This is about Burning Man. A friend posted a missive that was wistful in regards to the burn, with some jealously about not going….. but feeling better for it.
————————–
Shaggy… she got the bitterness from the fact that you posted a back handed compliment / slam of burning man. If you weren’t thinking deeply about it in a jealous way, you wouldn’t have posted.
I have the same thing… I love it. The festival CHANGED MY LIFE. Multiple times. The first time I saw it in 95 for KITS (pagan leather and drive by shooting ranges. I was 19 for chrissakes. I hid in the back of the van), then actually getting to go out there 10 whole years later when I actually needed it and was ready for it, and it changed my life in so many way.
And I hate it. I HATE IT. For so many reasons. Especially because the art cars were ridiculously lame, the art was going downhill, lot more idiots out on the playa, just going to shit, etc.
The money spent on burning man should destroy any ramblings of *radical* self expression or thinking that it is something special or different. Deluded druggies yammer in protest. It’s not. I love it, but it’s a party. It ain’t changing the world.
The whole point is that you can get your fill, and that’s okay. There’s a point where you “get” it, and have worked through the stages:
virgin
delusion of granduer
eager participant
freakish organizer
year long organizer
it’s my social scene
it’s something I like
it’s something I do
I sit on the playa as a vet and bitch about what it used to be and how people used to do things
Wifey said she might be interested. I would only ever go back to capture the excitement through a virgin’s eyes. That’s where it’s at.
But Glacier? New Orleans? North Vancouver Island? I mean…
The whole goddam world is out there. THE WHOLE GODDAM THING.
I could have gone to High Sierra, but we decided to go to Bucks Lake and camp for 5 days this coming week. Hell I could ride my bike with no handlebars.
But there’s a point where you have to weigh the value of experience. If you have never been to the Burn before, it should probably be at the top of the list of what you want and need to do. If you have been a half dozen times?
The Broom of God in Patagonia, The Hagia Sophia, Great Barrier Reef…..
I am gonna have to figure out how to get *THERE*.
The Burn pisses valuable money away into nothing.