Hi,
My name is Derek, and I am a 42 year old man in Chicago, IL. I've never been to Burning Man before, but recently spoke about it to an acquaintance who just got back, and now I'm very interested in going next year, if it is feasible. The only way I could make this happen is if I hook up with a group of other pilgrims from my area, so we can make the trek out there together and pool our resources. Does anybody know anybody in or around Chicago who might be making plans to attend next year, and who would be willing to consider a partnership?
One problem is that I have very little camping experience, and have never spent time in the desert before. I'm intelligent and in good physical shape, so if somebody were patient enough to work with me on my survival skills, I'm sure I could do OK there; and, of course, I would pitch in with all the work. I'm not really an artistic person myself, although I love good literature, music, theatre, and anything else that can stimulate one's imagination and give one a glimpse of beauty, so I'm sure I would enjoy the creative environment at Burning Man.
Chicago to Burning Man 2006?
-
geekster
- Posts: 4865
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Some suggestions for you:
Hook up with your regional group of burners. The Burning Man web page has this for you:
http://regionals.burningman.com/us_il_chi.html
This will get you a way in to meeting other area burners. They might also have some regional events so you can get more practical experiance in what it's like to camp with a bunch of burners, leave no trace ideas, etc. You might even find some really cool people to make the trek to BRC with.
One suggestion that I have for first timers. Don't put a lot of pressure on yourself to "get it right" the first time because really, that is very difficult to do. Go for comfort your first burn. I would rather suggest that someone do as much exploring as possible their first year. Try to be a sponge to an extent because there is such a wide variety of stuff it is impossible to really prepare you for it in advance, you need to experiance it. I would also suggest you not overextend yourself in biting off more volunteer activities than you can chew. The reason is that it is very easy for burn night to roll around and you find that you have been so busy working at various activities that you didn't really have a chance to experiance much or interact with a lot of the various kinds of camps. Now you wake up on Sunday afternoon and things are coming down and you need to work on packing up your camp.
Don't worry the first year. Look at everything, interact with as much as you can, meet people, help where you can but keep moving. On your way home your head will be simply exploding for ideas the following year. THEN you can make a more intelligent decision about where you want to focus your efforts or what kind of art you want to make, etc. It is really hard to do it when you are going to a place that simply has no definition. For example, if someone asked you "what is in Chicago?" what would you tell them? There is a fuckton of stuff there. You can't know where you are really going to find your niche until you have had a chance to know which niches are available to you.
Also, many people take way too much shit. Again, I personally wouldn't tell someone to worry too much about costumes and a boatlad of tools and stuff like that their first time. Take clothing you are comfortable in, know that it gets FUCKING COLD at night so have some clothes for that too. Know that it will be windy as hell and dust will get into everything and you will learn to love that dust. Get a hydration pack (the sort found in Target will do just fine) from any sporting goods department or store, a flashlight that can be clipped to the pack, a headlamp, a beater bike (or you can possibly buy one in Gerlach near the event for $40 or so) and a cup that can also be clipped to the backback. I use a stainless steel camp cup. Oh, and a metal spoon or spork that can also be clipped to the pack or hung by a rope around the neck for when someone offers you something tasty. Put some snacks in the pack that won't melt or spoil such as jerky, dried fruit, etc. and go out and explore! Meet people, talk to them.
One good easy way to meet people is to go to the BRC post office and offer your services as a postal delivery person. Pick a part of the city you would like to see and get some mail that is addressed to camps in that area. Go deliver the mail and discover new and interesting people and camps. If you are headed to center camp, ask camps along the way if they have any outgoing mail for you to take to the post office. Again, it is a very easy way to meet people and provides a volunteer service at the same time.
Just remember sunscreen, get a hat and wear it during the day, find shade and a place to sit when you can, and when you find a burn barrel going at night, stop and warm up a bit. You will meet some more great people and get some awesome ideas that way too.
Hook up with your regional group of burners. The Burning Man web page has this for you:
http://regionals.burningman.com/us_il_chi.html
This will get you a way in to meeting other area burners. They might also have some regional events so you can get more practical experiance in what it's like to camp with a bunch of burners, leave no trace ideas, etc. You might even find some really cool people to make the trek to BRC with.
One suggestion that I have for first timers. Don't put a lot of pressure on yourself to "get it right" the first time because really, that is very difficult to do. Go for comfort your first burn. I would rather suggest that someone do as much exploring as possible their first year. Try to be a sponge to an extent because there is such a wide variety of stuff it is impossible to really prepare you for it in advance, you need to experiance it. I would also suggest you not overextend yourself in biting off more volunteer activities than you can chew. The reason is that it is very easy for burn night to roll around and you find that you have been so busy working at various activities that you didn't really have a chance to experiance much or interact with a lot of the various kinds of camps. Now you wake up on Sunday afternoon and things are coming down and you need to work on packing up your camp.
Don't worry the first year. Look at everything, interact with as much as you can, meet people, help where you can but keep moving. On your way home your head will be simply exploding for ideas the following year. THEN you can make a more intelligent decision about where you want to focus your efforts or what kind of art you want to make, etc. It is really hard to do it when you are going to a place that simply has no definition. For example, if someone asked you "what is in Chicago?" what would you tell them? There is a fuckton of stuff there. You can't know where you are really going to find your niche until you have had a chance to know which niches are available to you.
Also, many people take way too much shit. Again, I personally wouldn't tell someone to worry too much about costumes and a boatlad of tools and stuff like that their first time. Take clothing you are comfortable in, know that it gets FUCKING COLD at night so have some clothes for that too. Know that it will be windy as hell and dust will get into everything and you will learn to love that dust. Get a hydration pack (the sort found in Target will do just fine) from any sporting goods department or store, a flashlight that can be clipped to the pack, a headlamp, a beater bike (or you can possibly buy one in Gerlach near the event for $40 or so) and a cup that can also be clipped to the backback. I use a stainless steel camp cup. Oh, and a metal spoon or spork that can also be clipped to the pack or hung by a rope around the neck for when someone offers you something tasty. Put some snacks in the pack that won't melt or spoil such as jerky, dried fruit, etc. and go out and explore! Meet people, talk to them.
One good easy way to meet people is to go to the BRC post office and offer your services as a postal delivery person. Pick a part of the city you would like to see and get some mail that is addressed to camps in that area. Go deliver the mail and discover new and interesting people and camps. If you are headed to center camp, ask camps along the way if they have any outgoing mail for you to take to the post office. Again, it is a very easy way to meet people and provides a volunteer service at the same time.
Just remember sunscreen, get a hat and wear it during the day, find shade and a place to sit when you can, and when you find a burn barrel going at night, stop and warm up a bit. You will meet some more great people and get some awesome ideas that way too.
Pabst Blue Ribbon - The beer that made Gerlach famous.
Hi, Derek,
Drop by
http://regionals.burningman.com/us_il_chi.html
and take a look. Burningman.com has lots of info, and if you do a search there on Chicago, I'm sure you'll turn up a lot of contacts.
If you haven't camped before, start camping now. Do a couple of weekend trips this fall, then start up again in the spring and summer to get used to pitching your tent, cooking on a campstove and such.
Phil
Drop by
http://regionals.burningman.com/us_il_chi.html
and take a look. Burningman.com has lots of info, and if you do a search there on Chicago, I'm sure you'll turn up a lot of contacts.
If you haven't camped before, start camping now. Do a couple of weekend trips this fall, then start up again in the spring and summer to get used to pitching your tent, cooking on a campstove and such.
Phil