So a couple of weeks ago I got the opportunity to catch up with a friend who I hadn’t seen in like 5 years, Chris and meet a voice from the phone, Mark. Both of these guys are currently out in the desert at Burning Man letting off a little steam with 1000’s of other creatives. Chris has been unsuccessfully coaxing me to go since 2001, one of those it just doesn’t work things with my life – so far.
Chris isn’t the only one, so has my friend Rick – these people are polar opposites and both rave about the week every time they get back. So there has to be something to it.
Then I realized is it about letting off steam of getting creative? Burning man is this week long event which is a little hard to explain, in fact even for the organizers:
Trying to explain what Burning Man is to someone who has never been to the event is a bit like trying to explain what a particular color looks like to someone who is blind.
While I’m not sure it’s that difficult to explain – I do think that the dynamics of relationships and people are that hard to discern which is a core component of burning man experience. This event is as much about your current friends as it is about the friends you haven’t met yet and value they can add.
[tag]Burning man[/tag] is effectively a [tag]social network[/tag] for creative expression which leverages an informal barter economy exclusively during the duration. A goal for the event is sustainability through preparation and social interaction in 100+ degree heat in the middle of nowhere with art.
I’m not quite sure the reason for this post, but this observation was conjured up when I spoke to another friend about the weekend, since I completely lost track of the date and was thinking the 2 BBQ options I have aren’t so cool. He and his wife are making it down to Charleston for the weekend. When I asked what he was doing this weekend he only said “Nothing, just catching up with Bolt for the weekend”. He paused and said “take that back, I’m going to relax and catch up on life”
Enjoy the holiday weekend, perhaps a [tag]BBQ[/tag] or two is a good thing.
… continual hard labor deadens the energies of the soul, and benumbs the faculties of the mind; the ideas become confined, the mind barren, and, like the scorching sands of Arabia, produces nothing; or, like the uncultivated soil, brings forth thorns and thistles. – Maria Stewart (1803–1879)
No Comments