Weighing in on 2008: "The American Dream" theme
Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 8:11 am
My initial response to anything that is other than what I envision the purpose of Burning Man to be, is "blech!"
And had my mind not been on my recent return from the Black Rock Desert, I would have wondered, " whose agenda are they pushing now?"
Instead, I immediately recalled a paper I wrote in college for narrative writing titled, "The American Dream - Realized In Transit." Then, ofcourse, it didn't take much for me to realize what it is that I am attracted to in Burning Man as I realized how much of the memories of BM '07 are of the incredible drive I had getting there.
We all probably agree by now that Burning Man is not just one thing - it's not a unanimous philosophy or an agreed upon way of life - it is something very different and personal to each participant.
For me, Burning Man is about getting there and what a release it is from conventional society to extract myself from the "conditioned" way of evaluating my life and putting myself in a context that is more condusive to learning, fascination, wonderment, discovery, sharing, helping and gifting. And for me, that dream - the American Dream that was probably the impetus behind the growth of Route 66 - is without uncertainty, realized for me in transit. Of the many photos that I shot at BM this year, most of those I will display will be of the event. But there were just as many that were shot on my way there, and the route I chose was a chance to experience those places, those memories that are a part of my American Dream.
I think Larry Harvey (and my apologies for trying to quote him as he is probably the last person any of us want to be accused of quoting) said in one of his interviews on the Beyond Black Rock DVD that he may not be certain what that thing is that lures him to Black Rock but he does know that the intellectual and physical journey of getting there is a large part of it.
Like The Green Man theme, Burning Man has followed the 2008 Theme description with a sudo-disclaimer about what it is not supposed to be about in order to get us to arrive more quickly at what they would like it to be. So we understand it's about optimism and individual as well as cultural pursuits. But regradless of what the folks at BM LLC come up with as a theme, I'm still going to make the annual pilgrimage to what I jubilantly referred to as "my Mecca" when I struck the bell at the gates to BRC for the first time.
Yes, for me, The American Dream theme works and I can easily relate to it.
So that's my cut on the 2008 Theme, and I am very curious to see how many different descriptions of the American Dream theme are played out here on the ePlaya over the next 345 days.
See you on the Playa.
http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/560677628KgQiZp
And had my mind not been on my recent return from the Black Rock Desert, I would have wondered, " whose agenda are they pushing now?"
Instead, I immediately recalled a paper I wrote in college for narrative writing titled, "The American Dream - Realized In Transit." Then, ofcourse, it didn't take much for me to realize what it is that I am attracted to in Burning Man as I realized how much of the memories of BM '07 are of the incredible drive I had getting there.
We all probably agree by now that Burning Man is not just one thing - it's not a unanimous philosophy or an agreed upon way of life - it is something very different and personal to each participant.
For me, Burning Man is about getting there and what a release it is from conventional society to extract myself from the "conditioned" way of evaluating my life and putting myself in a context that is more condusive to learning, fascination, wonderment, discovery, sharing, helping and gifting. And for me, that dream - the American Dream that was probably the impetus behind the growth of Route 66 - is without uncertainty, realized for me in transit. Of the many photos that I shot at BM this year, most of those I will display will be of the event. But there were just as many that were shot on my way there, and the route I chose was a chance to experience those places, those memories that are a part of my American Dream.
I think Larry Harvey (and my apologies for trying to quote him as he is probably the last person any of us want to be accused of quoting) said in one of his interviews on the Beyond Black Rock DVD that he may not be certain what that thing is that lures him to Black Rock but he does know that the intellectual and physical journey of getting there is a large part of it.
Like The Green Man theme, Burning Man has followed the 2008 Theme description with a sudo-disclaimer about what it is not supposed to be about in order to get us to arrive more quickly at what they would like it to be. So we understand it's about optimism and individual as well as cultural pursuits. But regradless of what the folks at BM LLC come up with as a theme, I'm still going to make the annual pilgrimage to what I jubilantly referred to as "my Mecca" when I struck the bell at the gates to BRC for the first time.
Yes, for me, The American Dream theme works and I can easily relate to it.
So that's my cut on the 2008 Theme, and I am very curious to see how many different descriptions of the American Dream theme are played out here on the ePlaya over the next 345 days.
See you on the Playa.
http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/560677628KgQiZp
