Burning Man 2005

What a great camp we had this year.....Laurel came out on sunday, the very first day of the event, followed by her housemate Jody, our cousins David, and Traci, as well as Olly Amy and Frazer. I built the most comfortable camp yet with a solid shade structure that gave good protection from the wind. Complete with carpets, hammoch, sky chair, christmas lights, evaporation pond, etc.

And of course, a couch which I put on top of my truck for a great place to lounge and have an overview of the neighborhood.

It was Traci's birthday while we were there and we had fun celebrating:

"The Machine" was a mechanical and artistic wonder.

And my favorite was "The Passage". A 3 story statue of a woman and child walking across the desert made of pieces of cut tubing. Flames poured from their hands and filled the trail of footsteps they left behind.

Jody's spirit merged with the one residing in this platnum blond wig, and it was a blast to witness their adventures during the week.

Michael (My auntie's husband) came to burning man as well and stopped by our camp a few times to hang out with us.

We got a front row seat for the burn. It was quite exciting with firworks actually hitting a lady next to us. Memories of construction could not help pass through my mind as I saw pices I had built or fastened into place go up in flames, it felt good.

Here's a little story I wrote about one of our inspired nights on the playa:

Hugfest Grows to Memorible Proportions

As a repressed hug slut....recently out of the closet...I happily reminisce about this tale of the warm embrace on one inspired night this year on the playa.

It was Tuesday? night and we set out for what was to be the highlight of my week. As a previously overly reserved individual I had been having wonderful insight into the possibilities that exist for myself by experimentation with uninhibited loving states. After quite a time of exploring this lack of inhibition on the never before enjoyed dance floor, my girlfriend and I floated next door to the Flight to Mars maze. In one of the rooms we happened upon a wonderfully furry full length coat that spoke to me in a gentle but insistent tone asking for a bear hug. Not knowing if the coat’s wearer was feeling the same as his attire, I checked in and received a more than willing approval. The temporarily inexhaustible energy source pouring from my chest like a fire hose surged through this coat and its bearer bringing them into the same state of mind as myself if they wern't in fact already there.. My girlfriend enjoyed a similar embrace and the next people that walked into the room could not resist asking for a hug as well. Each successive individual that walked into the room would either join in on what was already going on or we would invite them to join, fully respecting whatever boundaries were in place for that individual at the moment.

The hug-ees ebbed and flowed and after about 10 minutes into the ordeal we found that one couple had permanently joined us as part of the official hug welcoming committee for this room…..15 hug filled minutes later and we had a 5th official hugger with us! We sprawled on each others laps and continued to invite people new to the room to enjoy one of the growing menu of hugs that we were serving up. Standing hugs, sitting hugs, one armed hugs, hugs with supplemental kisses on the cheek, bear hugs …'.but most of important of all…'.my personal favorite…'..the 6 person, sprawled across the floor, head to toe, Flight to Mars, full body hug!

At quite a few times throughout the evening there must have been 4-5 huggees combined with the 5 official huggers in this tiny, less than standing height room for the 10 person decathahug.

I was particularly touched by projecting my normally inhibited self onto the 5th official hugger. He appeared to me to be tall, quiet, awkward and shy much like the way I feel on a normal day, but fully loving every moment of physical closeness we were all sharing. He (I) would have never initiated this on his own but was so fulfilled to happen across this warm, caring, non sexual but intimate exchange. I felt so good to have started this event and that I could share it with him…'.but really was just touched and fulfilled to be there myself.

A close second to the enjoyment of the hugs themselves were people’s responses to our hug invitation. Some people’s eyes would light up and they would jump into our arms…'.others would approach with hesitation and the feeling of them letting go of their reservation and giving themselves up to the hug was as satisfying as the hug itself. But my favorite response, usually from men, was of contemplation…'”do I really want a hug…'especially from another man” they would think to themselves as though they were reviewing their macho-ness and sexuality at the same time…'..this invariably gave way to an energetically enthusiastic but still macho “Hell yeah! I want a hug” which was always proceeded by a rewarding full strength bear hug.

We must have hugged over 200 people in the hour or two that we were there. With 5 of us hugging, that makes over 1000 hugs! Of everyone that came through, only 2 or 3 people declined our offer, again a pretty good record.

As my girlfriend and I rolled into our camp after dancing till 10AM, I lay in bed and could not figure out why my arms were so sore. Then it came to me…'.it was from all the hugging! With that realization we laughed and then fell asleep with sleepily satisfied nostalgic smiles on our faces.