Be there...Burning Man 2009...for a 43Things Convergence!

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Okay Hawk… you convinced me! I have always wanted to go to Burning Man, as I am a hippie at heart, and have only heard incredible things about it. Not sure if 2009 will be the year for me, but I would like to think it could be.

I will try my best to be there and meet Hawk, Bedhead, Shelly, Uncle, Serenity, and so on…

Let’s hear some! The Art Theme for Burning Man 2009 is Evolution. What form do we want our 43T Theme Camp to take?

Converge. Create. Cremate.

crossed fingers list.

The Burning Man organizers have announced the art theme for Burning Man 2009!

Our theme this year prompts three related questions: What are we as human beings, where have we come from, and how may we adapt to meet an ever-changing world?

Following Ms. MacAran’s lead, let’s begin thinking of our presence at Burning Man 2009. How may we incorporate our 43T ethos into the event’s overarching theme of evolution?

Converge. Create. Cremate.

With Burning Man 2008 now finished, our thoughts should turn in earnest to 2009’s Burning Man convergence. To that end, I am excerpting the eloquent Hawkmeister’s thoughts on this unique experience, for those who did not catch them in their original context:

This event is held in one of earth’s most inhospitable regions. The environment contains no true soils, surface or ground water, vegetation, wildlife, threatened or endangered species, paleontology, waste material, anything we typically think of as “wilderness,” or cultural resources. No farmland, floodplain, wetland…not even any noxious weeds. It is blank. Empty. Severe. A vast alkali plain. And once a year, people come together here and construct a city. For one week. And afterwards, they clean it up, leaving no trace.

Your survival in this environment is in doubt. Unless you take personal responsibility for it. And wonder of wonders, people do. Not only do they survive, they come in the thousands and build incredible art displays on a scale to match the environment. They thrive in a place where they are allowed to be whomever and whatever they want to be. Who do you want to be? What do you want to do? Ask these questions in this environment, and they all boil down to the ultimate question:

What do I do now?

Doesn’t this seem like the perfect place to state a goal? To cheer others who are working towards attaining their goals? Doesn’t this seem like the perfect place to live the 43T ethos?

Converge. Create. Cremate.

years ago. Reno, Lovelock, Winnemucca and Elko, even a short stint in Fernley. That desert state is amazing. Raw beauty that really isn’t noticed just driving through. Every pocket, ravine and mountain offers unique flora and fauna that begs intimate inspection.

When I lived in Winnemucca, I used to take the ol VW and head for the dunes just west of town. I’d stay all night and commune with stars so close you could touch them. The solitude and silence was perfect. There’s spirits, energies..whatever you want to call them, that cleanse and make the worldly easier to deal with. Mystical…many years since, with my aged cynicism, it’s interesting to revisit my…maybe…fanciful impressions of that patch of sand. It’s apropos that Burning Man is held there, even if it is a few miles further south.

In exploring the maps to get to Burning Man, I realized my dunes are on the northeastern edge of the Black Rock desert. I can remember looking west at that white expanse and seeing the “heat waves”. So forbidding…so inviting. I’ll have to take a detour just north on 95 for the northern edge of the dunes. Ya know just to say hello to my old friends.

Buy tickets Jan,2009

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