I went to Burning Man and carried around a notebook that I asked strangers to write things in. And yes, it felt a bit like saying, “Hey, will you sign my yearbook?”
BUT to my delight, every time, strangers were enthusiastic and excited to contribute.
By Friday, I had collected quite an impressive collection of love notes, advice, jokes, stories, and sage jewels of wisdom in this little notebook of mine. I was pretty excited to flip through and read everything in depth after the Burn.
Until, of course, Rainageddon happened, and a whole year’s worth of rain dumped onto the playa over the course of just three days.
In the soggy aftermath, I found that the rain had also taken about half of the words written down in my notebook.
Ah. How perfect.
*cue lessons of impermanence / transience / ephemerality from Burning Man, etc etc etc.
Anyways, I really enjoyed what words did remain, and figured I should share what people so generously shared with me.
The notes are roughly grouped into themes:
On Living
On Growing
On Dying
On Loving
On Belonging
On Creating
*To note:
( ) = words taken away by the rain. You can fill in the blank here.
[italicized text] = words taken away by the rain, but I feel reasonably confident I remember what it said (though still a chance I’m wrong!)
On Living
Life doesn’t happen to you. Life just happens.
Love your fate.
— Starbuck
We are not our body
Our body is our vessel
Our spaceship
But it is not us
We are the energy inside
The Soul
The eternal ( )
The worth ( )
But that’s [where we go wrong]
[we focus too much on the vessel]
[when we should be cultivating the flame inside]
Life is short. Live the life you want to live.
Don’t be something to everyone. Be something to you. Practice (agressive) self-love.
I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask him to live for mine.
— ATLAS SHRUGGED
Even when a balloon is half full
It’s fully inflated
On Growing
Best laid plans deserve to die, to be reborn. Surprise yourself.
( ) to trust.
( ) Own your power but humbly. Be open to change. ( ) things changing.
You’ll never know what you’ll find around each corner;
keep your eyes peeled
( ) Don’t ever forget where you grew up.
On Dying
May you know the great fortune of your own great infinite wisdom
You don’t know when death will come knocking. And there is wisdom in that.
I am the nature of growing old. I will not escape growing old. I am the nature of dying. I will not escape death. The nature of life is change. I will lose all of my possessions and all of my relationships
You don’t know when death will come knocking.
And there is wisdom in that.
On Loving
Usa el maldito bikini!
Empty your bowels. Fill your heart.
I ❤️ U
Prompt: What do you want?
To love and be loved.
Prompt: If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
To be able to trust myself fully and believe that I am worthy, enough, and will protect my heart.
Love is universal. Self love and loving others is the one thing that we can all practice.
I love you.
— Mei
On Belonging
Don’t try to be normal, not worth it. And you’re not boring.
Stay weird, it’ll come in handy when you get older. You’ll make weird friends for life, and it’s so much more fun than having “normal” “friends”. Be kinder to your Parents, they’re kind of figuring it out too and it’s not easy. Stay true to yourself and change for nobody. Stay loud! Fuck indoor voice. Don’t lose your curiosity and spirit of adventure. Also, there’s a wook in you. Embrace her. She’s having a blast at Burning Man.
As I saw inside a portapotty:
Those who mind don’t matter
And those who matter don’t mind
[Don’t worry too much about fitting in now, or feeling lonely. One day, you will find a community that loves you fiercely, wholly, and for exactly who you are. I love you.]
Be kinder to your Parents,
they’re kind of figuring it out too
and it’s not easy
On Creating
Creativity is like a dream — when it hits you, you must write it down, because it will go away, as fast as it comes.
No fear. Follow your heart.
Fear? → Follow through. Carry on.
Everybody gets scared.
Be the one that acts anyway.
Create.
Live + Manifest your “( )”
Nunca dejes de crear
Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly. (Just start doing it.)
Express yourself and your feelings. Life consistently ( )
Prompt: Who will you be today?
To have the best day ever, every day
On a more personal note…
What did I think about Burning Man as a whole? How was the first time?
Would I go again?!
Going into BM, I really just thought it was a week of straight hedonism and partying in the desert. I truly had no idea what to expect, how much (if at all) I would like it, what I would be doing for 8 straight days. I viewed it as a life bucket list item that I was looking forward to experiencing and checking off my list.
I also had reservations on how not environmentally friendly it is (hello generators and single-use items and transportation to the event), and how it impacts the surrounding community and Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe (not to mention Reno and Tahoe+). While the event has made significant strides in the past few years on both fronts, there’s still a lot to do.
All that to say, I was going in ready to be skeptical of everything :P
And while I DO still have many questions about environmental and societal responsibility, I actually do think… I would come back to Burning Man. And that I’m actually feeling inspired to personally act to improve both these things. Because we all have something to bring to the table.
Anyhoo— there’s probably hundreds, if not thousands, of posts out there that have done an infinitely better job at capturing the magic and experience of Burning Man than I could ever hope to.
But if I were to just add my own thoughts… ;)
If there’s one word that sums up Burning Man to me, it’s DELIGHT.
Delight from the kindness and generosity of strangers, delight from the incredible (INCREDIBLE!!!!!) art installations, delight from the humor and silliness that people commit to their craft, delight from the insane contrasts of the whole experience, delight in exploring new facets of myself, delight in hearing Diplo work Kelis’s Milkshake into his sunrise DJ set, delight in cold chia seed pudding with fruit for breakfast.
My week was filled with delight.
Imagine if over 50,000 of the most resourceful, competent, imaginative, creative, introspective people you’re ever likely to meet congregated in one area for a week and brought to life their silliest, wackiest, deepest dreams to life. All just to share with others.
It’s mind blowing.
It most certainly inspires me to figure out how I can get a group of close friends together to try to bring something to the Playa. And more so, how I can do this in my every-day life and community, here in Oakland.
There’s something magical there, at the nexus of creating, community, and care.
P.S. For any other people who went to the Burn and want to support the local community — consider donations to the 15th Annual Paiute Food Drive and Fundraiser, brought to you by Comfort & Joy or directly to the Paiute tribe.
We also always welcome donations to our community, which would be used to support Tribal priorities and recreation and visitor facilities. To make a donation to the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, please contact Brenda Henry, Tribal Secretary at (775) 574-1000 or email at tribalsecretary@plpt.nsn.us.
BIG big thank you’s
To Beacon & Bobcat’s incredible leadership and organization of one extremely well-run camp!! And to Corner Pocket for some laughs, good food, and excellent cuddle puddle.
To Jada, Santi, Ife, and Tony for one incredibly magical adventure.
To Tony for doing ALL. THE. PREP. for us to go to BM. I really didn’t realize how much work it all was and I REALLY appreciate all that you did so that I could basically roll in as a sparkle pony.
To David for letting us borrow the Subaru!!! Without you, we most certainly would have been stuck for at least another 1.5 days :P
To the Burning Man community for bringing so much joy, art, music, and more to my life. Wowie.
Damn, the Sub looks good on the Playa! But not as good as you and Tony and sparkle pony. I’m so glad that you went. It’s the skeptics who love it who are my favorites. Speaking of favorites: “Empty your bowels, fill your heart.” ♥️ OMG, my new morning mantra!