s and Costco’s for a hundred miles, and you need to be responsible for yourself. This is a daunting challenge for most, as we are all used to living day to day.

No spectators. The two key principles I think our camp lacked, and I needed to personally learn about start with not being a damned spectator. This has left a lasting impression on me. The idea of not being a spectator is something quite different than most people are used to. Most people are not used to the idea of getting involved; our society tends to discourage involvement. In doing so, participants in the burning man festival get a sense of ownership and, further, responsibility for creating a better environment.

Radical Inclusion. This has been the most difficult for me to deal with, on a personal level. The idea is to include everyone, make them all feel involved. All of us, in one way or another, have to deal with its opposite, radical exclusion, every day. Either we’re not cool enough, or knowledgeable enough, have the right parentage or bank account balance.

These last two; radical inclusion and no spectating were key ideas that were lost to my camp this year. It lead to abject failure within the camp, and, made for a very unpleasant experience. This does not deter me one bit from attending the event. In fact, I am almost grateful that this struggle I endured this year occurred, if for no other simple fact other than I needed to learn the lessons that it taught. Next time I go I know how to do it better, and in doing so, I can co back to the default world, this crazy existence that we know, and begin spreading positive changes around me.

And that’s the strange thing about Burning Man. After all the parties have ended, after all the amazing art has been burnt or disassembled, after I got to the point where all I could think about was a three hour long shower in Reno, (also referred to as one of the gateways to hell) I came back a better person, stronger, more aware of the sad state many people and places exist in- including myself- and more focused on my ability to do better things with my life.

The desert has this effect on people.

Well I got into town last night after midnight. There are many, many tales to tell from the playa this year. It was the best of times and the worst of times. Indeed, in this year of our lord two thousand and seven it was the summer of my discontent. From getting kicked out of long beach, to helping stranded burners, to mad drama and insane beauty, this years burn was one of those epic trips that comes along only every now and then.

As i get the time over the next several days pictures, stories, and videos will be posted here on the site. Please keep checking back and i’ll keep on posting.

Right now im off to clean more playa off my shit. heh.