hairylunch

So, after transposing all my thoughts, I realize that it's pretty disjointed from an outsiders perspective. The best part of BM was the community early in the week. People contribute to the society, whether it be through goods, services, etc etc. There were camps dedicated to providing hair washing (a much valued service considering the blowing sand/dust), those that were dedicated to providing entertainment (the huge Stonehenge replica with dedicated DJs, probably filled with 300 people a night, the many bars), or those that just helped heir fellow man (sharing food, water, shade). Everything was free, with people willingly offering what they had. Another testament to this was while I was in Atlanta for my training the week before BM, someone had picked up an issue of Creative Loafing, the alternative paper down there, and we were reading the horoscopes. Mine was as follows:

Soon I'll begin my annual pilgrimage to the world's wackiest utopia, the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert. Of the many ways it refreshes my spirit, the most important is its absence of money, advertisements, and commerce. The temporary community of 30,000 people is run as a gift economy. Nothing is for sale. No one can buy anything. When goods and services are exchanged, it's because they're given freely. I wish that you, Aquarius, could experience the unprecedented relaxation that settles in when you're utterly free of being hustled. I wish you could live for a time without worrying about finances. I especially wish you could do this now, when you have a prime astrological opportunity to reinvent your relationship with money. If you can't make it to Burning Man, what else might help you in this noble task?

(It's from Free Will Astrology).

Some of you may have missed the true point of my rant about trash. Yes, there is this true sense of community, where everyone contributes, but BM, just like real society, has stragglers and slackers, that the rest of the community has to carry. There's also a dichotomy, between those who are there for the community (which is primarily a daytime event) and those who are there to party/dance/rave/etc. The party scene is amazing - you can get up at any hour and go dancing, be it 11 am, or 4 am, there will be a camp that has the music thumping and people grooving.

The art was also amazing - the temple was breathtaking, both in it's scope and detail, but also in the concept that it would all be burned down. The rest of the art, whether it was performance art, pieces on the Playa, or the mutant vehicles were amazing signs of creativity, fun, and a zeal for life.

Argh, it's so hard to express all the thoughts and ideas that BM has imparted me with . . . it's definitely an experience I want to do again . . . those of you who are interested should hunt me down . . . I could talk for hours about it. There's definitely a part of me that's disappointed I didn't have some time to decompress with Marquez afterwards . . .