By the way, thanks for pointing out the link to the street name discussion. I'll start posting over there - I didn't see that before.

Hummers and Jeeps are products for sale. Would it be alright to have a Hummer and Jeep expo on the playa? (even if the products were not for sale...) Obviously not. Burning Man in the past has gone to great lengths to ensure that big name dj's or performers should not advertise their name at Burning...

"..although jeep and hummer eventually 'appear' as though they are brand names, they did not start that way..." Hummer and Jeep sound like brand names to me. If you look at the map for this year, that's how they are listed on the map. BMORG has made a big issue of not using names for advertising at ...

How funny that Burning Man Org. has gotten into product placement this year by listing Jeep, Hummer and other corporate car names for the streets at Burning Man this year. Don't they want us every year to cover the names of our U-Hauls and other trucks we bring because we want no corporate represent...

myredcarpet and others who took an interest in this thread: I am very happy with the changes they made to the theme. Things that I notice they did to improve it: 1. BMORG's original suggestion that Burners shouldn't burn flags was removed from the theme language. This was smart, because people burn ...

I just read the final revised version of the the theme on the Burning Man site and have to say that I am very excited about it now. I think they incorporated a lot of what we wrote about here and I feel much more comfortable with it. I still think in the future it would be great if BMORG incorporate...

"I think that quite a few people are getting sucked in to one small tangent off this theme, patriotism and are using that as nothing more than an excuse to cover their own inability to find a way to work with this theme... Quit bitching like a bunch of fucking spectators...let's make this happen cau...

"America has done a lot of great things--and maybe, if we focused on those great things, and tried to build on them and expand them--instead of assigning the 'good' to the "globe" maybe something great could come of it....But if we re-assign all the good away from us them we make ourselves out to be...

"PATRIOTISM: A devoted love, support, and defense of one's country; national loyalty.... PERSONAL PRIDE: BINGO! THIS is what the theme asks us to artistically express. What are you, personally, on an immediate level, PROUD that America has acheived?" I'm glad that you are looking forward to expressi...

I just noticed Ladybee posting to some of the threads here - anyone else have any suggestions for additions to the theme? It would be great if they were responsive to some of the feedback here...

"I've read that people think it's patriotic - again, not true" - LadyBee Ladybee... the very first sentence blares out "This year's art theme is about patriotism." In fact, it goes on to define what kind of patriotism by saying we should 'leave ideology behind, leave red states and blue states and a...

"Well, one... the flags of 244 nations on the man pavillion seem to do that. " That's a start. But making the theme more explicitly inclusive of global Burners would be a good thing. I started out opposing the theme because many burners feel its exclusive and not expressive of our community as a GLO...

"It takes place in America and was started by Americans." No offense, but it takes place on the globe and is put on by global citizens as well. Every time someone says it's an "American Event" because it takes place in America is ignoring lots of other regional factors. It also takes place in Nevada...

Thanks Skiperdoo. I created this thread because I think it's important to provide constructive solutions, and not just complain about things we don't like. I think my second suggestion was a really good one, but no one has given any feedback on it. I suggested removing this section of the theme: “...

"Mmm, yes, now we're down to the meat of it - the disjunction between the current America(n Dream) and the ideal America(n Dream). In an ideal world, the world of my childhood, I'd be fiercely defensive of that flag. Now, I'm not so sure." funny how each of our own childhood experiences can tell us ...

"So... what if I decide to bring about a billion copies of the constitution to burn... like certain other people seem intent on doing..." If you sat there with a stack of constitutions to burn, you would probably get nothing but people rolling their eyes at you for being cynical and not creative. Bu...

I know... grilled cheese sandwiches and porn, how couldn't you love that!

And the dance parties they did in later years were fantastic too. Whatever happened to them?

wow - Mullingitover, that was very well written and added some new insights I hadn't thought of. Thanks for contributing your thoughts.

The theme for me is just like any other art on the playa. It can impact me and inspire me (as the Floating World did for me with all of the wacky sea art that I thought was really fun that year) or it doesn't interest you at all and you move on. But this year's theme is a little different, I think. ...

"I'd like to hear from some foreign burners... So far, everyone I have actually heard complain is from the states." CO, it's really easy to complain about things (even complaining about the complainers...), but I think it would be really great if you put down some ideas of how you would like to see ...

"yep, get to thinking." How about people think about something to contribute to the topic of this thread - giving Burning Man ideas about how to finish the theme, since right now it is "To Be Continued"... I'm all for thinking. That's why I contributed some ideas here. Does anyone else have some ide...

All Night!

"Let's not get caught up on semantics." I think you are right Michael that this is a topic that anyone can have something to say about, but as was just illustrated by the two of you, both "Black History" and the "American Dream" can be loaded topics to explore. Why are they loaded topics? Because wh...

"Tell them to get their noses out of the air...Whoever thinks this theme is at all exclusive is only excluding their self. Good riddance!" - Mikevds You sound like you have your nose pretty high in the air yourself if you think you know how international Burners ought to feel about this, and say 'go...

"American" does not mean United States. Canadians, Mexicans, Brazilians, Chileans, Panamanians, all of these are American. It is people from the states that are stuck on the American thing. America is 2 frickin continents." Fine. But what could it hurt to include something that says explicitly that ...

Suggestion 2.

There is one sentence that I would suggest they alter:

“Leave ideology at home; forget the blue states and the red; let parties, factions and the so-called issues that divide us fall away. Flag burning or flag worship play no part in this year's theme.â€

Suggestion 1

The theme already says - “We are all immigrants to the playaâ€

So this year’s theme is partly written already, but the end of the theme says “To Be Continued…â€

I mean, I jumped into this thread Val because I think you have a good idea – to focus on the “Dreamâ€

"Uh. That wasn't the question. The question/theme isn't "what do you dream for America?" but rather "what is the 'American Dream'?"" good grief - Dream for America, American Dream, "The" American Dream... the American Experience... I'm trying to be creative and work with you on what I think of the t...