I have an important question--will decide my fate.

[harymitch]

Hi, I'm Hary from Atlanta.

My friends and I have heard a lot about Burning Man, have visited the site and read forum reports, and we are much more than impressed.

But I heard from another friend, who was talking to someone they knew who had gone many times, that the inhabitants tend to range from ages 30 and up. While I saw on the site that one must be 18 years of age to participate, I was wondering if it is advisable for a group of people right at or just above 18 years of age to go.

I know that Burning Man is quite possibly the most accepting culture there is, but in a honesty, would you advise us--being 18--to attend?

please answer honestly

Thanks
Peace & Love
Hary

[AntiM]

Yes. There's plenty of folks your age, our camp has folks from 18 to 50. Once you hit the playa, age melts away and makes little difference. Other than you won't be served drinks in any of the camp bars, but that's not so different from the default world is it?

Welcome Home.

[mdmf007]

Hary -

If your over 18 your an adult, if you consider yourself an adult and act like one you will have a blast. If you still consider yourself a kid, stay home it will be to overwhelming.

Ultimately the decision is yours, Me - I regret not finding BM until I was in my mid twenties. If it were a religion I would be as involved as Ned Flanders is in his church.

Later and look me up on PLaya I love meeting people.

Also Like antiM said the only thing you cant do there is drink legally, your not going to do that are you?

later all.

[bdeywoo]

Honestly after a day of playa dust on your face, you cant really tell someones age. Come join us, you will not regret it!

[Dork]

If you don't like being around people outside your age range (above and below) and aren't willing to make an effort to communicate with someone on their level, you might not have a great time out there. This goes whether you're 8 or 18 or 30 or 70. As for whether other people include you in their fun, I think the only problem you'll run into is with getting access to alcohol. There have been some crackdowns and some bars are carding or turning away people who look young. If you're open to being around people who are a little different than your normal group you should have a great time.

[misfit]

as dork said its not your age, but your attitude that matters. we would love to see you on the playa......

[CapSmashy]

A third vote for its all about the attitude.

I have 19 year olds that work for me that are far more mature and responsible than the 30/40 somethings I fired last week.

[SnowBlind]

...that the inhabitants tend to range from ages 30 and up.

I dont think thats true at all. Burning Man hands out questionaires every year for a census. While not everybody returns one, I'd think that its fairly representative. It has a pie chart for the age, and you can see that 4% are under 21 and 31% are between 21-30. That makes 35% of participants 30 and under. So by no means is the event 30 and up.

Check out the census for 04: http://afterburn.burningman.com/04/cens ... index.html

Come on out, you'll enjoy it.

[Blackbird]

...that the inhabitants tend to range from ages 30 and up.

<snip>That makes 35% of participants 30 and under. So by no means is the event 30 and up.

.

Not by law, but it does indeed mean that 65% of them are over thirty. Which is a majority. Anyway, age shouldnt matter.

[BAS]

There are people of all ages, physically, chronologically, and mentally at Burning Man. Unfortunately, there was no Burning Man when I was at your age (then again, I didn't have the resources to go then, either. Didn't have them until 2006, actually).

If you want the advice of a 40-something year old, I'd say "Go for it!". After all, if you find out you aren't enjoying it, you can always leave, I guess.

B.

[timburly]

Get your ass out to the playa :-p

[gyre]

I had a car come through the gate with one new burner in it- six months old.
The young one had been to ten burns.
Grandmother was driving.

Nobody knows what the ratio is.
There's a lot of younger people, but they won't fill out the forms.

If thirty bothers you, you might not like it out of the rave camps.
But then, why leave the house at all?

Anyway, if there are 40000 people,
newcomers won't be allowed in this year.

[StevenGoodman]

Kind of, sort of.

Just don't think Burning Man is a place where a bunch of 18-20 year olds can show up and get smashed and drunk without anyone noticing! Even at BM, and in all of NV, it is not legal to serve booze to people under 21.

Does NOT mean you can not come and have a GREAT time, whatever that means! But your expectations need to stay at home.

[harymitch]

hey guys, thanks alot

youve been more than helpful.

dont worry about us, bc we arent likely to get smashed and be obnoxious and immature. besides, we intend to remember the Burn.

only thing now is getting the dough, and making sure the Burn isnt going to be the first week of college! (though it may be worth it....nothing happens the first week anyways...)
see you at the Man, hopefully,
peace & love

hary

[pinemom]

it does take place during the first week of college, and elementary school, middle school and high schools.

[BAS]

I'd be inclined to say skip the first week of college, then again, I DID flunk out, repeatedly!

(Of course, there is the point a friend of mine would make, in order to justify his Political Science major-- are you going to college to get an education, or to go into a particular career? In my case, college gave me an education, even without getting a degree.)

B.

[theCryptofishist]

Next time we decide someone's fate, can it be a life or death matter?

[theCryptofishist]

Bad Fishy!!!! You know you aren't supposed to play stupid games with newbies in this thread. Only in Generla Discussion. You're a disgrace to your scales! AntiM and Spect are going to ROAST you!!! Go to the corner!!!

[BAS]

Oh shoot! Does this mean I am in trouble for advising them to skip school?!

(I'll be over in the corner with the fish, I guess....)


B.

[AntiM]

But I don't like Roasted Fish! Can I fry her instead? Poach?

[skeetsh00ter]

Hey Harry! glad to see someone else from Atlanta on the eplaya, i thought i was all alone. myself, and my friend i'm going to be going with this year are both 21, we should all try and get together some time. And definitely skip the first week of school. For me, (at UGA) i will be going to school on the fitst two days (thursday and friday) and then leaving as soon as class is over on friday, so we will be missing the whole next week of school, plus maybe tuesday the next week depending on how long the drive back takes us.

i'm sure it will be worth it.

keep in touch.

[theCryptofishist]

But I don't like Roasted Fish! Can I fry her instead? Poach?

Now That's a life or death fate question I can get behind!!

[Cabana Springs]

I'm look'n and look'n and I just can't find the Generla Discussion!

[harymitch]

skeetsh00ter, sounds greaet, man. My sister goes to UGA. as it turns out GC&SU starts August 15. wont be the end of the world to miss the second or third or so week.

So, if things go our way we'll be going. the source we got that "youll be out-of-place" shit from was probably just trying to scare us. it sounded strange to me, but i figured id check it out.

theCryptofishist, Sorry about the "will decide my fate" title. im afraid it was misleading.
Im very sorry, NOBODY IS DYING. Ive just had forum issues in the past--get no response--so i tried to find a topic that would encourage response.
peace & love
hary

[mojo]

I vaguely remember a wonderful piece that was written by a college student who had run out of emergencies to pretend to have as an excuse to miss the first week of school. He had killed off grandparents, etc. in prior years at the same school and was casting about for a good excuse for the last year of graduate study at the same school.

It was very funny and well written. Any other oldtimers remember this? I don't know if it was a Blackrock Gazette article - maybe.

Anyway, welcome Hary - we like your energy. Stop by Jungle Camp and say hello.

[SnowBlind]

and making sure the Burn isnt going to be the first week of college! (though it may be worth it....nothing happens the first week anyways...)

I vaguely remember a wonderful piece that was written by a college student who had run out of emergencies to pretend to have as an excuse to miss the first week of school.

That piece was called: My Grandmother is Planning to Die During the First Week of Classes
Its quite hillarious. You can find the whole thing with the introduction here:
http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archiv ... asses.html

My Grandmother is Planning to Die During the First Week of Classes By Matthew Taylor

Dearest Professors to whom it may concern,

For the third time in three years, my grandmother is planning to die during the week leading into and including Labor Day. In fact, her funeral pyre will be lit at approximately 9 p.m. on Saturday, August 30th, at which time 30,000 of my closest friends will join me in mourning as her remains are charred into a 40 foot tall column of flame illuminating a moonless sky over the Nevada desert.

This, of course, means that I will miss the entirety of the first week of classes. As I have done in years past, I am writing this letter to ask that you hold my place in your class. I hope you, as many instructors have before, will show compassion and understanding for my week of grief and grant this highly unusual request.

I realize it inconveniences you that grandmothers of thousands of UC Berkeley students all simultaneously die at this time every year, depriving you of the opportunity to orient students, confirm enrollees, and churn through the waiting list during the first week of fall classes. I understand how frustrated you must feel with the administration's continued apathy, indifference, and insensitivity to the grief and sorrow felt by this significant percentage of the campus population, who are forced to miss out on higher educational opportunities, every year, without fail, because of how very, very much they love their grandmothers. I know that every year, you probably band together to lobby Sproul to push back the start of school to the first Tuesday after Labor Day, and fail in the face of the Orwellian indifference of administrators who continue to believe that the first loyalty of students is to their institution, not their family.

As I am sure you know, attending a funeral is a somber affair, devoid of any fun or creative expression. Nothing is more serious than a funeral. Most of the attendees are dressed head-to-toe in black, muted garb; none are ever clad in multi-colored peacock suits, body paint, mud, or nothing in all. They never run behind water trucks screaming with laughter, practice Yoga with 80 other people under a shade structure, explore massive hedge mazes, ride their bicycles in random directions around a playa, or bump into a friendly "love ranger" who can attend to all their love emergencies.

At my grandmother's annual funeral, there is little in the way of conversation, much less community building - no chance of meeting about 200 new friends in a dance camp, participating in a community grey-water recycling project, building a theme camp of like-minded mourners or even a village of similarly bereaved theme camps, or getting spanked on the ass by a "Greeter."

To add insult to injury, at my grandmother's tragic annual funeral, there is no artwork. No giant, 30-foot-tall statues of naked women moaning in ecstasy, no art installations that are testament to the fallacy of consumer culture, no glowing, flashing lilly pads, no massive temple so intricately crafted you'd think it was the eighth wonder of the world.

And if all that wasn't bad enough, the worst part of grandmother's funeral is: no gifts. NONE! Can you believe it? I mean, gramma DIED for chrissakes, you'd think someone would have the forethought to introduce some sort of "gift economy" which would inspire attendees to give gifts from their heart to strangers with no expectation of return. Yup, that means no one handing out banana bread to strangers, no free drinks on roving "art cars" with bars straight out of the Mos Eisley cantina, no giving pedicures to anyone whose feet are chapped, and, horror of horrors, no free grilled cheese sandwiches at smut shacks.

Yes, my grandmother's funeral is such a morbid affair it's beyond belief, and worst of all it interferes with my college education. Have pity on me, and the world. Hopefully, this year, she won't be standing erect on a massive platform, naked and barren in all her wooden glory, with brilliant neon lights wrapped around her carcass and her arms raised as if calling to the gods for deliverance, before we burn, baby, burn.

- Berkeley Undergrad's Remorse Never Is Neglecting Grandmother's Merry Abundant Neofestival

[mojo]

Ah yes - it was in JRS. I knew someone would remember it, THANKS!

[Blackbird]

That "Essay" is amazing (though I must admit, being the grammar-nazi I am, I found a few errors). I especially enjoy the "Berkeley Undergrad's Remorse Never Is Neglecting Grandmother's Merry Abundant Neofestival" bit. I am a bit worried about that part (telling my teachers I won't be there). As I planned to go last year, I told them in advance and most of them were fine with it, though they were quick to tell me "If someone else wants to enroll, I WILL drop you". Fortunately I took unpopular classes Quite happily, and somewhat accidentally, I plan on having some of the same instructors next semester. I attend a local community college (*cough*top ten in the state *cough*) in Santa Cruz (hippie capital of the world? pot smoking hippies, anyway), and most professors are laid back enough to say "Fine, as long as you promise to tell awesome stories/show pictures when you come home".

[Rob_]

I say go. You won't know if it's for you until you try it. Other than the alcohol issue, age has nothing to do with it.

Consider this your invitation. Your fate has now been decided. See you there.

[harymitch]

hahaha...that article was pre'y hilarious. I'll have to think of something, too, to tell my professors.