Following are excerpts from DCBLOG posts in October 2016 and 2017, reposted in the interest of our readers as part of our Best of DC ExtraTime series this Thanksgiving weekend.
BY DC CUEVA
■ @DC408Dxtr @ TW / IG / YT
ORIGINAL POST: October 2016
Labor Day Weekend is always the saddest part of the warmest of the year's four seasons: it's the unofficial end of summer as people flock to the beach one more time, others go on one more family vacation and kids take advantage of those last three days of down time before going back to school. For many years, it has meant spending many hours watching Jerry Lewis host his annual telethon to help kids with Muscular Dystrophy, and for others it means the kickoff of college football. But for 30 years, this 3-day weekend meant to celebrate America's working class has meant another thing for those who like to express themselves in more ways than one.
In a place that seems to be more of a mirage located in an oasis situated in the middle of nowhere, in a desert area 100 miles north of Reno-Tahoe, Nevada, tens of thousands flock each year at summer's end to a temporary community erected in a remote area of the Black Rock Desert in late August for the Burning Man Festival. The event's roots go back to 1986 when a group of friends gathered at a beach near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and burned a 9-foot tall wooden man at a bonfire on the summer solstice on June 21st -- aka the longest day of the year. Those founders had no idea that this gathering would eventually become an international phenomenon.
Commencing on the last Sunday in August and continuing to Labor Day on the first Monday in September, Burning Man is described as an experiment in art and community, all influenced by 10 main principles. Those include, among others, radical inclusion, self-expression, self-reliance, community cooperation, civic responsibility and gifting, as well as protecting the brand from getting too commercialized. There is also a solid emphasis on those who come to the desert to Leave No Trace, making sure the environment trumps all else when it comes to minimize the impact Mother Earth has on this flatland located far from civilization.
Commencing on the last Sunday in August and continuing to Labor Day on the first Monday in September, Burning Man is described as an experiment in art and community, all influenced by 10 main principles. Those include, among others, radical inclusion, self-expression, self-reliance, community cooperation, civic responsibility and gifting, as well as protecting the brand from getting too commercialized. There is also a solid emphasis on those who come to the desert to Leave No Trace, making sure the environment trumps all else when it comes to minimize the impact Mother Earth has on this flatland located far from civilization.
This city is full of bold art sculptures, musicians, dance parties, fashion and a temple erected as a mourning place for those who passed or to put to rest personal situations before it sent up in flames on the final night. Also as part of the closing ceremonies that last Sunday is the burning of their Burning Man structure - now 43 foot tall - at the center of their metropolis, connected to the campground by Lamplighters who offer light at night when there's no electricity located anywhere. And on Labor Day Monday, everyone dismantles Black Rock City piece by piece following this week full of discovery, freedom and making new friends as they head back into the real world and live regular lives for 51 weeks until they all reconvene again in the same exact place.
This year's Burning Man Festival attracted over 70,000 people to Black Rock, and the theme of this year's event was "Da Vinci's Workshop." According to Rolling Stone magazine, organizers asked those who made the trek to Northern Nevada to see the similarities between the Renissance era of the 15th century in Florence, Italy and the festival in this temporary city located not far from "The Biggest Little City in the World." The weekly pop culture bible adds, "While the artists and enthusiasts may not have succeeded in starting their own Renaissance, they were able to create a beautiful and imaginative community, if only for a few days."
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| IG: @MTV_Christina |
Christina summed up her experience at Burning Man this way after her first trip there last year: "Life at @burningman was so blissful and beautiful. Go, experience what the wordl could be like in a community that actually makes sense." And after her second week-long stay in the Nevada desert in September, her Instagram caption that accompanies the picture above reads, "Nothing and everything makes sense here. It was a sad goodbye for sure. My second time on the playa was definitely something special. Counting down the days till next year. )'("
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| IG: @ParisEike |
Paris had the opportunity to experience the Burning Man Fest for the first time this year and she captioned on Instagram, "You don't know home until you actually find it! What a mind boggling, altering and enlightening place." If you're someone who has a passion for being yourself, then it's Burning Man that should be on your bucket list.
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UPDATE: October 2017
Last year, ExtraTime traveled to one of America's most unique and fascinating events: Burning Man. It's an annual week-long gathering in late August & early September, where tens of thousands flock to Black Rock City in the northwestern Nevada desert, two hours away from the slopes, nature and casinos of Lake Tahoe and Reno. Artistic self-expression, community and art are the central themes of this Labor Day weekend tradition, where last year we looked at Are You The One? alums Christina and Paris from Season 2 spending a week in the middle of nowhere.
This year's Burning Man event once again gave people from all walks of life reason to be themselves in, what this year was, the sweltering heat of the Nevada desert. Unfortunately, this gathering was marred by what happened on Saturday of that festival: attendee Aaron Joel Mitchell jumped into the raging fire at the Man Burn effigy, one of several structures set ablaze on closing weekend, and would then be pronounced dead of those fatal burns. Nonetheless, that didn't totally dampen the mood for the 70,000 who traveled to this end of summer ritual.
For the 2017 renewal of Burning Man, Team MTV was represented by someone who competed alongside Team Eleven on both Battle of the Bloodlines and then on Rivals III, and whose MTV debut was ten years ago this fall. KellyAnne first appeared on Real World Sydney where she was part of a memorable romance with Georgia cowboy Cohutta which translated into them doing two Challenges together. She nearly made it to the end as a rookie, and also had a relationship with Wes too.
KellyAnne went up to northern Nevada to experience what Christina and Paris did last year and spent a week at Burning Man. When the AYTO alum found out that the native Texan got a chance to head up to the desert, she commented in the comments below this photo of her with a unicorn on Instagram, "NO YOU DIDNT... IM SO PROUD OF YOU!" Check out our original post on Burning Man from during Real World Bad Blood, or for the mobile crowd check it out at DC@TUMBLR.
- I AM DC
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