www.elysiumfestival.org.

Yay!!!!!

I asked Phil on Saturday at my Dad's 60th bday party and he said yes. Woo hooo!!!!

Yay, I love him so much. Details for a wedding sometime next year will come out soon. Thanks everyone.

Love you all very much and we'll be back in time for flow class. Woooooo!

Hey everyone,

As many of you might now, I was with my fellow SunDburn LLC board members in San Francisco this weekend for the regional contact summit. Now I know this doesn't mean a lot to some of you, but I would like to take some time and illustrate just what happened in a unusual and cleverly masked office building known as BMHQ.

Burning man is an event, an experience, a revelation, a social experiment, or as Will Chase from the Burning Man staff quoted us, "a commercification protection bubble." All of these things are landed upon us the moment we touch down on the playa. For a week we're all given the experience to feel safe in all of our artistic qualities, without fear, or consequences (well mostly without consequences, scars and burn trauma don't count.)

For many weeks after the event the citizens of Black Rock City blow up all of the messages boards associated with our culture in the attempts at not letting the soul of what we just had fizzle out and die till next year. This is where we and the summit come in.

The regional summit was comprised of people from all over the world, whose goal and mantra after Burning Man is to keep the flame burning. They were Lamplighters, if you will, to all the corners of our blossoming global community. These people come from all types of urban classification; be it deep in the inner cities of New York, or out in the rural farmlands of Northern Wisconsin, even reaching as far out as Paris, France and London, England. It’s these representatives that the organization and community have chosen to model and reflect what Burning Man means during and after the actual event.


Each of us played to our strengths, allowing for us to learn the lessons we may not have yet come in contact with. A wide range of experts in event planning, public relations, government agencies and any other outside challenge presented easy steps to follow when trying anything that might be more than just an underground party. We were gifted with tools and information regarding some of the most successful gatherings over the last year.

After the long day, we were taken on tours of art spaces in the area that had fought adversity and conflict since day one to do what they do. Spaces ranging in size from a several acre lot, to a gigantic, multi city blocked warehouse filled with steel and machinery from all over the State. The stories these brave groups shared with us were not only bewildering and overwhelming, but inspiring in such a way that we thought anything was possible.

Last, in the ultimate Burning Man tradition, we went out for a series of rocking parties from several performance groups in the area, including the legendary and infamous Flambe Lounge for the Burning Equinox party. The location was prime, the weather was great and the people were intense. All that combined equaled a great start to the down hill slope for 2009’s evolution theme.

Overall I wrote this for several reasons. First to clear my head of all the stuff I saw this weekend, but primarily to let everyone know how successful the summit was, as far as inspiring us all to better inspire everyone else. I now know very clearly what a regional contact’s job in this community is and could describe it in detail to anyone who asked. As far as doing that now, I would like to sum up that to be an RC is to be a beacon, model, example for everyone trying to live the idea of Burning Man all year long. Be it to assist in civic projects, to offer experience on challenges being faced, or to help in creating a safe haven to express yourself in the radical ways that you’ve become accustomed to. Wow what a trip, lets burn….