Why do we call Burning Man 'home'?

[jessdev]

Hi all,
I just wanted to share this video I created about why many call Burning Man 'home'. I interviewed random people and filmed it over the past few years, enjoy!

[media]

[JohnEBGud]

Nice!

[Elderberry]

Thanks.

[Krokodyle]

To me, the best vids are the ones that make you miss your playa family, and yours does so quite well. Thank you.

[Dr. Pyro]

My guess is because PRISON was already taken.

[lucky420]

I dont call burning man "home". Its a lovely place to be and i get to see and be with some of my best friends but unless my super comfy bed is there it's not home...

[Jackass]

Is it because our enlightened hippie predecessors insisted that it was?..

[remi]

I never felt Burning Man was home until this year at the Space Gnomes Welcome Gnome Red & White party. Canadian burners from Alberta/BC attended this, and it literally felt like I was dancing with all my best friends. When I looked around in the crown I recognized more people then I didn't recognize. Because I'm heavily involved with the Alberta regional event, it felt like I was partying at home.. I loved it until I came to the realization that I spent thousands of dollars and travelled for 24 hours to go to this hot dusty hell hole to party with the same people that I party with when I'm home. One night with all those familiar faces was great, but I spent the rest of the week as a wondering spirit. Fuck I love burning man.

[ranger magnum]

Its not home, at least for me.

Its a week long party in the desert. No more, no less.

My home is way better than being on the playa.

[Elliot]

Being in BRC feels very much like "home" to me. That is, I feel complete and comfortable there. And I am specially happy to have so many wonderful friends around.

Of course, my real home is a rickety trailer-house in a culturally deprived town. Very different from the fabulous house I had in Sacramento, and friends and events there. (But there I had a big mortgage, and not enough space. I moved here so I could pay cash for a big yard.)

Still, the atmosphere in BRC -- and I use "atmosphere" to encompass pretty much everything -- appeals to my idealism. I'm often shocked by the crassness of regular society.

All that said.... I feel that "home" is not a good word to use for BRC, since it causes confusion. ("Which home do you mean today?") Given the choice, I might say something like "Welcome to Utopia." Or simply "Welcome to Black Rock City (or just Black Rock)."

[Captain Goddammit]

Well put, but I'd not hang the term "utopia" on BRC! Hell no!
It's guided by lost-touch nuts, governed by corporate types, populated with lots of yahoos, the weather usually sucks ass, and it's a big money pit.
It's fun, certainly. But utopia? I dunno...

[engineer2012]

Indeed, well put. Home is where I live with my wife and kids. Burning Man is, well, how I explained it to people who have never been, the most magical place on earth, for one week a year.

[Elliot]

.
But what is Burning Man?

Let’s try this fanciful definition:

Think 1953… and imagine if Walt Disney had bought those 160 acres,
torn out the orange trees – and then given up, hopped a train to Detroit
and spent the rest of his life putting hubcaps on Fords. There would be a
huge flat area of nothing there in Anaheim.

But then imagine Disneyland being created anyway, by the thousands
and thousands of ticket-buying visitors – each and every one bringing a
tiny piece of amusement park from home and installing it himself.

That’s what we do at Burning Man. For one week a year.

70,000 people invent, build, bring, assemble, and operate the entire
“Black Rock Amusement Park”, and take turns on each others’ space
mountains and haunted mansions and jungle cruises.
This is called Interactivity.

(From my camp's website.)
.

[Captain Goddammit]

Elliot you're so good at putting!

[Elliot]

Putting? I have never held a golf stick in my life.

[Aurelia]

This is a great discussion !

And I appreciate Elliot's eloquence.

Only this week when I used a chair for the holiday and a bag to carry food in ,
everyone noticed them and commented ;
"Oh ! That was at Burning Man !"

Yes, there is an ephemeral lingering on everything we do, say , or bring.
And it is more than one week long.
Although I admit to staying too long this year.

xoA.

[Skuzzy61]

As this could be our first Burning Man (hope we can get tickets), we are opting to call it an EarthSpot. A spot where the constraints of a maligned and twisted socioeconomic status quo do not exist. A spot where the freedom of expression is, not only alive, but thriving. A spot where I can look at you, and you look at me, and all we see are human beings being human.

Corny? Unrealistic? Yeah, the default world can suck sometimes. At the end of the day, we hope to have a blast and shred these man-made constructs for a brief period of time and allow us to be us with you.

[engineer2012]

And it is more than one week long.

xoA.

Yes, I agree. For me the magic is for a week in BRC. The principles I try do live year round.

[trilobyte]

Congrats on the video, it's nicely done... And this is a fun discussion. I don't think of BRC as home myself... I think the term is a sort of burner colloquialism, it's used in a variety of ways but the gist is that it's the place where people who don't fit in... fit in.

Don't let the term fool you, though. It's certainly not sustainable, or even very habitable. Hell, it's only barely habitable during the tiny window of the event, and that's pretty much the best weather it gets all year. All climate and geography issues aside, though... One of the great realizations and self-discoveries to be made at Burning Man is that you can do damned near anything, and you can try and take some of the ideas that really resonate with you back home and make Defaultia a better place. Go out to funky parties and crazy events, or throw your own... Make stuff... Participate in the community... Gifting and volunteerism... And so on.

Maybe the way I should think of the term is that 'this is what I want my home to be more like' instead

[vargaso]

BRC isn't necessarily home to me, but as soon as I set foot on the playa, I breathe easier than anywhere else. So, I'm not sure what I'd call that. Sanctuary, maybe?

[Captain Goddammit]

I think that's called a lull in between the dust storms.

[Elliot]

I like "sanctuary".

[Aurelia]

AND you can choose !

xoA.

[Leo]

We call Burning Man home because there is no place like it.

[ygmir]

I like "sanctuary".

[media]

[Captain Goddammit]

I like "sanctuary".

Makes me think of "Logan's Run"

[vargaso]

I like "sanctuary".

Makes me think of "Logan's Run"

Ha, true. And there's already a Carousel party out there.