Results tagged “burning man”
With the majority of 2007 in the past the look toward 2008 has begun. The coming year of work and academics for the world will likely go by largely uneventfully. Anticipation of events like the United States 2008 Presidential Election and Burning Man 2008 follow my education as interesting events that will be coming up next year. The new year should bring new changes to my art and new focus and interest devoted to different areas of my perception. Hopefully the year will turn out to be at least as interesting as previous years.
Reality does kind of suck. Money, traffic and petroleum seem to rule the day. It makes me sad to know that this is not the only solution. Waking up to the challenge of keeping beverages cold never seemed so good. Knowing that I needn’t keep a schedule or worry that mine hinders others. Walking around in what I feel comfortable in and resting at a burn barrel after midnight. Getting in touch with how the moon moves across the sky. Knowing how rain really smells. Oh how I miss these things!
I know it might seem as if I obsess about this whole Burning Man thing… I do. It changed my perspective on a system that I already was skeptic of. I see just as in the film from the early 20th Century, METROPOLIS, that we are part of a breathing machine.
It was an odd experience… returning to the real world after burning man ended. After a crazy 2 day train ride followed by 7 days in the desert my concept of reality was a bit shot. At first the only part of modern america I saw was what greeted me on the side of some road outside of the Sparks / Reno area.
I rode from the burn to Reno in the back of the moving van because there was only two seats in front and we did not want to get pulled over. Having not slept the night of the man burn into sunday I was quite tired from my journeys and excursions in the desert. So, after sleeping in the back of the truck with 10 bags of garbage I woke up after what was about a 7 to 8 hour journey from our camp. Greeting me when the truck door opened were two native american fellows, the girls and a large trailer with a hand painted sign that read “TRASH”. I gladly helped bring out the 10 bags and we handed the guy $20… Our part of ‘leave no trace’ was completed! I climbed back into the truck and waited out the final journey into Reno and woke up at a 7-11 convenient store which was obviously visited by many other burners heading back to reality.
Everything that I imagined the desert would be like was wrong.
It has been 3 weeks since the burn and I am still thinking about how powerful the whole event was. I cannot wait to get back on the playa
One of the things I keep coming back to is something I saw when I was as close to The Man burn as possible. It was extremely hot, the largest fire I had seen and a beautiful young man was bowing and praying to the fire. He was standing much closer than I could bear. Even nude he was able to withstand the extreme heat. There was some unknown beauty about that moment.. The urge to go to the flame no matter how hot.
Even after one full week in the desert everyone still flocks to the “flame”.
The train is the best way to travel. My 64 hour long journey from the chicago area to black rock city included at least one ride on or in a car, little baggage tractor, train, bicycle, shopping cart and inside the back of a rental truck. On the two day train ride through the awe inspiring front doorstep that was the farmland and mountains of america my party and i met fellow burners who needed a ride out into the wilderness. which made us a party of five.
Along with the 3 from Chicago we had a traveler and a man from Ireland. 3 guys and 2 gals. The guys ended up riding into black rock city, after the strenuous journey in search of provisions, in the back of a rental truck commanded by the gals in the front. Having left reno, civilization, with the door only opening again in the middle desert was an amazing entrance.. the folks in the car behind had a big laugh when they saw three guys climb out of a truck they had likely been following for many miles through the desert!