'Cause I wanted to get away.

'Cause I wanted to see.

'Cause I wanted to see the Man burn.

'Cause I wanted to see me burn.

Hell, 'cause you and Drue invited me.

Thank you.

Adam {rak@openwindow.org}

Well this is answering the opposite--why I didn't go. I had fully planned to be there, crossing over from the other side of the world to party in the desert. I had arranged accomodation, checked out airfares, done the whole lot.

Then the company I was contracting for offered me a job and enough money I couldn't say no.

Now I'm beginning to regret the decision. I don't think I'll miss out next year.

PS: Check out Confest if you're in Australia over New Year or Easter. Email me for details if you like.

Simon Rumble {simon@rumble.waratah.id.au}

I just want to add a bit to the answer I scribbled at Burning Man Sunday morning.

After watching the Man burn, I have more answers and fewer questions left. Burning the Man was a hell of a kick -- it loosened a lot of thoughts, and emotions for me: fears and worries that I metaphorically threw on the pyre. It forced me to deal with the questions I had posed myself, even if I didn't always like the answers I had.

I'd like to say I went to burning man because I seized the opportunity, but I can't: drue (bless her) thrust it at me and said "take it -- get your stuff -- we leave at ten." Thank you. Next year I will get it together sooner that 48 hours before departure.

xt1 {christian@vivid.com}

Becuase I had a blast last year; and to test out my wind sculpture which worked beautifully until the wind (d'accord) --upon whose whims the entire structure depended-- decided to break its spine in several places. The greatest thing of all was that I really DID want to let it continue to trash the thing; but in spite of that, disassembled it, and with the knowledge gained, will ((fingers crossed)) bring it back out again next year the better for the wear.

Actually, that isn't the reason either.

Chris Dichtel {cyberiad@sfnet.com}

I was at a crossroads in my short life on Sunday night... had I gone to bed after the burn, my evolution of mind and body would have regressed, and I would hav become an opponent of the Burning Man.. But as I lay in my camp, I realized, that throughout the world, there are different lifestyles, and differents ways of expression. But the Burning Man is the closest to perfection of spirit that I have ever come.. Thank you all!

Joshua! {Bgpipes@aol.com}

So I could hear my Dad say "Now I'd consider getting a tattoo."

(I flew from Philly to Seattle and drove down with my Dad in his motorhome.)

So I could get into the frame of mind created by a bunch of creative people choosing their own destinies and away from (if for only five days) a culture that encourages lemmings.

So I could wear mud, and nothing else.

So I could be some place where everyone cares, and where there was always something more I could contribute.

Dale L. Larson {dale@iam.com}

Because i want to.... primarily...

And i want to experience something greater than personal satisfaction.

dexter

i didnt go. i dont even know if i'm elegible to get an US tourist visa. anyway, i would like to know why suddenly the burning man looks like the golden sheep that the jews molded when they were in their way from slavery to the promised land?

stelio {stelio@algarnet.net}

i went to find..

i found --

me

friends

belonging

freedom from ghosts, from somethings that i wanted to let go of.

yep, i went because i knew something was there for me. i went for something undefineable to me.

i wanted to, is just one reason. i knew what to expect. friends, my sister and more than a few strangers told me about it. i knew 2 years ago that i had to go, and this year is the first time that i've had time to go. next year, there will be more time. i will go again.

fun fun fun

zippi

I went to Burningman 97 to find myself again.

Stephen {soupcan@gte.net}

I went to get away. Now I'm back and I need to get away again. Also to do some thinking about what I'm doing with myself, to find direction in my life. I think I'm starting down the right road, but only time will tell.

Trace {odenberg@gte.net}

Why go to Burning Man?

I went into the woods to live deliberately. . .no, wait, that's that old, dead guy who lived beside a pond and wandered into town to mooch donuts and beer. The guy who pulled out of his "normal" existence and built a tiny hut for a couple of bucks, complete with garden. . .the guy whose good friend wrote a thing called "Self Reliance". . .the guy whose beliefs were strong enough to land him in jail for refusing to pay taxes. . .

Now that I think about it, maybe I was looking for a sort of Walden on the Playa. For three days, stripped naked, physically and spiritually, I sucked the very marrow from life. That's what I went for. Some good marrow.

Phillip {elwing@slip.net}

I thought Burning Man would be the perfect way to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the Summer of Love.

For the past five years I spent my Labor Day weekend organizing and running the corn on the cob booth for Little League at the Sausalito Art Festival. It was definitely time for a change.

this was my first Bman and I am committed. I will go up early next year and help to build the city. I look forward to events throughtout the year.

Let's hear it for radical self expression!

Robert Brownstein {brownstein@stellarsoft.com}

I went because I live in the lions den of conservatism, western IL, and sometimes you want to go....

Carl {lhlarson@hcil.net}

I wanted a conscious out-of-body-experience .. sans drugs, contrived thoughts .. removed from a world that has become overwhelmed with its own overwhelmingness.

I never give up seeking simplicity, yet continue to find it in more intense places.

I came here because I wanted to find my soul.

I left there because I wanted to lose my soul.

I wonder why so many of us keep looking for ourselves, whilst we simultaneously strive to lose ourselves.

It's a wonder. All this unquenchable curiosity - wonderland, Alice, wonderland.

I'm glad to record my being here, although, in all honesty, I'm not quite sure why.

But . . . that's what'll keep me coming back.

That's why we all come back.

"Wise madness is better than foolish sanity." Cervantes

Alice {aswebdsign@aol.com}

I don't know.

...but I'm glad I did.

Dave {dme5@axe.humboldt.edu}

{9.1.98} Posting to this story has been discontinued because it's been 1 year since Burning Man '97 and now we have the '98 event to talk about.