Comments on: Power Rangers

By: CampMom

CampMom — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 20:09:41 +0000

My first year with Otter oasis in 2000, we camped in tents around a central shade structure. We were one of the first groups to arrive, on Saturday. Everyone worked hard and we tried to put the city up as early as possible, which usually turned out to be Thursday! Now early arrival is the way to experience the city coming up. There were many more alternative structures, we were connected as a group, and with less people, the nature of the playa was more pronounced. The night was saturated with psi trance style electronica and theme camp bars. As Otter grew, more rv’s came. This fractured our group, as campers were no longer dependant on our central shade area, retreating to the dust free rv’s. Our camp grew so much, but we had the same interaction, more tourists and less participants. In 2004 Skinny Kitty Teahouse formed as a response to the bar scene and as a place for live music, dance, conversation, performance. The teahouse served as our camp’s central area, where we could come together as a community. When this camp started to swell, we encouraged our younger campers to create a camp within our camp. At the first meeting Lani and Heather presented ideas for Phat Cat camp to us. At Burning Man 2007, they accomplished most of thier goals! I was so proud of them. This is one of my favorite memories.
CampMom
Skinny Kitty Teahouse 2004 2008

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By: Mae Whitaker

Mae Whitaker — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 21:09:32 +0000

My girlfriend and I both made our first trip out to the playa for Metropolis. Me at 19 and her at 16, we were on the younger end of the Burner-stick. I heard about Burning Man from a friend of mine back in January; I sat mesmerized for hours as he told me of all the fantastic adventures he had and how wonderful the people were. Everyday life is filled with fake people who forgo themselves in effort to appear normal, I have always fought against being normal. Finally, a whole city of people that fight the norm. I had to go. I can’t think of a way to articulate my experience… It was absolutely incredible, completely overwhelming, and jaw-droppingly wondrous. I didn’t come for the parties, I didn’t come to rave, I didn’t come for any sort of substance. I came for the art, the people, and the experience. Frisco really summed it up well: Get up, get dressed, go hunting for adventure!

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By: Nona Mills

Nona Mills — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:14:42 +0000

Hell yeah, KushMeister. I’m sure you will.

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By: LemurLad

LemurLad — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 01:13:38 +0000

I had to go.

I can’t think of a way to articulate my experience… It was absolutely incredible, completely overwhelming, and jaw-droppingly wondrous. I didn’t come for the parties, I didn’t come to rave, I didn’t come for any sort of substance. I came for the art, the people, and the experience.

Frisco really summed it up well: Get up, get dressed, go hunting for adventure!

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By: Sharron Clemons

Sharron Clemons — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 20:20:23 +0000

Hell yeah, KushMeister. I’m sure you will.

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By: Frisco

Frisco — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 01:50:43 +0000

I was born in 87, and this upcoming Rites of Passage, will be my 3rd burn.

Why do I come back? There’s a couple of reasons:

I have an AMAZING family at Burning Man. I literally stumbled into them my first burn, and we’ve been a unit ever since. Most of them live pretty far away from me, but I keep in touch with all of them throughout the year, and Burning Man is when we are all able to come together.

Burning Man, the whole experience, just ruins you. You come in, knowing a little bit what to expect, but are consistently blown away but what you see and how everyone acts around you. Every single day of the Burn I am just completely blown away. Every single day. The feeling never fades, this deep wonder and childish excitement that I get every morning I wake up, get dressed, and go out in search of adventure. I always find something new, and more often than not it jumps out at me, completely unexpected.

Burning Man is like going to a refresher course on life. In the “real” world there is also a lot of bullshit we have to wade through. Money, food, rent, fake people, everyday politics. We know we can take it, but it wears us down. It deadens us. When I’m at BM is get this feeling, “Oh, I see, THIS is what life is supposed to be about.” I try to bring that feeling back and spread it as much as I can, keep it alive.

And yes, the partying. It’s what drives many people to come in the first place. Many people are growing concerned that BM is becoming just some big rave. It worries me little.

There are two types of people I have known who have been to Burning Man. The first are the partiers, the hooligans. They come for the fun, they have their fun, and they leave. Most don’t return. Then there are the people who really were touched at BM, who got what it was about and come back year after year. They are the Burners. With every new flock of virgins come a certain amount of hooligans and a certain amount of Burners. I don’t worry much about the hooligans, because I know they won’t be coming back. Burning Man has a method of its own for deciding who returns and who does not.

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By: Jon Mitchell

Jon Mitchell — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 00:44:20 +0000

Hell yeah, KushMeister. I’m sure you will.

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By: KushMeister

KushMeister — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 00:42:32 +0000

I’ll be 53 years old tomorrow, and as a birthday present to myself, I will be attending my first Burn next summer!
I lost my 15 year old business about 18 months ago, due to the economic crash, and have been a bit disillusioned, and a little burnt out since.

I dunno, it may be mid-life crisis or something, but I truly hope to find the inspiration, that’s been lacking in my life recently, and I can’t think of a better place to find that, than on the Playa!

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By: Luscious Passionberry

Luscious Passionberry — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 00:10:52 +0000

Cool little article, thank you. It’s great to give BM some headspace in the offseason.

For me (born ’86, like TTitD), it is obviously many things; each year the mix is something slightly different (Rites will be my 4th consecutive).

Firstly, it is the best and longest party I attend all year, every year. As a friend and campmate articulated, it is a wonderful place and space to spend time with friends when no one has anything to do but make camp function and hang out. There are no default world stresses or responsibilities to weigh you down or hold you back. Because of this, it is the Funnest Place on Earth.

However, that is not the reason I intend to go back for the foreseeable future. Each year on playa I feel like I learn more about myself and feel more clear about who I am and what I want out of this life. Another friend and campmate said that she feels healed by being on playa, and I feel that, too. I think it has to do with being in such an extreme environment where most of your identifications and compensations are taken away. You must confront yourself, and good things happen when you do.

My guess is that this quality is more common among my generation. I would imagine that Xers and Boomers more often have a better sense of who they are and what they want, although BM probably selects for seekers vs. the general population. I’m not sure this is a generational trait as much as a life experience trait, so maybe I’ve missed the point of the article. All I can say is I don’t really have the perspective to say either way.

In any case, Burning Man rules. A big Mahalo with Aloha to each and every Burner that makes it what it is, and that means You! =D

-LPB

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By: Natallie

Natallie — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 22:09:13 +0000

…another thing……Any time I hear Burningman, it makes me feel like Im missing something…Makes me wonderwhere the phrase “You dont miss what you dont know” evercame from…See you next year!!

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