I had only heard stories. I had only seen my friends as they returned to their homes from this apparently sacred place, their hair a cartoonish mold of clay that prompted a dust storm every time the shook their heads in disbelief. They spoke of a place where everything was free from the stresses of whatever reality we all assumed we were used to. Their souls always seemed a little shattered by the unfortunate transience of it all, but they told stories of love and family and "being home." I had never been there, so of course I couldn't fully comprehend it, only attempt to imagine and dream of a place like this in my head, which was always dashed by the Bitch that was reality's logic and principle. Now, while approaching our own theoretical post-apocalyptic life, we have seen it. Now, with every fiber of our being, we understand. Now, after our epic adventure's well-earned vacation, we too have been to Burning Man.

Secluded from civilization in the middle of the harsh Nevada desert, Burning Man is a week long festival of art, culture, and spirituality in a temporary five-mile span called Black Rock City. People come from all over the world and set up their camps in a circular shape that surrounds an open playa that is filled with all shapes and sizes of art, which at the end of the week all get burned alongside the festival's centerpiece: a giant glowing Man atop a pedestal, arms raised into the air as if to symbolize the embodiment of pure joy and unadulterated freedom. Here you'll see some of the most incredible displays of costuming and decoration you're sure to see in your life, and it brings out an unfiltered desire to participate with comfort and ease. Complete with labeled streets and landmarks, BRC is a heavily biked city that is riddled with art, activities, parties, lectures, bars, costume shops, and basically every type of point of interest you can imagine. There's no less than a million things to do at any given moment in the day or night, which makes sleep a rarity and exploration a must.

That's the logistics. Experience-wise, it's not an easy thing to explain to someone who hasn't been there; it is very much something that people can only really wrap their heads around if they see it themselves. I could attempt to tell you about the haze when the sun is up and the neon lights when it's down; the sunrises over the playa and the buzz of energy at sunset; the absolute party that ensues with an exploding man or the feeling of sacred release as the temple burns to the ground; the feeling of handing your cup to a friendly face as they fill it up or the absolute brutality of the playa's dust, but it simply doesn't do it justice. It's impossible to paint these pictures. For one week out of the year it exists in reality and for the other 51 weeks it exists only in the dreams of those who know it and long for it. 

What I can say is that everything you've heard about it, whether at first you thought it cheesy, irrational, or weird, is absolutely true. The sense of home they speak of is nothing short of accurate, and the idea of utopia is undeniable. What blew my mind more than anything else was the success of it all, and all due to the respect that is shown there. Beyond just the Leave No Trace policy, everybody at Burning Man is a believer in giving; nobody is there to take. There is no money. There is no vending. There are no corporate logos. Everywhere you go, you meet people, and every time you do, they greet you with a friendly Hello, ask you (and genuinely) how you are, and nine times out of ten they give you something. There seems to be no aggression, only sharing, whether it's a piece of art, a shot of whiskey, a hug, a magic trick, or a spanking. Here people have the freedom to be who they feel they can't be when the real world stifles them. They pour their hearts and souls into the work they create and it shows in the absolutely monumental pieces of art that can be seen there, right up to the moment they are set aflame and burned. What metaphorical revelations people take away from it depends on the person, but sacrifice and release is common and encouraged.

And let it be known, the last thing about Burning Man we can really vouch for now is Decompression. Coming back into the real world is a bitch. Realizing that consumerism, aggression, ego, drama, and selfishness still exist, and to the extremes that they do, is nauseating. And a word to the wise: don't EVER go to Las Vegas as an attempt to Decompress from Burning Man, as we quickly discovered that Vegas is its evil opposite (in fact, don't ever go to Vegas at all, because it's ugly and hot and stupid). It takes a toll on a lot of people and it's understandably difficult to suddenly have to pack up and leave a place you've come to call your otherworldly home. The best thing we can do is remind ourselves that a temporary utopia exists for us one week out of the year, and in the meantime, we can do our best to spread the things that make it successful to those who have no yet had the pleasure of experiencing this enlightened society.

As a side, among the many things I appreciated about Burning Man was their system for dealing with media. Like I said, I'd only ever heard stories. As in, I had never seen video footage of the Man burning on YouTube, or photographs of beautiful nude women riding their gloriously decorated bicycles through the dusty playa on Google Images, or advertisements for next year's burn anywhere in popular media. That's not to say they're not out there, but if they are, they're against the admirable policy that Burning Man laid out to me on day one when I went to their media tent to get my photographer pass, which on it said in bold writing: MEDIA PASS: This entitles you to nothing in particular." As far as media goes, anything and everything documented at Burning Man is subject to approval before it gets posted anywhere or used for anything commercial. In many ways, this keeps Burning Man under wraps the way that it should be kept. Anybody who disagrees with this rule has misunderstood the concept and the goal here. There's a reason so many people in the country still don't even know what Burning Man is, and that's because it's a sacred experience that should be kept as such. So if you're wondering why I chose to only tease you with one photo from the dozens of incredible images I was able to capture there, that's why.

The next stop on our journey brought us to that eery plot of land in the middle of the desert known as the Denver International Airport, where we explored the conspiracies hidden within it. Unfortunately, the idea of writing about conspiracy theories is generally an overwhelming thing for me, as there are always a million sources on the internet to convince you in either direction about every single one of them. So in his native tongue, here is Evan to explain to you our experience getting to see the mysteries of this place in person.

I have never flown into the Denver International Airport, but I have now visited it. I have seen many paintings in my life, from all over the world. I've even painted murals myself, well, with help. Nowhere have I seen paintings or murals of this caliber, and with such intense imagery, coincided with what basically boils down to tourism and the travel associated. There are four permanent murals in the Denver Airport which display a very radical change; this is simple and plainly easy to see. The murals are lined up in display as 4, 1, 3, 2, and are not meant to show chronological order. The first is of three women dead, what appear to be an African, a Native American, and a Jewish woman. The fires rage behind them, burning and displacing all of its victims. The next mural shows a storm-trooper slaying the dove of peace with one hand and armed with a machine gun in the other. He is trailed by what appear to be the weeping mothers of their dead children. The next mural consists of the storm-trooper dead and all the children of the earth celebrating the creation of a newfound world; a world without need of all the weapons of their native cultures. The weapons are being forged into something new by a blonde German boy. The last of these murals shows all of children again in harmony with nature, centered by what could be a Christ-like person. I am not even going to tell you what I think… this is your decision. I will hopefully only display the facts, thusly in the above I say "appear" rather than as fact of the matter. Leo Tanguma, a Mayan, is the painter of these murals, and I've not spoken with him to verify any interpretations. 

Now before any of these murals could be painted by Leo, the airport had to be constructed. Somehow the New World Airport Commission is to be thanked for its completion on March 19, 1994. Yet there is no New World Airport Commission. It doesn't exist. Okay nevermind that. So construction started and five buildings were erected, but they were apparently no good and buried. So then only four were built this time. Maybe "they" could get it right the second time around. Wait, wasn't there already an airport in Denver? Well they built a new one anyway. So the new airport consisted of four buildings and had less runway space and apparently no new technologies. What is does have over the old airport is a much larger footprint totaling about 53 square miles. And even though these five buildings were buried, there is still, essentially, a massive man-made mountain nearby. How much dirt had to come out of the earth to create such a massive amount of excavated debris? It is said that now all five of the underground buildings are connected by huge tunnels with sprinkler systems to extinguish any and all fires in this sheer rock tunnel system. 

Now in the middle of the main concourse on, I believe, the west side, there is a capstone. It reads "The time capsule beneath this stone contains messages and memorabilia to the peoples of Colorado in 2094" This dedication was created by the Free Masons of Colorado. The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge F. & A.M. of Colorado and Jurisdiction, GrandMaster Claude W. Gray Sr., as well as the The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M of Colorado, GrandMaster Benjamin H. Bell Jr.. So unless the contractors brought in to do this work were all legitimate Masons with the most high of stone carving skills, then I think this strange. 

So all in all I say to you in the words of Lavar Burton of Reading Rainbow "You don't have to take my words for it" So check it out for yourself.

Check it! Evan, Zelde, and Raychel repping TNWM in the Burning Man Yearbook!