JRS/5:28/8.24.01
Actiongrl again, and for the last time this Burning Year (that’s one calendar rotation around the sun from Burn to Burn!)
One last trip to Gerlach to wish godspeed to all of our friends who are heading out now-ish, travelling out to the greatest week on Earth. You will be thrilled to know that the past 48 hours have been just glorious! The winds have been calm and the dust is getting more under control (thanks to copious watering of the streets by the DPW.) Temperatures have even been, well, rather temperate, for the past two days. The nights are fantastic! Let’s hope it holds (and it looks like it should) but remember – at 4000 feet elevation, only Nature knows what she plans to do with us next week…and she’s got a funny sense of humor sometimes. So be prepared for anything and keep in mind, there is no such thing as bad weather – it’s just the Earth doing its thing. Embrace it.
This issue has some last minute info for you all to peruse. The things you’re going to see out here this year almost can’t be described. The infrastructure is in place, participants are arriving from everywhere, and everyone’s settling in for another glorious incarnation of Black Rock City – the city with its own address in space AND time.
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This issue:
- A Butt solution and orienting yourself in BRC
- Coliseum Volunteers
- Playa Zendo
- More on Radio Controlled devices at Burning Man
- Volunteering at BMan – is it too late?
- No bikes for sale at Gerlach
- Admin on and off the JRS
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Butt disposal
Last year on the playa, I developed a handy method of carrying my butts: take an empty beer can and crush the top disc toward the bottom while twisting the middle in a spiral until it is compact enough to slip into a pocket. Then you can pull the ends apart a small distance, drop your butt into the pull tab hole, then reflatten the can to put back in your pocket. The twist in the can keeps the ashes in the bottom where they won’t leak out in your clothes. If you have no pockets, the can can also be atttached to the body by a short lanyard secured to the pull tab ring or tucked into the rim of a hat. Empty beer cans are a lot more plentiful in Black Rock than Altoids tins, and this method also avoids the problem of spilling a full container.
Orientation
After you have parked your car and made camp, start your exploration of Black Rock City by proceding to walk the shortest possible path from your home base to the base of the man. As you’re walking, look forwards and backwards for tall markers that line up with this path and make a mental note of them and any other prominent landmarks you pass by. If you get lost, just find your way to the man, look for the marker, and walk toward it. Performing this exercise once or twice before you truly become lost will help insure the safe return of all campers to their home.
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Sign-ups for volunteers will take place at the Coliseum. If you’d like to nail down your time in advance, you can email me at alt-games(at)qwest(dot)net and I will place your name on the sheet now (but email soon, I fly out on Saturday morn.)
The time slots are 2 hour shifts beginnng at 6pm and run until 2am. (6pm-8, 8-10, 10-12, 12-2am)
The Job Titles and available time slots are as follows:
- Passport Stampers (6pm-8, 8-10, 10-12, 12-2am)
- Slaves – various games related tasks (6pm-8, 8-10, 10-12, 12-2am)
- Awards Table – organize materials and tools for awards creation (Noon-2, 2-4, 4-6, 6-8)
- P.R. Lackey – get the word about games and attract volunteers (Noon-2, 2-4)
- Tech – sign-up at the Coliseum… this is being handled by Tech Master Clint Kaster
Magistrates – There will be a meeting for all people interested in being a Magistrate on Tuesday or Wednesday. You will meet Chief Magistrate Michael Peppe and we’ll coordinate schedules and strategies for making the games run smoothly and keeping the energy high. We’ll also probably talk with the Tech Team to make sure we aren’t stepping on each other’s toes. Stop by the Coliseum and check out the message board to see when the Magistrate Orientation is scheduled.
One thing to bear in mind for Magistrates, Dress for Success! Bring a fun, outlandish, official-looking costume to serve as your uniform. We need to be able to identify the Magistrates from the rest of the mob.
More Jobs may be posted as the week wears on and new ideas enter the mix, so keep an eye on the Volunteer Board at the Coliseum site.
A note on volunteering at the Coliseum:
If you sign up for a post, PLEEEEEEASE follow through. The Coliseum is an unhappy place without you : (
Remember… just because you are working at the Coliseum doesn’t mean you can’t PLAY as well! Come up with a fun game and test your skills in the arena. Don’t be a wallflower! (This just in… We will have 2 GIANT rubber balls at our disposal… if you can’t come up with an idea for a game that involves 2 giant balls, then God help you.)
WANT/NEED List…
Bring any artsy-craftsy, strange or otherwise useful items to use at the Awards Table. Participants will be hand crafting Medals, Laurels, Sashes, Trophies or what-have-you to give to the winners of the events in the evenings. (wire coat hangers, ribbon, gold spray paint, etc…)
Also, any useful tools would be helpful as well.
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daddy, will there be a black rock playa zendo this year?
yes, yes my child, there will. ;o)
making it’s grand but not too heralded (because the guy putting this together, sleepy zazen, a.k.a., faddah wolf, is one procastinatin’ lazy mo-fo) return to the playa this year for burning man 2001, the black rock playa zendo will be out and available for meditation.
in short, i missed the deadline for getting this up on the burning man site as an installation and am not in the who-what-where either. so i’m doing what promotion i can do now by e-mail and by posters out there.
the set-up is pretty much the same as ever year –>
it will be a large 80′ yin-yang circle dug out on the playa. i’ve asked for a space somewhere near the section between the coliseum and the man. but there are no guarantees, as i missed the deadlines and will be going hat in hand to the artery to ask them to place me. so just look for posters i’ll put up on the message board in center camp, at the playa information booth, the artery and then look out on the playa for a giant 80′ yin-yang. that will be the black rock playa zendo.
meditation instruction will be in the evenings @ 6:30 pm at the zendo circle, and a 30 minute meditation will then begin @ 7:00 pm. tuesday – saturday. that simple.
there will be modest altar this year, again. please bring items/chachke’s/trinkets you think represent “self” or something you’d like to annihilate from “self,” which will be glued to the altar and burned with the Man on saturday.
i ask you kind assistance in please forwarding this to everyone you think may be interested. also, please e-mail me @ faddahwolf(at)earthlink(dot)net with any questions, or as of this Friday the 24th, see me either at Blue Anchovie/Lazy Camp @ 4:45 and Infant, or @ Ranger HQ in Center Camp.
thank you.
gassho & namaste’,
sleepy zazen, a.k.a. faddah wolf
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More on Radio Controlled devices at Burning Man
greetings fellow RC people. as you know, i am attempting to loosely organize the RC action at Burning Man this year. most of you are already aware that there will be a pin board at Center Camp for you to mark your radio channels on. this is so that we can avoid any violent accidents caused by loss of control of a model. this is especially important for model airplanes, but also applies to rc cars, robots, and art. i assume nobody’s bring an rc boat, right? 🙂
the pin board will most likely look like a regular piece of paper with a grid on it where you can write in your name, channel(s), model type(s), and where you’re camping. it will be tacked up on the main bulletin board at Center Camp. the bulletin board is pretty big, so you may have to search around a bit to find it. please leave at least a rough address like “6:25 and Infant”, but if you can give more detail like “Red Ford Explorer, Green Tent” that will help people find you if you need to work out a channel conflict. if you see that someone on the pin board is using the same channel as you, please do not turn on your radio equipment until you find that person and work out some sort of schedule so that you’re not both using the channel at the same time. also, be sure to write in your channel on the board, even if there is someone already using your channel.
now for the fun part: i would like to hold a meeting at noon on tuesday under the Man. if the Man is not up yet, let’s meet at the future site of the Man, which should be at least marked out by then. the meeting will be mainly social in nature, and not mandatory by any means. bring your models/art to show off, if you are so inclined. from the emails i’ve received, it looks like there will be some interesting models present. i myself will have two airplanes: one carries a 35mm camera for aerial photography, and the other is rigged with lights for night flying.
ok, that’s about it. while you’re at burning man, if you happen to see someone using a RC anything, please take a moment to let them know about the pin board. i’m sure there will be plenty of people doing RC that aren’t aware of it, so spread the word…
cheers,
ben
benhirashima(at)yahoo(dot)com
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From Tulip, Volunteer Coordinator
VOLUNTEERING DURING EVENT
Bring your “ready to work” body to Playa Information to discover what crew needs you the most right then, right there. Ask for a Volunteer Coordinator. Bring a hat, gloves, water, sunscreen with you. We will also have some volunteer positions for later in the week, middle of the night– but we mainly put people to work during the day.
VOLUNTEER AFTER THE EVENT
If you want to volunteer for Clean-Up, please report to DPW at 7:30 AM SHARP on Tuesday after the event. At that meeting you will receive information about what you will need to do to be on Clean-Up crew. You will work hard. You will scrub the playa floor. You will have fun. But, you must come to that Tuesday 7:30 AM meeting. Miss Rivka (of DPW) is leading clean-up efforts this year. She will see your happy face there.
OTHER WAYS TO VOLUNTEER
If you want to volunteer, chances are it is too late to pre-arrange it with Burning Man team leaders before the event. We are all too busy. But come find us on the playa.
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I wanted to thank you for posting the bit about my selling bikes. The response has been Awesome! In fact, I’ve sold everything I had that had a tire bigger than 1.25 inch. I still have some 1.75″, but I’m not going to try to sell them on here.
I’m also mentioning this because in my original post I said I would be selling bikes along the highway near Gerlach, and I don’t want anyone to think they can wait & get one then like they did last year. Since I don’t have any left, I obviously won’t be out there and I don’t want to cause any disappointment.
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That’s about all she wrote! Read your Survival Guide, drink your water now, drive carefully out there, leave no trace, love your neighbors….
Guess the next time you hear from me, we’ll all be a little different, somehow. Burning Man has a way of changing you every time. I wonder who I will be this time next week…don’t you?
Now come home!
Yours, on fire,
*AG*
P.S. My big thanks to you who promised to play me their Sigur Ros CD (see JRS/5:26/8.20.01) on the playa. To Retro from Radio Free Burning Man: you can bet I’ll be by there and take you up on a 30 minute set of Icelandic deliciousness for all of BRC to hear!
Soundtrack to week 2: Jeff Buckley, Soul Coughing, Johnny Cash, and turning-the-stereo-off-and-listening-to-the-wind.
PLAYYYYAAAAAAAAAA!! 