Thanks Gizmo, i was mesmerized.
I need help!
I like the point u made about challenging your preconceptions; but are we truely, genuinely willing to let go of our preconceptions? Not many ppl are. We may say we are but, when push comes to shove, can we?Burning Man I get to see how others express themselves. It challenges my preconceptions, helps to get me to think. Maybe it makes me a bit of a tourist, but I prefer to view my being there as a learning experience.
Definitely not a "yes or no" question. Some preconceptions are more easily changed than others, and some people can change theirs easier than others. There are a lot of factors involved, and I am not feeling up to listing them all now (nor do I probably know all of them, anyway.)Me2 wrote:I like the point u made about challenging your preconceptions; but are we truely, genuinely willing to let go of our preconceptions? Not many ppl are. We may say we are but, when push comes to shove, can we?Burning Man I get to see how others express themselves. It challenges my preconceptions, helps to get me to think. Maybe it makes me a bit of a tourist, but I prefer to view my being there as a learning experience.
Good luck!
B.
"Nothing is withheld from us which we have conceived to do.
Do things that have never been done."
--Russell Kirsch
Do things that have never been done."
--Russell Kirsch
Re: I have a question...?
wedeliver u make some excellent points. I feel i need to respond to them separately.
My literature review will focus on the major trends in writing on the Burning Man event; designed to show any gaps that have not yet been explored. The research proposal then puts forward a plan for follow-up research on my chosen topic. So u see, for my purposes i don't haveto attend. My writing is based on what sort of things ppl like to say about BM. This is where the contrast between official and actual ideas comes in.
I hope this clarifies what i'm doing. i also hope there's no hard feelings. My reply was on the defensive side, i'm sorry.
Believe me when i say that i am doing everything i can to try and understand. I'm not trying to make BM or burners fit any preconceived ideas i may have. I'm genuinely trying to know what it is that ppl feel and perceive in their own experience. This in turn will help with my paper because i will hopefully learn what burners REALLY think BM is all about. I don't really need to be a part of it to find this out. I just need some real, honest feedbackYou have to understand the core feeling involved. If you thought I was being rude, please read my other posts, usually I try and be helpful, but perhaps I try and be helpful for those I understand, rather then someone who might take what we say and make some determination.
While i appreciate your opinion, i'll have to disagree. If i was writing a paper based on field work and first-hand experience then that would make attending a necessity. However i intend to use what i learn on the eplaya as a contrast to the official blurb on the official BM website. The organizers outlook on why it's a success and why ppl attend is in reality quite different (i'm finding) to why ppl actually go.So, your attempt to write a knowledgeable paper without attending is in my opinion wrong and can't be done.
You're quite right. I haven't made any other posts besides the ones on this strand. I feel it isn't my place. I don't feel i have anything of significance to contribute and also, being an outsider/non-attender, that i would not be welcome. I feel i'm on very shakey ground even doing this strand. I wasn't offended (much), but i did sense hostility. Maybe it's because u don't understand what i'm trying to achieve.Ok, now to answer your post above. Sometimes the written word seems more hostile then speaking in person, I mean you no bad feelings. But..big but. why don't you write about the type of people you might meet at the BurningMan Web Site... that you can claim real first hand knowledge. (have you read other posts or just the replies you have generated?? I notice you have made no posts other then the ones on this thread".) So your review and research paper will be bogus in my opinion.
My literature review will focus on the major trends in writing on the Burning Man event; designed to show any gaps that have not yet been explored. The research proposal then puts forward a plan for follow-up research on my chosen topic. So u see, for my purposes i don't haveto attend. My writing is based on what sort of things ppl like to say about BM. This is where the contrast between official and actual ideas comes in.
I hope this clarifies what i'm doing. i also hope there's no hard feelings. My reply was on the defensive side, i'm sorry.
Many experiences can only be understood by experience.
This is especially true of anything that you have had no similar experience to.
What colors are emotions?
I go for experiences I can't get by reading or looking at viddy.
When I can describe them, you still won't know what the experience is like.
Some I can't describe.
I can say what happens only.
Some of what is unique, no one has figured out yet.
Do australians, with their different attitude to travel, have a different experience?
In my town, they seem to.
Tell me what it feels like to walk all the way down a full length road train.
What does it feel like to look out over the great reef?
What does it feel like to walk in the middle of the western plateau?
This is especially true of anything that you have had no similar experience to.
What colors are emotions?
I go for experiences I can't get by reading or looking at viddy.
When I can describe them, you still won't know what the experience is like.
Some I can't describe.
I can say what happens only.
Some of what is unique, no one has figured out yet.
Do australians, with their different attitude to travel, have a different experience?
In my town, they seem to.
Tell me what it feels like to walk all the way down a full length road train.
What does it feel like to look out over the great reef?
What does it feel like to walk in the middle of the western plateau?
"Everything is more wonderful when you do it with a car, don't you think?"
-girl by the fire, watching a tree moved by car bumper in the bonfire
It would be a shame if I had to resort to self-deception to preserve my faith in objective reality.
-girl by the fire, watching a tree moved by car bumper in the bonfire
It would be a shame if I had to resort to self-deception to preserve my faith in objective reality.
-
wedeliver
- Posts: 1871
- Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2004 11:10 am
- Burning Since: 1998
- Location: Tionesta, CA
- Contact:
Re: I have a question...?
Me2 you just don't get it and I don't think you will. eplaya I think has about 10,000 users. I think tribe has over 14,000 Still not even a third of the people who will attend this year. The computer is not the answer to everything. Somethings you have to touch and feel yourself. Thats why I go to BurningMan, because these amazing fucking people come up with the most amazing fucking stuff and you have no idea what I mean. You don't even get it that the fucking organizers and their outlook are our's. It's all about the art. art.Me2 wrote:...... However i intend to use what i learn on the eplaya as a contrast to the official blurb on the official BM website. The organizers outlook on why it's a success and why ppl attend is in reality quite different (i'm finding) to why ppl actually go.
I only request that you leave me out of any paper you write. Thank you
I'm a topless shirtcocking yahoo hippie
www.eaglesnestrvpark.com
www.eaglesnestrvpark.com
wedeliver does make some good points. ePlaya has only about 10,000 users, which is less than a quarter of attendees. Burning Man 2006 had about 40,000 attendees, and not everyone from ePlaya went. Added to that, some of the people on ePlaya only show up in the weeks leading up to the event. So you are only getting a fraction of the people, and people's reasons for going vary considerably.
The art experience is hard to describe. I'd like to have been able to spend more time out of the City and in the Playa, because coming across the different installations and temples was, well, powerful. It was different than what could be experienced in the City. As was one time when I hit the end of a street in the City and went on out to the trash fence on an impulse. Looking at the mountains (bluffs?) around the Black Rock Desert, and looking back on the City was different yet again. And, for the most part, I missed experiencing either by night, which is yet another experience (more magical, or so I believe.) From that a one word answer might be "Experience(s)", condensed from "For the Experience(s)".
Or, it could be, "Art". As in what wedeliver said. The experiences I listed above could be viewed as experiencing different types of art. What the humans build (or, at least, I assume everyone who attends is human-- a few aliens might sneak in, who would know?
), certainly can qualify as art. That would be leaving out a very artistic, in a brutal sense, natural setting, which is also important. Putting up a city and art in a hostile, barren location certainly adds something to the event.
It is hard to define.
B.
The art experience is hard to describe. I'd like to have been able to spend more time out of the City and in the Playa, because coming across the different installations and temples was, well, powerful. It was different than what could be experienced in the City. As was one time when I hit the end of a street in the City and went on out to the trash fence on an impulse. Looking at the mountains (bluffs?) around the Black Rock Desert, and looking back on the City was different yet again. And, for the most part, I missed experiencing either by night, which is yet another experience (more magical, or so I believe.) From that a one word answer might be "Experience(s)", condensed from "For the Experience(s)".
Or, it could be, "Art". As in what wedeliver said. The experiences I listed above could be viewed as experiencing different types of art. What the humans build (or, at least, I assume everyone who attends is human-- a few aliens might sneak in, who would know?
), certainly can qualify as art. That would be leaving out a very artistic, in a brutal sense, natural setting, which is also important. Putting up a city and art in a hostile, barren location certainly adds something to the event.It is hard to define.
B.
"Nothing is withheld from us which we have conceived to do.
Do things that have never been done."
--Russell Kirsch
Do things that have never been done."
--Russell Kirsch
You're absolutely right! I can't know what it's like until i experience it for myself, and my perception will be differrent because i'm Australian and because of my past experiences in life. I totally agree.gyre wrote:Many experiences can only be understood by experience.
This is especially true of anything that you have had no similar experience to.
What colors are emotions?
I go for experiences I can't get by reading or looking at viddy.
When I can describe them, you still won't know what the experience is like.
Some I can't describe.
I can say what happens only.
Some of what is unique, no one has figured out yet.
Do australians, with their different attitude to travel, have a different experience?
In my town, they seem to.
Tell me what it feels like to walk all the way down a full length road train.
What does it feel like to look out over the great reef?
What does it feel like to walk in the middle of the western plateau?
So far as the experiences you talk about at the bottom...i've never done these things. I know they're part of advertising for Australian tourism and i know those are the sorts of things tourists like to see and experience, but there's sooooo much more to Australia. Last year i spent three days driving to Cairns in far north Queensland to visit my brother. I saw things and met ppl i never would have come across if i never went. On the way back i got off the highway and wondered through seaside towns i never thought i'd ever visit in my life. It was great. It was the real Australia.
Each to their own.
Sure, that's to be expected in this type of setting. I think it would be unrealistic to expect even half of the ppl who attend to be on eplaya...so this is really just a sampler, and that's ok.So you are only getting a fraction of the people, and people's reasons for going vary considerably.
The art experience is hard to describe. I'd like to have been able to spend more time out of the City and in the Playa, because coming across the different installations and temples was, well, powerful. It was different than what could be experienced in the City. As was one time when I hit the end of a street in the City and went on out to the trash fence on an impulse. Looking at the mountains (bluffs?) around the Black Rock Desert, and looking back on the City was different yet again. And, for the most part, I missed experiencing either by night, which is yet another experience (more magical, or so I believe.) From that a one word answer might be "Experience(s)", condensed from "For the Experience(s)".
Or, it could be, "Art". As in what wedeliver said. The experiences I listed above could be viewed as experiencing different types of art. What the humans build (or, at least, I assume everyone who attends is human-- a few aliens might sneak in, who would know?
It is hard to define.
That u for sharing your own experience and perception, i appreciate it.
Re: I have a question...?
Thanks for your views, but they're just one of many.Somethings you have to touch and feel yourself. Thats why I go to BurningMan, because these amazing fucking people come up with the most amazing fucking stuff and you have no idea what I mean. You don't even get it that the fucking organizers and their outlook are our's. It's all about the art. art.
Not a problem.I only request that you leave me out of any paper you write. Thank you
Road trains are touristy?
That's kind of a shock.
I've wanted to go to australia since I started reading australian books as a kid.
I love aussie film, even the really crappy made for tv ones.
(Yes I managed to see them.)
I know that has colored my perception somewhat.
But I also know nothing is real to me until I get there.
I do find it hard to remember that it is really a tropical island full of poisonous nasties.
When Roadgames was being filmed Jamie Lee Curtis and Stacy Keach?
had gone playing and sliding on the dunes.
They were baffled that no kids or anyone else was playing on them.
When they got back late and started telling the crew about their fun, everyone's eyes got bigger and bigger and they got paler and paler.
Seems that sand is habitat to some very dangerous scorpions and spiders and snakes.
They just got lucky.
Rikky and Pete is one of my favorites.
(Yeah, I know, other side of the country.)
You might be surprised at the number of australian products making their way here now, especially in the automotive area.
Magnecor ignition wire, in particular, seems to have no competition.
Do you think there are universal stereotypes that are true of australia?
General experience is bound to vary and your country is quite diverse.
But every country I have been to has had some particular things that were true.
Although the stereotypes I found in france were not the ones I was led to expect.
I have met a lot of australians, but you can't get much of a sampling from travelers.
Most australians I've met did give the impression of being on the way to a party.
And I know australians are much more prone to travel that people in other places.
The theory being the location causing this.
And new zealanders even more so.
I hope to make it soon and for long enough to see something.
I wish I could find that girl from perth with the silver eyes again.
That's kind of a shock.
I've wanted to go to australia since I started reading australian books as a kid.
I love aussie film, even the really crappy made for tv ones.
(Yes I managed to see them.)
I know that has colored my perception somewhat.
But I also know nothing is real to me until I get there.
I do find it hard to remember that it is really a tropical island full of poisonous nasties.
When Roadgames was being filmed Jamie Lee Curtis and Stacy Keach?
had gone playing and sliding on the dunes.
They were baffled that no kids or anyone else was playing on them.
When they got back late and started telling the crew about their fun, everyone's eyes got bigger and bigger and they got paler and paler.
Seems that sand is habitat to some very dangerous scorpions and spiders and snakes.
They just got lucky.
Rikky and Pete is one of my favorites.
(Yeah, I know, other side of the country.)
You might be surprised at the number of australian products making their way here now, especially in the automotive area.
Magnecor ignition wire, in particular, seems to have no competition.
Do you think there are universal stereotypes that are true of australia?
General experience is bound to vary and your country is quite diverse.
But every country I have been to has had some particular things that were true.
Although the stereotypes I found in france were not the ones I was led to expect.
I have met a lot of australians, but you can't get much of a sampling from travelers.
Most australians I've met did give the impression of being on the way to a party.
And I know australians are much more prone to travel that people in other places.
The theory being the location causing this.
And new zealanders even more so.
I hope to make it soon and for long enough to see something.
I wish I could find that girl from perth with the silver eyes again.
"Everything is more wonderful when you do it with a car, don't you think?"
-girl by the fire, watching a tree moved by car bumper in the bonfire
It would be a shame if I had to resort to self-deception to preserve my faith in objective reality.
-girl by the fire, watching a tree moved by car bumper in the bonfire
It would be a shame if I had to resort to self-deception to preserve my faith in objective reality.
Hi gyre,
Now do u see what i'm on about? you've seen glimpses of Australia, you have a taste for it and u want to know more. That's what i'm like with Burning Man...i crave it.
Australia does have a lot of poisonous nasties as u called them, but u learn to live with it, just like anything, when you've grown up with it u don't know any different. We're actually an arid country (not tropical) and currently in the throughs of the worst drought in 100 years. Our major damn that supplies water to south east Queensland is sitting on about 18% and they predict that if we don't get some serious rain soon we'll run out of water within 2yrs...it's a pretty scary future.
I think as a general rule of thumb the further north u travel in Australia the more laid-back ppl get...probably got something to do with the tropical heat in the far north. I'd say it's probably true that the travelling Aussies u meet are up for a good time, but not all Australians are party animals obviously. We're a very diverse and multi-national country, and at times this has lead to tensions running a bit high; especially when "the Australian way of life" appears to be under threat...probably similar to the States in that respect.
It's quite common for Aussies to drive 2hrs or more to get to work or go out for the night. I have a friend at uni who just got back from Sydney...drove there to see relatives for Easter...a 14hr drive. So yes i guess the vast expanses necessitate driving long distances, but once again, we don't know any different, it's just part of life.
Hope u make to Australia one day, u'll LOVE it!
Now do u see what i'm on about? you've seen glimpses of Australia, you have a taste for it and u want to know more. That's what i'm like with Burning Man...i crave it.
Australia does have a lot of poisonous nasties as u called them, but u learn to live with it, just like anything, when you've grown up with it u don't know any different. We're actually an arid country (not tropical) and currently in the throughs of the worst drought in 100 years. Our major damn that supplies water to south east Queensland is sitting on about 18% and they predict that if we don't get some serious rain soon we'll run out of water within 2yrs...it's a pretty scary future.
I think as a general rule of thumb the further north u travel in Australia the more laid-back ppl get...probably got something to do with the tropical heat in the far north. I'd say it's probably true that the travelling Aussies u meet are up for a good time, but not all Australians are party animals obviously. We're a very diverse and multi-national country, and at times this has lead to tensions running a bit high; especially when "the Australian way of life" appears to be under threat...probably similar to the States in that respect.
It's quite common for Aussies to drive 2hrs or more to get to work or go out for the night. I have a friend at uni who just got back from Sydney...drove there to see relatives for Easter...a 14hr drive. So yes i guess the vast expanses necessitate driving long distances, but once again, we don't know any different, it's just part of life.
Hope u make to Australia one day, u'll LOVE it!
What's a "road train"? 
I'd like to visit Australia, too. Every since I read a National Geographic article about opal mining, actually. I don't know if I ever will be able to at this rate... I seem to be turning poverty into an art form or something!
B.
I'd like to visit Australia, too. Every since I read a National Geographic article about opal mining, actually. I don't know if I ever will be able to at this rate... I seem to be turning poverty into an art form or something!
B.
"Nothing is withheld from us which we have conceived to do.
Do things that have never been done."
--Russell Kirsch
Do things that have never been done."
--Russell Kirsch
-
skygod
- Posts: 737
- Joined: Thu Jan 13, 2005 8:50 am
- Burning Since: 2004
- Location: Twentynine Palms, CA
- Contact:
I grew up in Los Angeles and we had to drive everywhere too!Me2 wrote:
It's quite common for Aussies to drive 2hrs or more to get to work or go out for the night. :D
Thanks for letting me get a glimpse of life on the other side of the globe.
"It will seem difficult in the beginning. But everything seems difficult in the beginning."- Musashi
Thanks for the links! That is kind of what I figured a road train was/is. Wisconsin allows doubles (two trailers) on its highways, some states allow triples. I'm not at all certain they are safe, at least not in the hilly terrain around here. Then again, they are mostly just on the multi-lane highways.
Darn. I have to get to bed right now! Got a temp job tomorrow! (Five hours, but better than nothing.)
B.
Darn. I have to get to bed right now! Got a temp job tomorrow! (Five hours, but better than nothing.)
B.
"Nothing is withheld from us which we have conceived to do.
Do things that have never been done."
--Russell Kirsch
Do things that have never been done."
--Russell Kirsch
-
AntiM
- Moderator
- Posts: 20301
- Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2004 5:23 am
- Burning Since: 2001
- Camp Name: Anti M's Home for Wayward Art
- Location: Wild, Wild West
Utah allows triples. Some of the second trailers are "pups" but I've seen plenty of 53 footers in a row. larry's told me that no, the drivers don't really have control over the second and third trailers, you just drive as straight as possible and hope for the best. That's why you only see them on interstates.
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unjonharley
- Posts: 10434
- Joined: Tue Sep 09, 2003 11:05 am
- Burning Since: 2001
- Camp Name: Elliot's naked bycycel repair
- Location: Salem Or.
AntiM wrote:Utah allows triples. Some of the second trailers are "pups" but I've seen plenty of 53 footers in a row. larry's told me that no, the drivers don't really have control over the second and third trailers, you just drive as straight as possible and hope for the best. That's why you only see them on interstates.
\/
You should see them from the MG midget when they come around me and come back into my lane..
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wedeliver
- Posts: 1871
- Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2004 11:10 am
- Burning Since: 1998
- Location: Tionesta, CA
- Contact:
I was pulling a set of doubles and going over highway scales when the operator tells me to back up. Bummer... about 15 feet to get the axle he missed. I got lucky and it went straight. (no log book, no class 1 completely illegal)AntiM wrote:Utah allows triples. Some of the second trailers are "pups" but I've seen plenty of 53 footers in a row. larry's told me that no, the drivers don't really have control over the second and third trailers, you just drive as straight as possible and hope for the best. That's why you only see them on interstates.
I'm a topless shirtcocking yahoo hippie
www.eaglesnestrvpark.com
www.eaglesnestrvpark.com
Hi,
A week has gone by and i've said nothing...life gets kinda crowded.
I've been looking over all the posts, trying to get an overview of where this is all heading (the tangent about road trains made me lose the plot...easily distracted). From what ppl have shared so far i'd have 2 say that no-one believes Burning Man is Utopia or if it is an attempt, that it's one doomed to fail- not tranferable into mainstream culture and society. Certainly there are elements of it that ppl find utopian in the sense that they have found their own personal bliss there, but as a whole it is not an "ideal" society. Can a week-long event realistically be an experiment in utopian society? What setting and length of time would u need for a realistic attempt at this type of experiment?
A week has gone by and i've said nothing...life gets kinda crowded.
I've been looking over all the posts, trying to get an overview of where this is all heading (the tangent about road trains made me lose the plot...easily distracted). From what ppl have shared so far i'd have 2 say that no-one believes Burning Man is Utopia or if it is an attempt, that it's one doomed to fail- not tranferable into mainstream culture and society. Certainly there are elements of it that ppl find utopian in the sense that they have found their own personal bliss there, but as a whole it is not an "ideal" society. Can a week-long event realistically be an experiment in utopian society? What setting and length of time would u need for a realistic attempt at this type of experiment?
Well, I am already half asleep, so I don't know how this will go...Can a week-long event realistically be an experiment in utopian society? What setting and length of time would u need for a realistic attempt at this type of experiment?
I have my doubts about any attempt at a Utopian society being successful-- how would someone come up with a workable concept of a Utopia which enough people could agree upon to make a workable society? I'm guessing that the society would, by necessity, have to be small, not to mention isolated from the outside world. Being isolated, it would have to be self-supporting (and avoid a fair number of problems which could lead to its collapse). Maybe an island somewhere?
The length of time to see if a society is successful or not would be, I think, measured in centuries-- which would make a real world test problematic at best. At a minimum, the society would have to run long enough that the original founders die off and the power is successfully transfered to the next generation-- preferably next two generations. That would test whether or not the concept will stand up to to the test of being passed from the early idealists to the people for whom it is an everyday reality. (The Soviet Union ultimately failed this test, China might be passing it. Not that I consider either of those a Utopia!)
If societies could be modeled accurately enough on a computer(s), that would be a way of experimenting with an accelerated time. I am not certain how all of the many, many factors would be worked in, though. (The computer game Civilization may be heading in that direction. I have been resisting picking up the current release, since I tend to get stuck playing the game all night...!) Outside of some sort of simulation, I am not certain how it could be done, at least not at a scale which I would consider a realistic test.
Well, those are my (half-awake) thoughts on the subject. I don't know how useful they are, since I am basically saying that I don't see how it could be done. Sorry.
B.
"Nothing is withheld from us which we have conceived to do.
Do things that have never been done."
--Russell Kirsch
Do things that have never been done."
--Russell Kirsch
There are a number of societies that have survived a long time in the us and canada.
Some have been very successful.
You might want to include the Mennonites.
I have a friend who has been doing the universal reciprocity thing on his own for years here.
He says it is part of his religious beliefs. (Personal ideas)
He comes out of the wilder california culture.
He won't go to burning man.
I think a lot of the spirit of cooperation and so on crosses over to the real world.
I am very pleased to meet the kind of people I meet.
That is enough reason to go.
I think in a month to two month events, the culture would start to coalesce into something useful and recognizable.
A week is too frantic to even slow down.
You get to do some of that if you are here earlier or later.
That is very nice.
The effect burning man has on people carries with them.
Some have been very successful.
You might want to include the Mennonites.
I have a friend who has been doing the universal reciprocity thing on his own for years here.
He says it is part of his religious beliefs. (Personal ideas)
He comes out of the wilder california culture.
He won't go to burning man.
I think a lot of the spirit of cooperation and so on crosses over to the real world.
I am very pleased to meet the kind of people I meet.
That is enough reason to go.
I think in a month to two month events, the culture would start to coalesce into something useful and recognizable.
A week is too frantic to even slow down.
You get to do some of that if you are here earlier or later.
That is very nice.
The effect burning man has on people carries with them.
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Bin Noddin
- Posts: 3097
- Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2005 11:00 pm
- Location: Silver Spring, MD
ITYM "Drunken Public Welders"gyre wrote:I thought it was Division of 'Plosives and Whiskey?
[shaking head]what's DPW??
DPW is the group of people that show up weeks in advance to build the city and then stay for weeks afterward cleaning up.
You might want to think about having a discussion with these people to find out why they do what they do. As to the attitude, well... most of them don't suffer fools well and can yank your sack off like a paper towel.
middle-aged, wannabe-hipster, dilettante
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robbidobbs
- Posts: 2825
- Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2003 1:07 pm
- Burning Since: 1999
- Camp Name: Pottie Central
- Location: LOS of the Pottie doors
I'm DPW, and although I haven't stayed long prior to or after since 2001, I do have an inkling of what the drive is for me on why I do what I do. I lived at the work ranch in 2001, and fed people. If you'd like more bio, read my thread "All about participating in the pottie project".
The Hat said once (and I'm paraphrasing) that in a society where "weeds" are not wanted, you can discover your talents on the blank canvas of BRC. They may not be altogether rewarded in the default world, but are appreciated in our BM culture. The Playa is your oyster from which you can pluck the pearl of self-actualization.
I want artists to keep making art, to have an absolute blank check to free expression. This is the only place on the planet where I can do exactly what I want, and what I do is talk, a lot, sometimes with a megaphone. I need to feel wanted and needed. This is the opposite of how I feel in the default world, where I'm a corporate cog, and a minor one at that, just another call center droid. My well fertilized sense of self-importance as a direct result of BM keeps me warm & squishy at night.
I believe that our society has lost touch with the concept of personal responsibility, and BM is a Do-ocracy. Find a role and fill it. If you see something that needs to be done, then it automatically becomes your responsibility to do it. If someone needs something, and you have it, it's already theirs. We live on volunteerism and gifting.
I saw a need, and I stepped forward to meet that need, not because anyone hired me to do it, and even in spite of some early challenges, but because I believed in our culture, what we're trying to accomplish, and because I believed I COULD do it. Just as any artist, when I saw the vision of what could be done, there was nothing that could stand in my way to accomplish it. I was on fire that day in December of 2000. And it is that core of belief that continues to drive me in my DPW job.
Why does someone become a priest, or an artist, or an airline pilot? Because they believe they could do it, and are willing to do the hard work to get the results they dream of all the time. That's what a calling is.
Artists dream of their art, priests dream of serving a higher power and their people, pilots dream of flying.
And you just can't help yourself if you're given an opportunity to shine.
If you set out to make a difference, make something wonderful, improve the lives of others, or just fucking express yourself to your fullest, and you do, there is no greater high.
As an asside, I just want to point out that although there are 10K "members" of ePlaya, there are about 30 of us that regularly post. Just scroll thru, and look at the number of posts each person makes. That's a tiny percentage of the population. As a Social Scientist, it's not enough of a sample to get a complete view of how people feel about the event. All I can say is that it is a pretty broad cross section of our population, and we are full of opinions (or something). Go ahead and ask anything you want.
RobbiDobbs
Chief Poopervisor of the Pottie Project
DPW Volunteer Coordinator (porta-potties)
The Hat said once (and I'm paraphrasing) that in a society where "weeds" are not wanted, you can discover your talents on the blank canvas of BRC. They may not be altogether rewarded in the default world, but are appreciated in our BM culture. The Playa is your oyster from which you can pluck the pearl of self-actualization.
I want artists to keep making art, to have an absolute blank check to free expression. This is the only place on the planet where I can do exactly what I want, and what I do is talk, a lot, sometimes with a megaphone. I need to feel wanted and needed. This is the opposite of how I feel in the default world, where I'm a corporate cog, and a minor one at that, just another call center droid. My well fertilized sense of self-importance as a direct result of BM keeps me warm & squishy at night.
I believe that our society has lost touch with the concept of personal responsibility, and BM is a Do-ocracy. Find a role and fill it. If you see something that needs to be done, then it automatically becomes your responsibility to do it. If someone needs something, and you have it, it's already theirs. We live on volunteerism and gifting.
I saw a need, and I stepped forward to meet that need, not because anyone hired me to do it, and even in spite of some early challenges, but because I believed in our culture, what we're trying to accomplish, and because I believed I COULD do it. Just as any artist, when I saw the vision of what could be done, there was nothing that could stand in my way to accomplish it. I was on fire that day in December of 2000. And it is that core of belief that continues to drive me in my DPW job.
Why does someone become a priest, or an artist, or an airline pilot? Because they believe they could do it, and are willing to do the hard work to get the results they dream of all the time. That's what a calling is.
Artists dream of their art, priests dream of serving a higher power and their people, pilots dream of flying.
And you just can't help yourself if you're given an opportunity to shine.
If you set out to make a difference, make something wonderful, improve the lives of others, or just fucking express yourself to your fullest, and you do, there is no greater high.
As an asside, I just want to point out that although there are 10K "members" of ePlaya, there are about 30 of us that regularly post. Just scroll thru, and look at the number of posts each person makes. That's a tiny percentage of the population. As a Social Scientist, it's not enough of a sample to get a complete view of how people feel about the event. All I can say is that it is a pretty broad cross section of our population, and we are full of opinions (or something). Go ahead and ask anything you want.
RobbiDobbs
Chief Poopervisor of the Pottie Project
DPW Volunteer Coordinator (porta-potties)
I'll be in my blanket fort until further notice.