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BURNING_ROVER

                                    February  14, 2007

  Our concept for Burning Man 2006
  was to get together with a
  smaller, more informal group of
  folks and just set-up shop
  wherever, out in the boonies of
  the back streets.

     A lot of the people we were
     gathering with, decided to        One woman going along
     do an RV rental for various       was there for the first
     reasons.                          time, and it was thought
                                       that she'd need some sort
     I've always been down on RV's     of gentle introduction.
     at Burning Man... they seem
     like cheating, and they have a
     reputation for being isolating...

        It turns out having an RV
        around is far worse than
        I'd imagined.  The people
        we were camping with were
        essentially invisible to
        us, sealed up in the big
        white box.

        Even when we made an effort
        to get together for dinner,
        the RV created these huge
        barriers.  Okay, so they
        have this nice porta-
        kitchen... but you can't
        talk to the people cooking,
        because there's no room to       You'll even be in the
        go in there and help.            way if you try to stand
                                         in that narrow doorway
           So a few people *have*        to talk to them...
           to do all the work.

             But at least they're
             comfortable in the
             RV, right?

             Well no, actually they weren't.

             When a dust storm kicks up, we
             would just put on our goggles
             and respirators and go out
             bicycling around... they would
             seal themselves up inside this
             hot, airless and increasingly
             smelly RV...

                 You do get a porta-shower
                 out of having an RV...
                 but we'd get by washing
                 with a little water from       And none of us were even
                 plastic bottles, and           up there for much
                 crowding in behind the         longer than the weekened.
                 water truck when it hoses
                 down the streets.                (If we'd been in our
                                                  old camp doing a longer
                                                  stay, there would be
                                                  some simple shower
                                                  facilities rigged up...
                                                  this is the kind of
                                                  thing you can manage in
                                                  a larger group.)

     A controlled environment is
     not even necessarily a
     a comfortable environment.


     That American drive
     towards Isolation...
     it it supposed to be
     a pursuit of happiness?



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