Since the last post there have been some cool things going in with some of the do’ers here on Queer Burners. The Quire: QUEER BURNER LEADERSHIP NETWORK and a lot of the dialog does take place on Facebook. It does seem to provide the easiest access for the general population. You will see many of those posts in the Twitter feed in the side column.
Quire is a space for the people who are willing to invest themselves on some level to help make the things that go on here happen. If this is not you, then enjoy the Gay Burners page (5 years old in 2013) and the Queer Burners Group (more social).
Enough of that! Let’s talk about some of the fun stuff coming up!!!!
Well, and some of the other stuff too!
With the upcoming 5 year anniversary goals for 2013 include: (Events Page on QB.Com)
- Queer Burner Leadership Summit (TBD before April)
- “Sweet Thing” Queer Burner Camp-Out /Â Retreat
- San Francisco Gay Pride Parade
- “The Village Q” @ Element-11 in July 2013
For now that is it and this is an update to the previous posting.
Quire; Queer+Fire
There is a link to the Quire web site above in the tool bar. Be a part of it if you want to make great things happen. Yes… I said mutha-f’kin great!
BMorg (Burning Man Headquarters)
We have been described by some burners as isolating ourselves frim the rest of the Burner community which I feel is really a misconception. So I have taken steps to try and address this with the powers that be to show ourselves as a pro-active force when it comes to community and the 10 principles. Here is a letter I am working on that will be going out this coming week:
This is Scott K aka Toaster from QueerBurners [dot] Com also known as GayBurners [dot] Com … I have been in touch with the Regionals contacts in the past a few times and have at one time been a candidate for a Regional Contact role when I lived in Las Vegas. I created a network for LGBTQ+ Burners because there was a need I discovered to provide a resource for this segment of the Burner Culture.
I am writing hoping to engage in a dialog that will help us be a better part of the community at large. It has come to my attention there is an idea in the Burning Man Organization (BMorg) that the network I started, then let grow, is an attempt to segregate ourselves from the rest of the Burner community as a whole. I hope to show you and anyone inside the construct of Burning Man that this is as far from the truth as possible.
This notion that we were segregating ourselves came to me from a trustworthy and reliable source who heard this at Burning Man main office. We are interested in suggestions of what we can bring to the table to improve our relationship. This is not someone I would like to see exposed for passing this information on but I am thankful for providing insight into how we can improve our mutual understanding.
I did post this concern on one of our boards and got some very interesting feedback… it is on the Gay Burners Facebook Page and I invite anyone to look at it at their convenience.
We (yes, we) want to:
- show that we art partners in the application of the 10 principles in every way possible
- help convey the message from BMorg and other lateral communities into our community
- be a part of the future of the culture and whatever direction that takes
On a side note from me personally (Scott aka Toaster): if there is a history that has affected our ability to develop projects together I would like to ask if we can suspend that and start over.
Expectations
None. By reaching out we hope to erase the idea that we are attempting to operate outside of the Burning Man principle Radical Inclusion. In fact, we have been striving to do the opposite.
What we bring to the table
- maintaining our mailing list of 2000 people and network of more than twice that
holding regular events with open invitations on our list and other burner networks of all camps and orientations
- bringing our unique culture to the burner community much as the “Gayborhood” and other Queer pockets at Burning Man have done over the years
in 2013 we are looking at our 5 year anniversary and will be planning events of our own and will be going to support and participate in other regional events including Element-11; all detailed on our main Facebook; and a 2013 Queer Burner Leadership Summit
3 facebook groups, 1 facebook page and our web site
What we hope to convey
the Queer-Burner project is really no different than any of the regional communities out there with participants
- the members of this community bring a lot to the table every year without need or desire for any special recognition because it is simply what we do to participate and gift when we can to the community.
Conclusion
Just on the few bullet points above and before the season starts making us all nuts can we arrange a meeting at BMorg with the Regionals Office, Placement and anyone else with an interest. I would like to bring Kitten from Comfort & Joy and Foxy from Camp Beaverton Home for Wayward Girls with myself. We come to listen and share with the effort to build a better relationship with the organization that started what we have adopted in our lives within our collective as part of the over all Burner Culture.
Burning Man Regional Conference / Regional Conference
I would like to attend this year again representing my community and bring some of my strongest partners including Kitten and Foxy. Thank you.
It came out today and depending on your point of view… I think it seems pretty cool. So I am looking forward to what the coming year will bring with vision and creativity. Yay for us.