Burning Man Pics

My camp consolidates our respective pictures and shares them amongst ourselves. My copy got held up so I just received it last week and have been looking through 6,500 pictures that were included. So many bring back memories of the playa while others reveal things I had not even seen. I decided to share some of those pictures that I didn't believe to display others in too compromising of a position. Here's batch 1...

The start of the naked pub crawl

Unplanned, but zaney socks became my signature last year

There was an incredibly beautiful double rainbow the day I arrived

Loss

Remember the 18 y/o college freshman from Rutgers university that jumped off the George Washington bridge when he discovered that he was video tapped having gay sex? Well evidently the guy (and girl) that participated in tapping him are in a world of trouble.

Although there's a part of me that wants to see justice done, I can't help but feel the pain of loss as three young lives are irreversibly ruined when they should have been looking forward to a hopefully wonderful future. I wonder what the assailants motivations were. Was it to cause emotional harm? Was it as a asinine joke or perhaps just one of those incredibly dumb things that we do when we're that age? I sure don't know, but the consequences are all too clear and it is all so unfortunate.

What Is Burning Man

This is something I get asked quite a bit and yet still have trouble answering. I found this description on the web the other day and thought it a perfect even if incomplete description.

For those unfamiliar: It’s an art festival, showcasing thousands of sculptures and modified cars and creative structures. It’s a music festival, with hundreds of makeshift venues for DJ’s and musicians. It’s a costume festival, with everyone wearing something extraordinary, if they choose to wear something at all. It’s a conference for the mind, offering free lectures and educational seminars from thinkers across the creative-arts-and social science spectrum. It’s a religious festival, steering clear of organized dogma into the realms of free expression, open worship of the universe, and a deep reverence for the beauty of diversity. It’s a love festival, where nudity is accepted, sex is acceptable, and tantric workshops are held. It’s a community of likeminded individuals gathering in a remote place to avoid the confused, ignorant reaction of those who simply don’t get it, and probably never will. It’s a backlash against corporate America, where no brands or advertisements or promotion is allowed. It’s the wildest, most hedonistic party you’ve ever seen. And most of all, Burning Man is none of these things at all.