Checkout RonaldJenkees ♪ （╯°□°）╯♫
more from thejenkees… 1234 all his songs sound different w/ headphones (special notes heard)
Check out his old youtube channel for his demeanor
http://www.youtube.com/user/ronaldjenkees ‘HELLO YOUTUBES *composes masterpiece*’ reminds me of shining WS brilliance: http://is.gd/bJxI5land looks like he’s still posting to his soundcloud (as of yesterday)
http://is.gd/eH6v8o
Saw this post by Moxnews (old post … and he recently gave me a compliment on one of my own channels an hour or so ago) and then I read this on annual BurningMan event from TomAnderson’s google+ post (TomAnderson is creator of Myspace):
Yesterday I was sitting in the airport waiting for +Trey Ratcliff and I saw a little girl (#1) come up to another little girl (#2) and say “Hello.” (Both were about 4 years old.) After no response from no. 2, a baffled no. 1 said “Why don’t you say Hello?” She gave it a good 30 seconds and then little girl no. 1 walked off looking a bit mystified. I thought maybe girl no. 2 was shy… but this little exchange made me think of Burning Man.
I’ve gotten so busy with photography, that I never really did write about visiting Burning Man for the first time this year. I have a few impressions that I hope are worth sharing, and here’s one of them: part of why Burning Man is so attractive to people, and part of why they have “decompression” events after (where people can get a little more of the BM experience while not in the desert) is because of the way people behave there. The main thing you’ll notice is that most everyone is friendly. Instead of ignoring each other, people say “Hello” when they meet a stranger. Most conversations seem to open with some kind of compliment — I like your xyz (clothes, face, camp, spirit, bike, whatever…). Out on the playa, people are open, friendly, and don’t bat an eye at the oddities and abnormal behavior they experience. I’d heard about the “barter” economy there, but my experience was that everyone was just offering and giving me things… No one ever asked me for something in return, they just asked me if I needed anything.
The net effect is that you leave Burning Man wondering “Why don’t people always act like this?” If we weren’t shy, if we were more open to the uniqueness of others around us, and if a chance encounter was more likely to add value to our lives, rather than to be forgotten, wouldn’t the world be a better place? I probably met around 10 random people (I was only there for 2 days) and I remember all of them distinctly, because they were showing me their true selves and not hiding behind convention and the “norms” of stranger-to-stranger interaction. Every encounter was the chance to make a new friend, uncover a new idea, or, at the very least, smile and collect a fond memory I’d look back on. This is why people seem a little “cultish” when they talk about Burning Man — because you immediately feel like you’re part of a “group” with a set of shared ideals — at its most simple, that each of us is to be treasured. People want to go back every year because Burning Man shows you a life that might be a nicer to live, if only just for a week.
Photo note: I took this shot of the “temple burn” which happens on the last night of Burning Man. People write messages and leave remembrances in the Temple throughout the week and at the end of the Burning Man, the entire temple is burned to the ground. It got so hot that most people had to turn away, but this man with his arms outstretched never wavered. He held that position for near 10 minutes.
and some comments
I just have one little thing to correct you on… there is no “barter” or or trading at Burning Man. One of the 10 Principles is GIFTING.
http://www.burningman.com/whatisburningman/about_burningman/principles.html“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.”Everything is supposed to be gifted, whether it’s visual art, performance art, entertainment, etc. The list goes on and on. With the exception of ice sales, and I think coffee(?)… you shouldn’t be trading for anything there.
I have never been to Burning Man, but have been participant in our regional event for years.
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I haven’t been in many years. But I always felt weirded out in Reno. Every year, we’d stop in Reno for some food. We’d see Burners in Reno, and we’d say hi and act friendly and it was like the two little girls. The Playa mentality seems to get left behind the second you’re out of Gerlach.
That mystifies and saddens me
I remember first reading about BurningMan and a lot of google tech people attending to inspire, decompress from book TheGoogleStory. Checkout these cool pics (some NSFW)
