The previous post is Tomorrow: Newport.
The next post is Afterburn: ART.

Afterburn: INTRODUCTION · Sep 12, 07:06 PM

Burning Man sucked. In fact, it never happened—not the way I expected, though Burning Man had everything I expected. I didn’t expect the emotionally intense introspection that accompanied the opposite of alienation and five-sensory overload that Burning Man manifests.

Let me start over.

Burning Man is Mardia Gras on Mars. Disney meets Mad Max. Disaffected engineer meets disaffected artist. Gay pride meets wild west. Star Wars versus the Care Bears live in Las Vegas. The year 3000 on ecstasy. Hyperspace at the O.K. Corral. Dance Dance Explosions. Self-hypnosis sauna. Improv yoga by Dr. Seuss. Sunburned No theater.

I’m having trouble.

INTRODUCTION

I’m used to technical writing. Introductions are a good way to ease your audience into the subject matter. We’ll start with some background; here’s what I’ve already written:

July 3—Burning Man 2005?
July 16—Burnin Man Planning Update
July 20—Tickets for a burner
July 24—Pictures from their camping trip
August 21—In six days: Reno
August 26—Tomorrow: Reno
September 7—Tomorrow: Newport

Next, my pictures. They are on flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomholz/sets/625397/

Here are some other people’s pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/burningman2005/pool/

Burning Man is a week-long camping trip in the hot, dry, high altitude Black Rock salt flats. Forty-thousand participants—burners—populate the 7th largest city in Nevada for one week; they go home and the city dissapears into the dust for another year. We come to celebrate, mourn, smile, share, cry, dance, laugh, release, join, create, and live. Everyone is family; anyone is your next best friend. Nobody is vending. Nobody gets much sleep.

There.

Over the next several days I’m going to post additional writeups: ART, COMMUNITY, URBAN PLANNING, NIGHT-LIFE, LOGISTICS, ACTIVITIES, EXPRESSION, PSYCHE. Maybe more, maybe less, maybe others instead.

* * *

  1. Great description of BM Tom! — Rod    Oct 3, 07:28 AM    #

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