Month: March 2015

What happens at Burning Man, stays at Burning Man:

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Taken from the pages of Queerty in a lovely article linked here.

So, fun story time. Burning Man is a weird place. Someone (as a prank) put up a bunch of flyers that read, “Tantric Blowjob Workshop, males needed due to overwhelming female response. 1 pm, 3pm, and 6pm daily.” They had the address to someone else’s camp.

201-600x489Of course, every few hours a bunch of thirsty dudes show up to invade this poor camp, and someone staying there has to explain it. Well, this guy shows up late, and the camp member who just explained it was a prank goes to greet him.
They shake hands, talk a bit, still shaking hands. Someone comments on how awkwardly long the handshake is. Someone else exclaims “its not like they’re shaking dicks!”

One guy jokingly goes for the crotch grab. The other guy sees, then actually goes for the crotch grab. Cue awkward dick handshaking and laughing. Laughing stops. Cue shorts sliding down / sarong coming off. Cue two dudes standing face to face jerking each other off while ~20 watch.

The guest finished, the camp member didn’t. His wife showed up just at the tail end, and jokingly shouted “Damnit, Robbie! Not again!”

And that’s how a handshake turns into a double hand job.

ADMIN: Ask Catcher and he will tell you these kinds of things happen all the time at the Down Low Club. DLC Yahoo Groups Link.

Stories of 1st Year

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What was your first year at Burning Man like? Following up our week of Acculturation posts lets see what some people experienced on their blogs out there:

Bored Panda Posted this: Here

Last year I attended my first Burning Man festival and had the most insane time of my life. I have never been surrounded by so much creativity and enthusiasm, and as a photographer/videographer I was highly inspired to capture the festival from my own my-surreal-photographs-from-burning-man-2014unique perspective.

The whole week felt like a really trippy, lucid dream, and through the use of experimentation and photo-editing, I attempted to express my thoughts and feelings into each photo.

Burning Man truly is a one-of-a-kind festival and I really hope to return this year.

 

5 Things I Learned at My First Burning Man: Here

Two weeks ago, I made the decision to attend Burning Man for the first time. I had been making excuses for years on why I couldn’t go (“it’s too expensive,” “I don’t have goggles,” “techno isn’t my thing,” “my costume wardrobe is kind of lame,” “The New York Times says it’s played out — the techies have taken the playa over worse than they have taken over the Mission,” “I don’t own a CamelBak,” etc., etc.) but this year I finally bit the bullet. Instead of putting it off for the future, I finally accepted the time to go was now. A friend of mine passed away recently and his death has made me realize how fragile life is, how impermanent we are, and how little time matters except for what we are doing right now.

 

Burning Man Memoirs: Here

I went to Burning Man for the first time in 2012. From the moment I decided to go through my return to the “default world”, I felt compelled to photograph and write about the experience.

 

ADMIN: Just a few stories from the interwebs and hopefully making the days to come easier.

Admin Note: Discussing about Acculturation

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In the last few days we talked a little about Acculturation and the way it was written on the playajoy.org web site resonates with me a lot. This being my eighth year in the community I am struck by the perceived vacuum of understanding Burning Man culture when engaging people out of context; e.g. when in a Burning Man environment versus outside. When the frat boy or O.C. housewives make their tourist destination a burn and treat it like they were at a mainstream festival. Their disconnection is something that I feel.

Definition: Ac·cul·tur·a·tion 1. A process by which the culture of an isolated society changes on contact with a different one. 2. A process by which a person acquires the culture of the society that he/she inhabits. – playajoy.org

Being a Radically Inclusive culture means that we embrace people for whomever they are and where-ever they stem from which includes people like Pip Diddy (or whatever he calls himself these days), and billionaires in inflatable houses, pop-stars in bustiers and (heavy sigh) Segway riders. It’s always we… otherwise it becomes us versus them.

The 10 Principles are important. The glittery glint in a newbie’s eye when they drink the burning man punch is something that makes salty veterans smile and avert their eyes because the saltier they are now the more glittery they were then. We remember when we chased those pretty lights with fishing-line behind them?

We have been forced to learn that at some point the radical inclusion had a gray area: I don’t want to hang out with the frat boys or others that do not appreciate …TTITD*. My gray area is that I get to say ‘no’ to a group or individual that I do not choose to embrace.

Show me a principle and let me show you a gray area.

Show me a principle and let me show you how it fits into my life… so both are true. Life is about balance. Life is perspective and the 10 Principles shine very differently depending on where you are in your journey through the Burning Man culture.

Why is Acculturation important?

Or one might ask why is acculturation necessary? Depends on how deep the proverbial bug bites. If you chose to embrace the popular gypsy image of burners or the outlaw anarchist.

Burners come in all shapes and sizes. Often naked or shirt-cocking. But one either finds a life in the playa or simply moves on to new things.

There is an interesting trend for those who are smitten:

  • Year One: Can’t shut up about it
  • Year Two: This is the year you bring a theme/sound camp or art car
    (that is better than all the others you saw because it can be done)
  • Year Three: The real year you get a theme camp going or you make that great art piece

The culture of this community we celebrate is still growing around the world. It’s inevitable commercialization are seeds falling from the trees starting new forests of followers.

Acculturating to Burning Man Principles is not giving up your individuality, but embracing new definitions of what it could mean.

1. A process by which the culture of an isolated society changes on contact with a different one.

This could go either way. Who is isolated?

2. A process by which a person acquires the culture of the society that he/she inhabits.

Opening the mind to the ways of others.

Acculturation: Acceptance

Definition of ACCULTURATION from Merriam-Webster

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acculturation

1
:  cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture; also :  a merging of cultures as a result of prolonged contact
2
:  the process by which a human being acquires the culture of a particular society from infancy
— ac·cul·tur·a·tion·al
\-shnəl, -shə-nəl\ adjective
— ac·cul·tur·a·tive
\ə-ˈkəl-chə-ˌrā-tiv, a-\ adjective
————
*TTITD = That Thing In The Desert

Acculturation in 2015

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I think most people will agree that over the last 28 (or so) years the thing that started off as Burning Man has evolved into something else. The word “festival” is used more than it should. Does not matter if it meets the definition of festival or not, people who made this a lifestyle balk at the word.

Larry Harvey and Marian Goodell - The Business Side of Burning Man
Larry Harvey and Marian Goodell

So, when the 10 Principles spilled from Larry Harvey’s golden lips and they were heard by all many of us struggle to communicate what they mean and how they are fed into our daily lives. Some of us adopt these ideals 365 days a year and some for a mere 7 or 8 or less while frolicking in the desert.

The trick is perspective. Many of the burners who discovered this world go a little hard-core in the beginning, but over time the zealot ener-gasm becomes good old fashion snark and sarcasm.

  • Years 1 to 3 head in the clouds, glitter in the eyes
  • Years 4 and 5 Burning Man sucks and it is suddenly changed more than you like
  • …after that somewhere along the way it all settles into whatever it might become…

For many there is a burnout somewhere around 7 years. While this is not the same ride everyone experiences getting used to blurry lines is a matter of survival.

Marian Goodell
Marian Goodell

A personal note: one year I was dealing with a serious community issue with some bad behavior by a leader in our community and was trying to get Burning Man involved. I talked to Maid Marian (Marian Goodell who is the current CEO of The Burning Man Project) who told me that there were times when those lines are blurred and accepting that is a reality.

10 Principles

The foundation of what Burning Man culture has set itself on is the 10 Principles which is also more stoically defined right on the Burning Man web site. We tried giving your the dummy’s version of the 10 Principles in one of our past articles about them like this:

 

  1. Everyone is welcome
  2. No money needed, give from the heart expect nothing back
  3. Let’s get rid of the corporate bullshit
  4. Stand strong on your own
  5. Express yourself freely and honestly
  6. Stand strong on your own but a community is stronger
  7. Your community is stronger when it is responsible to itself and the environment
  8. Keep our world clean
  9. Get involved and no sitting on the sidelines
  10. …and act. Act now. Act up.

Of course, follow the Burning Man Blog link for the precise wording of the 10 Principles at the top of the paragraph above.

So, what is Acculturation?

It is the process where you are prepared for your accession into the community and to know what is expected of you while you are on the playa. While it may come across as cultish and kooky the fundamentals of these ideals can be a strong foundation for a gifting culture like we enjoy.

There are drawbacks and there are pieces missing, but keeping this fundamentals and not letting anyone harsh your burn. We don’t focus on what’s missing but endeavor to add to the richness of what is laid out in front of us.

So, we support each other but count on everyone to be self reliant. We keep our nature clean and leave no trace. We play well with others and rally when needed. We build out community even if it lasts a few days in the desert.

 

Making Acculturation sexy (through Submission)

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Definition: Ac·cul·tur·a·tion
1. A process by which the culture of an isolated society changes on contact with a different one.
2. A process by which a person acquires the culture of the society that he/she inhabits.

Remember your first time at Burning Man, finally seeing everything you’d been hearing about? Well, if a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a thousand pictures (or, more accurately, about 30 frames per second).

Every year, returning participants wonder how to share their tips, tricks, and first-timer advice; and how the Survival Guide, Ten Principles, and other “Burning Man Essentials” can be best communicated to the next generation of newcomers. The Burning Man organization thinks the answer is: VIDEO… and is calling all filmmakers, actors, actresses, directors, vloggers, auteurs … acrobats, giant bunnies and sumo wrestlers to share their….. read the rest of the article a video on PlayaJoy.Org [click here]

Education is Everything: Better Behavior Through Learning

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Posted by

Here’s what I remember being surprised by the most during my first visit to Black Rock City, in 1998: No garbage cans.

I had come utterly unprepared, and had little idea what going to Burning Man meant. Traveling separately from my only other friend who was going, I grabbed a spot on the Green Tortoise, packed a couple of bags, and made my way to the playa.
Danger Ranger, Burning Man Cultural Ambassador, 2013 (photo by Mark Hammon)Danger Ranger, Burning Man Cultural Ambassador, 2013 (photo by Mark Hammon)

Even today, I frequently recall wandering the Esplanade during Burning Man 1998, a wad of garbage in my hand, and simply not grokking why there was no place to throw my trash. Having failed to read the Survival Guide, that just didn’t make any sense to me. Not that I was the kind of person to blithely toss crap on the ground, but I had no idea what to do. Eventually, I found a nook in some wooden structure crammed with others’ refuse, and jammed mine in alongside.

See the original source of the post here: CLICK HERE

 

Web Site Updates

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There have been a lot of changes to the web site and there is still more editing to happen. A lot of information has been consolidated that was getting kinda old and some of the more current topics made more clear. With Spring Break and other cool things happening on the horizon it’s time to get those ducks in order.

The fund raising campaign was successful in that it gave me (Toaster) enough money to help out with some of the web site upgrades. While they cost a little more than we got in, it will all balance out in the end.

Spring Break is the major news item as ticket sales launch later this week from the web site. All access will be made from the site for ticket sales. There will be limited sales (if any) from the front gate. We expect to sell out.

2015 Fund Rising

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The campaign launched in January 2015 hoping to raise money for Queer Burners was a major flop. It was setup to set some flag stones into place to help finance a revamp of the web site and make the upcoming Spring Break event more accessible to people. Either way, it seems we are still able to achieve goals.

We raised $160 according to IndieGogo but it is likely because we did not achieve the desired goal that half of those donations will never make it to the site. As you can see, if you are visiting the site, many updates and edits have already been made with the little fortune we have had. Lemons… meet lemonade.