Burning Man Other

The art theme of last year's Burning Man was called Tomorrow Today. I had a ticket but decided against going. All my Burning Man gear was stored in the very back of a storage unit,  I did not want to move stuff out in order to get to the Burning Man gear. It felt overwhelming.  I also did not want to go by myself but finding somebody to experience Burning Man with you is not that easy. And it is not like I am looking for somebody to latch onto at Burning Man but going with a friend is nice. I was also very sad almost all of last year and I did not want to feel like that at Burning Man. I ended up watching Burning Man online, there was a 24/7 camera at Black Rock City. I was a bit sad that I did not go but I survived. Here are some pictures that I took of last year's Burn while watching it on my iiPad.

Wellllll.....there are people at Black Rock City right now, most of them have Early Arrival passes and are working hard setting up for the coming week. The 2026 Burning Man art theme is Axis Mundi. "Latin for axis of the world describing a symbolic or physical center point that connects the heavens, the earth, and the underworld."  I love the theme and I am heading towards Black Rock City in a couple of days.

I feel a slight panic inside my heart area.....it is June 21 ALREADY and today is Summer Solstice. I might make a stop later at
Nordia House here in Portland (where I used to volunteer). That place is so nice and they always have great displays and exhibits.
I did receive an email from The Jackrabbit Speaks, that is Burning Man's newsletter. And there was a really nice article on the solstice, here it is copied and pasted. Source, The Jackrabbit Speaks Burning Man Journal.

"Wherever you are today at 57 minutes after this hour, welcome the solstice. This celestial moment marks the day we honor Burning Man’s inception 37 years ago — the first time Larry Harvey, Jerry James, their kids, and friends built and burned a wooden Man on Baker Beach. Burning a human effigy, and celebrating the solstice on a beach gathering are not revolutionary acts unto themselves; humanity has created these moments and imbued them with meaning since before recorded history. But the impetus that brought these two acts together ignited something new (and also ancient) in those early Burners. Maybe it soothed unmet desires for ritual, communion and continuity at a time when people were feeling increasingly disconnected.
By 1990, the original crew merged with the Cacophony Society and other instigators, and engineered a leap from beach to desert. Before long Burners were building massive fiery art and other wonders, organizing theme camps, erecting a Temple, and piloting wildly illuminated mutant vehicles.
In short, we had a city. And then we had a global community — Burners around the world made the 10 Principles their own, launching Regional Events and local Burning Man communities.
So, happy solstice to you. We hope you make time to commemorate this moment in whatever way is meaningful."

"Burning Man is very much needed in our world as a place for rehearsing things that have a deeper spiritual value, and that nourish the foundation of identity: the feeling that you're at home in the world, and at home with yourself.” - Larry Harvey

I am VERY happy to be part of Burning Man, I am a participant in this event. It is a very special moment, that dusty week in the Black Rock Desert. Some do not understand it at all and that is OK, nobody is asking you to be there. But I understand it completely, I can feel it in my soul.
Happy Solstice my friends. ❤️

The pretty sky this evening. Can you see the moon and the star?

This year's temple at Burning Man got announced - Temple of the Heart.
The lead artist is a girl from Kraków Poland, Ela Madej. She lives in San Francisco now.
The Temple is designed to look like an upside down desert flower and the stem is going to reach up to the sky. The Temple will have traditional Eastern European lace patterns. I am very familiar with those, every window in Poland when I was little and later on when I would visit had white thin lace pattern curtains.
Ela says, "When I was growing up, my beloved grandma had a huge rose garden and we would all collect the petals to make rose preserves. Grandma passed away when she was 80. Grandpa outlived her by almost 17 years.
He never stopped taking care of her roses and making rose preserves.
Still today, I think the smell of rose preserves must be what love smells like. That's why the centerpiece of the Temple features giant roses."
There will be a rose altar in center. Beautiful! I am so happy that this girl from Poland that also loves going to Burning Man is the lead artist of the Temple this year!

The art theme for Burning Man 2023 was announced a few weeks ago - Animalia.
The first time I went to Burning Man was in 2013 after years of wanting to go. That first time I decided that I was going to try to go 10 years in a row as a start.....if I am lucky enough to be there next year that will be my 10 year in a row at Black Rock City in Nevada.
In 2020 I went to Baker Beach in San Francisco for the gathering there (Baker Beach is the place where the first Burning Man happened). In 2021 I went to Renegade Burn/Free Burn which was held at the regular location in Nevada. So if I do not count 2020 Baker Beach, then next year will be my 10th year.
And Animalia is so far my FAVORITE art theme so I am feeling EXTRA excited over it. I love animals and I hope with this this theme, which will be interpreted in many different ways of course because it is Burning Man after all, but I am hoping that it will bring more understanding and compassion for our fellow friends here on this planet -the animals. I think the future is vegetarian/vegan. In the future I think majority of the human population will look back at history and be disgusted with our treatment of animals.

Today the ticket registration for Burning Man opened. What I did not realize back in 2012 when I decided that I was for sure going to Burning Man that year (or so I thought) is that getting a ticket is a rather complicated matter. Tickets are not sold at the gate. You can't just show up and hope for the best although there are brave souls that do just that every year and I guess it works out for some of them. Maybe tickets used to be sold at the gate at some point but not anymore! So since I had not educated myself on how to get a ticket back then I missed out and instead 2013 became my Birgin year. Birgin = a first timer at Burning Man.
The first time I heard about Burning Man was around 2004. I was at Ash Springs hot springs in Nevada with my ex boyfriend David and a person there told us about this event up by Reno. We thought it sounded amazing then but didn't go for all those years and we lived in Nevada too. Well I didn't go until almost a decade later. I wish (of course) that I would had went sooner than 2013. I know I missed out on all those earlier years, so that is a regret of mine.
This year it will be a fight to get a ticket. The number of overall tickets decreased by about 20 000 and the number of tickets in the main sale, the sale I register for, are reduced to ONLY about 10 000 tickets.
A serious reduction from the 2019 main sale that had, if I recall it right about 30 000 tickets. Had I belonged to a theme camp my chances of getting a ticket would increase but I do no affiliate with a camp at Burning Man. I like to do my own thing. This year Burning Man decided to drastically reduce the amount of tickets in the main sale and instead increase the tickets allotted to the different registered camps.
You can also get a FOMO ticket but those are expensive, $2,500/ticket and then there are some for $1,500/ticket. Plus fees and taxes added on top of that. The main sale ticket cost is $575.00, plus fees and taxes.
So....I am hoping for the best.

A big change this year at Burning Man is NO MORE Center Camp Coffee Shop. Here is what Mango writes in The Burning Man Journal about the beloved Coffee Shop.
"In 1995, the Center Camp Coffee Shop was born as a single espresso machine sitting on top of hay bales. Rumor has it that a storm took out the bedouin-style tent that housed the bales, but the espresso machine and its offerings persevered — an early testament to the dedication and resilience of Burner culture. In 2000, the Center Camp Coffee Shop moved under a huge structure that can withstand 120 mph winds, truly an engineering feat. Since then, the Center Camp Coffee Shop has grown to over 1,000 volunteers and into a vibrant community.
Black Rock City is a continuously evolving, living experiment. As we shared at the end of last year, we will no longer do coffee sales at Center Camp in 2022. There are other big changes to our city, as well. This decision is ever so bittersweet, and it was not made lightly.
Center Camp Coffee Shop volunteers, you have for many years contributed to Larry’s idea. Under the guidance of Center Camp managers P Segal, Dana Harrison, and Marcia Crosby, you created a culture and an organic community. The Center Camp Coffee Shop is a beloved chamber of the beating heart of Black Rock City, and will forever be a part of our history. The memories and deeply-rooted value of your quarter century (!) of service is not taken lightly, or for granted. You have been inspirational and welcoming, and we can’t wait to see where and how you bring your energies, joy, and playfulness next. People like you are what makes Black Rock City… well, Black Rock City. From the entire Burning Man community, we offer a deep bow of gratitude to the thousands of the volunteers who have made the operation of Center Camp Coffee Shop what it has been."

Read the whole "Love Letter to the Center Camp Coffee Shop" here,
https://journal.burningman.org/2022/02/black-rock-city/building-brc/center-camp-coffee/

It IS bittersweet. I get tears in my eyes when I read that. I am sad that the Coffee Shop is no more. I LOVE that place and I started volunteering as a barista there in 2016 and did it through 2019. And it was amazing. I will miss everything about the Coffee Shop. Perhaps I will make my own coffee shop at Black Rock City. Many camps serve coffee and I did notice a decrease of people coming by the Coffee Shop starting in 2018. I understand Burning Man's decision to put an end to the Coffee Shop but yes bittersweet is a good word to describe the feeling.
I am hoping to find another place to volunteer at Burning Man. ❤️
The Man burns in 164 days.

Burning Man did not happen this year due to the pandemic. I was hoping that they were going to decide to put on the event anyways, I would had been one of the people participating but back in April Burning Man sent out the message that they decided to cancel. I know many people felt sad. I even cried.
BUT.....I am HOPING and I think that we might be able to pull it off next year.
Burning Man 2021. I got an email this evening that the fundraiser they had (and yes I donated) reached the goal and more. That is great! The Man burns in 295 days!



And if you are curious....here is a collection of messages sent to Burning Man with the donations.
donate.burningman.org/gratitude/
❤️