[url=http://burningman.com said:
In 2007 I went to Burning Man on a Green Man dream in barter for my participation in open source education, to tell others about a mud mix called cob. I still carry my Gift ticket stub everywhere along my path to remind myself that right here right now is a living dream, to sate my nomadic spirit as I know that I very well could have followed another path to an American Dream known as Black Rock City right now. Last year I got two burns for the price of none, last year some would argue that the only way to make the burn greener is to stay at home, this year I did just that.
This year I have followed a different dream closer to my heart within the sovereign nation of the Anishinaabeg, where the watershed that I grew up in meets the world's largest lake. Just a walk away from the confluence is an incredible remote beach with northern hardwood forests, Black Ash bogs, grassy campsites, traditional wigwams and a modern ceremonial roundhouse. Within sight from here lies where the former capitol was seven generations ago, the extraordinary gatherings of today's students in traditional cultures during these times of the seventh fire, and the dreams of seven generations ahead.
Along this sacred beach live soulful stones unique to this area. Tradition says the grandfather stones are sculpted by the spirits of the beach during thunderstorms, for following these storms are when they are found most abundantly. Geology says the concretion stones were born some 20,000 years ago within these red clay banks lining the shore in a host nucleus, often organic, such as a leaf, tooth, or piece of shell or fossil. Their myriad of unusual shapes and sizes are described as marbles, dinosaur eggs, cannonballs, pumpkins, peanuts, monster eyes, various animals, ripples, warts, round people, miniature planets, or extra-terrestrial debris. Whatever their origin is they are known for not wanting to leave this beach after enduring such incredible journeys to be there.
At this time last year I shared my dream with tens of thousands for an artistic experiment in community on the playa, this year I shared my dream with a gathering of less than a dozen of dozens to share traditional earth based living skills on the Kitchi-Gami. My gift to this community remains similar to last year's, sharing the knowledge of making this modern concretion known as a cob-creation from the local soils, fibers and water of the lake itself. This past week a loving earthen oven was born through this tradition being rediscovered through our spirits participating intimately together.
Perhaps someday around the year 22,000 AD someone shall walk along here and wonder about the cob-creations and dream about the curious forces that created these. If art is whatever I can get away with, then may I not live a better American Dream than this.
