This thread will die quickly...

[trilobyte]

4. They're not called costumes, they're called outfits.

Yes! My girlfriend and I have reached a point where what we wear is what we wear, both on and off the playa. Well, probably fewer generic tee shirts on the playa, but nothing gets "packed away for the rest of the year" anymore

Hang on a second... behrenjaeger sno cones, you say?!?

[MyDearFriend]

I had a profound moment of enlightenment while watching this video.

[youtube][/youtube]

It wasn't anything Halcyon said, exactly, but how his words meshed with what was already building in my heart, as I prepare for my first Burn.

I may have told y'all that I'm a nurse. Nursing is a very philosophical profession, really, and my personal philosophy owes a lot to Virginia Henderson, who said that nurses should do for patients, what patients would do for themselves. And this requires, of course, the ability to understand where other people are coming from, and what they want.

And nursing relies heavily on story-telling, to communicate to each other the unique aspects of each patient's experience, and help each other understand what needs to be done.

So, although many people in this world only act mindfully in the stories in which they are the main character, my years of nursing practice have trained me to pay attention to the (often very minor) roles I play in the stories of other people.

And I would say, that for a lot of people whose lives I touch, my role is completely unseen. If all the world's a stage, then, I am underneath it somewhere, propping up a weak floorboard.

And this, to me, is wonderful; it spares the actor the indignity of falling (asking for help) and with luck it even spares the anxiety of knowing there is a potential hazard. It's a real joy to smooth the path for people who never see the bumps and to watch them proceed at full speed toward their goals.

So, to get back to Halcyon, I guess I am saying that many fantastic gifts are completely invisible and I wonder how many I have been given today.


tl,dr: I'll be surprised if you notice me, but, I am thinking about you.

[FIGJAM]

While all the other kids were playing doctor, I had to be the outpatient!

Somethings never change.

[Foxfur]

That was beautiful MDF, truly so.

[burner von braun]

I second that Ff...
I too, have noticed your fine traits MDF. I know some of my posts have benefited from your help propping them up here on eplaya. Thank you for that!

I can only imagine the major, yet unseen positive effect your fine traits are having on those around you!

A tip of the Playa hat to you MDF

[Packoderm]

We don't seem so concerned about it this time around. I can't recall reading a single post this year about how excited anybody is to join in and make something big or new. Perhaps people are just keeping their projects secret.

[Dr Jet Sinister]

Always be in the moment. It's safe to 'expect' to be wowed by someone or something.

[Trishntek]

We don't seem so concerned about it this time around. I can't recall reading a single post this year about how excited anybody is to join in and make something big or new. Perhaps people are just keeping their projects secret.

REALLY? Seems to me there are mostly comments to the contrary! Look at the Work in Progress thread, or What are you bringing the the M&G thread. Check out the 2011 Theme Camps thread.

People are busy preparing marvelous creations for participation purposes! I would be so bold as to say the majority of contributions on this board pertain to participation or creating environments for others to participate. I would also submit that the majority of contributors to this board have been participating for several months!

[Packoderm]

Yeah, those threads get buried. I looked at them when they first popped up, and you're correct, they are uplifting. I was mainly pointing out that the discussion of participating vs. spectating isn't popping up nearly as much as it did last year. It was a pretty contentious issue last year. I was mainly a spectator last year. This year, I'm working on ways to contribute in my own fashion.

[trilobyte]

We don't seem so concerned about it this time around. I can't recall reading a single post this year about how excited anybody is to join in and make something big or new. Perhaps people are just keeping their projects secret.

I feel like it's the opposite. Of the people in my circle of friends (wait, do I have to send google a royalty check now they've co-opted the term?) who are going this year, most are participating in at least one project. I'm sure there will be plenty of people that fall into the spectator category, as well as casual participants (those who don't go with a specific project in mind, but will participate in the moment by way of helping various people with their projects, camps, or performances throughout the week.

[theCryptofishist]

I haven't posted about the sparkleponies lately because I haven't had time. I've got to finish ten or more, plexiglass the lot and work out my hanging mechanism. Photobucket isn't on my "must do" list.

[Foxfur]

We don't seem so concerned about it this time around. I can't recall reading a single post this year about how excited anybody is to join in and make something big or new. Perhaps people are just keeping their projects secret.

I was pretty excited about helping out on Georgie Boy even if only for a day. Yay!
And my flame effects, flame throwers, clothes shopping... Ok, the last one is only valid if you think I'm art.

[graidawg]

I Feel for me that the spectator/ praticaipant part is not so relevant here this year because of (shyly) people like me, foxfur, mdf, delle maryanimal and the it feel like hundreds of other virgins who feel they can contribute but dont know how or dont want to to advertise how they are - because we (fuck i love saying WE that way) dont want to seem arrogant or something, we jst want to go and when we have been to know we changed things. Oh hang on MDF just said that.
For me anyway i've already told you all you have change my life and me already, if my plane blew up mid atlantic, i wouldnt be feeling i hadnt done enough with my life i would simply feel. thank you because i wanted to go to BM and I wanted to make the most of it, YOU made it possible You helped me and you, you And You all made it so much more than i ever thought it could or would be before i even got there.
Of course i would rather actually get to BRC and BDC&WB and experince the real thing then i can snark the fuck out of next years crop when the time comes and feel good about it.

peace love namaste and big fucking guns

[Packoderm]

Yeah, the spectator/participator thing, and nobody's mentioned how lilly white the whole thing is. It kind of strikes me as interesting that the people who are least genetically predisposed to the desert are the ones most drawn to it.

[Eric]

peace love namaste and big fucking guns

Stealing.

[Savannah]

Yeah, the spectator/participator thing, and nobody's mentioned how lilly white the whole thing is. It kind of strikes me as interesting that the people who are least genetically predisposed to the desert are the ones most drawn to it.

There is a big ol' thread on the boards somewhere about the racial makeup of Burning Man and a discussion of whether it is "racist" or not . . . you can hunt it down if you want, although bumping an old thread after all this time may not be championed by the Mods. (And the census on the main site gives the approximate demographics). I'll admit the subject exhausts me a little. My short take on the subject: the event has the mix that it does for socioeconomic and cultural reasons a long time in the making, not modern exclusionary ones. No one has ever made my race an issue there.

I do feel as though I have a genetic predisposition towards thriving there, physically.

[maryanimal]

How can anyone play the race card when it pertains to Burning Man? Must be a group of existentialists. There are people from all walks of life, cultures, religious and spiritual beliefs that come far and near. We are all the same. We want a good life, happiness, love, family, friends ...simply said.

[Savannah]

Well, what happens is: many people--often Caucasians themselves--notice quite accurately that the Burning Man population is very Caucasian. It is from there that matters get a little hazy, and they sometimes assume the worst about why. (The worst being: an assumption that minorities do not feel welcome there). Which is greatly oversimplified and--in my experience--wrong. And while I cannot speak for anyone else's feelings as to whether they felt welcome or not, I'm saying that the reason behind the demographics of the event are much more complicated than that. I'm going to leave it at that unless you would like my theory (via message, if you really want it, though I am not itching to discuss it). I'm not really a fan of discussing race, religion or politics online.

[graidawg]

peace love namaste and big fucking guns

Stealing.

[maryanimal]

Well, what happens is: many people--often Caucasians themselves--notice quite accurately that the Burning Man population is very Caucasian. It is from there that matters get a little hazy, and they sometimes assume the worst about why. (The worst being: an assumption that minorities do not feel welcome there). Which is greatly oversimplified and--in my experience--wrong. And while I cannot speak for anyone else's feelings as to whether they felt welcome or not, I'm saying that the reason behind the demographics of the event are much more complicated than that. I'm going to leave it at that unless you would like my theory (via message, if you really want it, though I am not itching to discuss it). I'm not really a fan of discussing race, religion or politics online.

I'm so glad I was raised in multicultural cities. Diversity is an awesome way to learn about other's way of life. I spent a lot of my life with friends of different races and cultures. I really loved the food aspects! But to watch the family dynamics at family functions, or how they worshipped was amazing . I find Judaism very interesting. I especially love channuka. Such a rich tradition in faith and family.

[Trishntek]

An interesting event happened when my daughters were small and I was going to college. I was a janitor at a public school and my girls rode their bikes with me on a Saturday to watch over the facility during a NAACP meeting.

The girls went to play on the playground and came back a few minutes later asking, "Daddy? What do they mean when they say 'You think you're better than us.'?" I asked, "Who said that?" They answered, "The other kids at the playground. They don't want us to play with them because of what they said."

My girls were raised color blind and had absolutely no clue why the other kids thought they were not welcome. It is unfortunate that some children are raised to make certain assumptions about people based purely on the color of their skin.

The same can be said about religion and politics. It is more about our developmental environments than organic genesis of lifestyles, opinions and beliefs.

[AntiM]

I'm old enough I remember the lingering after effects of segregation in the early 60s, restrooms still marked colored and white, getting bad grades because I played with the black girls (took me decades to figure out my 3rd grade teacher in VA had been a racist). I was raised in the Navy, born in California, and I didn't understand there was such a thing as race until I was seven. I mean, I knew about Hispanics, except they were Mexican then, and Asians, but I didn't think they were a different race, they were just who they were, our neighbors. I thought God decided your hair color when you were born by your parent's last name. I thought one of my brothers was living with the wrong family, that he was my brother, but he was in the wrong house because his hair was dark brown. I was very little. I never thought about my dad having dark hair, I think I was too short to see that high?

I definitely recall the day I noticed a black person. That was when we were moving cross country, the Southern route, and a black man filled our tank and washed our windows at a gas station. I'd never noticed an adult of color before. Kids don't notice adults too much unless they have an interaction, I think. He remarked on my brother's pet lizard, and I was fascinated by his accent, and I was confused about how a person could be such a deep dark color. I think Mom told me a Bible story, but I wasn't buying it.

I asked Mom if we could use the colored restroom, I thought it would be prettier than the plain white one.

Does anyone else have that moment as a child when you discovered the people outside your family were different? Or is that more of a generational thing when we had 3 stations on TV, and not a glimmer of an idea about the internet? I never saw the news, it came on after my bedtime, I had no clue about the changing times we were living in then.

[Savannah]

I asked Mom if we could use the colored restroom, I thought it would be prettier than the plain white one.

That's so cute.

My parents were so different looking from each other (milk white, blue/green eyes, dark blonde--and--chocolate brown, black hair, dark brown eyes) that I was always very conscious of differences. Always! And very accustomed to sticking out. Caucasian & African American couples were rarer then. People told my mother: "Oh, what a pretty baby you've adopted". It hurt her feelings . . . sometimes they wouldn't believe her even when she explained. What's funny is, aside from my coloring, I bear a strong facial resemblance to my mother. But people couldn't see it back then, because they were really concentrating on skin color and differences, not similarities.

As a child, I saw things happen around me that were unfair, based on skin color, and knew that I was spared some of it for ridiculous reasons, and that people were waiting for me to show them "what" I was . . . if they didn't come right out and say "What are you?" (That's how it was voiced through mid-teens).

Ultimately being viewed as strange was very freeing. There was already nothing I could do to blend in, so took part in whatever funny little subcultures I wanted to, because there were no cultural expectations for me. Parental expectations, but not cultural ones. I felt like an cross-cultural interpreter . . .

I still notice the demographic of any room I walk into immediately, not with concern, but automatically and with great interest. I was happily amazed when I went to Manhattan 10 years ago and found it to be a wonderful mix of races. I found it very exciting. Too bad I'm not fond of the pace, or the scenery. Maui was also interesting, for while it's very Pacific Islander/Asian there, and are very few African Americans (and my aunt had some racially negative experiences there) almost everyone's on the brown continuum. So it was fairly homogenous in a way, but I felt wonderfully inconspicuous (even if I wasn't). I barely know what it's like to blend in.

I have lived in the same 40 mile radius all my life, and people still always say, "Where are you from?"

[oneeyeddick]

My real name is Richard Peacock, but most people just call me Dick.

[MyDearFriend]

My real name is Richard Peacock, but most people just call me Dick.

How does that feel? I mean, it's a hard name to live up to, but, you seem to have a good grip on it.

I like it, anyway.

[theCryptofishist]

I spent 10 years in the school system that was the first to voluntarily integrate; I think I was the in the first group to do kindergarten to senior year integrated. I think that my school system was very naive in how they handled it. We had lots and lots of black history; I felt disgruntled by it--it was never my turn. I don't know if we separated by race or by class--it's a university town, so there were a lot of white nerds, whereas the black population was descended from african americans who came to California from the south to work in factories during the war. We mostly had lunch with "our own kind" (with "kind" having more than just race as a defining point). And in jr high and high school, the "smart" kids (white) and not so smart kids (black) didn't even take classes any more.
I have stories I don't want to share here.
I've done a lot of work in my own head and heart around these issues and I'm much saner. I still see people (from various groups) as "other." Of course, this is exasperated by the fact I'm introverted, so it's difficult for me to bridge gaps to begin with. This history of racism in this country is heartbreaking, and the ease with which some people who are buffered from it can dismiss it hurts.
I don't knwo what else to say.

[graidawg]

I always feel sad the human "race" has so many different "races" in it although i was bought up in a small village which was almost entirely white, I have always hated people of different skin colour being referred to as a different "race" just seems to be wrong to me, I mean animals are different species but we dont consider lions and tigers to be a different race do we?

[Dr Jet Sinister]

My area is almost an even split between the big three races in demographics. When I travel anywhere with a heavy population of just one race, I am very aware of it and it seems sad. Asia, Turkey, and Argentina were so homogeneous that it was bizarre and the race relations of those countries is not great at all. We've come a long way in the US, at least in the larger metro areas, but, sadly, there is still a long road ahead.

Maui was also interesting, for while it's very Pacific Islander/Asian there, and are very few African Americans (and my aunt had some racially negative experiences there)...

My husband and I found ourselves on the receiving end of racially (or vocational) negative experiences in Hawaii many times. It sucks.

[AntiM]

(okay, this is rambling, stay with me)
My father was stationed in Hawaii for a couple years. We lived in Navy housing, so not so diverse, but not entirely white.

In sixth grade, I started out in the T&G class, but they soon took our teacher because the kindergarten classes were so large. We were farmed out to the other sixth grade classes. Even the teacher picked on me; the woman would not believe I'd already read The Hobbit. She thought I wanted out of the assignment, branded me as lazy and was hard on me the rest of the year. The mean girls picked up on that, and found me a target who cried easily. I had never had anything but friendly people in my life, I didn't know how to stand up to them. This could have happened anywhere, but being a Navy brat, I had few new friends, and no one to hang with to have my back.

Seventh grade was in Ewa Beach. I had the same mean girls from housing (gum in my hair, steal my things mean) AND the local girls who were truly scary. Beat up haole in the bathroom scary. They never got after me because I got off their radar as fast as possible. I discovered that not one of them would set foot in the library. I read a lot that year.

However, we go to Kona now and then, and get taken for "old hippie" locals. We don't get treated like tourists for the most part, which is nice. Must be because we eat at the Korean place in the strip mall, or run into Captain Cook for the drive in food. And the utiliklit, all the British tourists were asking Larry to pose with them. And my homemade muumuus. I get asked where they're sold! If we ever hit the lottery, there's a coffee plantation or B&B with our name on it out there.

Which brings me to Maui. I have zero interest in visiting that island, other than we haven't been there and would like to compare it to Big Island.

[Sail Man]

My head is still bruised from last year!

did you get her name?