Any future envisioned to be “like Burning Man” will have to wrestle with this fundamental fact: Burning Man forces you to make meaningful choices. Some people do this well, some people do it poorly, and some don’t really know how to do it and just follow the herd they’re with. But the option to make a meaningful choice … here, right now, in this moment … is constant at Burning Man.
Burning Man is not an escape from personal responsibility – it is an embrace of it. How else would you explain the mass numbers of people who take their “leisure” at Burning Man by building vast and elaborate camps, or spending the entire year designing a massive sculpture or crafting an art car out of scrap?
This has nothing to do with sex and drugs and leisure: these people made a choice. No one forced them to. In many cases no one even asked them to. No one said it would be easy, and it virtually never is. They did it anyway.
Burning Man is perhaps too often thought of as a vacation or escape when in fact it is a series of ongoing existential choices. Given the chance to do anything … anything at all … in a place where almost anything is possible, what do you do?
Burning Blog » Blog Archive » Burning Man may be the future, but it’s not an escape
Showing posts with label Reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reading. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Friday, February 22, 2013
Basic necessities for your playa-tripping survival pack or tote
From: Burning Man Camping Hints and Tips
External Hang Tag with your name and camp location, as well as your home contact information, in case it gets separated from you (like an airport luggage tag)
Seriously, don't skip the hang tag: how many people have you talked to who lost their daypacks at Burning Man? It's a real bummer to lose your stuff! With contact information, you might get it back.
Water bottle(s) -- Never leave home without water!
A cup -- for partaking of offered beverages
Powerbar or some other non-meltable snack
Sunscreen, sunblock, lip balm
Sunglasses, eye drops
Flashlight, glow sticks (You might be gone longer than you think)
Long sleeved cotton shirt or jacket
Band-aids, moleskin, basic first aid, Swiss army pocket knife
Dust mask, handkerchief, dust scarf (see clothing section for dust scarf hint)
Pen, pencil, or marker, and paper (there are things to write on)
$10 for chai or latte at the cafe, or maybe you will want to buy ice on the way back to camp
Clean pair of sox (seriously)
Condoms and other such things? (Your scoutmaster would be impressed)
Small garbage bag (to corral your trash or pick up trash you see blowing around)
Mints or some such
Toothbrush and toothpaste (hygiene is so much fun!)
External Hang Tag with your name and camp location, as well as your home contact information, in case it gets separated from you (like an airport luggage tag)
Seriously, don't skip the hang tag: how many people have you talked to who lost their daypacks at Burning Man? It's a real bummer to lose your stuff! With contact information, you might get it back.
Water bottle(s) -- Never leave home without water!
A cup -- for partaking of offered beverages
Powerbar or some other non-meltable snack
Sunscreen, sunblock, lip balm
Sunglasses, eye drops
Flashlight, glow sticks (You might be gone longer than you think)
Long sleeved cotton shirt or jacket
Band-aids, moleskin, basic first aid, Swiss army pocket knife
Dust mask, handkerchief, dust scarf (see clothing section for dust scarf hint)
Pen, pencil, or marker, and paper (there are things to write on)
$10 for chai or latte at the cafe, or maybe you will want to buy ice on the way back to camp
Clean pair of sox (seriously)
Condoms and other such things? (Your scoutmaster would be impressed)
Small garbage bag (to corral your trash or pick up trash you see blowing around)
Mints or some such
Toothbrush and toothpaste (hygiene is so much fun!)
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