My first regional experience.

[HughMungus]

Wow.

I've been to Burning Man six times since 1997 but had never been to a regional. I guess I thought it would be "not as good" as going to BRC but I was wrong. It's not the same as going to Burning Man, itself, but only because it's different, not because it's "not as good".

One thing I thought was funny was that when you say to someone at a regional, "See ya later!" you mean it because the events are so much smaller that you WILL see them later (same with "I'll be right back"; you might get distracted by the blinky lights and seductive fire but it's easier to actually make it back to wherever you wanted to return to). [This inability to coordinate things easily at BRC has always been a problem I've turned over in my head. Maybe this will get better when we all get GPS installed in our skull. :D]

Another thing I liked was feeling more secure. While I generally feel safer at Burning Man than anywhere else in the world, I felt like I could leave my stuff out, leave my truck unlocked, etc. (all within reason, of course). I always meet and try to get to know my neighbors at BRC but I felt like my "neighborhood" was much larger at our regional.

Another thing I *loved* (especially being from outside the west coast area) was that when you meet people, they are generally from where you're from, not on the other side of the country. There's nothing wrong with meeting people in BRC from all over the place, but, it's nice to meet people you might actually get to go have a drink with the following week.

The intimacy also means that running public camps is easier (public camps being anywhere that invites people into their space). You get to know who is coming in and out of your camp. People seem to be more relaxed and into each other. I love the giant spectacle that Burning Man is but since at regionals there's not as much to go see or do, there's not this constant pressure that you have to go see or do this or that before such and such time. Since there were fewer people, I wasn't CONSTANTLY meeting new people. I got to spend more time with individuals and get to know them in more depth than I *normally* would in BRC.

I just wanted to post this to encourage people to go to regionals. I was ho-hum about it and originally only wanted to go to get to know my local burners better. I came away with an experience that I cherish as much as going to BRC.