Be Outlandish: 3 Easy Ways To Get The Most Out Of Your First Burning Man

There are plenty of articles on how to prepare for burning man, and what to bring, and what to expect (pssst! you’ll still be surprised =)). There were some takeaways for me, that I didn’t find on any of the other articles, so here you go, check them out!

1. Volunteer for the Black Rock City Post Office.

Me: MAIL CALL! WE GOT A *bleep*’n MAIL CALL FOR THE BIG MAN IN THE BLUE PAJAMAS! Where the *bleep* is he? Anyone seen this *bleep*’n guy!?!

This is such a charming way to meet new people and explore new camps under the cover of *ehem* responsibility *ehem*. As a volunteer for the post office, you will be given mail to deliver across the Playa. Addresses are easy to understand, but it’s not always easy to find the right person. There is also no rush, so recipients will often show you around their camp and you can hang out as long as you like, with new friends. The mail doesn’t really need to be delivered in any rush… I often took a few days to deliver a postcard. Just, try not to lose them?

NOTE: Low Commitment. You can volunteer whenever you want, for as long as you want, and there is no pre-registration necessary.

Here’s what you do:

Go to the nearest post office to your camp. The post offices are located at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock and G street.
Ask the post person at the window for some mail to deliver. You can request to deliver to certain areas, and you can take as few or as many pieces of mail as you like. I really relished going to new areas that I hadn’t explored yet. Certain areas will be easier, like at the established camps along the inner streets (e.g. A, B, C, and D) and other areas will be a bit more…. challenging, like along the perimeter of the city (e.g. E, F, I, H, and J).
Go, Go, Go! Do your best to navigate to the address and once you get there ask around for the recipient. This was my favorite part, because I would strut into random camps shouting expletives and asking about. It kind of feels like a free pass to walk into any camp and just start being ridiculous. Which.. It is.

2. Walk.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t bring a bike, because you definitely should! But at some point during your stay, I recommend leaving the bike at camp, and just going out on your lovely little feetsies. This limits you, of course, and that’s the point, sort of like a creative constraint.

If you walk, instead of bike, here are some things that will happen:

You’ll get to know the neighbors.
The hecklers will get you! Its easy to just smile and wave on a bike, but without a bike you’ll move real slow and to prevent numerous awkward “no thank yous”, you’ll probably get drawn in. You won’t be able to resist all the hecklers beckoning you to their camp, and therefore, you’ll get pulled in and make new friends and find some weird things that you weren’t expecting. You’ll do more things that you never would have picked out on the schedule…
Wherever you end up, you’ll stay a while. You don’t really have anywhere else to go anyway, right

3. Get naked! Actually…. but also, not really! (Read on!).

Ok, well, you don’t have to actually get naked! But the point is more that I encourage you to dress in a way that feels a bit ridiculous, outlandish, wild, crazy, goofy, inappropriate or perhaps so constrained and modest that it feels weird in Black Rock City. One of the amazing aspects of Black Rock Citizens is that their fashion is SO OUTLANDISH that it actually breaks down the whole idea of what outlandish is…. IT goes off the outlandish scale, and the whole idea of “what is outlandish?” kind of falls apart… It makes it almost seem unnecessary to think about fashion.

By making appearance so ridiculous that it doesn’t matter, it gives you a tremendous sense of freedom that you can carry with you back into the “Default world” after the festival ends. As a Queer person, this was very healing for me. It helped me to see that the way I present, well, doesn’t really matter. Nobody really cares, and even if they do care, it doesn’t matter! Wear what feels good to you, push the limit, and be outlandish, and maybe, get naked!

So there you have it, three fun and easy ways to spice up your Burning Man next year!