el rinconcito

Originally posted by operainchicago:

Michigan Womyns Music Festival

Spelling womyn with the "y" will surely get us the attention we deserve. Bring it on! Music is such a great forum for expression.

It was amazing how great everybody looked at Burning Man, nude or not. After about a day of it, it all seemed so natural, and nice! People who I'd otherwise rate as looking a bit horrible, looked great out there in the desert. Fat, thin, dark, light, weird, buff, whatever, it was very liberating. It was also nice to be able to walk from the trailer to my camp shower without worrying about prying eyes or somebody calling the police. For the most part, I was able to maintain my phobia of my own body and kept the dishadashas on most of the time.

As far as I know there is no gender or racial profiling at Burning Man. Economics might have a bearing on who shows up, but anyone with a ticket is admitted and does as they please. The refrain "do what ye will lest it harm none" does apply.

There is no garbage collection at Burning Man. What you bring, you have to take back out, and then some.

The porta potties were serviced by a company from Reno that was mostly male, from what I saw.

Hope you can make it.

I don't think we can go next year. We had to cross the country and the bank is now empty. Every few years will work for us.

The theme of Burning Man this year was evolution. I think the "man" centerpiece was something to do with humans arising from the chaos.

There was a temple (there is every year), also made of wood, some distance from "the man." People write all kinds of things on the temple, leave mementos, photos, sometimes very serious items. I often see people crying around the temple. I did a little. The "man" gets burned on Saturday night. It's a hootin', hollerin', party event. The temple gets burned on Sunday night. It's dead quiet when that happens. You just hear the flames, the wood cracking, people whispering, and some weeping. Tens of thousands of people and barely a sound.

I filmed the temple burn. I didn't film the man getting burned because sometimes it's better to just *be there*, plus there was a bad dust storm on Saturday night.

Originally posted by daxonmacs:

I don't however own any flashy clothes. Yet.

People will loan/give you some. It's good if you make up something that you really like, though. You can always wear little or nothing at all. It's a very casual atmosphere.

Having the trailer, we could take a lot of stuff. Before the event, in Reno, the nearest city, I saw lots of people flying in from europe and other places, and they had to get everything they needed upon arrival. Every Wal-Mart and Target in Reno got totally raided.

Our neighbors at the event were really nice, and interesting. The only slightly worrisome thing was that across the "street", there was a whole nest of Russians that partied 24 hours a day. They weren't impossible, but we kept an eye on them. I think they did a lot of drugs, as several times we had to shoo lost ones away from our little area and steer them back home. With that said, I don't find Burning Man to be a drug-centered event at all. People do pretty much what they want, but I always feel safe and happy there. There were some 6 types of law enforcement there: federal, state, county, local. I'm sure there were some aggressive bad ones in their lot, but I treated them nice (as I think most did) and they responded in kind.

Originally posted by PainterWoman:

I know I would weep and tremble

This time I was braced. Several days before the burn I took a marker and wrote something to a departed loved one on one of the rafters of the temple. I thought, "I can do this, it's all ok." Then I stood back and saw my words in print, and BAM, I was all over the place. Fortunately, it's a place where everyone is understanding and in give-comfort mode. I was actually rather calm compared to some out there. Some had a complete, and rather noisy, catharsis.

Then the night the place is burned down, it's eerie and powerful. If you cry easily, that'll bring it on. I also heard some whoops of joy, emotional laughter, people hyperventilating, all kinds of things.

The fire was hot and huge. Even though the people are kept waayyy back, the heat was skin searing. Several large heat whirlwinds went way up into the sky.

It's fun trying to describe these things.

Originally posted by PainterWoman:

Dave, would you PM me the link to buy a ticket for Burning Man?

Might as well do it here.

http://burningman.com

Tickets usually go on sale in February for the event during the last of August/first week of September. For 2009, tickets started at $210, and gradually topped out at about $300 as time went by. It's a lot, but really not much at all for a week-long thing. You'll spend lots more than the ticket price prepping for the festival and getting there.

Planning for a first time, it's not a bad idea to project a year ahead, or even two. There's plenty on their webpage to give you an idea if it's something you want to do, and what all will go into getting ready. They have an e-mail list and a forum. All helpful.

You don't have to go it alone either, after all, it's hard to plan for something you've never been to. There are plenty of people and groups, called "camps", that will take you under their wing. I have, however, seen people show up out of the blue, alone, with very little, and do fine.

The age range is from cradle to extreme senior. Everybody fits in fine.

Originally posted by PainterWoman:

I can't imagine a better experience for the acceptance of getting old

I forgot to say, "I HEAR YA!"