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!