|
Is BMorg Having An Identity Crisis?
by DaBomb
The Burning Man Organization has been commonly abbreviated as "BMorg" for some time now. The term is concise and non-judgmental.
It is easy to remember, type and speak. It clicks immediately with almost all that hear it.
In my recollection, the term "BMorg" first was used by Chicken John and the organizers of the "Borg 2" experiment. For the
record, I have never heard the term "BMorg" used derogatorily. BMorg has become an affectionate title, an appropriate, fitting
and respectful meme for the Burning Man community to reference the organization.
Even BurningMan.com uses the term BMorg: http://search.atomz.com/search/
=bmorg&Search.x=0&Search.y=0
So why would anyone have an issue with the term? Apparently the organization itself feels that way. I'm told from insiders
that BMorg hates the term "BMorg".
So what to do?
What do you succinctly call a company that produces the Burning Man? How about: BM-LLC? BM-Co? BM-Inc? Technically, the correct
title should be "BRC-LLC" because Burning Man is produced by the Black Rock City Limited Liability Corporation.
Even Larry Harvey comes to this conclusion when the topic of BMorg arose: "Yet we could not agree among the six of us, and
we're the founders and directors of this enterprise. People switched back and forth several times. Finally, it degenerated
into farce. We found ourselves trading honesty for integrity. Courage walked the plank in order to make room for charity.
Just to throw a spanner in the works, my candidate was "fun" (no one had the heart to take it off the list). In the end, our
facilitator's writing pad was covered with a scribbled palimpsest of words, phrases, under linings, elisions: an indecipherable
welter of ideas, all crowded together, like renters in a cheap tenement building. We simply couldn't agree."
Maid Marian prefers the term "Burning Man Project."
Now, "project" is a noble word, suggesting something bigger than Burning Man the event, bigger than Burning Man the Corporation,
or even bigger Burning Man the Community. It suggest synergism, collectiveness, the growth of artistic expression and human
potential. It's right up there with other notable projects including:
- Manhattan Project: Developed the first nuclear weapon
- Project Apollo: Landing a man on the moon
- Human Genome Project: To map the human genome
- Experience Music Project (EMP), an interactive music museum located in Seattle
- SETI: Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence
- The Linux Project: a free Unix-type operating system
- Polaris missile project: an ICBM control system
- The TWINKIES Project: Featuring a variety of scientific
experiments on this popular snack food.
As defined by Webster's, a project is "something undertaken, especially something requiring extensive planning and work: enterprise,
undertaking, venture. See work/play."
The Burning Man Project. "See work/play." That makes sense. It works to describe the significant efforts the BMorg undertakes.
But it doesn't describe the organization itself. But that is ok, since we already have a perfectly fine meme for that. The
project is larger than the organization.
The title "Burning Man Project" suggests there are numerous groups, organizations, energies and individuals who come together
to make Burning Man what it is. The Black Rock City LLC is one part of that whole. A necessary part indeed, but still a part.
To that end, to adopt that term exclusively to solely represent the Black Rock City LLC is insulting to me because it minimizes
my personal contribution and those of thousands of other artists and volunteers who contribute to the event in the form of
labor and content to the Burning Man event. The sum of the project is greater than its parts, and each individual part is
due its appropriate respect.
According to Wikipedia: "A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service. Temporary means
that the project has an end date. Unique means that the project's end result is different than the results of other functions
of the organization. It can also comprise an ambitious plan to define and constrain a future by limiting it to set goals and
parameters. The planning, execution and monitoring of major projects sometimes involves setting up a special temporary organization,
consisting of a project team and one or more work teams. A project usually needs resources."
So the organization partakes in and sets the parameters of the project. But this is half the equation. "A project usually
needs resources." In other words, the Burning Man Project requires participants. Imagine if a project exclusively consisted
of spectators? Could such a project last, or even exist outside of theoretical musings? Every one who participates in the
Burning Man Project is a part of it, and the BMorg is one section of the greater participant pie. Mmm, pie! One project pie
a la cart please! Forks for everyone!
After recovering from a severe pie coma, I asked my friend Laura, a veteran burner who also happens to be a project management
consultant about this. Laura said, "Burning Man itself is not a project, because in theory, it doesn't have an end date, and
that is a very important element of any project. In business, people often confuse projects and operational activities. You
could consider each individual year of Burning Man as a project made up of activities that lead up to and include the event,
and an ending when all the clean-up activities are completed. "BMorg" is definitely not a project. It's a team of resources."
BMorg is a team of resources is aptly put. I don't understand why they object to this title. To that end, I stand by the term
"BMorg" to respectfully identify the Black Rock City LLC and it's paid staff as a resourceful, dedicated team that contributes
to the event. It recognizes that the community is a separate and vital entity to Burning Man. The BMorg along with the participation
of the Black Rock City Community together produce the amazing event known as the Burning Man Arts Festival.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
"Only In America-Burning Man" Review
by Chai Guy
I want to make it clear that my objection to this show was not about the content, but rather the nature of the show, (Reality
TV), the undisclosed site fees, the behavior of the crew at the event, and the commodification of Burning Man.
The original concept of the "Only in America" show didn't seem half bad. Follow a Burning Man virgin around as he experiences
the event for the first time. Unfortunately that idea got lost somewhere. They replaced it with something ripped right out
of the Official Burning Man Press Kit: "Become your alter ego or spoof the media itself." Source: http://www.burningman.com/press/faq.html
The "spoof" being Media Man, and I can only guess that Charlie's "alter-ego" must be Hunter S. Thompson??
You would think that a week on the playa would provide for more than an hour's worth of spontaneous, film worthy events, apparently
not for Charlie LeDuff. We see Charlie ride his bike through the Greeter Gate, why not just film him arriving in his vehicle?
We see Charlie being given a mohawk on the playa, but if you looked closely at the previous scenes, you'd have seen that he
already had the mohawk before he came to Black Rock City.
Two weeks prior to the event Charlie was set to spin fire in the circle before the man burned with the LA Fire Conclave, allegedly
by invitation of their leader, Tedward. That idea (along with letting Charlie do a "ride along" with the Black Rock Rangers)
was vetoed before he got to the Playa. So the next best thing apparently was to teach Charlie how to breathe fire. Tedward
being the good self-promoter that he is wears a t-shit with his company's name on it (nice product placement Tedward!). He
also works the phrase "Only in America", the title of the series, into his interview with Charlie. Being the consummate L.A.
actor, Tedward asks Charlie "Can we take five?" when his friends show up in their RV.
A good deal of time is spent with Tedward teaching Charlie how to breathe fire. This is where the show degenerates into what
"Only In America" is really about, which is placing Charlie in "extreme" circumstances and allowing the reality TV show arch
to happen.
Charlie rides his bike to the man saying, "I'm worked up enough to egg the man to see if I get beaten to a pulp". He even
calls throwing eggs at the man his "Radical Self Expression". We all know it was a staged event; he threw his first egg at
the man and pissed off the pyro team who were busy getting the structure ready for the burn. A Black Rock Ranger intervened
and convinced him to "pretend" to throw the egg from a distance further back, and that's what you see on TV. He then gets
into an altercation with someone, who cracks an egg over Charlie's head, but look closely and you'll see the producer secure
the egg from Charlie after whispering in his ear before she hands it off to the "angry participant". Aside from an admonishment
by the Ranger to "pick up your egg shells" the Leave No Trace ethos of the event gets left in the dust.
Charlie interviews a couple that is about to be married by a "Shaman" (who, incidentally, gushes on camera " I really love
the Discovery Channel!"). Charlie proceeds to make fun of the ceremony and the "Bio Chemist from the Northwest wearing black
face, spouting half baked American Indian mysticism" apparently Charlie completely misses the irony that he's been sporting
a mohawk the entire week.
Upon hearing the news of Hurricane Katrina, Charlie heads off to a radio station to get the word out. Talking on the air with
the radio host, Charlie becomes rather incoherent as he drifts from discussion of Katrina to the war in Iraq to a potential
military draft and after a requested moment of silence (for what, I'm not exactly sure, the war, the hurricane? both?) he
launches into an acapella version of "This Land Is Your Land". You kind of get the feeling here that Charlie thinks he's missing
the story of the century, but isn't sure what to do about it. Unfortunately he doesn't stick around to see the money raised
by participants for hurricane relief as they leave BRC, or the support offered by members of the community in the weeks and
months following.
For most of the show Charlie seems rather obsessed with drug use at the event. He mentions the word "drugs" five times, as
well as statements like "Some people stay high for days on end", "They like to get high", "Some don't care and just stay wasted",
"Mind Freak"," Trip out", and "Just Groovin". Listening to his "Hippie Speak", it's difficult for me to remember that he and
I are of the same generation.
The show does have a few moments of saving grace. These occur when participants are allowed to express themselves to the camera,
in their own words. Kernul Killbuck does an excellent job of tilting Charlie off his game (I don't think Charlie likes to
be touched), and delivering a great soliloquy on the event and the burning of the man. The interviews with artists like Matteo
of "Head Space" were also well done.
Unfortunately those moments are few and far between. The flow is too often interrupted by Charlie's narration, which offers
very little insight into Burning Man or even his own personal experience. His lack of research is readily apparent, he refers
to the Black Rock Rangers as "cops", the event as "Las Vegas North" (twice actually), and the Temples of Dreams as the "Faux
Buddhist Temple". The most interesting question he can think to ask Larry Harvey is "Why?" and then proceeds to look bored
out of his mind during the response. I honestly expected a little more from a New York Times reporter.
|
|
|
|
|
