Discussion on the Detour

One of the things that originally sparked my interest in attending Burning Man was the physical proximity that I was going to be to the events.

We were going to be up in Mammoth, a mere 6 hours away. That was enough to get the ball rolling.

As often happens in life, well situations changed and then changed again and then...

We found ourselves driving down to LA on Friday. I picked up a van on Saturday, and proceeded to get all the stuff that I was planning on getting up in Mammoth, Bishop and/or Reno and on Sunday I was once again in our storage unit and then back on the road to Burning Man, just a few hundred miles south of where I had planned to be.

On our way South, we talked a little about some of the Burning Man 10 Principle, particularly the last one

Immediacy
Immediate experience is, in many ways, the most important touchstone of value in our culture. We seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and a recognition of our inner selves, the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers. No idea can substitute for this experience.

_Our Immediate Reaction

The first thing that came to mind was  a very unburner-like concept, that being the "I want it now", texting, instant and constant plugged-in 24/7 culture that an event like Burning Man would seem to oppose.

That was because we were thinking of the word immediate, not immediacy.

So of course the next step was to Google it:

Noun;
1.immediacy - lack of an intervening or mediating agency;
2.immediacy - immediate intuitive awareness; instinctive knowing (without the use of rational processes)
3.immediacy - the quickness of action or occurrence;

That made a lot more sense.

But still the Burning Man wording and description dripped a little to much of New-Age wackiness for me.

I get it, be in the now.

It is something I struggle with constantly. In fact, the place where I find myself more in the now than anywhere else is in my jiujitsu training. There is something about someone exerting all there physical strength as well as their mental focus on the one primary goal of causing you significant discomfort that you will "tap-out" or cry uncle, give up.  All the time your focus is to do the same to him or her. 

I am able to "be in the now" under those conditions far easier than say in a yoga class, although I am getting better and better the more I practice.

Spin Your Way to the Now

Their is a reason why hooping, juggling and various "flow arts" find there way to an event such as Burning Man.

from Wikipedia
"Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi,(a link to a TEDtalk he did)  the positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields."

from the Flow Temple website:

Flow Arts is a fast-growing fitness and meditation practice that blends play, exercise and dance into a fun and healthful activity that moves the body, stills the mind and uplifts the spirit. It's a physical workout that is also a brain booster, a relaxing way to chill out, and a compelling performance art. 
Csikszentmihalyi became fascinated by artists who would essentially get lost in their work. Artists, especially painters, got so immersed in their work that they would disregard their need for food, water and even sleep.

Hoopers flow. Poi-spinners flow.  Jugglers flow. Like I said before, I get into a flow when I do jiujitsu. There are all sorts of ways to get into the flow.

Waiting to Burn

One thing that I find somewhat ironic, is how so many people look forward to Burning Man, speak of needing escape from the "default" world.

Saving up all their "immediacy" for one week out of the year.

Of course that is a gross over-simplification and a huge generalization.

I do really look forward to experiencing Burning Man's immediacy.

I have yet to meet anyone that was not hugely effected.
 
Many have said it was a life-changing experience. Hence the reason it keeps growing and growing.

When in Rome.....
When we got to Atlanta, I jumped in with both feet. Before you knew it, we were flying with new found friends and family at Circus Arts Institute, I was rolling with a new BJJ family at X3 Sports, Skye went from TKD to kickboxing and we both were getting our yoga fix, also at X3.

Cindy was on her sixth show in Atlanta, and thus her Georgia crew was far more her regular crew than had existed anywhere else for the better part of a decade.

We would spend New Year's Eve at Barcelona, the restaurant literally a stone's throw away from our condo, but not before hanging out with our new "burner" family over at Art of Such and Such, which fittingly, is who I will be camping with at my first expedition out to Burning Man.

Running with Bulls, Swimming with Sharks

When I was working on the movie, Legend of Zorro, there was a running of the bulls in San Miguel Allende.  Of course I was going to do it, what surprised me was that I couldn't get anybody on the film crew to join me.

I went it alone and had a blast and I don't regret it one bit. It's called Sanmiguelada, and it was cancelled after going for 33 years the year after I did it.

No regrets on that one.

I jumped into frigid water in the bay of San Francisco to "Escape from Alcatraz".  It took me hours to regain feeling in my hands and feet, but what a story  I had.

I have just about always jumped right in with participation, from being the main home-school parent, the dad, amongst a crowd that is 99.9% female, to coaching Skye's basketball team and soccer team, to being the Vice-President of the Set Decorator's Society, and on and on.

I participate.

I want to live life to the fullest.

I did judo on the island of Saint Martin even though I didn't speak French and had never done judo. For that matter I did judo in Majorca, Catalan was more foreign to me than French. I've run a marathon in Death Valley and climbed to the top of the Sears Tower, even though that's not it's official name anymore.

I eat the local food.

I jump into the culture.

I play.

I live.

I am not afraid to look foolish. There's not time enough in life.

When I was in my early twenties, I was a clown at children's parties. I was also a living Christmas tree, for an ornament store on Rodeo Drive. I've dressed up as Big Bird and tested obstacle courses for TV shows that pre-date Wipe-Out by 20 years.

To be continued......

Leaving No Trace
Our community respects the environment. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavor, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them.

Back When I Was a Boy Scout
I wasn't a scout for long. I signed up when I was in the middle of my teen rebellious period, but I do remember Leave No Trace and Pack It In, Pack It Out.

We'd been following that M.O. for the many years of camping, as far back as I can remember.

It's also a big part of my job as a set dresser/lead man.

I have been in all sorts of locations that we have completely transformed and then had to restore. The most recent one of note was on the pilot for the yet-to-be-aired TV show Revolution. We shot in the Georgia State Capitol turning it into a post-apostolic bar/hide-out that is supposed be in Chicago. We brought in several trucks of furniture, lighting, art work what have you and then had to make it look normal  and like we were never there.

We also took over a sub-urban neighborhood and well we turned that place inside out and up-side down as well. The restoration process on that took weeks.

Tank Girl

One of my favorite stories relating to leaving no trace and restoration, takes me back almost 20 years and to White Sands, New Mexico where we shot some scenes for the movie Tank Girl.

We had set an old wooden boat up on one of the sand dunes. We then had to cut it in half to make it look like it was half-buried in the sand.

Needless to say there was a lot of bits and pieces lying around.

Lots and lots of splintered wood.

Of course we had to take it out and clean it up and leave it in the pristine state it was before we showed up.

The big pieces were easy, sort of, it was 122 F and there was no shade anywhere.

The splinters...

4 guys, myself included with wire mesh screens we built sifting sand for 8 long hours, all while the National Park Ranger stood and watched.

That was a hard day, but in the end we left no trace

Continuing on with the daily dose of Burning Man Principles
Civic Responsibility
We value civil society. Community members who organize events should assume responsibility for public welfare and endeavor to communicate civic responsibilities to participants. They must also assume responsibility for conducting events in accordance with local, state and federal laws.

And here I thought it was all counter-cultural and no Big Brother, say no to The Man.....

But seriously, I get that it's reached a point where to continue it had to become to certain extent's what it sought to protest. Granted this is coming from the outside looking in and worse than that a newbie, a virgin who has yet to experience that which is Burning Man. So my remarks and comments at this point are theoretical and are of course my opinion, nothing more, nothing less.

I do take issue with the laws part.  Not that I believe in breaking laws and rules just for the sake of it or because we are hundreds of miles away  from Johnny Law and we might be able to get away with things we wouldn't even think of doing in the "default" world.

No to the contrary, as much as I am against the NRA and their second amendment argument for the right to bear arms, I think we are long overdue for an overhaul of the government and that might not be pretty or bloodless.

"Patrick Henry, in the Virginia ratification convention June 5, 1788, eloquently argued for the dual rights to arms and resistance to oppression:

"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined'"

But again I drift and diverge from the origin and intent of the post.

Civil Disobedience and Mainstreaming

Get rid of holiness and abandon wisdom and the people will benefit a hundredfold.
Get rid of reciprocity and abandon justice and the people will return to filial piety and compassion.
Get rid of cleverness and abandon profit, and thieves and gangsters will not exist.

Lao-Tzu-Tao Te Ching



A Taste of Thoreau

__"Those who, while they disapprove of the character and measures of a government, yield to it their allegiance and support are undoubtedly its most conscientious supporters, and so frequently the most serious obstacles to reform."

__"Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once? Men generally, under such a government as this, think that they ought to wait until they have persuaded the majority to alter them. They think that, if they should resist, the remedy would be worse than the evil. But it is the fault of the government itself that the remedy is worse than the evil. It makes it worse...Why does it not cherish its wise minority? Why does it cry and resist before it is hurt? Why does it not encourage its citizens to be on the alert to point out its faults, and do better than it would have them? Why does it always crucify Christ, and excommunicate Copernicus and Luther, and pronounce Washington and Franklin rebels?"

__"Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison."

Not You're Typical Anarchist

As if there were such a thing...

I come more from of the Noam Chomsky school, although he gets way too strident for me.

I believe and support a lot of the concepts and principles but am well aware of the practicalities and restraints given our current culture and mind sets.

At Home in Mammoth

We have been up in Mammoth for over two weeks now and our stay is coming to an end so much faster than I would have wished, but I have the Burning Man expedition and it looks like Cindy has a job coming up.

What made this visit so different than ones in the past was how long we've been able to be here. Usually we're up for an extended weekend at best. We're usually up here in the winter which as one can imagine is an entirely different experience.

It has been amazing to really begin to get a feel for the place. And the good news is that with every day it just keeps getting better. This is exciting and relevant because we have talked about getting a place in Mammoth for several years. First as a second home or vacation pad, but now we are looking at Mammoth being our base, to where we return to after work and life adventures.

With that in mind, we have been exploring things like the farmers market and the health food store, as well as yoga classes and local gyms and ....

Brazilian Jiujitsu

I have been studying Brazilian jiujitsu on and off now for around 15 years. I gave it up for 4 years and when I started back up again I realized how much I loved it, how central to my being it is and now know that I will probably be doing it for as long as I am physically able, hopefully into my 70's. Yes there are people who still get in there and train and roll in that ripe old age, I hope to be that fortunate.

Speaking of that, I have had the honor to have trained with and rolled with the legendary Dan Inosanto many years back who continues to train, teach and learn well into his 70's, much respect and admiration out to him.  Ran across this while researching/putting together this post:

Poem by Guro Dan Inosanto
We are all climbing different paths through the mountain of life, and we have all experienced much hardship and strife. There are many paths through the mountain of life, and some climbs can be felt like the point of a knife. Some paths are short and others are long, who can say which path is right or wrong? The beauty of truth is that each path has its own song, and if you listen closely you will find where you belong. So climb your own path true and strong, but respect all other truths for your way for them could be wrong. - Dan Inosanto

It is the Journey

A little rambling, I admit, which brings me to the point and focus of this post. I found a place to practice BJJ up here in Mammoth. It's at the Snow Creek Athletic Club which is a really nice place that I have never checked out in all my years of coming up.

I get there, change into my Gi and then look for where the class is supposed to be.

In the yoga room, which is wall to wall wood flooring and empty. Granted I'm 20 minutes early but....

5 minutes before the class the instructor and another dude show up and start to set the room up. They bring out rolled up mats from another part of the gym as well as some make shift spreaders to hold the whole contraption in place. It is the type of rig I would have come up with. It transformed the yoga space into a dojo within minutes. I loved it.

And then the instructor bolted off to take a shower because he'd been rock climbing the better part of the day. And now he's going to be teaching a class and sparring as well. How awesome and totally Mammoth is that.

I would find out that another one of the guys was out mountain biking and then one guy had been surfing in LA and had just gotten back up. So much for my complaints about acclimating to the altitude.

Then there was a father-son duo who had never even tried jiujitsu before.

It was a great blend of ages and backgrounds.

We did more stand up work than I am used to which is good for me. And the style and philosophy was different. It was the first time in a long while that I trained under a Gracie practitioner.

The Gracies and Machados parted ways a long time ago and one can see a difference in approach and style. One thing that has been amazing for me in this journey and education is learning the nuances of styles, so closely related and all from the same origins and yet so different and individual.

It is the art in the term martial arts.

Altitude with No Attitude

I was sucking air early into it.

I was amazed at these guys physicality. What they may have lacked in training or experience they more than made up for in raw physicality. The blue belt I sparred with me was lighter than me and had much less experience but I was on the defensive end of things from the beginning.

I was hoping that he was in his mid-twenties because he certainly attacked like those youngsters do. But it turned our he was in his mid-30s. I'm telling you this Mammoth life-style keeps you young, as does jiujitsu.

My old-dog determination and grit along with a whole bunch of years of experience helped me survive. And of course after doing battle and getting roughed up  and exhausted we all exchanged hugs, yes hugs and parted ways.


Mammoth has one more thing in the plus column and one more reason to make it home.

Learning in the Journey

Going through the 10 Principles has been an interesting contemplative exercise on its own. Today's principle is a very good example on so many levels....

Communal Effort
Our community values creative cooperation and collaboration. We strive to produce, promote and protect social networks, public spaces, works of art, and methods of communication that support such interaction.

You Can Chose Your Friends, But You Can't Choose Your Family

This was a regular and somewhat constant refrain growing up.

It has confused and confounded me for years.

Community and family has been a regular thread of discussion with my wife and myself, as well as so many others that I know.  It can be confusing, frustrating, fulfilling and chameleon-like. The world is shifting faster than I think most of us are aware and with it the concept and reality of community shifts. the success of Facebook is a perfect example. 

So What Is Family? And What Is Community?

I come from what I'm coming to realize is a semi-normal, broken up and confused background.

I have never met my birth father and the replacement left a bit to be desired, but he was almost always there. I have a half-brother (hate the term, because as screwed up as our relationship is he's always been my brother, the same goes for my "step-father", for better and for worse he is and always will be my father figure"

My wife on the other hand comes from a pretty idyllic Norman Rockwell family. All of her siblings are still married to their original spouses, how rare is that. We have been together for over 20 years now and had no former marital ties.

The Collection I'm Proud Of

My wife/life-partner thinks I'm a hoarder, that I collect things.

On certain levels she is very right and then again very wrong.

I'm a modern day nomad, so what I can hoard and accumulate becomes quite limited.

But I do "collect" friends. And I cherish them. I love them and hate them. I agree with them and so don't agree with them.

They become my family.

Back to Burning Man

At this point I don't know where I'm camping. I have a pretty good idea.

It looks like I'll be with folk I met in Georgia, ever so briefly, but then again....

Communication has been spotty, so I might be on my own, or .....

Radical Self-expression
Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient.

High School Folly

I didn't get in many fights growing up and the ones I did I didn't start and tried my best to get out of. The most serious one happened at a high school football game. I was on the Drama Class float, we had decided to go La Cage Aux Folles and I was in drag. No big deal, I actually got a lot of applause and it was a success. After changing back into street clothes and getting almost all my make-up off, I went back to watch the game.

Almost all my make-up, apparently I still had some eye-liner on, which I wouldn't have thought much about. It was the '80s and I often wore eyeliner when I went out to clubs anyway. But some drunk jocks decided it was a big deal and taunted me about it.

While I was trying to explain that I was on a float in the parade for the drama class, one of them cold-cocked me. Good thing I can take a punch. I was able to take him to the ground (this was way before I started Brazilian Jiujitsu) and had him pretty much pinned. I told him, enough was enough, let's stop fighting. He responded by trying to hit me in the face again. I answered back with a punch that knocked him out and probably broke his nose.  My brother, who managed to take care of one of the other guys, and I got out of there, cause we didn't want to get in trouble or wait around for some of their friends to come around.

I felt bad for hitting the guy, even though he started it. But I was also shocked and saddened about the bigotry, sort of. I mean I was used to being an outsider and at times being called names, but things never got physical before.

I certainly didn't think that I was radical in my self-expression, but....

A State of Mind, a Vacation,        a Vocation

This is an old photo of me when I was working on the movie Hook as a set dresser. I was just goofing around but the other guys thought I was pretty nuts.

To me it was obvious. We're striking the sets and we have to load this giant alligator head. Of course it calls for a funny photo-op. In the same way that I had to swing from the stunt ropes of the pirate ship, which could have gotten me fired, but when opportunity presents itself....

While I was still in my odd-job phase, I was a clown at children's parties, as well as being a living Christmas Tree for an ornament store on Rodeo Blvd.

My favorite holiday is Halloween. It's a time where everyone dresses up and gets a little crazy. So my normal becomes everyone's normal, which is nice every now and then.

I don't have to worry about being judged or getting beat up.

I think Burning Man will be a mecca for like-minded souls.

But I also get a feeling, from what I've seen, read and from some of my "burner" friends that there is a resentment of normal folk or the "default" world. I can understand that to a point.  

I Am Who I Am, and I Did It My Way

I hate prejudice, bigotry, and racism. I hate close-mindedness. But as to how to battle it? I don't believe in fighting fire with fire.

I believe in compassion as well as realizing that one's "radical self-expression" may very well be infringing on others belief systems. And that there must be some give and take and understanding.

Be who you are, but realize how being different might be an affront. Be OK with not be accepted. Be OK with being unique. But continue to promote acceptance and compassion.

Prepping Up in the Mountains

I've been doing all sorts of odds and ends in preparing for the Burning Man adventure, decorating my Burner bike, figuring out food needs, shelter needs, reserving a van, figuring out where I'm camping and with who and all other sorts of stuff, while trying to unwind and be with the family up here in the most gorgeous Sierras.

This is particularly relevant to the next of the 10 Principles

Radical Self-reliance
Burning Man encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources. Radical Self-expression: Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient.

Mountains Made Me
LOST
My most vivid memory of my childhood, was the time I was lost overnight in Yosemite.
I was only 6 years old.

That was the beginning of a post I wrote a while back. I wandered off because I was very independent, I survived through the night and then found hikers the next day because I was already Radically Self-reliant.

I have been radically self-reliant my entire life, possibly to a fault.

Initially I was going to camp on my own, in fact, I had thought it would be fun to be off in the walk-in camping area.
But then I thought about what Burning Man is and what would be important for me. And that is more about community building than being able to survive on my own.

So I found a camp, I put myself out there to help and to be or service rather than being overly "self-reliant".

Once again, I find myself agreeing with the principle but realizing my take on it is not the norm and being OK with that .

I like testing my limits.

I  break myself down regularly to see if  my tattoo that says "Never Give Up, Persevere"  is  relevant.

For me being "radically self-reliant" can be more normal than fitting in, getting along, etc.

So it is more radical for me to be in a group than fending for myself.

Oh what does that mean?

Decommodification
In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience.

Heterodox economics

"Heterodox economics" refers to approaches or to schools of economic thought that are considered outside of "mainstream economics".

For the last couple of years, I have been very interested in alternatives to the economic system that is currently in place. I've been checking out local barter systems, sharing collectives, communes, opting out, living off the grid, and all sorts of alternative situations.

I also started digging into the truths, mistruths, myths, realities, politics and philosophies of economics in general. It has all been fascinating. I am more knowledgeable and informed and more confused and optimistic and fatalistic all at once and ebbing and flowing, given context, situation, mood, etc.

Debt
The First 5,000 Years

This book by David Graeber has been my latest read/listen and it has been more than eye-opening.  I certainly recommend it.

So it was with all these thoughts and considerations as well as my anarchist leanings that I enter into the Burning Man philosophies and experience.

I come upon a principle, like decommodification and at first I am fully behind it and fist-pumping, yes.

And then I have to wonder, what is decommodification? Of course, I Google it and....

Decommodification
In the context of welfare provision, the degree to which welfare services are free of the market. In a predominantly decommodified system, welfare services such as education and healthcare are provided to all and are not linked to market processes. In a commodified system, welfare services are treated as commodities to be sold on the market like other goods and services.

You Say Tomato, I Say....

Actually, the phrase works better audibly but the point is that Burning Man's version of Decommodification and the more standard definition are a bit different.

I will address the Burning Man version since that is what is more relevant to this conversation, to an extent.
I think a more accurate term would be Decommercialization.

I realize this is a matter of semantics but then again what part of the 10 Principles or philosophy for that matter does not find itself embroiled in a war of words.

I am in complete agreement that commercialization and corporate involvement would completely change Burning Man, even faster than the meteoric rise and growth that the event is currently experiencing. 

I am very curious to see what Decommodification looks like on the Playa.

Wine Tasting at 8,000 ft Above Sea Level

A new study came out saying that elevation has no real effect on the consumption of alcohol, debunking an age-old myth.

That was just one study, but from personal experience, while perhaps that be true, the multitude effects that altitude has on one and how these vary from individual as well as circumstance, I would say, be wary and think ahead when going to a wine tasting up where it is hard to breath.

I definitely felt hydrated before heading out Friday evening, however I didn't eat because I figured there would be plenty to nosh on at the event.

There were cheese and crackers at a few of the tasting booths, but certainly not enough to make a meal out of, at least not without seeming like an uncouth bear or bore. So after a bit we ducked into The Side Door for some crepes and big glasses of water.

The festival itself had a wonderful, easy going vibe with kids and dogs wandering around with parents/owners even though they were expressly forbidden in the "rules". I was glad to see some flexibility after running into way to much "by the book" rule-following in Los Angeles.

We tasted a lot of wines: some good, lots mediocre and more than a few that, well.....

There was live music that wasn't half-bad, quite enjoyable really. Also with a very loose and easy groove. 

And there was a nice variety of folk, at least when it came to ages. In regards to other diversity, the cost of entry certainly limited who could afford to be there and the make up of Mammoth's population made for a very stark contrast from where we had just been, LA and Atlanta. 

This was even more apparent the following day when the guards and gate-keepers were mostly Hispanic and yet there very few people of color attending the event.

Fortunately for us we were a short walk from the Village. The weather was perfect for the stroll home.

What Does $260 Get You?

Skye didn't go to the tasting on Friday night, but we figured she should at least come for a little bit on Saturday. There were lots of art booths and yummy food vendors, plus music and it was literally down the hill from us, practically in our back yard.

But when we got to the ticket booth and realized that for a non-drinking individual 12 years and up the ticket was going to run $51 and Skye wasn't that interested in going, she took her camera and headed back up the hill, to chill and do whatever teenagers do when left alone with their electronic gadgets.

She did end up coming back to the fence on a couple of occasions to bring us a forgotten phone and a jacket once the sun started to set. In return she got a heaping plate of left over cajun fries and a couple of beignets.

None of this was free, of course. Unlike the night before there was absolutely nothing at the tasting tents to nosh on, but there were plenty of food vendors nearby. So on top of the $83 tickets, (the evening before were $48 a piece) we we ended up shelling out for eats, although they were quite delicious, much better than you typical festival grub.

Most people came much better prepared than we did, with coolers, folding chairs and blankets. I didn't realize that the event went until 9pm or that Kenny Logins was the headliner.  Cindy had arranged this adventure and failed to tell me.

Between the night before and the gorging of wine and food, I had not paced myself to go past sundown and so as they were setting up for Kenny, I was walking back up to the condo.

Like I said, it was practically in our back yard so I heard more than enough. I truly wasn't missing anything and probably did my ears a favor.

All in all had a great time. Really loved the energy and vibe of the scene and the people. Everyone was quite friendly and open even before the wine started flowing.