inog wrote:mshaman wrote: I wish all virgins were as quick to participate as you. But really, I wish all burners, regardless of their "seniority", were as quick to participate as you. I know a lot of people who just come to the party and have been doing so for years. They are spectators.
I am a virgin.
I will be a spectator. But I plan to be more than a spectator.
And if you think about it, it takes a pretty freaking high level of narcissism to go to an event like Burning Man and not be a spectator.
Knowing that you'll be more than a spectator is a good thing... I hope you offer something groovy to the playa.
Knowing that you're a virgin helps me calm down in our debate and understand why my point about the lottery's effect on collective works doesn't seem tangible to you at this point. I suspect that once you hit the playa and hear everyone say "yeah, you should've seen the Trojan Horse last year, there's nothing like it on the playa this year", or "Yeah, there used to be this awesome 80-foot art car like a full-size Viking ship, it breathed fire... I wonder why I haven't seen it...", that my position may seem more relevant, even if your conviction that the lottery is better remains.
With regard to contribution, I think it's a dance. You watch the spectacle, you contribute to the spectacle. There's a time for each. But just showing up and taking the gifts of the playa year after year without giving back by participating, whether its in a collective or as an individual, seems pretty selfish to me, and that's what I was commenting on. And yes, lots of the most productive artists are insufferable narcissists. I wouldn't date them. But I dig their crazy sculpture.
The road of life is littered with flat squirrels who couldn't decide.