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Posts tagged Black Rock Desert
Lost & Found: The Power of Community
Oct 10th
- Sunset the night of the burn during Burning Man 2012 )’(
It finally made it back to me.
Four weeks had passed since it was dropped into the alkaline dust of Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, aka the Playa.
Holding it in my hand once again, feelings of astonishment and belief mixed around in my head; then a grin, almost a smirk stuck on my face.
Community. Karma. The Universe. Whatever you call it, once again proved its existence as it has done over and over again at Burning Man during my seven trips home to that magical place. It is one of the most amazing parts of the annual gathering. Even with 54,000 this year, it held true. #beautiful
So when I lost my camera the final night, just a couple hours before the man burned, that’s what I told myself: It has to come back to you. I just needed to believe it would. Things literally manifest themselves there when you need them. It happens so frequently and so consistently; it’s impossible to deny its existence.
Though, one of the greatest lessons I’ve taken from the unforgiving elements of the Playa is to let things go. And at that moment when I realized I had dropped the camera, I had to come to peace that I’d lost all the photos I’d shot during the week and to now just have fun. Quite painful, since I had purchased a new camera specifically to take night shots of the spectacular, light show rollercoaster that is a night at Burning Man.
But they were all gone. Even as we made the trek back to San Francisco, I said how hard it was to let go. I just had to believe there was a chance someone in the community would find all these wonderful memories and try and get them back to the owner.
Of course.
Within a few days of returning, a kind soul from Washington DC had finally made it back to the default world and posted a photo on his camp’s Facebook page, Distrikt. Lost & Found 2011. Within hours someone had identified me and tagged the photo.
Lost & Found Facebook Post
It took another couple weeks until my camera made it back to SF and into my hands, until the kind soul returned for a visit to the city (just before leaving for his sixth tour in Iraq). #hero
Thank you Paul, Josh, Benjamin, Brian, Ferd, Derek and everyone who carries the community of Burning Man with them. You made this possible.
The man burns in 327 days )’(
- Inside Another Door Project. Looking Hopeful.
Where to think? Burning Man – Black Rock City, Nevada
Aug 6th
Sunset at Burning Man
As you enter Black Rock City, the greeter at the gate gives you a big hug and says, Welcome Home.
It’s an apt greeting as the journey is both physically difficult and mentally hard to achieve. Though after a week surviving the elements in the remote Black Rock Desert — about 2-3 hours north of Reno – where disconnecting from everything that is your normal day is modus operandi, you do truly feel in another world, one you definitely would like to call home.
I find Burning Man being about what you bring with you and what you leave behind. Gone is the stress of your job, any thoughts of money, and your roles in the default world. What you bring with you is all the good stuff and that becomes magic on the playa.
You are just you, whatever you want that to be.
The creative energy flows through everything, from the giant art installations, to the vehicles registered at the Department of Mutant Vehicles, to the music beating like a collective heartbeat, to our individual outfits that beautifully show you.
The earth and sky are no different. From the stark temperatures and landscape of the desert emanates creativity like no other. Double-rainbows, warming sunrises and my favorite, Dusk… The Magic Hour, are nature’s gift to the community.
I climbed atop our RV last year to take in the final hour of the day. The music playing from the different camps providing a mashup of sounds that gave an eloquent soundtrack to the moment. The energy of the evening was building in everything. Arms stretched out and my eyes closed, I took a deep breath and smiled.
Few thinking benches can top this one.
The man burns in 29 days )*(
