Virgin No More

Virgin No More…
Part 1 - Getting there

Well it’s been 2 weeks since my return from the Playa. I was hoping for a gradual reentry, but mother nature had other plans. One of my favorite places on earth (prior to spending time on the Playa) is the British Virgin Islands (BVI). I have (or maybe had) a boat and many friends in the BVI. Well, the largest/most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic made a direct hit on this wondrous place.

No real time for gradual post Burning Man reentry…we’ve been working with friends and colleagues to try to support relief efforts and help our friends. That will be the subject of another post.

So with a little bit of time to process my experience as a Virgin Burner, I must say the one quote I shared proved to be true.  ‘whatever you think it is, it isn’t…it’s so much more!’ Indeed it is…SO MUCH MORE!


First I’d like to take a minute to share my sorrow that the experience had to include loss of life. As you may or may not know an unstable individual made several attempts and then was successful at throwing himself into the fire during the burning of the man. We will never know the why, but while tragic the whole of a city of 70,000 people will process this in different ways.



The immediate response was an outreach and a communal spirit of sorrow and solidarity…the call for additional security for the final night’s burning of the temple was met with overwhelming volunteer support that allowed the most sacred part of the event to go on as planned.

The burning of the man was characterized by one Burner as the loudest night on the Playa and the burning of the temple the quietest. It was truly surreal that final evening to see tens of thousands of people assemble around the temple and sit in silence as the temple was burned. I’ll talk more about the temple in a minute.

The tragedy will forever be part of my first Burn, but it was SO MUCH MORE.  I almost don’t know where to begin, but I’ll try a bit from the beginning. All the planning and logistics were in place as we went to the airport…a bit frantic as we had overweight luggage and were concerned about missing our flight to Reno.

Once on the ground in Reno, the pace began to slow a bit. Picking up the rental car and staying over night near the airport, was quite a contrast to the next night of sleeping in a tent on the Playa, but helped us let go of the chaos of jobs and life at home and relax into the whole plan.

The next morning was a bit more of logistics and supplies and then the drive to the Playa. Beautiful countryside as we drove thru towns like Lockwood, Fernley, Pyramid Lake, and finally Empire and Gerlach, the nearest suburbs to Black Rock City. The real trek begins when you leave the paved road and begin the drive into Black Rock City and the Playa. Even with pictures and eye witness accounts it’s hard to explain the dust. It assaults your senses…vision, smell, feel. It seems a bit overwhelming at first…but after a few days it seems normal…really.

An hour of driving about 10 mph in 6” deep Playa dust, 8 lanes of traffic necks down to three. Vehicles of all types are inspected, tickets checked, and then another short slow drive to the welcome center. The greeters first ask, “is this your first burn?” Answering yes gets you and invitation to a bit of an initiation ceremony, where you are asked to get out of your vehicle and become one with the dust. Basically they invite you to lie down in the dust and roll around with whatever enthusiasm you can muster. You are then helped up, hugged by everyone nearby, and welcomed into the community. You also get to ring a cool bell to signify that you are no longer a virgin!

Virgin Playa Welcome

I still didn’t know what to expect. (more later…)

Once the dust gets in your pores…I don’t think it ever leaves!

Virgin Burner 

…the name given to first time residents of Burning Man.

I learned a new acronym yesterday..TTITD. This is a somewhat benign reference to the annual event that is Burning Man, aka That Thing in the Desert. There are as many opinions about what Burning Man is as there are people who’ve never been. Is it a festival? A week-long communal rave? A hippie tripping art festival? Well, when I first learned about it (in an attempt to understand what some of my Burner friends were saying), I did my research. First of all, Burner is the affectionate name for those who have experienced the Playa and Playa is the name given to the desert and the culture that resides there for roughly one week a year.

It was a bit overwhelming to read all the various accounts and opinions on the internet. So I sought out as many veterans and recent Burners as I could find. Almost to a person, the message was clear, ‘whatever you think it is, it isn’t…it’s so much more!’ A blogger and guest writer for the HuffPost said, “It has always been a fossil fuel powered orgy of creative expression that doesn’t have much to say about politics or political engagement.” Anna Smith wrote in The Guardian, “Attending the Burning Man festival in Nevada is like landing on another planet: a vast desert populated by a peaceful, friendly, out-there people, with a culture all its own.”

According to Wikipedia Burning Man is an annual gathering that takes place at Black Rock City—a temporary city erected in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. It really is a city, but only for about a week a year. It is a roughly 6 acre site in the desert that is completely empty 11 months and 3 weeks a year, but for about 10 days around every labor day is populated by roughly 70,000 Burners and filled with art, music, and a culture that is likely completely foreign to most; and a week later there is nothing but some packed desert dust in the shape of the cities roads.

Whatever others say, I’ve been assured by those who have a bit of Playa dust in their veins and probably more than a little in an old suitcase that they open up every August or so, it will be the most remarkable experience _________ (fill in the blank). I’ve also been told to leave your judgement at the gate and keep an open mind.

Well this year I’ve been lucky enough to score a ticket and have been feverishly making plans and learning about the 10 principles and how to survive on the Playa. You can’t buy anything, but ice and coffee…no food or other supplies and you have to take everything away with  you…and I mean EVERYTHING! The 10 principles were crafted by one of the co-founders as an organizing guide for regional events (yes…it’s more than TTITD) to convey the culture that is Burning Man. The event is described as an experiment in community and art, influenced by these 10 main principles: "radical" inclusion, self-reliance and self-expression, as well as community cooperation, civic responsibility, gifting, decommodification, participation, immediacy and leaving no trace.

First held in 1986 on Baker Beach in San Francisco as a small function organized by Larry Harvey and a group of friends, it has since been held annually, spanning from the last Sunday in August to the first Monday in September. Burning Man 2017 is being held between August 27 and September 04.

I know this all may sound a bit unusual and maybe even a little out-of-character for those of you who know me in one walk of life or another, but if I view them as a lens for the ‘remarkable experience’ I’ve been told to expect, I’m hoping for something special and some fuel for Optional Thought!

So please forgive me in advance for any radically inclusive cooperative civic-minded self expression I may choose to gift to the community after I spend my time as a Virgin Burner savoring the dust of the Playa.

6 days until the Man Burns!!  

 

See you on the other side...

Apparently Optional Thought is Optional

Well, it's been years...literally, since I've penned something on this blog. So much has been happening, I feel a bit guilty for not taking some time to chronicle things a bit.

Perhaps the idea that this is a place for such a wide range of topics: thoughts, opinions, rants and commentary on subjects ranging from technology, arts, education, politics, recreation, spirituality, and entropy, has been part of my obstacle. I have not stopped writing, but have taken more to introspective and therapeutic, rather than something I feel might be interesting to others. 

I am taking a few minutes to write here in hopes that I will find more regular attendance or may invite some guests to write here as well. Let me know if you have some thoughts to share. I may post a few leading ideas and writing prompts over the next few months in hopes of stimulating Optional Thought.