So after much conversation and intention setting, Isis and I finally arrived at Black Rock City (which is what we call the city that springs up every year around Burning Man) early Tuesday evening, almost two days into the event. It took us about an hour or two to get ourselves to and through the gate, which was frustrating at first but then we realized why it was taking so long. Not only do you have to show your ticket and let them search your car (no big deal really), but also they have a welcoming committee that you pass through, who pull you out of the car and give you hugs and tell you “welcome home!”, make sure you know where you’re going. And if you’re new, like I was, they get you to lie down in the dust and make a “playa angel” and ring a big bell. (I turned down the playa-angel-making experience, because I was just not yet ready for the dust. They didn’t force it.) We knew where Sacred Spaces Village was (4:15 and Esplanade, which was actually right on Black Rock City’s “Main Street” and therefore a pretty awesome home base) but even after wandering around a bit, we had a really difficult time accessing it by car. You’re not supposed to drive on the Esplanade, but we finally gave up and did so, just so we could get ourselves close to where we were supposed to be. We found the Sacred Spaces Village camp, but couldn’t find the people who were supposedly in charge of checking us in, so we waited around for a while as it got dark. Isis went inside the main chill space so she could lie down, and I waited with the car. Finally a lovely soul named Aaron arrived to take care of us. He welcomed me home (I love it how that simple phrase, which I heard many times while I was there, encompasses so much about community and identity) and then helped me figure out where we might be able to put our car and where we could pitch our tent. He even stayed with me to help direct me as I drove the car (slowly, cautiously, against the night traffic) to the camping spot, and made sure we got ourselves settled.

So once we had our spot staked out, we were able to grab some food, and then we finished signing in and got our camp bracelets (which let us officially get food) and our bathroom keys (SSV had its own bank of port-o-potties and a couple of shower stall spaces, which was a huge blessing). By then it was getting close to 10pm, but we still had yet to put our tent together. Since Isis was still needing to rest and not lift anything due to her health issues, it was up to me to put our personal camp space together—and I did, after a few struggles with trying to adapt our fantasy plan of how things would be set up to the reality of the situation we found ourselves in. I pulled boxes out of the car, put up our big tent (we had brought several tents but there wasn’t room for them), filled it with air mattresses and our sleeping gear, and let Isis crash out. By then it was close to midnight, but I really couldn’t go to sleep without at least taking a brief look around. I found my costume bin and dug out a crazy yellow fish hat and bright orange shirt and stripy scarf, and put them on. Then I grabbed my Camelbak backpack and walked out the front door of our camp, which faced the open playa with the Man in the middle of it.

[A brief digression here to explain to those who don’t know how Burning Man is laid out—those of you who do know can skip this part. There’s a map, but the simple explanation is that the city is laid out like a semi-circle surrounding a large open area. The radial streets of the city correspond to the hours on a clock, from 10 o’clock on the left to 2 o’clock on the right. The streets that run the circumference of the semi-circle start with the Esplanade on the inside, closest to the open playa, and then after that are alphabetical A-H. Each year the alphabetical streets are re-named to correspond to the year’s theme, so this year, for example, A was Anniversary, B was Birthday, C was Coming Out, and so on. All rites of passage, see?]

First I just sort of wandered around a bit in our general neighborhood. I went down the Esplanade and the 4:30 avenue, drawn to the various lit up bits of art and watching the people, but I was feeling a little bit shy and uncertain so I didn’t really stop anywhere except for one place: a camp that had a giant “Wheel of Wonder” (the Burning Man version of a “wheel of fortune” type spinner wheel) in front. There were people there who were inviting others to come spin the wheel, and giving out prizes like “shot of whiskey”, “HD pin”, etc. I stepped up to spin the wheel and what did I get? “Playa Angel”. So ok fine, this time I did it. Gingerly, and without full enthusiasm, but I did lie down in the dust and wiggle around, mostly because the happy drunken folks tending the wheel did it with me.

Then I reasoned that I couldn’t go to sleep without visiting the Man, so that’s what I set out to do. On the way there, I stopped by an incredible lit up sculpture of a willow tree (yes, it looked kind of like the tree from Avatar). I was trying to take in all the people and the space and no one particularly interacted with me except for one guy who came up to me while I was looking at the tree and said something like “oh look, she’s here!” I looked at him with some puzzlement because I wasn’t sure if he was referring to me or not, but he repeated himself with a big smile so I answered him “yes, I am.” It was one of those brief moments that at the time didn’t seem particularly important but in hindsight takes on more meaning.

I continued on to the Man. This year, the Man was a giant neon-outlined sculpture (I don’t know how they made it safe to burn, but apparently it was) on top of an enormous, perforated pyramid that people could climb up inside to get up a couple stories high. When I got there, it felt pretty huge and overwhelming, so rather than going inside the pyramid and climbing up for a view (which I now sort of regret I never did), I stopped and sat in one of the small triangular shelters that were arranged around it on all sides. It gave me a place to sit and look and take it all in, and a place that others could come to interact with me if they wanted (a few people did come to sit with me, but I don’t remember any particularly memorable interactions). After awhile of sitting there and taking in the scene, I could feel myself getting pretty tired, so I headed back to Sacred Spaces Village.

Before I could just wuss out and go to bed though, I had to pass through a spontaneously formed loose clump of people watching fire spinners that had formed on the Esplanade in front of SSV. I have always loved fire art, so of course I had to stop and watch, and I’m so glad I did. There were anywhere from 2 to 5 fire spinners in the circle at any given time, of all different types: single or double poi (fire balls attached to chain or wire), single or double staffs, fans, hoops, finger torches, even fire swords. Whenever someone would run out of fuel and finish, the crowd would clap and whistle, but in addition to that, there was a guy in the audience who just constantly kept shouting out his delight and encouragement to the fire spinners (“amazing!” or “you are incredible!” or “beautiful!”). At first I found him overly loud and annoying and sort of dismissed him as a drunken goober, but then I realized that actually, that sort of clear, delighted vocal appreciation was pretty cool. By being truly appreciative and giving voice to it, he made me evaluate my own delight and appreciation and realize that hell yeah, this was pretty f**king amazing, and I was really enjoying it too!

(Side note: over the time I was at Burning Man, I saw a lot of different examples of clear and vocal appreciation for others’ creative self-expression, and consciously participated in it too. Now, ok, one of my personal super-powers is enthusiasm, and so of course I appreciate it in others, but I submit that there is something really awesome about being in an environment full of creative self-expression that is also explicitly acknowledged and appreciated by others in the immediate environment. So often as artists we get too little feedback, so that it feels like shouting into the wind, or the feedback we do get is negative or repressive; but there at Burning Man, it seemed like there was a constant positive feedback loop that felt great and reinforced the community value of creative self-expression. I kept wondering what it would feel like if we had that kind of positive reinforcement for creative self-expression all the time, in the “real world”...probably pretty awesome!)

After watching fire spinners for a while, I finally came to the realization that it was close to 3 in the morning, and that if I wanted to enjoy the next day, I had better get some sleep. So I found my way back to our tent and wiped myself down and passed out for the night.

[To Be Continued in Part 3...]

[To see more or full sized pictures, click here for the whole set on Flickr]