3 Burning Man Things for Non-Burners to love

• Tweet
• Sharebar

Hey, Love and Trash readers – pssst, pretty soon, there’s going to be some news from our operatives on the playa. Right here.

There will be a spine-stiffeningly ambitious project announced, and heart-poundingly scary-good photos to make those of us left behind feel that peculiar mix of proprietary envy that I always get on the first day of school and the week of the Burn.

Do you feel a little bit like a proud friend who took a semester off to get your issues sorted, blinking through tears at an emailed photo of your buddy waving at the camera at a campus flashmob action?

Us too.

Let’s look at a few things that Burning Man hath wrought, that are meant for everybody, and easy to love.

PLUR, babies.

1)The BWB-

Burners Without Borders grew out of Burn 2005, when a coalition of burners were horrified at the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and the fumfering and corrupt official response to relief. They did what Burners do – “Facilitate(ing) creative, out of the box solutions that grow community and culture”.

What that original group lit continues to burn, with crowd-sourced, self-supported projects ranging from citizen journalism/disaster relief in the Gulf to biodiesel microfinance in Peru.

Not the adventurous type? Check out what DC Burner Christa Sperry did recently with a local A Kid-Centric Burn

bonus- BWB gives non-spectator non-burners an easy way to participate – send some cash.

2) – The BurningOpera

You like the people, the scene and the art; you know your way around a corset and a lorngette, but would rather dig a soaring recitatif from a velvet banquette than an alkalai flat.

How to Survive the Apocalypse- A Burning Opera was a gift to people like us.

Burners and non-Burners singing together in classically-trained voices!
A magical mini-world we all made and shared! And, my favorite part – a truly NO SPECTATORS ALLOWED zone in the Teatro Zinzanni speigeltent. Loved it.

3) The Blight

Burning Man photography is worthy of its own category here….John Curley’s gritty DPW captures, come immediately to mind. But there is a special place in my heart for that little corner of the net called The Blight

Whenever a photo on the internet catches the uncategorizable aesthetic of Vau de Vire, say, chances are good it’s watermarked ‘The Blight.’ Watching Mr. Girling in action at Bohemian Carnival 2009 was a treat and a gift.

(all above photos courtesy Neil/Nightshade, theblight.net)

Bonus – he’s nice.

“Good evening, m’dear…
Yes, you may use my Burning Man images for your article (if you haven’t written it yet!). My best burn-related images are in my portfolio — http://theblight.net/portfolio — and otherwise, the opening images in each gallery are the best (the first 18 or so images).

You’ll see the quality deteriorate as you go back: they don’t age well.

Please also send me a link to your article (whether you use my images or not).

Cheers~
– Neil aka nightshade
Burning Man sucks, don’t go.

Now that’s class.

Anybody else have a fave I left out? Discuss.