{"id":184768,"date":"2018-10-09T02:56:09","date_gmt":"2018-10-09T06:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=184768"},"modified":"2018-10-09T02:56:09","modified_gmt":"2018-10-09T06:56:09","slug":"keeping-fire-curiosity-burning-burning-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/10\/09\/keeping-fire-curiosity-burning-burning-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping the fire of curiosity burning for the Burning Man"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-184768 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-full'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/10\/09\/keeping-fire-curiosity-burning-burning-man\/20180827_165020\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1113\" height=\"626\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/20180827_165020.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-184773\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/20180827_165020.jpg 1113w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/20180827_165020-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/20180827_165020-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/20180827_165020-1024x576.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1113px) 100vw, 1113px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-184773'>\n\t\t\t\t(Photo: Thomas Kim)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/10\/09\/keeping-fire-curiosity-burning-burning-man\/img_4043\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"486\" height=\"364\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_4043.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-184778\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_4043.jpg 486w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_4043-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 486px) 100vw, 486px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-184778'>\n\t\t\t\t(Photo: Thomas Kim)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/10\/09\/keeping-fire-curiosity-burning-burning-man\/img_0892\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"769\" height=\"577\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_0892.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-184775\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_0892.jpg 769w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_0892-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_0892-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 769px) 100vw, 769px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-184775'>\n\t\t\t\t(Photo: Thomas Kim)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/10\/09\/keeping-fire-curiosity-burning-burning-man\/img_3960\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"436\" height=\"327\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_3960.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-184777\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_3960.jpg 436w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_3960-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 436px) 100vw, 436px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-184777'>\n\t\t\t\t(Photo: Thomas Kim)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/10\/09\/keeping-fire-curiosity-burning-burning-man\/img_0992\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"769\" height=\"577\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_0992.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-184776\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_0992.jpg 769w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_0992-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_0992-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 769px) 100vw, 769px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-184776'>\n\t\t\t\t(Photo: Thomas Kim)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/10\/09\/keeping-fire-curiosity-burning-burning-man\/img_0856\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"769\" height=\"577\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_0856.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-184774\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_0856.jpg 769w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_0856-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_0856-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 769px) 100vw, 769px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-184774'>\n\t\t\t\t(Photo: Thomas Kim)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>For people who hear the \u201cBurning Man\u201d for the first time will probably find themselves in the most bizarre expressions in their own history of facial reactions in their whole life.<\/p>\n<p>Days after the main event, the Burning Man does not really leave the news section of news sites for a while, but why and what exactly is it?<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, no, it does not include burning men alive. Traditionally speaking though, it involves burning of the \u201cman\u201d \u2013 an effigy made of wood to mark the end of the annual event.<\/p>\n<p>Contrary to popular belief, it is also not a \u2018festival\u2019 as what other people often called it before.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBurning Man is not a festival. Burning Man is a community. A temporary city. A global cultural movement based on 10 practical principles,\u201d this is what welcomes a reader to the Burning Man website\u2019s First-Timer\u2019s Guide.<\/p>\n<p>This in itself can already answer a lot of questions thrown to the ember of ignited curiosity among non-participants. But let us have a closer look at the Burning Man event.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Expect the unexpected<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the Burning Man experience if to be described in one word, the best to fit would be \u201cephemeral\u201d as used in theater.<\/p>\n<p>While staged plays follow a fixed script, direction, and plot, with the same characters and scenarios, no performance is ever the same. This applies well to the Burning Man event as anything goes depending on its participants called the \u201cburners.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Situated in the temporary erected Black Rock City of Black Rock Dessert in Western United States, the event values the participation and role of each for everyone\u2019s uniqueness. Burners are to spend days in this dry lake called the playa\u201d \u2013 to express themselves, be with the community, and survive.<\/p>\n<p>As the community spends days in the desert, one can only expect the unexpected from the weather conditions that could possibly occur, to the rising and lowering temperatures as the hour passes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t book acts or provide entertainment. What happens here is up to you! There is no corporate sponsorship. You are entering a \u2018decommodified\u2019 space that values who you are, not what you have. You are expected to collaborate, be inclusive, creative, connective, and clean up after yourself,\u201d the community\u2019s website reminded its dear online lurkers.<\/p>\n<p>Sounds vague? The event is meant to be vague to give lots of space for the creative mind to do its part of exuding colors and visions of art \u2013 \u201cthe ways to participate are as unlimited as one\u2019s imagination.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Burning Man encourages its burners to participate in the guidance of ten principles written by co-founder Larry Harvey, namely: radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace, participation, and immediacy.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Leave no Trace<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The leave-no-trace movement is probably one of the cores that the community is highlighting.<\/p>\n<p>As per the Burning Man Journal on October 1 this year, it seems that the events last August 26 to September 3 already turned into desert dust\u2026 almost literally.<\/p>\n<p>The Playa Restoration team fills the post-event clean-up job. Though everyone is expected to try their best in keeping the playa clean, this is a very essential task as being unable to keep the playa from its state before the event would mean the cancellation of the annual event next year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cResto is 180 people wandering in rough lines across each and every square inch of Black Rock City, all of them looking down at the playa, inspecting every square foot that\u2019s inside the nine-mile perimeter of the city,\u201d the Burning Man Journal wrote.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Burners<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As a citizen of Black Rock City, a burner is expected to follow the ten principles. But more than these, a burner has to know how vital their role and participation in the community is.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBurning Man isn\u2019t your usual event. It\u2019s a vibrant participatory metropolis generated by its citizens,\u201d says the website.<\/p>\n<p>Not necessarily leaning to the moral of the clich\u00e9 \u201cno man is an island,\u201d the event literally sets its gears moving depending on what the burners wish to do. While the event has its organizers and the community has its leaders serving as guides, everyone\u2019s participation still deeply affects the whole outcome of the Burning Man.<\/p>\n<p>Like a typical city, Black Rock City also has its own census done annually. For the preliminary results that were released on October 4, the community found that for 2018, \u201cthe average burner is around 33 to 34 years old\u201d and most burners identified themselves as men at 59 percent.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>I, Robot<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Though the event is meant to be ephemeral, each year gives birth to a new theme, with 2018 falling on \u201cI, Robot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Burners, inspired by the science fiction series by Isaac Asimov, filled the Black Rock City with a whole plethora of interactive art installations and sculptures that explored, of course, robot arts, effigies, and androids.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As a whole, the Burning Man is not just the event that people look forward to every year. It is not a festival that simply revolves around the burning of effigies. It is a culture that invites anyone to be part and this is what makes the Burning Man a community that is alive up to this day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For people who hear the \u201cBurning Man\u201d for the first time will probably find themselves in the most bizarre expressions &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":184773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-184768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lifestyle","mauthors-bea-kirstein-t-manalaysay","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}