What The Tuck Is Burning Man?
A lil' Throwback Thursday to Burning Man’s American Dream in 2008, ‘cause this is where I'll be next week, and this is where I was eight years ago. Many have asked me: What’s Burning Man?
In short… it’s a temporary metropolis built in the middle of the desert in Nevada, and a week later, it disappears. You bring in everything you need to survive for a week: food, water, shelter… When it’s over, you leave no trace behind.
It is not a festival, or a concert, or a rave, or a hippie fest. Instead, it's an oasis of creativity, an alternate universe, and definitely not for the faint of heart or the weak or the close minded. It’s based on key principles of radical inclusion, radical self-expression, and radical self-reliance.
Expect the unexpected. Be as weird as you want. Find your spirituality. Party till the sun rises. Practice yoga. Go to the orgy dome (100% serious on this one, it exists.. there's a camp for everything.). Climb sculptures and appreciate massive artwork through miles of the barren desert. Be as high as a kite or a sober as you'd like. There are no cars, except mutant vehicles that resemble floats of sorts. Your transportation of choice is your legs or a bike.
It all comes at your own risk, though. Everything you need for the week, you must bring it with you. And everything you bring with you, you must take out once the week is over. Leave no trace behind. You need to plan months in advance to make sure you bring enough water, have shelter, have shade, have food and anything else you could possibly need for all of the potential situations you can face in Black Rock City. And let me tell you... ANYTHING can and will happen. Dust storms, lighting storms, torrential downpour, excruciating heat, freezing cold nights. Be prepared to be covered in dust, smell bad, and have greasy hair. Connection to the outside world is very minimal. This means you won't be checking email, Instagram, Facebook, reddit or anything else... because well wifi is spotty and cell service is unreliable. Once you've completed a 12-step program of being disconnected from tech, you'll start to appreciate this beautiful experience.
News travels fast at BM, but of course, it's all word of mouth. "Have you seen this yet?" or "have you done this yet?". There is so much to see and do, and so many moments are fleeting, that it's impossible to experience it all. It's probably impossible to experience even 5% of it.
All in all, I'm super excited. Burning Man is a place that gives you hope for humanity that I wish everyone could experience at least once in their lifetime. It's hard to explain the experience because it is what you make of it.
Have you been or are you going this year? Comment on Instagram!