Burn, baby, burn.[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] What would possess anyone to live for eight days among 50,000 unwashed strangers in the excessive heat and blinding sandstorms of Nevada's Black Rock Desert? Just one thing: Burning Man. No question, the Burning Man festival is hedonism hedonism (hē`dənĭz'əm) [Gr.,=pleasure], the doctrine that holds that pleasure is the highest good. Ancient hedonism expressed itself in two ways: the cruder form was that proposed by Aristippus and the early Cyrenaics, who believed defined--all-night raves, rampant, casual sex--but it's also a civics civics, branch of learning that treats of the relationship between citizens and their society and state, originally called civil government. With the large immigration into the United States in the latter half of the 19th cent. lesson and a visual feast. Thousands coexist peacefully without currency, trading and gifting food, water, and sunscreen sunscreen /sun·screen/ (-skren) a substance applied to the skin to protect it from the effects of the sun's rays. sun·screen n. . Gorgeous art installations dot the dry lake bed, souped-up golf carts put the Rose Parade to shame, and homemade headdresses and gowns are runway-worthy (see above). This year's Burn, called the Green Man, promoted and celebrated environmentally conscious living. Instead of air-conditioning, workshops on minimizing our carbon footprint A carbon footprint is the total amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases emitted over the full life cycle of a product or service. ran around the clock. There wasn't a garbage can for miles, but the festival site was as pristine as the sand at David Geffen's beach house. Burning Man has been going on for 21 years, and what's truly perennial about this event is its love-all, judge-none aura. Straight men wear drag, curvy women go naked, gay guys kiss girls. No one bats an eye. Being queer at Burning Man isn't transgressive trans·gres·sive adj. 1. Exceeding a limit or boundary, especially of social acceptability. 2. Of or relating to a genre of fiction, filmmaking, or art characterized by graphic depictions of behavior that violates socially , it's just another color in the human kaleidoscope. That's the real joy: For a week you can live in a generous, affirming, creative world completely devoid of division. For more on the Burn go to Advocate.com. |
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