The Man
By Andie Grace
About the author: Andie Grace
Andie Grace returned to the staff of Burning Man in 2019 as a producer of strategic storytelling content. During her original tenure at BMHQ from 2000-2013, she was a member of the Executive Committee, managed the Communications Department, and helped oversee the early development of the Regional Network. During her seven-year hiatus, she co-founded an indie film distribution label, an indie video game label, and a creative coworking hub in Silicon Valley, but ultimately her passion for Burning Man and its cultural future pulled her back to the staff of the Project. She lives with her family in Berkeley, California.
By the time this year is over, I may very well be dead. I don’t have any reserve in saying, therefore, that your lottery has killed more than the collaborative spirit of the burning man. What is it to be a burner. I thrive by creating and expressing myself, and I also know how to burn things down inside of me, and through my participation in the regional burn Transformus for five years, and Alchemy: the north Georgia burn for two years, I have learned that there are amazing mentors that MUST BE present in order for the spirit of all burning to be carried to the virgins: lest the whole thing turn into a fraternity/ sorority bonfire and kegger. Not that a kegger and a bonfire is a bad thing, but that is not all the burn is about. So Shame on you for your lottery. That being said, I will begin a new regional burn on a property in Tennessee that, with hope, will grow to require a need for limit of admission. I however will not put out the invitations to anyone BUT the artists that are required for infrastructure, and the ImagiStructure first, these will be limited, but not exclusionary. I had hoped to make it to the Burning Man this year, but that will not happen. I will be dead, and the ba’aktu’un will continue into the ever repeating thirteen cycles of our solar/ galaxian journey. I.E. Life will go on. Maybe next year my fiery family members can carry my ashes out to BRC, and cast them into a swirling fire devil as the man burns. At least the thought of my being there in the consciousness will be there, finally , at the event that for me, was never to be.
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I still remember you
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Hi andy
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