I'm back from Burning Man 2017 and I'm alive! It was quite the adventure and I'm very much mentally exhausted.Before you ask me "how was burning man?" I would suggest watching this video answering exactly that. It captures many parts of the experience and keeps the humor.
I think that some people really enjoy the Burning Man experience, although I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to anyone. While there are those that make it their purpose to attend every year, I don't think I'll be doing it again anytime soon.
There are so many places I could start the adventure, buying the ticket, preparing for the event, buying luggage, traveling there ... since I wrote about the luggage and ride to the airport in my last post I can start with the our arrival to Reno.
Getting into RenoThe flight itself was uneventful, we landed around 5 pm (8 pm EST) and got a ride to our hotel. After getting an Uber to Whole Food for a meal and walking to Target for a pillow, 1 ply toilet paper, and a gallon of water, we got to soak in a jetted tub and sleep in a king bed before getting to the dusty playa.
The Week of Dust
Something I heard a lot from friends and acquaintances who heard I was attending Burning Man was "take a lot of pictures". This wasn't really something that happened for me. One of the principals of Burning Man is immediacy. That and the declaration that you must "ask for consent" prior to taking any photos of people who were attending.
This guideline/rule wasn't followed by all 70,000 attendees, but it wasn't something that I felt particularly good about pulling out a camera and taking a photo or video of the moments I was experiencing, I preferred to experience the moment.With that said I have about 40 photos from 8 days of travel. There were a few structures and moments that grabbed my attention. I'll include a few choice photos in the blog, if you want to see the rest feel free to send me a message! There are plenty online from others who decided that was how they wanted to spend their burn.
The Ride to the Black Rock Desert
We got several materials to read on our trip and an event guide so we could plan out our week if we wanted.
There wasn't really much to see coming in, the most interesting part was the last set of local stores before getting to BRC, "burner" items for sale, a bunch of pieces of clothing that glows and hippy outfits. I was interested in browsing but our bus wasn't set to stop anywhere except the playa.
Later I heard about other people ending up with counter fit tickets or needing an extra ticket and ended up with 2 or 3 free options from others coming in to the event. I'm very happy to have purchased my ticket from the main sale, dealing with any of that would stressed me out entirely too much.After our bus was clear to pass we drove up, slowly, to the drop. The speed limit getting in is 10 mph and once you are in BRC the speed limit is 5 mph. They were handing out fines of at least $1,000 for speeding. So you want to take it slow out there for sure. Both to preserve the environment and to stop an exponential growth of costs.
On the Playa
Once we got off the bus we were hit with a lot of sun and a lot of dust. There were several Burner Bus employees/volunteers who were welcoming the new arrivals.
If you declared yourself as a first time burner, a "virgin", they:
- Line you up around a bell
- Lay down in the dust and make a dust angle (think snow angel)
- Roll to the right for a while
- Roll to the left
- Ring the bell and yell "I'M NOT A VIRGIN ANYMORE"
I did not partake in this ritual personally. I was adjusting and absorbing information and decided that I would rather watch than roll around. I would not say that I feel like I missed out by any stretch of the imagination, I had plenty of time to meld with the dust over the week.
After watching that spectacle we waited under a shade structure while they brought a separate truck to drop off our luggage.The objective for us after getting our luggage was to find a way to our respective camps. I was staying with Tango'd up in Blues (TUIB), and Nancy was staying with the board game and coffee camp, SNAP.
I was ready to push myself to the camp and get things moving, I wanted to set up our tents, get our rental bikes, and get myself some water.
Nancy was really drained and did not have the energy to drag two pieces of luggage through ground, which was very much unpredictable in consistency and mobility. She waited for the satellite bus to come by and drop her off in a location relatively closer to her camp.
It was quite an exhausting travel and first walk around the playa to get ready for the week. I ended up going to sleep pretty early the first night, probably around 8:30 or 9 pm. I was told that it was the hottest day and the warmest night people had experienced out there. Which is to say it was grueling in the morning and pleasant at night.
The first scheduled event that I attended during my burn was "Ask a drunk scientist", they offered beer and scientific talk. I didn't have a question to ask but I enjoyed listening to them talk about theoretical science and teach them about micro dance.I found that talking with people and hearing their story and what interests them was one of the things I enjoyed about Burning Man, the question of "what do you do" with the underlying question being "how do you make money in the default world" still came up, I tried to divert or avoid it when I felt I could, I don't generally enjoy talking about that, but it seems to be a go-to even in a remote area like the Black Rock Desert.
Early in the week I decided to take a trip to see The Man, which is a giant structure that is built differently every year and burned. When The Man burns it is a big celebration, there doesn't really seem to be a reason for it as far as I could identify, but people do enjoy the hell out of it.
The experience for me was not as I would have hoped. The general conversation and interaction with people was pleasant, but for whatever reason, out of the 69,998 attendees at the event I end up next to some first year burner that is 6+ ft tall and wanted to stand while everyone, other than his 4 other friends around him was sitting.
After asking to sit in-front or beside so I could see, I pushed past him to sit down. He was not happy with me, but people around him threw a bunch of kindness his way. But pride was more important than kindness, so he stood, and we were able to see a little less than half of what was going on.Even back at the distance we were, we could feel the heat from the flames. I didn't bother trying to take a photo, but there are plenty of others who did, so I included one of them!
The experience did leave me angry, but it wasn't hard to cool down after leaving the area. And while it wasn't a great burn experience, there were plenty of other experiences and a wide range of emotions throughout the week to process and work through.I did find out later that someone ran into the flames, I have no information regarding that and did not see it myself, you are welcome to google it, but there is little out there.
Another big structure that is burned every year is The Temple. While the burning of The Man is treated as a celebration, the burning of The Temple is sacred and met with silence.
The Temple is a place that attendees come to let go of something in their lives, to promote an organization, or movement they want to share. There were memorials of lost loved ones, pets, painful memories written out, trinkets, clothing, anything which had value or a memory to let go.
Generally people were reading, in quiet reflection, or crying. There was minimal conversation and noise, at times there was peaceful chanting or singing. It was a place with a lot of emotion.
The burn of The Temple was quite a different experience. There wasn't a big show leading up to the burn, it went up exactly at 8 pm on Sunday. The sounds that filled the air was that of wood crackling and the cries of those who were most likely reflecting on what they had placed in the temple.I did not write or place anything inside to burn, but I was happy to have experienced walking through The Temple and watching it burn. I would recommend making time for this if you attend.
There were a lot of experiences available at Burning Man, and I feel that if you were looking for something, you could find it. Whether that was a hug, a drink, a trip, board games, dodge-ball, a skate-park, an arcade, aerial silks, ice-cream, sex, counseling, quite spaces, cuddle spaces, workshops, friends, enemies, and everything in between.
I don't know what I was looking for during my experience, I felt like I was mostly just wandering without a direction or a plan, I did this more and more as the week went on, never really satisfied or happy with the experience, but not totally sad either.I did have a night of dancing at my camp "Tango'd up in Blues" which felt like every other dance weekend I've been to around the world. It was a surreal experience, and it was one that brought up panic and the need to go somewhere else. I had made a friend dancing, Jackie, and she accompanied me in a night-time exploration of the playa. We found several party camps giving drinks and spinning shitty EDM music. We found Tesla towers arching electricity and playing music with the different pitches. There were art cars spitting fire, and a boat illuminated with LEDs rocking out with people dancing inside and outside.
We were out dancing and exploring until 3 am. Jackie was very supportive and excited to explore, she was happy to stay at each place as long or as short as I needed. I feel like that was one of my more enjoyable nights and I was happy to have had the experience.To share another positive experience without a good transition, Nancy has been approached by some of her camp mates at SNAP to take some time and talk about non-monogamy and polyamory. The next day we had about 6 or 7 people sitting with us asking questions and listening to our experience. We talked for at least 2 hours with those who came out.
There were a few camps that had discussions or workshops regarding polyamory but I was happy that we could share our experiences with others who were interested.
Journey Home
Getting home was a combination of stress and relief. Losing my passport felt pretty bad, but I did manage to get home even without it. Vegas and Burning Man have that going for them at least, so the TSA was kind to me. After an "enhanced pat-down" and a look through my luggage I was on my way.
But even before I got to the airport we got to take the bus home. There were plenty of signs for car washes, trash dumps, and "Indian Tacos".
Quite a few broken down cars and RVs on the road, which must be a terrible experience in itself.
There wasn't a lot of conversation on the bus, I was tired and wasn't looking to start up conversation or trying to share my experience with those around me.Getting back to Reno and staying at a Hilton for the night before heading back to Cleveland was a good choice. The opportunity to shower and scrub some dust off myself and some of my things was very much needed.
There wasn't much time to relax back into society since we were in NV and there were plenty of advertisements and gambling around us. The contrast between the experience of Burning Man and Vegas was jarring.
Closing Thoughts
I wasn't sure how I wanted to write about my experience, if I wanted to give a daily breakdown or even share anything at all. I feel it has resulted in the jumbled mess that you have just read.
Overall I enjoyed the experience and I feel happy to have had the opportunity to participate. I also feel that I struggled to find a camp and group that I felt at home with.
I really enjoyed the times that I connected with people, talking about passions and sharing new ideas.
I was very annoyed at those returning burners who felt that the nights weren't cold enough, there wasn't enough dust storms, and how much better the construction of The Temple, The Man, or art, was another year.
It felt like a whole lot of nostalgia that was cocking up the whole immediacy thing. I feel that each burn should be a unique experience for those 70 thousand (+/-) who attend.
Trying to chase after the perfect burn or some familiar experience on the playa is not how I envision Burning Man. So #FuckYourNostalgia and enjoy the dust, let me know if you take the journey.And no, I didn't push the button.
