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We lost a good one today. This man's influence has been a kind of substrata for a lot of interesting things that have happened over the last few decades. Many great artists, performers, innovators and thinkers have found inspiration in a realm where he held space for people to be "who they really are". This man touched the entire world... yet... how many know his name?

Anemynous 7 Apr 28
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I like this personal account because it's not just a montage of exciting moments, but it's still well shot and edited and gives some impression of the beautiful, human, quiet (relatively) and subtle things that also happen there too.

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A few more..

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Here are a few snapshots... I noticed I was favoring big art.. but there is awesome regular sized art, tiny art, kinetic art.... lots and lots of living art... The white haired folks are founders, I have personal anecdotes about a few of them. There a lot of young supple bodies there, but we got our grizzled desert rats too... I had to include this to chide anyone who feels drawn to go but thinks they are too old. You aren't.

Hah..! I can attest to that. Should be added that old folks are as readily accepted as well.

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I have no idea what kind of person I would be if it weren't for Burning Man. Beyond the pretense and stigmas which have been lain upon it both by main stream and counter-culture critics, the ethos of Burning Man from the very moment of it's inception was to cultivate a space where individuals felt safe to express themselves as radically as they felt compelled to. There are few places on earth (if any) I have felt freer and more appreciated among other people.

I've only been 7 times... most of them in my 20s. My last visit was 2010. Now if you see photos of this festival and it turns you off, nothing I say is gonna convince you, and if I did, you'd probably have a lousy time anyway. If you like what you see... GO! At least once. It's always changing... it's not what it once was... etc, etc... however. For now, it's still one of the most prolifically creative environments on earth, despite all cynical caveats.

Nobody's too old or young for this thing... though some may be more concerned than I about exposing children to wild adults, I have seen no harm come of it, and I know many who went as children that are now amazing young men and women and do not seem worse off, if anything, the opposite. I've met many elders there as well... hell... the founders all have white hair now, they still go. People from all walks of life, from all over the Earth come here. Just think ahead, and remember you are required to be self sufficient, there is almost no vending... you can get tea coffee and ice at center camp. That's it. I think those proceeds support some local youth program or something. You will also need to take your garbage with you. This is one of the things that sets this place apart. No damn advertising! No one trying to sell things! Do all your capitalism before you go through the gate. If you are a light sleeper, forget about sleeping for 3 days... (that's how long it takes for me before my brain figures out how to ignore sound) people do not go to Burning Man to sleep.

Burning Man is exceedingly diverse, experience wise. Anyone with a camera can take amazing photos worthy of framing. If you don't like whatever your experience is... all you have to do is keep walking. Folks who try to pigeon hole Burning Man stopped in their tracks and made up their minds... if they had gone up the next street they may have seen a man in a barrel with a plucked chicken that would lead them to an epiphany. Come to think of it.. Diogenes would have been right at home here. It's impossible to see all of it. If you need some spark in your life or a kick in the pants to change your perspective... this is one way to go about it.

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I have never gone to burning man but ive always wanted to check it out. Last major shindig I went to was Pax Prime in Seattle. Two words. Geek Mecca. 'Nuff said.

Absolutely go. At least once in your life.

@Anemynous; I will certianly make an effort to. But I is a college student, atm. Kind of hard for me to scratch up the cheddar to go!

@Parzival Oh yes! The struggle is real... back when I first went... I was in my early 20s... and basically, I just didn't care what kind of problems I would be returning home to, so long as I got myself there... Ha! I can't say I feel that way anymore... It's better to prepare so you don't have a pile of stress to come back to after your life - altering experience. I'd recommend linking up with an established camp, so you don't have to provide as much of your own infrastructure... there is usually some kind of "buy in" for food and shared amenities. But even just a coalition of your own buddies will make it easier then going solo. I've done both and they both have certain qualities... camps can get "dramatic"... that's one advantage of being solo. If you do go on your own, you will likely enjoy hospitality from a lot of different directions if you post up close to other larger groups. People are constantly offering things and sharing stuff...

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This video is dance heavy, and that certainly is a huge part of Burning Man... but there is a lot more than that going on! Basically, anyone who runs a camera is going to reveal a lot about themselves as they reveal what they are attracted to at Burning Man. I was downloading photos to share, and I noticed I kept picking landscapes with giant art... but I like to dance too! ha ha ha...

@Anemynous -- As for myself, I'm more into the moving art and the light work. Some incredible people build during Burning Man. It's the engineer in me, I guess.

@evidentialist Did you go during any of the years that David Best built the Temple? I was very impressed by his work. Even the camp where he and his builders located themselves was intricately detailed and well planned. Really, he is the whole reason "The Temple" became a fixture at Burning Man. I think he did 5 or 6 years and then passed the torch to others. The temples built since then are also lovely, but in my opinion none have yet matched the skill and design sense he brought. I'm pretty sure the one in the photo I posted is one of his designs. It's fascinating to watch the culture evolve.

@Anemynous -- '98 and '99 were my only two, so I've never seen one of his temples in person. I've seen only videos, but even just in video they are incredibly impressive. I ended by contract in Mexico at the end of '99 and wound up permanently stationed here. Most of my traveling since then has been between here and Juarez, Mexico. Old line from a song describes my life since then: "...don't get around much anymore..."

@evidentialist Nice! Those were my first two years. Back then, we had Pepe Ozan and the Burning Opera...

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Dude I'll forget YOUR name as soon as you say it to me

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Larry Harvey.
I didn't know until a Google image search.

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I sure don’t.

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Can't say I know him. Enlighten me?

@Aralt Thanks

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