Report from Love Burn 2024

[Editor’s Note: We just got back from a terrific regional burn in Miami called Love Burn. With over 8500 participants this year, it’s already the biggest North American regional and has a huge and growing Queer presence. This blog post was contributed by Hammer from the Banana Hammocks theme camp.]

I’ve been burning since 2014 with Midwest burners. My home burn started out with about 50 people and today has grown to about 350. Unfortunately I haven’t been around them since 2018. I have a great mix of Festival, rainbow traveler family gatherings and attend all the burner sanctioned and burner-like events I’m able to.

Last year I joined a small camp at Love Burn hoping to make some good queer connections here in South Florida. I originally came to Love Burn in 2023 with a camp named Gaysayers. At that time certain political figures were pushing unfortunate laws through. So I joined this camp and hope to learn and give awareness to the current issue. This was my first queer and inclusive burn camp.

I came out as pansexual in the middle of 2020. I separated from my ex-wife on mutual terms for the new path of self-discovery. I definitely got to say that I feel like a whole different person and wish I would have been my authentic self years ago. Love Burn and South Florida has really helped me become who I am today. As well as many individuals over my lifetime have also been a great influence.

This year I was fortunate enough to make the connections to be able to join camp Banana Hammocks. While I’m an introvert by nature and had struggled in the first few days talking to others, by the end of the event I almost seemed as if my flow was only keeping me around those who were queer tolerant. But the zero judgment of the event from others of all walks of life really made me feel safe to be my authentic self.

I take great pride in being a part of a theme camp. I’m the type who likes to be there before anything starts: helping with the build, helping with little things people may forget about, chipping in or even organizing camp meals. Obviously I do love enjoying some down time and cutting loose and maybe even getting a little reckless. But when it’s all said and done I enjoy being around other like-minded folks like myself.

I’ve been nomadic for about 4 years now and enjoy the travels that present themself as a vanlifer. However seeing so many happy couples within our camp really made me wish I had someone to experience everything with. They may have even made it easier for me to be able just to walk up into welcoming theme camps or just start conversations with unknown individuals.

I’m looking forward to the upcoming years and returning to this camp or possibly joining other queer friendly camps at Regional Burns and hopefully make it back to the big burn in Black Rock City hopefully in 2025 if not by 2030.

This summer I turn 40 and my birthday falls on the Lakes of Fire Burn regional event in Michigan in mid July. I’m keeping in communication with my friends from banana hammocks and hoping a good portion meet up and join me in my celebrations with my Midwest Family of burners.

I try to live by the motto “Live positive, and keep true connection close to the heart.”

It truly is a mindset that things will always work out when you focus on the positive and push out all the negative that surrounds oneself.

–Hammer
Instagram: @outdoorshammer
Facebook: EmBARKingwithMig / 2024exploration

BMorg Collaborators Meeting on July 22nd

Getting the real Tea will come from watching the recorded video that is published on Burning Man Hive, linked below this paragraph (bloop). There were almost 400 people at the meeting including presenters. Considering the number of camps and mutant vehicles out there, and the importance of the information, there should have been a lot more. But, then again, the powers-that-be and the community are usually good about getting it all out.

TLDR; My quick two cents was that the meeting was great for being packed into a single hour. They can only do so much with a topic a huge as this. Biggest take-aways for me was LNT topics and new sound rules for camps and mutant vehicles. Moreso, while I am glad they verbally acknowledge the Queerborhood, Level had to specifically state that it is not Placements position to officially acknowledge it but a community request to have queer camps together ignoring the topic of why. And when talking about community resources completely ignored queerburners.org as a long standing entity.

Ups of the Meeting
– Transparency
– Clarified Sound Policy
– Awareness of Exodus issues
– Changes to Center Camp
Downs of the Meeting
– Seeing how people are leaving their shit behind post event (LNT)
– Sound Policy (yes, there is plus and minus)
– 1 Violation on Mutant Vehicles could get license revoked?
– BMorg still has their head buried in the sand over RIDE/Diversity
Note: This is a persons opinion. I am in no way an authority on any of this information. You must find the facts yourself.

Meeting Notes (from Toaster)

The meeting started at 10am PDT on 7/22/2023 on a Zoom Call

  1. BM Collaborators Meeting
    • The opening was couched By Charlie Dolman as something new to loop in the community on changes to Burning Man for 2023
      • 2022 MOOP was a huge problem
      • eBikes another huge issue
      • Government Regulations in some cases have changed
    • D.A. on MOOP
      • Biggest MOOP problem was tent stakes, lag bolts, rebar
      • There was so much more captured in his slide deck
    • Magpie talked about Exodus
      • Wants to make it NOT SUCK in 2023
      • GARS is coming back 95.1 on the radio dial / BMIR Traffic every 30 mins
      • @bmantraffic on Twitter
      • New Digital Signs
      • F-Lot: impaired vehicles, pullover and fix something, loose loads, find people, etc
    • Retro on Community Service
      • eBikes : Must follow the same rules as vehicles
      • 5 MPH speed limit
    • Sparky / Level on Sound Levels
      • Sparky (DMV)
        • On playa parked vehicles outside DMZ limited to 3 hours with Sound Limits
        • On playa parked in DMZ no limits
        • Limits around all events and art installations for Mutant Vehicles
        • Quiet time in city 2AM to 10AM
        • A single violation COULD get your license pulled
      • Level (Placement)
        • Big Changes!
          • Max 300 db GONE, 90 db CHANGED!
          • All speakers in a camp must be pointed internally
          • 60db @ border of neighbors camp or center of the street (except Esplanade)
          • 100 db to open playa
          • Case Levels need to be negotiated with neighbors – be a good neighbor
    • Cory and Tinker about Center Camp
      • Camps can bring their vibe to Center Camp (sorta like Golden Guy works: IMO)
      • SWIFT Team can help you schedule time and space
        • e.g. Blood Mary Bacon Bar and more will be setup there…. stay tuned!
    • Level and Shaye about Vending
      • “Mistakes are the best place to start”
        • IMO: this was a great way to start because it allows people to make mistakes and learn from them
        • Reporting violations to Placement @burningman.org
          • doingitwrong@ or ip@ for intellectual property violations or placement@ or oss@
            • These usually make sense to those in the know
          • Help the community
          • Keeps us in scope of the 10 Principles
    • Marnee and Katie from Government Relations
      • LNT and Environmental Protection
        • Earth Guardians / Black Rock Rangers / Playa Restoration
          • Provides Education
          • Addresses Leaks and Fluids on the Playa
          • Look out for your neighbors
      • LE (Law Enforcement)
        • BLM / Pershing County Sherriff Office (PCSO) – on playa
          • Unified Command / Emergency Response
      • Decommodification – Katie
        • BLM has strict requirement
        • Venders MUST be part of the OSS program
        • Housing for payment is Eliminated
          • Plug n Play, Mobile Homes Delivered, etc
      • Traffic Safety – Katie
        • Speed limits are very important
        • NO VENDORS at EMPIRE in 2023
    • Starchild on Sustainability
      • There was a lot about fuel and solar ideas
    • Harley and Level on RIDE
      • New dimension this year goes to Sign Language and Blind Burners
      • There were a lot of stats and a strong focus on BIPOC that they say made up 13% of the population based on the Census
      • LGBT burners got an honorable mention with notes that the Queerborhoods are at 4:30 and 7:30

Like I said, there was a lot to cram into a one hour meeting. And there was a lot missing in the conversation. The RIDE message from the BMorg has never sat well with me, because their focus seems to be on the visible spectrum of Diversity. With 13% BIPOC as a statistic and a desperation to get those numbers up over everyone else it is because those are accountable stats because every picture taken at Burning Man is not all white CIS people. Even having Blind and Deaf participants getting recognition, it is still a visible commodity to be used in the sale of Burning Man as an event and an ideology.

Burning Man 2022 – A trip report from the Future Turtles

Editors note: This afterburn report was written by Jetpack from the Future Turtles and reflects their experience alone. If you participated in Burning Man and would like to add your trip report to this blog, we’d love to publish it! Just email us at info@queerburners.org.

We went home!

For the 36 turtles who came to Black Rock City this year, it was an incredible year.

The conditions were… hard. Burning Man is always hard, but this year was worse than usual. The weather was hotter. There were more dust storms and whiteouts, which always seemed to be at the least convenient times (the build team put up most of the camp in super windy whiteout conditions). The things that we depend on the Burning Man organization to get right (roads, ice, fuel, gate and exodus) … were not right.

As a camp, we had doubled in size, and a majority of us (24) had never been to Burning Man before. We were way more ambitious in terms of the camp we built, the interactive programs we put on, the quality of the food we made, and a lot more.

There was a ton of work, but we were ready for it, and we got it all done. Everybody pitched in, even the sparkly newbies, so, thank you, sparkly newbies.

Advance Work

One of the things that made Burning Man easy this year was a large amount of work that was done in advance to get ready. We had two work weekends in Reno getting all our gear cleaned, sorted, and ready to go. Our San Francisco turtles built a beautiful wood bar and DJ booth that will serve us for years to come.

Early Build Week

The early build team converged in Reno a full week before the start of the event. We loaded trucks and unboxed new gear, and bought a lot of supplies, before heading to playa and arriving at a city that was still mostly empty. We could see the Man from our tents because the entire area from Esplanade to D was unbuilt.

For the first night, our priority was just to build our own tents so we had a place to sleep. Unfortunately, at about 2am, a major wind storm swept through our little camp. We had built a minimal shade structure without side tarps, which became something of a sail in the wind. Unprotected by tarps, the Shiftpods started to blow away. 

After a few minutes we realized that we had to wake up, find masks and goggles, and rebuild the entire camp, in the midst of an incredible windstorm and whiteout conditions, and make it much stronger so we could go to sleep again. Which is what we did.

The whiteout and windy conditions continued for much of build week. There were some breaks, but most of the week was incredibly difficult. Try to imagine spreading out a 14 x 48 canvas tarp on the ground in 20mph winds and getting it nailed down to the playa smoothly… now do that six times.

By the third evening on playa we had assembled enough infrastructure to shower off (with a garden hose and kiddie pool), finally, which was probably the highlight of build week. Even though we got dusty again 20 seconds later, it was nice to get clean for a minute.

Late Build Week

Deliveries started arriving at our camp site: a big generator shared with Gender Blender and 8-bit Bunny, the two trailers with all our gear, an insane amount of produce which we stuffed into our limited refrigerators, ten cases of corn on the cob we never ordered, a big tank of water that we used up in two days, a big empty tank for grey water, and two porto-potties. The camp started to take shape.

Meanwhile more turtles were arriving in Reno trying to gather up and pack the rest of the gear we needed: huge amounts of food and groceries, an insane amount of liquor, an annoying trailer with three dozen bicycles, and every other little thing that could not be obtained on playa.

Arrivals

Most turtles take the Burner Bus Express… we love this because you don’t have to wait in huge lines to enter and exit the event. People trickled in on Saturday, Sunday, and as late as Monday, but everyone made it in time for our big kick-off party Monday night.

Our location, in the middle of a block, did not have much traffic walking by, so our events were for the most part attended by neighbors who noticed our incredible DJs and our attractive camp, or people who had heard about the legendary turtles and who came to see what everyone was talking about.

Desert HiiT Workouts

It seems unlikely when the temperatures are in the upper 90s, but we had plenty of takers for our daily 11:00am high intensity interval training workouts. We took this a lot more seriously than some of you may remember from 2019. All the exercises were done in pairs which added a nice social element. People got a real workout, and a lot of them kept coming back throughout the week; on some days our space was at capacity.

A real music program

With two great resident DJs, several guest DJs, and even a couple of newbies learning the ropes, we always had great music. Our sound system with six big speakers sounded amazing in the clear desert air.

It’s always hard to find and play the kind of music that everyone likes, bur our DJs did it. I was pretty astonished to have multiple people come up to me and say that they love, love, loved all the music … including several people whose musical tastes I know to be completely non-overlapping.

We had a very specific vibe in mind at the Future Turtles: cheerful, progressive, melodic house, one strict rule (“no pop!”) and the intent that you should never hear anything that you’ve heard in the real world before—the idea was that you should never hear a “song” that you recognized that reminded you of the default world, because Burning Man is most powerful when you can get absorbed in the alien world and never get yanked back to the default.

Great Food

With so many burners subsisting on granola bars and gifted pickles, we actually got a huge delivery of fresh produce and produced two amazing, nutritious hot meals a day, with options for vegans and unlimited snacks available 24/7. Our team of designated chefs (with the assistance of literally everyone, who did one or two kitchen shifts) produced food that was consistently healthy and tasty and really kind of astonishing given the conditions in which it was produced.

Bar

We had an organized bar with a full drinks program including premixed alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails every evening. We were surprised to find how popular the non-alcoholic options were. 

Everything was super tasty. We even had everything we needed to make custom drinks for people (if we liked them enough, of course). Another huge highlight of the drinks program was Jorge’s cold brew coffee every morning.

Oh man, that Pillow Fort

Thanks the creative design of Oscar with tons of help from Andre and other turtles, we created what was probably the most magical space on the entire playa, a quiet, soft, air-conditioned underwater aquarium space that was dedicated to naps during the day (to catch up on sleep) and adult activities during the night. With magical dayglo decorations, Arduino-controlled black light animations creating a “wave” effect, magical music and even a scent program, the pillow fort was truly a spectacular new feature of the camp.

I’ve been talking about a lot of stuff. Burning Man is about the People.

To be honest it’s easy to get wrapped up in describing our infrastructure, but the whole camp would have sucked if we didn’t have such great people. And there’s no way to sum up the life-transforming experiences of 36 lovely turtles—heck, there’s no way even to convey the insane experiences we all had.

We saw a glimpse of the greatest work of collaborative art ever created in the history of mankind, an artwork created in the audacious medium of a civilization, cooperatively created by 70,000 untrained artists.

We danced, and we slept through dances.

We explored, and we missed 95% of what there was to find.

We faffed, but we got there.

We learned how much more we are capable of than we thought, and we also learned how to ask our neighbors for help.

We fucked up massively, but we always got our shit together.

We were together. We had moments of insanely painful loneliness.

We apologized for past mistakes, and made new ones.

We felt the greatest joy we had ever felt, but also cried our hearts out.

We found love, and lost love.

We were transformed.

The Future Turtles can be found on the Internet at futureturtles.com.

Queer Caucus: Community Meeting

LGBTQ leadership from the Queerborhood met at The Box Factory on Wednesday the 28th of November. There were about 50 attendees in person and between 6 to 10 approximately on the remote connection via ZOOM. We received an outline from BMorg (Placement) as the meeting was part of a larger initiative that Placement is taking on for 2019: Black Rock City Cultural Direction Setting. 

As a group, we decided to add to the outline in order to stay connected to our previous meeting with Placement (in 2016) where we addressed our concerns and needs as LGBTQ. We were facilitated by Ariel from Gender Blender and Pickle from Camp Beaverton. Out note taker was Ultra from Comfort & Joy. he list of attendees and camps represented were many.

By the end of the meeting when it was close to 9:30 pm this is who was left for the final image. Wish everyone could have stayed for it. What amazing people!!!!

We were charged with answering 3 questions as per the Conversation Kit supplied by BMorg. We did add one.

  1. What are the most impactful ways a theme camp can contribute to Black Rock City? Define impactful and why that matters to you.
  2. What are the characteristics and traits of theme camps that you would want to
    1. encourage and
    2. discourage? Why?
  3. Do you notice any divisions in residential Black Rock City that you are concerned about and if so what are they? How do you think about the balance between Radical Inclusion and any divisions in residential BRC?
  4. Extra: What is the most important part of the Queer Agenda?

 

While the results of the meeting are still being put together the final bits will be released depending on the consensus of the participants. I want to stress that the scope of this meeting was not limited to this group. The top 3 questions were being addressed by a lot of regional communities all around the world.

All Of Us was fucking awesome

So, it’s been a week now since All Of Us ended. Many of the people involved in the magic are off doing the ALC (AIDS Life Cycle) ride from San Francisco to L.A.. So, as I write the official report on the event about money and critical things I await the details to fill in those pieces on the other web site. (www.lgbtproduction.org)

The event opened on Thursday noon and went through Monday noon after Memorial Day. It was the longest weekend we attempted before. It worked out well for so many! The space at www.saratogasprings.com was absolutely perfect. We have just under 150 people come out and thank goodness we managed to just break even on expenses versus income.

A Great Week

While these lovely people at the jacuzzi do not represent the diversity we had, we are proud that All Of Us brought a lot of new faces to the event. It was glorious…

There was a pop-up Jacuzzi party hosted by thee (in spirit) Whitney Houston on Thursday evening. It was a naked soirée in the hot water and it was fabulous. There were all kinds of wonderful human in the mix and the music was fantastic. The Jacuzzi was the most popular spot on the land at the end of any day – no wonder it was turning green by Sunday afternoon.

Each day progressed with a new layer of loveliness and unimaginable brilliance among all those who came out. There was so much love, uninhibited embrace, with no matter who was there or gender. We were blessed that our demographic did change on some level with a lot more women and gender non-conforming people that fit together and celebrated.

On a couple notes, there was a detailed waiver everyone signed when coming in and part of it talked about respecting other people and their boundaries. We did have a moment when someone was talking about trans-people openly with real trans persons just a few feet away and it was wrong and hurtful. We also talked about boundaries for consent and as it turned out someone did not heed that either. Someone was violated and we simply cannot allow those things to happen in our community. All Of Us is about unity and inclusiveness.

DJ Jason Godfrey on Decks at the back of the BAAAHS bus and next to The Journey
DJ Jason Godfrey on Decks at the back of the BAAAHS bus and next to The Journey

The Journey

The crown jewel of the event was the 30 foot long piece of this art piece going to Burning Man in 2017. Dan Reeves was the original visionary and his team of amazing humans who came out and set this up. It was celebrated every night!

It was part of the Art Garden that we had set up in front of the Heart Lodge along with Squares by Steve Dudek and Frames by www.visualsby3.com that was a great collection of installation pieces.

Friday night was a party at the art piece and the DJ’s sis an amazing job. The art was outstanding. The energy was awe-inspiring.

Saturday saw the majority of the workshops in all three tracks of the weekend while The Journey folks did live screen printing in front of the main Lodge. The Journey folks even set up a bar and served drinks as they did their magic.

  • Mental / Physical Health and Self Care
  • Acculturation and the 10 Principles
  • Leadership

The workshops were amazing and well orchestrated. The information was invaluable. We shared some amazing ideas and performed some exercises that made our participation and community stronger.

Meal Time

The food was amazing as well. Thank you to Jose for another year of delicious offerings. While we may have fell down on some of the vegetarian options we will do even better next year. But happily everyone got fed and our food and beverage team did a great job in the end. We are grateful that Jose came up from Mexico once again to help us!

We did daily Brunch and Dinner with snacks in between. The kitchen team seemed to be able to take it more easy this year which I was very glad for.

They even served hot dogs and snacks at the Sunday Pool Party (SPF) with bacon wrapped around them and on buns. Event the veggie dogs had a veggie bacon on them. Someone was heard saying: “They are really committed to bacon.” Well, this is a burner event, right?

Thank you to everyone who helped with volunteering.  The weekend could not happen without you. While we had some paid positions, many gave their time and energy to make this event happen. Who profited from it? Well, no one did. All the money that was left over is being folded back into the community.

The Gate ran flawlessly thanks to an amazing team there. Exodus was went just as smoothly. It with a sincere and deeply held feeling of appreciation to everyone to helped in making the magic either by being there or getting us there.

Burning Man GLC: Toaster Trip Report

This was my fourth or fifth GLC. The Global Leadership Conference focuses on Regional Contacts and Community Leaders out there in the world making Burning Man style events happen, This includes Burners Without Borders, Black Rock Solar, and Black Rock Arts among many entities.

A lot of people ask me how they can go, too. This was the first year they let me bring someone I nominated. One usually has to be nominated by a Regional Contact, but then of course San Francisco (where I live) does not have an R.C.. The facility where this was held was packed with people and there were people I knew who said were there on Facebook whom I never got a chance to see the whole weekend.

“The 10th annual Burning Man Global Leadership Conference (GLC) is an annual conference of Burning Man community leadership that happens each spring in San Francisco. From humble beginnings in 2007, where 70 Regional Contacts joined us at Burning Man HQ, the GLC has since grown to include over 400 participants from around the world.

These highly-energized folks are Burning Man’s global representatives and community leaders, ambassadors of Burning Man culture in their regions who throw any of 65 Regional events in 20 countries. They participate in the GLC to share ideas, best practices and inspiration, and to make the invaluable face-to-face connections that may just lead to the next big thing.

The conference is for organizers and community leaders in the Burning Man Regional Network, and space is limited, so attendance isn’t open to the public, BUT … we’re going to be covering key sessions that are of interest to the larger Burning Man community on the Burning Man Journal, as well as on Twitter.”

Burning Man [dot] Org (linked)

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On @queer_burners on Twitter right from this conversation we tweeted a quote right from Larry Harvey in this Q&A where he talked about funding the arts. He said “Lots of hungry puppies only so many tits.” In fact the word “Money” was bandied about a lot for a corporation always faced with someone eager for a taste of the pie; e.g. the new Nevada tax that added $50+ to our ticket prices this year.

The Burning Man Global Leadership Conference

It happen April 1st to the 3rd at the Marines Memorial Theater / Hotel at 609 Sutter Ave here in San Francisco. Myself and Foxy (of Beaverton fame) went representing the Queer Burner community and a voice that was only about LGBTQ++ burning man participants. There are a lot of Queer leaders in the community whose missions are more specific to the geographic community than a “lifestyle” or “sexual orientation”. Regional Contacts are the primary focus, as well as future leaders, who also do projects in the long cast shadow of what Burning Man is.

Burning Man often looks and complains about a lack of diversity in their culture; specifically in skin color in the United States. There have been efforts to improve the variety of racial demographics. However, with the launching of Burning Man culture into different parts of the world the racial concerns seem to have wained as burns in Africa, Asia, South America, Central America and Europe have brought in a hungry and exciting rush of fresh blood making the 10 Principles their own.

Finally, the misogyny of the culture took more dents with the on-going delivery of messages about consent and personal responsibility. Over recent years these have been strongly related messages to leaders with tools to bring back to their communities. A champion in this area has been North Caroline burners.

The BMOrg is a corporation run by women (and Charlie and the odd board member) which has also sent a whole new set of messages to the community. A lot of Queer people work for the org as well but there is still this lingering blind disregard for a system to help queers, in many cases, and women who are venerable in a sexually charged and space where people have often lowered their defenses. This is still changing.

Some of our biggest concerns about Queer burners also came out of the South with a NC burner talking about degrading behavior toward Trans and queer people at South eastern events; but there are voices that are strong enough to let their peers know that such behavior was unacceptable. It was also refreshing to hear that a Radical Faery group USED TO go to the NC event but sadly they faded away. There was a subtle wake up call that LGBTQ burners are STILL not safe at all Burner events.

So we ask about what kind of diversity is Burning Man really looking for?It starts at the root level and has to grow. Almost anything meaningful has started with members of the community taking action which is why Queer Burners is here without any – ANY official support or injection from the BMOrg. If anything else, it has been clear that events are being driven toward family friendly and diverse audiences by Stephen Ra$pa and his team with less on adult activities. Yet, believe it or not anything with an LGBT label on it is still lumped into the ‘adults only’ category.

Why this summary?

There were leaders all over the world at the Conference (GLC) and for those interested in taking official status with the BMOrg the message was pretty clear what those steps needed were. Queer Burners is and will remain a grass roots project with it’s mission centered on Queer Burning Man participants and community builders.

I listened to everything there and talked to people at the best GLC I had ever been to. I do not know if it was the venue, the improved range of speakers or the delivery. Queer Burners (the project since 2008) has felt like the black sheep of the family year after year. But this year felt more like we were a part of the conversation and we had something to add for a variety of reasons.

If only I could figure out why there is a strong sense of opposition of our presence from a couple key people in the Borg. That is a conversation for another day, though.

Content

The GLC was mostly all business. The workshops followed key tracks:

  • Civic Activation
  • Community Events
  • Leadership Skills
  • Organizational Development
  • Foundation Skills

This year my focus was mostly on Financial and Event related tracks because of the many things Queer Burners is doing with events and planning. This included risk management and working on a better system of transparency. Queer Burners is launching events and making money; all of which will go right back into the community.

Foxy wrote a report on her experience here if you would like to see it. Being a Green Dot Ranger and in Ranger leadership she had a special spin on her experience. As Ranger Torchwood she wants to see more Queers who are a good fit into the Ranger culture. She will be presenting at the Queer Burner Retreat with 4 other Rangers.

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A famous Science Fiction writer was the key note speaker. His Playa name is/was Mez and had the theme camp the Church of Mez. Ramez Naam (Twitter: @ramez) wrote the award winning book APEX (part of a trilogy) and talked a lot about the future through the past. He talked about the possibility of Science Fiction versus reality. And interesting enough he talked about Stonewall and the gay rights movement a lot which I was taken by.

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Marian Goodell (the CEO of Burning Man) welcomed everyone. While she was genuinely excited to have people there she seemed unprepared for her presentation. She complained about her position as ‘having drawn the short straw’ for a role she is perfectly suited for. She took over from Larry though he remains the face of Burning Man. Marian used to run the Regional Network (of Regional Contacts) when I first joined the community less than a decade ago and I got to know her when she interviewed me as a potential R.C. way back then. But what did I do, I did what burners are supposed to do I went out and developed community without the approving nod of the BMOrg.

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There were a lot of people there presenting a lot of impressive projects. Above are two Chicago leaders reporting their event called the Chididerod. It’s decorated shopping carts racing through the city but raise a serious-butt-load of food for food banks in the area there; like – literally tons of food. While these folks had a ton to be proud of the self congratulating with so thickly layered on it was stifling. The ego landed on stage and waved a big flag all the way form Chicago. But they were not the only ones which I will cover soon.

The projects were impressive and part of the content was how to do stuff like this and not get sued, arrested or hurt. It was also about building communication with the local authorities and officials as needed to get the right people on board with your projects so you can find success. Nothing ends a great project faster than one that is misunderstood. How many times have you mentioned Burning Man to someone only to be judged as a hippie, druggie, pervert before the next word came out of your mouth?

We learned a lot about protecting the reputation as much as the people making and benefiting from whatever project a leader is putting out there.

There were so many people patting themselves on the backs or waving their arms around to say how they were doing it better. On the other hand, there were a lot of broken people who were crushed under failed projects like Apogea in Colorado. Pride and Envy are ugly demons and we all hope not to be run over by them.

I learned a lot and hope others learned too because some of the problems people were having seemed to have such obvious solutions, yet so many seemed to be resolvable by setting expectations for oneself and for their communities.

The picture gallery below will depict a lot of the content as it was presented, but maybe one day more leaders will be able to go to the GLC.

Queer Burners Presentation

On a lark, I decided to submit a suggestion for the UNconference. The unconference was a user generated pool of breakout sessions where we could put subject on the table and see if there was interest. We would get 45 minutes to bring the subject to the table and see what happened.

“LGBT issues in the Burner Community”: Foxy called me when I was waiting to get my hair cut on Saturday night after I left and told me I was presenting. I was shocked and excited and when her and I talked I realized I had no idea what I was going to really say.

– who was the audience?
– what if this goes in a completely wrong direction?

We asked ourselves a ton of questions and naturally I asked Foxy to co-facilitate it with me and help me with it no matter what direction it went.

We were originally scheduled to share a HUGE room with the Chididerod people but they asked us to leave because they needed the whole theater. We found space in a public area and managed with the half dozen people that joined us. We learned a lot about LGBT issues in other regions, too. Some feedback  is already contained in the content of this page.

It really felt good to contribute and bring this subject to the table.

What were the issues you ask? In the above section where we talked about the North Carolina regional event, that came from this discussion. Essentially for a lot of queers in various regions there is no “problem” but the emphasis was that out, queer people just want to feel welcome and safe. Perception of safety, even a glimpse, means a lot.

We only had 45 minutes and it went fast, but the topics were amazing. Talking about the regions that were present might make some people feel on the spot, but the NC information was really important and that prejudice still exists in the community; even at Black Rock City.

Personal Note

I got hit by a seriously bad cold on Saturday and I was a soppy wet mess. While this report is not about Toaster the point is that I missed out on some of the best networking time because of it. I missed all the evening events which was a disappointment but thank goodness Foxy was there.

In Conclusion

When these things come up and are offered by BMOrg people in the community should jump in. Whether it is GLC, Placement meeting, or event the amazing stuff offered in the various regions. These resources are a tremendous value. The GLC is really good for the communities when leaders are bringing back what are learned.

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Burning Man GLC: Foxy Trip Report

4 days of great sessions, based on tracks such as Civic Activation, Community Events, Leadership Skills, and Organizational Development.

I attended: Effective Leadership Skills in the Burnerverse, Creating a Culture of Consent, Danger Ranger’s (the founder of the Rangers) talk ‘Coyote goes to Burning Man’, Cultivating Strong Regional Rangers, plus the closing Plenary.

What struck me personally was the idea of the ‘grey area’, not only in leadership, but also with consent.

Leadership

Many of you have been in situations where you are asked to make a decision as a community leader on something that does not have a black or white answer. Looking at both sides of the equation, might not garner enough information. What I took from the session, is that we as leaders should exercise good judgement, be empathetic, listen, give and get advice, look at what is good for the community as a whole, and then make a decision based as best you can. If you do your due diligence for those grey area situations, and be open to revisiting the situation if new information arises, you may not make everyone happy, but you have led in an ethical and thoughtful way. Embrace the grey area, you can learn a lot from it.

Consent

Creating a culture of consent is top of mind for many of us, which is awesome. Again, that grey area came up, and I heard an interesting concept, that of Consent Mistakes. Verbal, sober consent should be the norm, but what if you thought you had consent and you actually didn’t. What if you consented to something, but for reasons such as peer pressure, you weren’t actually consenting. I think we can all take a deeper look into what it means to really have and give consent. Even just acknowledging a Consent Mistake, can be empowering if you had an experience that just didn’t sit right with you. You are then able to take steps, have conversations, or get help if you need it.

Regional Rangers

In this session, a lot was discussed about the different cultures of the regionals. Did you know Rangers have to deal with issues with Whales in Victoria BC.? There are many Regional Rangers, that don’t go to TTITD, they just do the Regionals. Perhaps that is something some of you might be interested in doing, if you aren’t set on becoming a Black Rock City Ranger. If so, let me know and I can start the ball rolling for you.

Coyote Goes to Burning Man

This was an amazing, insightful, inspiring, wander through the history of pranksters in San Francisco which ultimately led us to Burning Man and it’s culture. The Coyote as a symbol of pranksterism in Native American culture, was fascinating. In England, the Fox is our prankster, this made me very happy. If you have a chance to listen to this talk, it’s well worth it.

I learnt a great many things, met wonderful people, and heard amazing stories from Burners without Borders, makers, and community leaders. We Queer Burners have an amazing culture, let’s share it!

2015 Trip Report

Carnival of Mirrors

Well, we survived another year at the burn. Burning Man: Carnival of Mirrors was spectacular. It was a year that felt inspiring again after a few years of transition with the organization that makes everything happen. Since 2012 Burning Man feels like it has gone more commercial than ever yet somehow maintaining a grasp on the desired core values of the past.

Big Picture

photo-aug-19-5-37-21-pm-1
source www.maddogmadigan.com

Carnival of Mirrors theme was another big hit. The abomination that was Fertility 2.0 that went to Cargo Cult (loved it), then Caravansary (Fabulous), and now Carnival of Mirrors… what’s next: “Carrot Top”? While struggling to think of something Carrific we are eagerly awaiting next year’s theme.

Carnival of Mirrors featured a Midway that was as superb as the Souk from last year, showing that Burning Man is working on elevating the features of the-man experience. If this is the working model moving forward it certainly brings a greater sense of excitement to the event. It’s very marketable.

The Gayborhood

Another change to the Gayborhood layout made it much larger this year. It also lent to a greater opportunity for the queer camps of Burning Man to make a greater presentation. We were laid out on “D” street between 6:30 t0 8:30 which the Gayborhood renamed Rainbow Road.

rainbow-road
pre-event estimate of Rainbow Road: not the actual

Some new camps in the Gayborhood made quite a splash:

  • Hanging Gardens rocked the hood with an exciting presentation
  • Cubhouse participated in the Naked Bike ride and served it
  • Bierdhaus struck out from their village last year and rocked it
  • Sun Guardians delivered and grew rapidly

Some established camps in the Gayborhood schooled us animal style:

  • Mudskippers: Whitney Houston Party always epic
  • Glamcocks put on an amazing show
  • Celestial Bodies, BloAsis so many…

…they killed it. There are so many camps in the Gayborhood who really uped their game this year and make Rainbow Road spectacular. But there were a few Queer camps outside the Gayborhood that brought it as well.

  • Disco Château  – amazing
  • Peterson’s Pink Pagoda – awesome
  • Burner Buddies – Nacho Daddies sexiness….

Queer camps were all over the playa. Our preplaya map that was published before the event including Get Nailed that was over on B street. It was exciting and having the chance at having so many friends all over the city just a huge bonus.

Evolution in the Gayborhood

Rumor has it that a few more camps are going to enter cocoons before the 2016 unnamed event and come back in new forms. We hear that Comfort & Joy are going to go through a few changes again. Also, rumor control has it that the Down Low Club is not coming back in the same form as they have since 2001. It seems that Comfort & Joy is always evolving anyway and as they seem to be always at the epicenter of the Gayborhood we appreciate the work they put into their real estate with those amazing lights and art displays.

Theme camps and villages are the interactive core of Burning Man. An ideal theme camp should create a visually stimulating presence and provide a communal space or other opportunity for interaction. Burning Man Theme Camp Organizer Facebook Interactive Group

Is it rumor or true? We will find out next year, but the sources were rock solid, and if these camps and others grow, evolve or transition then we stand behind them. Many camps have stayed the same for years and Burning Man is demanding that camps evolve in order to get placement. Staying the same is just not acceptable. We have to offer engaging and interactive camps that bring something to the event.

Working Together

We as patrons and proprietors in the Gayborhood make choices of what we engage and offer in the neighborhood. The growth and new structure of the Gayborood, aka Rainbow Road, lends to a whole new level of opportunities and leverage that we have began sampling. Working together, like the 7:30 Block Party by Hanging Gardens, is a big win for the community.

This is not the first time camps working together have found such a huge success. Glamcock’s Cock-talks and Beaverton’s workshops are another level of success. Comfort & Joy has also been a champion in this area of radical inclusion.

We, as a community, have chances to make our community and culture stronger. We are certainly not confined to just Queer Camps (because we are radically inclusive) and have non-queer neighbors interlaced with the Gayborhood that want to benefit from the A.D.D. razor like focus and creativity we have to share.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

good : Other than all the previously mentioned goodies at the burn this year, there was an amazing piece of history that reappeared on the playa this year. Taking Burning Man back to it’s roots of radical expression was the ‘art piece’ that appeared on the playa in 2001 that was censored by the Org. It was an important and amazing presence on Comfort & Joy’s courtyard.

Learn more about this bit of Queer Burner History in our Burner History X article on this site. Having discovered this piece on the day of the Naked Bike Ride found friends taking pictures with it. It seemed to be quite the attraction and if only those people knew the history behind it.

Queer camps had a chance, better than any year before, to make a presentation that was a solid win. The stretch of Rainbow Road was phenomenal.

bad : Unfortunately this was not the year where the Burner Gods smiled upon the BAAAHS crew as they experienced a lot of challenges that they did not expect to meet. A neighbor or two or three or so complained about their sound levels; an absurd idea as they and Camp Conception were camps with some serious speaker action. (Yes, many of us knew going into the burn this year we had new restrictions on sound).  One neighbor actually made it her mission to rally the neighbors against BAAAHS but many stood by the BAAAHS crew solidly.

But that was not all. This was BAAAHS 3rd or 4th year on playa and this year they got dinged on a legal issue that may or may not have been noticed before, they were just over the legal size to move through the street by the DMV. Aparently mustant vehicles have to be on a diet to roam the streets of the BRC; maximum size is 14′, And it seems BAAAHS was 14′-6″… yikes!

The restrictions greatly limited what BAAAHS was able to do in the city and it was sad. We, as a community, support and love what BAAAHS and their support team delivers. It is awesome and it is entertaining. John Major, aka M*J*R wrote on Facebook how the year could result in diminishing his passion for Burning Man (heavily paraphrased); well we hope not.

ugly : Evolution is the only way Theme Camps can survive on the playa. As a community and subculture we also have to police ourselves. Reputation can follow for years but here are a few notions that we need to revisit:

  • Glamcocks is an unfriendly camp to visit for anyone over 30

GET OVER IT: Leadership in the Glamcocks camp has worked really hard to change the perception of this. Key leaders have made very public and vocal efforts to show they are welcoming to all. They have initiated concierges for their camp and a requirement for camp mates to welcome people who come to their camp and their events off playa.

  • The Gayborhood keeps people in and others out

GET OVER IT AGAIN… yeah! Many camps in the Gayborhood host events clearly programmed to welcome people from all lifestyles, orientations and genders. While a few may be specific to one of those demographics the bigger picture is that this is an unfair projection from people who dismiss the Gayborhood who typically have never been to it.

Annual events suffered this year for a variety of reasons like th Official Queer Burner Meet & Greet as well as the Gay Pride celebration.

  • The Official Queer Burner Meet & Greet on Monday failed to appear in the What Where When, but many burners remembered that Monday night was the night to come to the Down Low Club camp. The event itself was in memory of a beloved burner who left us a few years ago; Mario Cisneros. Participation last year was off the chart, but on this occasion the event was nice and cozy.
  • The Gay Pride Parade was supposed to be a strong show of pride and celebration but fizzled into nothing before we got very far. The restriction that knocked BAAAHS off the city streets also put the smack-down on our parade plans. Thankfully Burner Buddies party with Nacho Daddies was still a huge win.

While there are more, the politics of keeping a positive focus prevents them from being written about here. The goal of this project is to promote and encourage growth, evolution and elevation of our part of the city.

Conclusion

2015 was an awesome year. The borg is demanding, even forcing, change and evolution on the community. The people feeling it most are the people building camps, art cars and attractions. With new sound restrictions and a surging growth in law enforcement the radical side of Burning Man is waning. Fortunately it is still a life changing experience with the chances of our own individual growth and chances to grow our community. All it takes is a ‘we’.

 

 

Dispatches from Burning Man

In less than a week, over 70,000 people will converge on a dry lake bed in Northwestern Nevada to create Black Rock City, which hosts the festival known as Burning Man. Founded on the principle of radical self-expression, it’s natural that it would attract more than its share of folks who identify as queer. I am one of those people.

What has kept me coming back year after year since 2005 is that Burning Man makes me feel boring and pedestrian. Being a stereotypically flamboyant gay man, I was often the most “creative” or “out-there” person in family settings, at work, or in other social settings.

My first trip to the playa (the term used to refer to the dry lake bed) made me realize just how many other people had similar approaches to expressing themselves, many of whom had developed it to a much more sophisticated level than I had. It is comforting to have such a wealth of inspiration.

In this article I present the perspective of five other queer burners. I will be referring to people by their “playa name.” It is simply a snapshot, one of thousands that could be taken.

To read the complete original article on EDGE Media Network…

Kitten

During Kitten’s first burn in 1998, a particularly violent storm scattered all his belongings, which were then cemented into the ground by a three-inch downpour of rain. Desolate, he wandered the streets aimlessly until he stumbled upon a camp focused on providing mani/pedicures.

“My hands and feet were all cracked, and through the process of cleaning, moisturizing and painting my nails I became much more hopeful. It made me appreciate the value a camp could bring to my fellow burners.”

After centering himself, he was able to focus on getting some action.

“A lot of my awkwardness before going to Burning Man was from trying to fit into other people’s parameters of hotness. I was shocked that I could get as much play as I did out there, from the type of guys who wouldn’t have been interested in me in the city.”

Although Black Rock City had a population just over 10,000 at that point, there were already a couple of camps that had a queer sexual vibe to them.

“Bianca’s Smut Shack looked like a typical suburban home, except for the pornography spread throughout the place. It wasn’t necessarily an orgy happening, but people of all persuasions would have sex there. They also served grilled cheese sandwiches every night at 3 A.M. I heard about Jiffy Lube as the place to go for man-on-man action, but I couldn’t locate it until my second year.”

(Jiffy Lube, which started in 1995, sparked one of the greatest controversies at Burning Man in 2001, when a large mechanized illustrated sign of two men fucking was used to advertise their space. For the full story, visit www.pissclear.org/Articles/2002/coverstory_Jiffy%20Lube_1.html)

These early experiences, plus a few years being a part of another theme camp, inspired Kitten to help found Comfort & Joy.

“Our platform for success is to feed people well, and take care of their physical needs, so they’re able to do their art, whatever that may be.”

This philosophy helped grow the camp from 35 people in 2005 to 140 people by 2013. It features a large courtyard with several interactive art pieces, a large shade structure, a kitchen/commissary area, a gym area painted bright pink, two fire pits, a drag closet, an elaborate multiple head shower, and most famously, a 20 x 50′ tent that hosts workshops, performances, nightly dance parties, and all manner of sexual expression.

The entire camp is highlighted by large neon flags, which are visible from half a mile away.

Says Kitten, “If you are just walking by the camp, there is nothing overtly gay about it, but the bright colors of the flags and the art draw you in.”

Over the past five years, many queer camps have been requesting to be situated next to Comfort & Joy, creating a “gayborhood” in Black Rock City. A previous incarnation of the gayborhood existed from 2000-2008, during which a collection of queer/queer-friendly camps assembled themselves into Avalon Village.

Kitten would like to extend the philosophy of Comfort & Joy to the outside world. The group holds several parties a year in San Francisco, holds educational workshops related to helping fellow queers, and is building a relationship with the Paiute Indians, on whose ancestral land Burning Man takes place.

“As a queer person, I sympathize with other oppressed peoples,” said Kitten. “The Paiutes have a rich tradition of honoring Two Spirits (people believed to possess both the masculine and feminine). Unfortunately, due to colonization of their tribe, the Two Spirits are considered sinful by most other tribe members and most are closeted. Therefore, Comfort & Joy coordinates a food drive every year, where we encourage people leaving the burn to donate their leftover food at two sites marked by our neon flags. By identifying ourselves as Two Spirits while interacting with tribe members, we hope to change tribe members’ perceptions of Two Spirit individuals.”

(Learn more about the food drive at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1446811415604268)

Amanda Love

For Amanda Love, who first attended in 2007, “It was a very magical and very intense year. I went with my boyfriend at the time who was there to spread the ashes of a loved one, while at the same time my brother was battling cancer.”

One of the ways he processed this was by visiting the Temple, the second largest structure at Burning Man. Designed to allow contemplation, people place all sorts of notes, photographs, and objects relating to their thoughts. The entire structure is burned on Sunday night, the day after the “Man” is burned.

Amanda has been burning on and off since then, always as a member of Comfort & Joy. “They allow me to be included in a group without having to conform to a set type. No judgement happens, just open arms.”

As a hairdresser, one of the ways he likes to participate is by providing manscaping, a service which has proven quite popular.

“I’ve had a line of twenty guys, both gay and straight, waiting for me to groom them.”

One of the straight guys would become erect every time Amanda held his junk to shave something.

“Lines are very fuzzy out there,” said Love. “Sometimes guys are horny, but they don’t really know where they’re going with it. I’m not going to be the one to shove them over that line, so I’m gentle about those things.”

What Amanda appreciates the most about Burning Man is the overall environment. “Burning Man creates so many different flavors of spaces for people to explore their identity, all crammed right next to each other. It brings out the best in most people. The intention behind something is where you find the magic.”

Ariel Pink Pants

After driving from the East Coast in 2005 in a biofueled bus with two other people, Ariel Pink Pants and her pals named their first camp “Unifried.”

“My first year was about my own self-experience, but it developed into a desire to give people like me a place to shine,” said Ariel. “I was sitting on the playa with my friend when we realized there was no camp talking about trans issues.”

Inspired by her experiences at Comfort & Joy and Camp Beaverton (whose members are primarily queer women), Ariel helped create Gender Blender in 2009, “to give gender queer people a safe space, and to give cis-gendered people a place to explore.” Their first year was a bit rocky but instructive.

“We were placed on the Esplanade (the most heavily trafficked road) by the Placement Committee, because they liked what we were doing and wanted us to get lots of exposure. Our neighboring camp had a much larger budget than we did, and it showed. They were so put off by the scrappiness of our camp they put an orange net fence between us. Since then, we have requested to be next to more sympathetic camps in the gayborhood.”

That experience gives Ariel pause about the supposed difference between Burning Man and what is often refered to as “default world.”

“Trans people do not have the same access to resources as the broader gay community does, or society in general. Most of our camp members are on low-income tickets and we run our camp on a shoe-string budget. I would like to see a discussion within the Burning Man community about how this sort of work can receive more support, particularly in light of the phenomenon of ‘plug n’ play’ camps, where attendees spend tens of thousands of dollars to have everything assembled and taken apart for them, without really adding anything to the Burning Man experience.”

In spite of these difficulties, Ariel is excited about the opportunities she is providing people.

“At our play parties, we have trans people of all stripes, gay men, lesbians, and straight people. What we are doing is unique even for Burning Man.”

Hysterica

“My first year was 1996,” Hysterica recalls. “We arrived at the entrance and were told by the lady standing there to drive 4.6 miles straight ahead, then turn 90 degrees and drive 2.5 miles. All this through a blinding dust storm. Somehow at the end of it, the storm lifted and we were in Shangra-La.”

Hysterica camped next to Mascara, which featured legendary club promoter Ggreg Taylor (who would arrive on-playa fully decked out in evil clown make-up, sometimes dripping with lit candles on his shaved head), and drag artiste Phatima Rude, who was fond of lounging in a play pen.

One morning Hysterica and his playa boyfriend (term used to describe someone you meet and hang out with only at Burning Man) started a tradition that lasted several years, The Romp of the Playa Hookers.

“We came up with the idea of being playa hookers,” he said. “We got all scantally dressed up and walked all over town, amusing people and causing mischief. The next year, we had 20 more people along with us. I’ve tried to retire it several times but so many people would come up to me the next year asking to be a part of it.”

He was and is thrilled by how friendly people are on the playa. “Burning Man has a very bisexual energy,” said Hysterica. “People in general are very kind and flirtacious. One Sunday night after Temple Burn, I was riding my bike around, looking for one last party. I struck up a conversation with a straight man, who then confided he would like to experiment with another man. So we went back to my tent and had a lovely time.”

Mucho

Mucho heard about Burning Man for almost a decade before finally attending with his partner Matt in 2010. “We felt very welcomed,” he said “A lot of care was taken to make us feel a part of our camp and of Burning Man in general.”

He immediately sought out ways to participate in the wider Burning Man community, including joining the Rangers, the volunteer force of intermediaries between law enforcement and the burners.

“One year, I often worked alongside a straight ex-navy guy, who was very cool about me being gay, and felt comfortable telling me intimate things about himself. People out there are very open about things. They break down barriers and share.”

Last year he helped create the art car dubbed BAAAHS (Big Ass Amazingly Awesome Homosexual Sheep), a school bus converted into a giant sheep/mobile sound system.

“I was a ‘rear entry specialist,’ developing the chute through which people would enter BAAAHS. When we’d meet people driving around the playa, they’d get a big thrill out of sliding into its asshole.”

Burning Man inspired Mucho and Matt to relocate to San Francisco from New York to be closer to a larger concentration of burners. “We’re not fond of circuit parties,” he said. “Burner parties have a much broader array of people who all comfortable around each other and are creating amazing spaces.”

Decompression

Because Burning Man is such a magical environment, many people get depressed when it is over and they have to return to the default world.

I used to feel this way, until I finally relocated to San Francisco last year after attending Burning Man for nine years. Just like Black Rock City, San Francisco can be very physically and emotionally challenging, but it’s also full of dynamic, creative people who gently push me to be a better person. Burning Man is the natural by-product of this city’s ability to foster all kinds of people, especially queer ones.

2014 Caravansary Trip Report

2014 came to the playa with a lot of ceremony as a late released theme for the year seemed to come with a forced luster and lack of promise in the shadow of 2013’s Cargo Cult. But that would be wrong. Caravansary delivered and the Souk was a shining ring of light around the biggest Man to date.

14_theme_pavilionThe big winners!!!

Here here to an organization that is taking it’s growing pains and making them work for them. While the popularity of Burning Man and it’s accessibility have definitely become more mainstream, it has driven a more diverse audience into the annual festival. The coffers of Burning Man must be ringing jingle bells.

While many burners see it simply as a drunken, naked drug fest in the desert the massive presence of Burning Man was nothing to scoff at. Embrace did not live up to it’s promise. The star on that desert floor was the souk and the man hands down.

On the other hand…

The returning burners who were picking up moop and scoffing at the pee bottles, beer cans and other oddities left in – on – around porta potties. Frat boys dropping beer cans in the street and the growing plug-n-play loosers on their Segway’s with 1000$ cape jackets and a distinct lack of personal lighting.

Nothing too new, but it cannot go without notation that the douche-baggery level was up. Yes, ladies and gentleman, Fonzie is on the water skis and the shark has been jumped indeed.

All bitching aside…

The event was produced really well and in spite of rain and huge delays at the gate the shifting demographic and newly minted “burners” has led to shorter exodus times and a chance to evolve. It was uniquely beautiful in spite of a few things and the love of the event was still present in so many eyes.

Art: so much beauty and imagination out there this year with very few out shining the Man. There seemed to be a lot of repeat pieces from previous years but another… another zoetrope … that was pretty cool looking.

20130827_002032Art Cars: Lots of beauties out there; new ones and some old favorites. Although in the Queer Burner mind a favorite of the playa is Crisco Disco, another star this year was an Mayan Warrior looking art car with a sound system that rivaled even Robot Heart.

Theme Camps: Once again Comfort & Joy was the crown jewel of the Gayborhood even though they had 100 feet less than what they wanted they managed to make it work. Adorned with the new Queer Temple the camp really raised the bar once again even though they have been doing this for something around 15 years.

7:30 Corridor: The location of the Gayborhood was piled fill of amazing camps and capped with a giant purple penis. This was the most alive passage in the city at all hours of the day and still a main attraction of the city that really never sleeps. The “Red Light Corridor” was apparently placed next to the Gayborhood starting with Playfully Yours.

08282012_burn-303Gayborhood: One of the brightest centers of the city from Comfort & Joy, BloAsis, Beaverton and Gender Blender; a lot of old favorites. Wasabi Kisses, Sun Guardians and a few others were new kids in the block that put on a good show. Too many amazing camps to mention just take a look at the 2014 camp listing page.

Gay Pride Parade: Another change to the structure of the parade this year allowed participants to stop in queer and queer-friendly camps on the way to Burner Buddies. We started at Crisco Disco home camp inside Comfort & Joy then bounced over to BloAsis, then Party Naked Tiki Bar, Champagne Lounge and finished at all amazing Burner Buddies for everyone to get a chance to get their Gay Card!

Aerial footage of The Burn, Burning Man 2014 from Eric Cheng on Vimeo.