Flipside Flame #6

“The 5 Principles of Good (Burner) Labor”

by R. Lance Hunter

One of my first conversations about Flipside, Burning Man, and the burn community in general was with my good friend Ryan Hayes. That conversation was my first real glimpse into this whole burn thing, and it still shapes my image of it to this day.

It contained a lot of the typical stuff, describing outrageous art he’d seen on the Playa, fantastic experiences that occurred at Flipside, and of course some outrageous anecdotes. Eventually, though, the conversation got deeper. He began to talk about how it really is a different world, a separate society hidden within our own. Then, he said these words that I’ll never forget.

“The burn community is so different from the rest of the world because your status has nothing to do with what you own or how much money you have. It’s all about what you do. You can become a superstar out there based purely on the work you do and the amount of effort you put forth. It doesn’t matter what you do or what you own back in the real world, it’s all about how hard you work. That’s the real currency in this community.”

I wanted to share the truth of those words with all of you, especially those of you who will get their first taste of the burn community this Flipside. Things might seem intimidating at first. You might wonder how you can gain access to the camaraderie that seems to be shared by so many awesome people out there. You might wonder how you can get noticed. The simple answer to this is effort.

The more complicated answer is good effort. Now, good in this context doesn’t have to mean “skilled” or “experienced”. You don’t need to have any training in carpentry to work on DaFT, or have worked crowd control in the past to work as a Ranger. Our event is blessed with a wealth of experienced individuals who will be glad to show you how it’s done, but I’ll have more on that later.

Here, I have composed a short list of what it takes to put forth “good effort”. Follow these guidelines and not only will you find yourself quickly accepted, you’ll find that your presence will be actively desired by others (even when there isn’t work to be done) --

1. You put forward your effort willingly - You are working because you want to work, or at the very least you want to accomplish what your work will accomplish. There’s plenty of forced, unwilling work happening out there in the wider world, no need to bring it to our event.

2. You put forward as much effort as you can - Nothing in this community is appreciated quite as much as someone who really busts ass. Now, this doesn’t have to mean that you are doing things that are physically difficult (see point 3 about that), it just means that you are putting forward all that you can. Sorting and organizing dozens of small tools or sweeping a whole warehouse counts for the same amount of ass-busting as carrying heavy loads of wood.

3. You recognize and respect your limits while putting forward your effort - While busting-ass is lauded, there are times when it can go too far. The best work comes from those who don’t try to pretend that they don’t have physical or knowledge limits. You won’t be able to continue working if you sprain your back loading a truck. You could jeopardize a project if you start cutting, welding, or otherwise doing something that you don’t really understand how to do. This community is filled with fantastic people who will be glad to help you lift the heavy object, and are more than happy to show you how to perform any task you may be asked to carry out. Don’t be afraid to ask for the help you need when you need it, people recognize self-awareness in others and respect that.

4. You are nice to those putting forward effort with you - Whether you’re working together on a large art project, or just sharing the same workspace while working on your own thing, the work is always better if you are friendly, or at least respectful of those working around you. After all, even if the projects are different, aren’t we all working for the same greater goal in the end? You can easily spoil a lot of good work and good will by being a dick. Even when you’re under a lot of stress to meet a deadline and your nerves are frayed because you have no idea how you’re going to get stuff done in time, recognize that those around you still deserve your respect and consideration.

5. You give your effort freely - Though I’ve talked a bit about how putting forward good effort can lead to a lot of social benefits, you shouldn’t look at it as some kind of trade-off or exchange. When you give your effort freely, when you are working for the work’s sake, it is more satisfying than anything you could possibly by given in exchange for the work. It will be a moment when you truly own your own labor. That is a rare thing in the world at large, where our labor is only a commodity (and often an under-valued one). When you truly own your own labor you will appreciate it like never before.

STEP RIGHT UP FOLKS

and slide into the meat lubricated glory of the Lick and Suck Saloon. The Lick and Suck Saloon rises above all the other snake oil establishments and houses of ill repute by doing what we do best: Serving you up our BBQ smoked meaty goodness and letting you wash it back at our world famous Money Shot™ Bar. This year you can sit a spell and we promise to fill your eyes and ears (as well as your mouths and bellies) with our first annual Lick and Suck Dinner Show where we will be featuring nightly performances to exorcise the oooohs and aaaaahs right out of your gullets (to make room for our mind-bending meat and luscious libations of course). See death defying feats and wonders of nature as you satiate all your corporeal needs and leave our saloon refreshed, renewed, reinvigorated and possibly reviled.

The Lick and Suck Saloon: serving up meaty goodness for longer than you can remember, and if you insist on trying to remember... Could we interest you in another Money Shot?

Labyrinth Resonance Walk

What is a labyrinth is about?

First, the basics. A labyrinth is not a maze. A maze is like a puzzle to be solved. It has twists, turns, and blind alleys. It is a left brain task that requires logical, sequential, analytical activity to find the correct path into the maze and out. Labyrinths are unicursal. They have one well-defined path that leads us into the center and back out again. There are no tricks to it, no dead ends or cul-de-sacs, no intersecting paths. A labyrinth is a right brain task, involving intuition, creativity, and imagery. It can still seem confusing, but in the midst of that confusion, we jump back to the reality of only one path, and regain our composure.

Historically, the labyrinth form goes back to the dawn of civilization and has been found in pictograms and petroglyphs in the southwest of North America, images stamped in coins from the ancient Mediterranean, rock lined paths and earthen berms throughout Europe, a prime example the floor of the Chartes cathedral in France. It was used as a connector of sorts, symbolically representing the inner journey, the mystery of life, bridging the day to day experience with the mystical.

Walking the labyrinth is a metaphor for your life’s journey. At each confusing turn in life, we question why? The path of the labyrinth is the path of life in miniature. A labyrinth is an archetype with which we can have a direct experience. It is a symbol that creates a sacred space and takes us out of our ego to a place where time and space blend/suspend, if only for a moment during the journey. At its most basic level, the labyrinth is a metaphor for the journey to the center of your deepest self and back out into the world with a broadened understanding of who you are.

When you walk a labyrinth, you meander back and forth, turning 180 degrees each time you enter a different circuit. As you shift your direction you also shift your awareness from right brain to left brain. To walk the labyrinth is to create balance within your Self as the spirit seeks to restore balance within the duality of its creation. Studies of labyrinth walkers measured with a dual electroencephalograph show a right brain activity shift toward the intuitive, and with successive walks, a noticeable cross hemisphere increase in brain wave involvement indicative of a more integrated and holistic mind. Dowsing measurements of the auric field often show a doubling of the field size. The labyrinth is an ancient symbol that exemplifies and induces the wholeness of the mind/body connection. It represents a journey to our own center and back again out into the world.

The labyrinth can be a tool for transition, unfolding us, dropping unwanted attachments and patterns of consciousness at each turn in the path. To emphasize this, we suggest leaving your clothes at the entry. Dropping our clothes is a symbolic shedding of the old self too often caught up in the materialistic world, and beginning new priorities that emphasize connection, compassion and simplicity. We are most connected to the natural world and the rest of humanity when we have dropped our pretenses with our clothes. The sacred geometry of the labyrinth allows us to open to the magic of finding ourselves by losing ourselves.

Labyrinths have long been used as meditation and prayer tools. Walk the labyrinth alone or with your beloved. Attend to each breath. Synchronize your breath with your foot fall. Know you are walking a path that has been trod since the beginning of civilization. Walking the labyrinth is a metaphor for life’s journey. Bring into the labyrinth your flaming aspiration, your burning question, or your healing spark, expecting the unexpected.

Labyrinth Resonance Walk

Saturday evening at dusk. Light is fading and the wire of the labyrinth begins to show it’s pulsing glow. Fifteen men and women gather near the labyrinth each holding a single long chime, naturally sky clad, holding their personal intention, ready to share it’s outward expression. Slowly a procession forms, a torch bearer leading them into the heart of the labyrinth. As the walkers enter, they begin to sound their chimes. Back and forth across the space the sound awakens, touches and returns to each participant. This is community in sound and space. The inward journey crosses over to the outward journey and we connect. Inward to the center, outward to the world. A torch bearer brings up the rear and escorts the last labyrinth walkers out to a circle for a final chime and the flames of the torches are extinguished. If you would like to be a part of this Resonance Walk, please contact me as soon as possible. I need 7 men and 7 women who can walk through the labyrinth nude with a chime held in front of them. This may be difficult for the larger chimes of the low notes, and we will pair you up with a chime by size. I want to emphasize this is not just an art performance piece, although it is also that, but a community experience in connection with sound and space. Let your heart fly open! contact Steve Bosbach at sbosbach@austin.rr.com

SWEAT LODGES

Donated blankets, quilts and comforters are wanted to help cover the Sweat Lodge in Camp Sweat again this year. Please email Black Bear – idgwin@yahoo.com to make donation arrangements.

Many different in lodges will be offered Thursday – Monday this year. You can also learn to “bow-drill” fire, discover your animal totem and more. All beliefs and no beliefs are welcomed.

Advice for your first Flipside

First, obviously, read the Survival Guide. It’s really got some good info in there.

Sign up for some volunteer stuff. I can’t recommend that highly enough as a way to get out and see the festival. If you don’t want to commit to a shift before the event, go visit the PVC (Pyropolis Volunteer Conscription) tent during the event and see what they have available. A Parking shift can be ideal for first timers. You get to see everyone coming in, but you’ve got a well-defined role to play with them, and you can really bond with the other folks on your shift.

Count on your plans being derailed. Flipside is full of unpredictable distractions. Most of them are nice distractions, but all of them will change your plans. You’ll end up going with the flow anyway, so you might as well brace yourself for it in advance.

Count on a few hours of misery. Could be the weather, the insects, sleep loss, rude neighbors, hangover, or almost anything else. Most people have a really lousy time for at least part of the event. You’re not “doing it wrong” if that happens. Flipside really isn’t for everyone, but a few rough hours doesn’t mean it’s not for you.

If you have a romantic partner (with you or not) expect to have the boundaries of your relationship tested. You’re surrounded by beautiful, open-minded, carefree people in a way rarely seen elsewhere. Flipside can be just as transformative for a relationship as it can for an individual. And sometimes the misery can be contagious, and instead of lifting each other up, you might drag each other down.

A good way to turn around a rough spot is to hit the creek. If I ever start feeling angry - at anyone, about anything - the creek helps to cool me off, literally and figuratively. There are always lots of smiling people around, but it’s a big enough space that they’re not all up in your face if you want to be left alone for a dip. And, contrary to popular myth, some folks do wear bathing suits, if you’re not comfortable skinny-dipping.

Let Flipside become awesome in whatever way it’s going to. Lots of people say not to have “expectations”. I would say have very loose expectations. And you can have plans, just don’t be attached to them.

Some years, I bring a huge box of elaborate costumes and end up wearing the same slouchwear outfit the whole time. Other years, I run out of costumes and start borrowing stuff. Some years, I hardly see my own camp. Other years, I hardly leave camp. Some years are more like a reunion of old friends. Other years I spend more time with new people I’ve met. It really varies.

What doesn’t vary, so far, is that I always have a rough patch, it always passes, I always end up having a great time, and I always learn something about myself in the process.

Nobodobodon

Read this before turning the page

Hula Hoop Making Workshop, YO!

When: Saturday April 26th, from 11am-2pm

Where: Welch Wigwam, 1505 Alguno Rd. (Austin 78757)

Cost: $15 (email to register: carrin72@hotmail.com)

Details: Stephanie Taylor and Carrin Welch will be hosting a Hula Hoop Making Workshop for hoop enthusiasts. This workshop is open to anyone, you must pre-register. If you’re a new hooper who wants a hoop of their very own, need a new size, or perhaps you’d just like to know how to make hoops, this is your opportunity! 

We will provide tubing, connectors, and vinyl tapes (basic colors, 1st come-1st serve). We will have a few different size hoops (in both 1” and 3/4” tubing) for you to try, teach you how to put your hoop together, and give you taping tips. We’ll also have some snacks available, and water on hand.

You need to bring cash, a camp chair (if you prefer not to sit in the grass), something to drink if you want something other than water, and a willingness to listen and learn.

Register with Carrin (carrin72@hotmail.com) so that we can be prepared, and have enough supplies.