Burning Man Book Now Out: Theater in a Crowded Fire Author Speaks in SoCal
Every summer, thousands gather from around the world in the blistering heat of Nevada’s Black Rock Desert for the seven-day celebration of art, community, and fire known as Burning Man. Culminating in the spectacular incineration of a wooden effigy, this festival is grand-scale theater for self-expression, personal transformation, eclectic spirituality, communal bonding, and cultural renewal. In this engrossing ethnography of the Burning Man phenomenon, Lee Gilmore explores why “burners” come in vast numbers to transform a temporary gathering of strangers into an enduring community. Accompanied by a DVD, which provides panoramic views of events, individuals, artworks, and, of course, the climactic final night, the book delves into the varieties of spirituality, ritual, and performance conducted within the festival space. UC Press
Anthropologist Lee Gilmore, author of the recently released Theater in a Crowded Fire: Ritual and Spirituality at Burning Man (University of California Press 2010) will speak at a series of fall events to discuss her findings on why so many Burners describe Burning Man as a spiritual and transformative event and the significance of this event for the future of religion.
According to a review by Sarah Pike, author of Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves: Contemporary Pagans and the Search for Community
“Gilmore’s study brings new voices and experiences to current debates about religion versus spirituality through her richly textured descriptions of the characters, events, and spaces that make up the seemingly strange but culturally significant Burning Man festival. Readers will discover that Burning Man is a wonderful illustration of the dialectic between self and community at the heart of much of American religion today. Gilmore persuades us that those who trivialize this event by seeing it as a huge party, miss the ways in which Burning Man provides an unusual snapshot of diverse forms of American spiritual-seeking.”
(And yes, I plan to review the book here myself as soon as I get my copy of it! AND a DVD too –wow!)
Lee knows what she’s talking about: she teaches in the Religious Studies and Anthropology departments at California State University, Northridge and her previous publications include AfterBurn: Reflections on Burning Man, co-edited with Mark Van Proyen. She has been attending Burning Man since 1996.
The first event is this Weds. Sept. 22 from 7:30-9pm at The Bodhi Tree Bookstore Annex, 8583 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, CA 90069. For more info about this event see: http://www.bodhitree.com/event_september.html
Lee will also be at the author booth at Pagan Pride LA/OC on Sunday September 26 from 11:30-12:30: http://www.paganpridela.org/future/futuremain.html
The details are still coming together, but watch for a USC event on a Wednesday night in October with Larry Harvey, the man widely credited for starting Burning Man 25 years ago.
Lee Gilmore teaches in the Religious Studies and Anthropology departments at California State University, Northridge. Her previous publications include AfterBurn: Reflections on Burning Man, co-edited with Mark Van Proyen. She has been attending Burning Man since 1996.
For more info about the book see: http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520260887
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Theater-in-a-Crowded-Fire/118329614875358
Burning Man 2010 photos from the portfolio of Wade Scribner–thanks Wade! Top photo of the Man from Burning Man 2010, middle the Man Burns at Burning Man 2005 in Wade’s favorite photo, and finally, the tangled bank of evolution with the Man standing above form Burning Man 2009.
Today is the International Day of Peace: Breathe in JOY, Breathe out PEACE!
Happy International Day of Peace! Take a moment for silence and reflection. Breathe in joy. Breathe out peace.
It may be cliche but it’s true: Peace starts within. If it is to be, it is up to me because we can only change ourselves.
Now that you’ve spent a moment to breathe and reflect, together, let’s help find peaceful resolutions for all living creatures!
There are observances in every nation on this planet, in all segments of society, by thousands of organizations and hundreds of millions of people around the world. National Public Radio is currently airing radio broadcasts, including playing ‘peace music’, in observance of – and as a way to inform the public about – this occasion Find out about events here: http://www.un.org/en/events/peaceday/2010/broadcast.shtml
The event is organized by Pathways To Peace, the International Secretariat of the Culture of Peace Initiative, a UN designated Peace Messenger program, involving over 4,000 organizations across the globe. Pathways To Peace has been involved with the International Day of Peace since its inception in 1981 and has nurtured this occasion into an annual global observance that is intercultural and intergenerational in nature, and reaches hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Governments, religions, educational institutions, businesses & professionals, NGO’s (non government organizations), the media, grassroots organizations and people from all walks of life are involved. Pathways To Peace is a nonprofit organization, whose work would not be possible without our volunteers. Please click here to donate.
So why the Burning Man photos by Wade Scribner? What does Burning Man have to do with the International Day of Peace?
Black Rock City and the culture of Burning Man teaches us the importance of community and creativity. And, possibly more importantly, Burning Man teaches us to be both self-reliant and how to give to our neighbors as well as strangers and that instead of spectators, we must be participants.
Poetry from the 3:15 Experiment
August 28, 2010 3:15am home
A dog is barking
some where across the barranca
The fog has come in thick again
the sky now a ghastly orange
around the sycamore tree.
It’s in full green leaf still but
any day now as it finally warms
here after a long cold foggy drizzly summer
the leaves will turn orange too
and curl and turn brown.
The dog will one day STOP barking
and a time will come again
when I will sleep all night
Because today’s the last summer, I posted this 3:15 Experiment poem. Have a wonderful Fall full of fabulous colored leaves crunching underfoot…
Burning Man 2010 photos by Wade Scribner
It’s Talk Like a Pirate Day! I AM A SCARY SMELLY SKELETON PIRATE
In honor of “Talk Like Pirate Day” and this weekend’s Pirate Festival at Lake Casitas, here’s an oldie but a goodie “I am a Scary Smelly Skeleton Pirate!”
My son and I did this video two years ago when he was almost 5 based on a poem he wrote with other kindergarten and first graders in his class. Enjoy! And maybe we’ll see you at the Pirate Festival! Arghh!
via art predator
International Observe the Moon Night Saturday: A Gawker & Geeker-tunity!
What better place to observe the almost full moon tomorrow but at NASA in Mountain View California?
The NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI) joins local amateur astronomers to host a free Observe the Moon night at NASA Ames on Saturday, Sept. 18 from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. The moon will be in the waxing gibbous phase that night and participants will be able to view the moon through approximately 40 telescopes set up by members of the San Jose Astronomical Association and the Peninsula Astronomical Society. Speakers include David Morrison, former NLSI director, Barry Blumberg, a Nobel laureate and former director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute and Greg Delory, LADEE mission deputy project scientist.
Not in the San Francisco Bay Area?
For more information about the very first International Observe the Moon Night, Read more…
Poetry from the 3:15 Experiment 2010: August 2 Night Terror
Poetry from the 3:15 Experiment
August 2, 2010 home
The night terror tonight
took the shape of my husband
& hid under the bed
until he died a dramatic death
his arm up & reaching frantically
as if drowning & counting down
with my head on his chest
I pondered which was real
what was real
perhaps this was the evil one
& the good twin had gone down
like a sinking ship?
how did I know the feet
rubbing mine were truly
doing so with love?
I didn’t know I decide
I didn’t really know anything
except I needed to go back to sleep.
Gimme five! From Work in Progress: Burning Man 2010 Top photo detail of Bliss Dance by Marco Cochrane originally uploaded and taken by Mic
hael Holden
I’ve participated in the 3:15 Experiment since 2001. As a participant, I get up every night I can at 3:15am to write. Hundreds of poets all over the world this year did the same; many of them are now transcribing their nightly scribbles and will then post on the site.
Middle photo of Bliss Dance by Wade Scribner, a Burner from Portland who shares my birthday!
Bottom photo credit of “Bliss Dance” Burning Man 2010 by Marco Cochrane to: Margaret Lambert. Margaret and I attended junior high and high school together!
Who is Ganesh? And where is Mt Kailash?
Yesterday was Ganesh’s birthday and the close of the 10 day Hindu Festival Ganesh Chaturthi where figures of Ganesh are placed in water to dissolve and float back home to Mount Kailash. I don’t know how many candles would be on his cake, but several thousand might get close.
Last year at Burning Man, as we gave out bandanas and stickers with Ganesh riding a bike on them, we discovered that many people didn’t know who he is. Some did of course, but fewer than I expected, so I thought it was about time to take a moment and explain a little about who Ganesh is and where Mount Kailash is.
Basically, Ganesh is a Hindu deity, the remover of obstacles, the patron saint of artists and writers. And more, of course. Many people pray to him for prosperity. In fact, he is the most popular deity in the Hindu pantheon. Most of the time, he lives on Mount Kailash located high in the Himalayas. He moves among during the days before, during, and after an eclipse and during the 10 days before his birthday.
Mount Kailash, 22,028′ high, is one of the most sacred places on Earth but one of the least visited because it is so difficult to get there in this remote area of Tibet and to be there; people do visit Mount Kailash and now write about it too like in this blog with photos. You can also see for yourself in viewing these slides which show Divine Mother Audrey visit there and circumnavigation of the Mount Kailash in 2006. Here’s a third site with both tectonic and spiritual information about Mt Kailash.
Ganesh is well known, admired, and prayed to beyond the Hindu tradition to Jains and Buddhists as well– just as Christians know who the Jewish King David is, just as they know the stories of Moses and the Red Sea, and honor their stories, so do various Eastern religions honor, worship and celebrate Ganesh.
Different forms of Buddhism express Ganesh in various ways also. The Tibetan Buddhists call him Ganapati, and have a somewhat ambivalent view of him, at times worshiping as the powerful Destroyer of Obstacles and other times having his power subdued.
In Japanese Shinto and Shingon Buddhism, Ganesh is worshiped as a god of love and he is associated with bliss.
Thai Buddhists call Ganesh “Phra Phikanet” and see him as a remover of obstacles who brings good fortune. At Tipps Thai Restaurant where I went for soup the other day, they told me he brings prosperity. Because he is the god of the arts, you can find him incorporated in the emblem of the Thai Fine Arts Department as pictured.
Even in mostly Muslim Indonesia, you’ll find Ganesh in every Shiva shrine.
Here’s Wikipedia on the Hindu Festival Ganesh Chaturthi and more about the elephant headed god and the patron saint for writers from a post I wrote.
Who is Ganesh for me? As a writer, I love his playfulness; he reminds me to not take everything so seriously. To write is to rewrite, to play with words and language and sounds and ideas. I love that he loves what I do–he loves to dance, he loves literature and art and travel. As the Remover or Destroyer of Obstacles, he is perfect for someone who wants to get around on two wheels as often as possible, and certainly perfect for someone who participates in bike rides to art shows!
This past year has been full of huge challenges for me, certainly one full of obstacles. My husband had lip cancer and surgery, he broke his C2 vertabrae (the hangman’s break), my friend Paul died suddenly and then my mom died the next day.
But it has also been full of opportunities. I went to Portugal, miraculously obtaining a passport in time, and made my flights. My husband didn’t die instantly when he broke his neck (95% of the people who break this bone die immediately and of the 5% who live, only 3% fully recover like my husband did). Small and large impossible obstacles have been removed many times this past year. I am grateful to Ganesh for the ways that he has been a vivid part of my life for over a year. I appreciate him in all of his forms and I look forward to getting to know him better in the coming years.
I even plan a trip to Mount Kailash. After all, he’s been to visit me; it is time to go visit him.
Happy Birthday, Lord Ganesha! He’s heading back to Mt Kailash today!
Saturday, September 11 is Lord Ganesha’s birthday and the close of the 10 day Hindu Festival during which time he is said to visit us here on Earth. On his birthday, people parade through the streets carrying large and small elaborately painted plaster of Paris figures. So many toxic statues immersed at once has caused an environmental disaster and now “Eco-Gods” like the ones made of clay as shown in the video above. Here’s more from Wikipedia on the Hindu Festival Ganesh Chaturthi and more about the celebration of the elephant headed god and the remover of obstacles, and the patron saint for writers from a post I wrote.
Last August, a group of us made small clay figures of Lord Ganesha out of earth and clay. They dried in the sun, then on Lord Ganesh’s birthday o
n Friday Sept. 3, on the four day of the new moon, several people took their figures to the sea.
I took mine to Burning Man, where we gave out Ganesh bandanas to those experiencing the obstacle of windstorms; I intended to dunk him in a bucket of water, dissolve him, then spread the water out on the playa. But I thought better of it, and placed him in a red mesh bag pillowed with lavender flowers, and brought him to do more travels in our car for this year.
Now it is again the fourth day of the new moon and time to send him to the sea, time for him to return again to Mt Kailash.
Good Bye, Ganesh! I am grateful for all the obstacles you removed for me this past year! Thank you for being with us!
PS Next year, Ganesh Chaturthy 2010 once again occurs during Burning Man…and we will be celebrating it out there once again! I think he’d enjoy another bike ride.
Seth Godin’s Linchpins Meet: Ventura Sunday 9/12 7pm (via The Write Alley)
I’ve been struggling with a cold for a week now, but I’m hoping to join fellow Linchpins in Ventura tomorrow to share what we are doing and to learn from each other. I also heard today from Donna of Betty Belts that there’s some big plans in the making and I want to be part of that for sure!! (hint–it might include a visit to Ventura by blogging guru and bestselling author Seth Godin! A little bird told me at the Stewart Brand warehouse sale today!)
via The Write Alley
Burning Man 2010 Style: how to make your own furry hat with ears
Because of the cooler, mild temperatures, Burning Man 2010 was a very furry year. If you were out there, you might have noticed. But if this was your first year, you might not have because in general, Burning Man is a furry place.
Whether you went to Burning Man or not, you may be feeling you need to get your fur on. Above is a simple video which shows you how to make your own furred eared hats much like the one Colorado Burner and fire conclave member Margaret Tetris is wearing in this photo from a potluck at Burning Man 2010.
Bonus: the instructor in the video is naked. And she’s adorable too.
PS The video is in three parts. It goes fast, it’s easy, and fun. Please send photos of you in your hat! Oh and you can buy a furred eared hat already made by her here.
art predator 
