Post by mzfit on Jan 25, 2011 14:36:48 GMT -7
I am going to blatantly steal this from Tribe - as I find it to be an incredibly well written piece that all Staggers should be familiar with. Reflect on it - chew on it - digest it!! It is a long post that discusses what we can do to make BRC more of the place that we love! How well do you know and live the 10 Principles??
mzfit
Growth and change are wonderful and powerful things. They are signs that you’re on the right track in whatever endeavor you are on. With growth and change, however, there are always pains, and there is a pain that I see within the Burning Man community that I feel needs to be addressed head on, rather than waiting until it becomes something of a crisis, which is what I see is on the verge of happening.
I have been to five burns now, and each burn has been unique, awesome, hard as hell, and each an experience that has made me grow in ways I never thought possible. Since before 2006 I did not have the means to get to the playa, I decided to learn as much as possible about the event. I even remember having this wide angle picture from atop someone’s structure showing the entire event on my screen saver, daydreaming for a year and a half about all the wondrous mischief and adventures I could get into.
More than anything, I think, that helped me assimilate and understand what it is to be a burner are the Ten Principles. Gifting. Self reliance. Clean up your mess. Include everyone around you. Participate. These ideas were kind of foreign to me, as popular culture teaches us to be passive consumers, non starters that are resigned to be a part of the machine. As the years went by each Principle began to have a measurably positive impact on my life, and that impact has effected others around me. These Ten Principles have, in a very real way, guided me to know how to be a better human by reflecting back on me how I am fitting in, how I can effect others, and how others are effecting me. I am deeply grateful for the perspective they gave me.
Where I’ve found a place to fit in within Black Rock City the most has been by camping out in the far out reaches of h or I or d rings, and forming a improbtu camp and community with the strangers around me. More often than not, they have been new to the event, and I’ve done my best to include them, so that they get that sense of community and acceptance that I received my first day on the playa. It’s been important for me to do this, because I remember how important it was for me to have others do the same for me my first time. I was able to take this ethic that I learned back to the default world and let it grow there.
Every year I’ve participated in a burn I’ve seen, like everyone else, the event grow larger,and larger, accepting new people every year, older camps not returning and new camps taking their place. This is good and healthy, and I am sure those who have been ten or even twenty years in a row can attest to this. It is pretty obvious from watching the many documentaries out there just how much the event has changed.
The last two or three years that have left me scratching my head and saying, “what the fuck?” Last year was the first year that I repeatedly met people who had never heard of the Ten Principles, didn’t understand that you can’t buy supplies on the playa, came horribly unprepared, and as time went on it was obvious that the only reason they had come was to do exactly what they do in the city- take drugs and not participate, because their only impression was that you can go out to Burning Man, party, and people will take care of you. I believe that this is a poisonous attitude that must be curtailed as much as possible. The good news is that we have the means to curtail it already.
Black Rock City has doubled in population over the last ten years of the event, going from 25,000 to 50,000. Educating and socializing 25,000 creative, active people is no small task, yet, I feel like it is something that both the BMORG and Participants who have already been need to take a much more active role in.
While this may seem like a minor thing to many people, I suggest that this is a major error that needs to be corrected. As new people come in and are not introduced to social norms, they come with preconceived notions of what others have told them: that it’s a big fucking rave in the desert. Unfortunately this preconception, more and more, is not changing. Somewhere along the line the message of the Ten Principles got lost in the message that it is just a big desert rave party. The more that the message of the Ten Principles is scrambled with the message that its just another big desert rave party, the greater and greater the negative effects will begin to manifest- negative effects that already have started to have a real impact- communal effort will degrade, more messes will be created, more clicks will be formed, more yahoo dudes standing around in a Hawaiian shirt looking around for the “naked chicks,” more sparkle ponies will be coming to your camp trying to mooch every last thing off of you. This will have the effect of driving away people who have poured a lot of lives into this event. Participation will continue to reduce down to a couple of dudes holding a glow stick and bitching about how boring it all is.
Nobody really likes Sparkle Ponies or Yahoos. They’re annoying, lecherous, and make the backbone of society out in the real world which we are all here to escape from. I know with out a doubt that I used to be a yahoo, because at one point, I just didn’t get it. But then all of these ideas came along, started to rewire how I thought about things. By participating in something larger than I was, and trying to follow the ideas they put out, I was able to put my sad, island of an ego aside and start understanding how interconnected we all are, how to give respect to others, and in doing so, learning to respect myself.
This year’s theme is Rites of Passage. It’s advantageous of us, then, to use this years theme to get the message of the Ten Principles out there to as many people as possible. The act of hearing, then doing, then understanding the Ten Principles is the most important Right of Passage that any of us who participate in the Burning Man Festival can undertake. Below are, what I believe, sensible actions that both the BMORG can take steps towards, and actions that you and I, as Participants, can easily do to keep Burning Man the weird, wonderful, free, and amazing experience that it is.
BMORG;
* Needs to be more aware that a lot of new people are coming in and need more guidance than already is available. Repeating the message in short, easy to remember bursts is what I believe to be key.
* Needs to promote the Ten Principles way more than it already is, as the Jack rabbit speaks email news letter isn’t quite enough. Its long and very informative, but really needs to be augmented with getting the message out more. Perhaps sponsoring a podcast version would be a great project for someone in the community to produce along side BMIR
* Needs to ensure that people aren’t coming through the gate with out enough supplies per person.
* Needs to consider how to encourage more self directed participation among new burners, charging more to people who show up on Thursday night, or placing “noob” zones near keyholes.
* A guiding hand approach rather than “just more fucking rules by the bmorg overlords” approach would probably be really appreciated, as abstract conversations about why there are rules in the first place, like why bmorg shares rights over photography and why sail powered art cars are too long winded.
* The BMORG really needs to address the issue of population, scalpers, and Tourists- and I mean Tourists in a literal sense. Packages for Burning Man Tours are being sold on Ebay for big bucks. The Bmorg has gone after people using the logo for profit on ebay for quite a bit less than is what is being sold. Scalpers are selling tickets bought during the recent ticketing snafu for tidy profits. Its clear that there are people out there who are using Burning Man in much the same way those involved with Video Voyeur did many years ago. This needs to be stopped, or at least persued with as much vigor as the logo and video/picture infringement issues have been.
Individual Participants;
* If you don’t know them already, read and then re read the Ten Principles. If you haven’t already yet and have the time read Hakim Bay’s “Temporary Autonomous Zone,” read the E-playa Message board, the Burning Man group on Tribe.net, and if you can, read classics like The electric Kool Aid Acid Test, the podcasts on Burncast.TV, On the Road, and watch Beyond Black Rock.
* Take more time to think about whatever way you chose to participate, and design it to be as interactive with people as possible. An led art car is cool, but an led art car that shoots pee funnels and hosts the hourly Barry Manilow and Journey Karaoke sing along jamboree? Hells yes. Casa Bonita pirates cave and soppapilla bar? Oh yeah. Dj’s and a sound system? Eh. Its way played, you can think of better.
* Take the time to find that one person who came out by him/herself, and make them your best bud for the week. Open up your camp to them, teach them how to participate in your art, and bring them into the fold. There are few things that can be more powerful on a person than that one act alone, and, if they’ve got enough drive and desire to go there alone, they’re probably a pretty damn cool ass person in the first place.
* If you can not build something as grand and expensive as an art car or multiplex camp, build a community shower/evap pond for the camps around you and gift them hugs and tequila for each use.
* Create a wacky, nonsensical story, and lay it down on anyone you see looking down and out, acting like a yahoo/sparkle pony, or anyone you sense needs it. Sometimes random encounters like that will snap people into the reality that they’re not out in the city streets where strangers are bad. Bring gifts of beers or tequila to soften the blow.
This open letter was written with love and gratitude towards all of the many people I’ve never met who have made this event possible. I realize that there is sometimes not too much anyone can do about things, but on the other hand, I feel like all those who go to Burning Man can, in fact, do much more. The first step is really talking about and discussing what is going on. I know there is drama, people bitch and complain, get fed up, and want to quit. Each of you who have participated, however, has had an impact on my life and most of you don’t know it. Its worth it to keep going. This letter is also written to those who have not or are considering going in the future. The world is what you make it- take the time this year to let your experience at the burn be a rite of passage into something bigger and bolder than what you leave behind in the default world.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Deckard
Aka Lawrence Sanchez
Five time burner, citizen, Black Rock City
festivalagogo.com
Ten Principles
Radical Inclusion
Anyone may be a part of Burning Man. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation in our community.
Gifting
Burning Man is devoted to acts of gift giving. The value of a gift is unconditional. Gifting does not contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value.
Decommodification
In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience.
Radical Self-reliance
Burning Man encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources.
Radical Self-expression
Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient.
Communal Effort
Our community values creative cooperation and collaboration. We strive to produce, promote and protect social networks, public spaces, works of art, and methods of communication that support such interaction.
Civic Responsibility
We value civil society. Community members who organize events should assume responsibility for public welfare and endeavor to communicate civic responsibilities to participants. They must also assume responsibility for conducting events in accordance with local, state and federal laws.
Leaving No Trace
Our community respects the environment. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavor, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them.
Participation
Our community is committed to a radically participatory ethic. We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation. We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart.
Immediacy
Immediate experience is, in many ways, the most important touchstone of value in our culture. We seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and a recognition of our inner selves, the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers. No idea can substitute for this experience.
Eplaya message board
Tribe.net
Hakim Bay’s Temporary Autonomous Zone
Burncast.tv
Tom Wolfe The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test
Jack Kerouac On the Road
Barry Manilow’s greatest hits
This letter is written under the Creative Commons Sharealike License. You are encouraged to distribute it as much and as widely as possible, just give credit back.
mzfit
Growth and change are wonderful and powerful things. They are signs that you’re on the right track in whatever endeavor you are on. With growth and change, however, there are always pains, and there is a pain that I see within the Burning Man community that I feel needs to be addressed head on, rather than waiting until it becomes something of a crisis, which is what I see is on the verge of happening.
I have been to five burns now, and each burn has been unique, awesome, hard as hell, and each an experience that has made me grow in ways I never thought possible. Since before 2006 I did not have the means to get to the playa, I decided to learn as much as possible about the event. I even remember having this wide angle picture from atop someone’s structure showing the entire event on my screen saver, daydreaming for a year and a half about all the wondrous mischief and adventures I could get into.
More than anything, I think, that helped me assimilate and understand what it is to be a burner are the Ten Principles. Gifting. Self reliance. Clean up your mess. Include everyone around you. Participate. These ideas were kind of foreign to me, as popular culture teaches us to be passive consumers, non starters that are resigned to be a part of the machine. As the years went by each Principle began to have a measurably positive impact on my life, and that impact has effected others around me. These Ten Principles have, in a very real way, guided me to know how to be a better human by reflecting back on me how I am fitting in, how I can effect others, and how others are effecting me. I am deeply grateful for the perspective they gave me.
Where I’ve found a place to fit in within Black Rock City the most has been by camping out in the far out reaches of h or I or d rings, and forming a improbtu camp and community with the strangers around me. More often than not, they have been new to the event, and I’ve done my best to include them, so that they get that sense of community and acceptance that I received my first day on the playa. It’s been important for me to do this, because I remember how important it was for me to have others do the same for me my first time. I was able to take this ethic that I learned back to the default world and let it grow there.
Every year I’ve participated in a burn I’ve seen, like everyone else, the event grow larger,and larger, accepting new people every year, older camps not returning and new camps taking their place. This is good and healthy, and I am sure those who have been ten or even twenty years in a row can attest to this. It is pretty obvious from watching the many documentaries out there just how much the event has changed.
The last two or three years that have left me scratching my head and saying, “what the fuck?” Last year was the first year that I repeatedly met people who had never heard of the Ten Principles, didn’t understand that you can’t buy supplies on the playa, came horribly unprepared, and as time went on it was obvious that the only reason they had come was to do exactly what they do in the city- take drugs and not participate, because their only impression was that you can go out to Burning Man, party, and people will take care of you. I believe that this is a poisonous attitude that must be curtailed as much as possible. The good news is that we have the means to curtail it already.
Black Rock City has doubled in population over the last ten years of the event, going from 25,000 to 50,000. Educating and socializing 25,000 creative, active people is no small task, yet, I feel like it is something that both the BMORG and Participants who have already been need to take a much more active role in.
While this may seem like a minor thing to many people, I suggest that this is a major error that needs to be corrected. As new people come in and are not introduced to social norms, they come with preconceived notions of what others have told them: that it’s a big fucking rave in the desert. Unfortunately this preconception, more and more, is not changing. Somewhere along the line the message of the Ten Principles got lost in the message that it is just a big desert rave party. The more that the message of the Ten Principles is scrambled with the message that its just another big desert rave party, the greater and greater the negative effects will begin to manifest- negative effects that already have started to have a real impact- communal effort will degrade, more messes will be created, more clicks will be formed, more yahoo dudes standing around in a Hawaiian shirt looking around for the “naked chicks,” more sparkle ponies will be coming to your camp trying to mooch every last thing off of you. This will have the effect of driving away people who have poured a lot of lives into this event. Participation will continue to reduce down to a couple of dudes holding a glow stick and bitching about how boring it all is.
Nobody really likes Sparkle Ponies or Yahoos. They’re annoying, lecherous, and make the backbone of society out in the real world which we are all here to escape from. I know with out a doubt that I used to be a yahoo, because at one point, I just didn’t get it. But then all of these ideas came along, started to rewire how I thought about things. By participating in something larger than I was, and trying to follow the ideas they put out, I was able to put my sad, island of an ego aside and start understanding how interconnected we all are, how to give respect to others, and in doing so, learning to respect myself.
This year’s theme is Rites of Passage. It’s advantageous of us, then, to use this years theme to get the message of the Ten Principles out there to as many people as possible. The act of hearing, then doing, then understanding the Ten Principles is the most important Right of Passage that any of us who participate in the Burning Man Festival can undertake. Below are, what I believe, sensible actions that both the BMORG can take steps towards, and actions that you and I, as Participants, can easily do to keep Burning Man the weird, wonderful, free, and amazing experience that it is.
BMORG;
* Needs to be more aware that a lot of new people are coming in and need more guidance than already is available. Repeating the message in short, easy to remember bursts is what I believe to be key.
* Needs to promote the Ten Principles way more than it already is, as the Jack rabbit speaks email news letter isn’t quite enough. Its long and very informative, but really needs to be augmented with getting the message out more. Perhaps sponsoring a podcast version would be a great project for someone in the community to produce along side BMIR
* Needs to ensure that people aren’t coming through the gate with out enough supplies per person.
* Needs to consider how to encourage more self directed participation among new burners, charging more to people who show up on Thursday night, or placing “noob” zones near keyholes.
* A guiding hand approach rather than “just more fucking rules by the bmorg overlords” approach would probably be really appreciated, as abstract conversations about why there are rules in the first place, like why bmorg shares rights over photography and why sail powered art cars are too long winded.
* The BMORG really needs to address the issue of population, scalpers, and Tourists- and I mean Tourists in a literal sense. Packages for Burning Man Tours are being sold on Ebay for big bucks. The Bmorg has gone after people using the logo for profit on ebay for quite a bit less than is what is being sold. Scalpers are selling tickets bought during the recent ticketing snafu for tidy profits. Its clear that there are people out there who are using Burning Man in much the same way those involved with Video Voyeur did many years ago. This needs to be stopped, or at least persued with as much vigor as the logo and video/picture infringement issues have been.
Individual Participants;
* If you don’t know them already, read and then re read the Ten Principles. If you haven’t already yet and have the time read Hakim Bay’s “Temporary Autonomous Zone,” read the E-playa Message board, the Burning Man group on Tribe.net, and if you can, read classics like The electric Kool Aid Acid Test, the podcasts on Burncast.TV, On the Road, and watch Beyond Black Rock.
* Take more time to think about whatever way you chose to participate, and design it to be as interactive with people as possible. An led art car is cool, but an led art car that shoots pee funnels and hosts the hourly Barry Manilow and Journey Karaoke sing along jamboree? Hells yes. Casa Bonita pirates cave and soppapilla bar? Oh yeah. Dj’s and a sound system? Eh. Its way played, you can think of better.
* Take the time to find that one person who came out by him/herself, and make them your best bud for the week. Open up your camp to them, teach them how to participate in your art, and bring them into the fold. There are few things that can be more powerful on a person than that one act alone, and, if they’ve got enough drive and desire to go there alone, they’re probably a pretty damn cool ass person in the first place.
* If you can not build something as grand and expensive as an art car or multiplex camp, build a community shower/evap pond for the camps around you and gift them hugs and tequila for each use.
* Create a wacky, nonsensical story, and lay it down on anyone you see looking down and out, acting like a yahoo/sparkle pony, or anyone you sense needs it. Sometimes random encounters like that will snap people into the reality that they’re not out in the city streets where strangers are bad. Bring gifts of beers or tequila to soften the blow.
This open letter was written with love and gratitude towards all of the many people I’ve never met who have made this event possible. I realize that there is sometimes not too much anyone can do about things, but on the other hand, I feel like all those who go to Burning Man can, in fact, do much more. The first step is really talking about and discussing what is going on. I know there is drama, people bitch and complain, get fed up, and want to quit. Each of you who have participated, however, has had an impact on my life and most of you don’t know it. Its worth it to keep going. This letter is also written to those who have not or are considering going in the future. The world is what you make it- take the time this year to let your experience at the burn be a rite of passage into something bigger and bolder than what you leave behind in the default world.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Deckard
Aka Lawrence Sanchez
Five time burner, citizen, Black Rock City
festivalagogo.com
Ten Principles
Radical Inclusion
Anyone may be a part of Burning Man. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation in our community.
Gifting
Burning Man is devoted to acts of gift giving. The value of a gift is unconditional. Gifting does not contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value.
Decommodification
In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience.
Radical Self-reliance
Burning Man encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources.
Radical Self-expression
Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient.
Communal Effort
Our community values creative cooperation and collaboration. We strive to produce, promote and protect social networks, public spaces, works of art, and methods of communication that support such interaction.
Civic Responsibility
We value civil society. Community members who organize events should assume responsibility for public welfare and endeavor to communicate civic responsibilities to participants. They must also assume responsibility for conducting events in accordance with local, state and federal laws.
Leaving No Trace
Our community respects the environment. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavor, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them.
Participation
Our community is committed to a radically participatory ethic. We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation. We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart.
Immediacy
Immediate experience is, in many ways, the most important touchstone of value in our culture. We seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and a recognition of our inner selves, the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers. No idea can substitute for this experience.
Eplaya message board
Tribe.net
Hakim Bay’s Temporary Autonomous Zone
Burncast.tv
Tom Wolfe The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test
Jack Kerouac On the Road
Barry Manilow’s greatest hits
This letter is written under the Creative Commons Sharealike License. You are encouraged to distribute it as much and as widely as possible, just give credit back.
