Monthly Archives: September 2014

Sep 21 2014

Burning Man Electrician Tragic Death

ABC News has this story about Burner Ryan Brown, described as “an electrician at the Burning Man counter-culture festival [who] had been fired after a domestic dispute with his wife”. His Facebook page says he worked for DPW. He crashed his car into the Stratosphere in Vegas, then committed suicide after being released from jail.

my life is better than your vacationA hotel room suicide of a man who was freed from jail after being accused of intentionally crashing his vehicle into the Stratosphere and declaring he wanted to jump from its tower is raising questions about why he hadn’t been charged with a crime and whether he was properly screened for mental illness.

Answers weren’t immediately apparent.

Ryan C. Brown asphyxiated before he was found hanging Tuesday in a room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, the Clark County coroner said.

That was a day after a Las Vegas judge ordered the 40-year-old Brown freed with no restrictions because prosecutors hadn’t filed criminal charges in the Sept. 10 crash at the Stratosphere hotel-casino, and didn’t seek more time to do so. Brown was told to return to court Oct. 15.

“The real question is why the district attorney didn’t charge him,” said Daren Richards, assistant Clark County public defender.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson was in meetings Thursday and unavailable for immediate comment, said Tess Driver, his executive assistant.

photo: Facebook

photo: Facebook

Richards, a veteran administrator in an office representing indigent defendants, said arrestees are usually screened during jail intake for suicidal thoughts and mental health issues. In some cases, judges are notified if more evaluation is needed.

In extreme cases, police or jailers can order a “Legal 2000” mental health evaluation by a doctor, said Officer Larry Hadfield, a Las Vegas police spokesman. That process can take up to 72 hours.

But “people can’t be held without cause,” Hadfield said. “It’s not against the law to be mentally ill.”

Hadfield said he had no information about Brown’s case.

photo: SuperBusyMom

photo: SuperBusyMom

Brown hadn’t been assigned a lawyer because he hadn’t been charged with a crime, and Richards said it wasn’t clear from the court record if Brown underwent jail psychological screening.

However, it seemed evident from a police report that crimes could have been alleged.

No one was hurt in the crash, but investigators said it appeared to have been a deliberate act.

Brown drove on a sidewalk past pedestrians before accelerating his Ford F-150 pickup through the valet area and crashing through the front glass doors, police said. The truck came to rest near the hotel bell desk, wedged between railings of a four-step casino entry stairway in a shower of broken glass.

Brown tried to run and struggled with security guards before police arrived and arrested him on felony cocaine possession and misdemeanor driving under the influence and reckless driving charges.

Police reported finding more than 1 gram of crack in the vehicle ashtray, and said Brown admitted using drugs for six days and smoking crack cocaine two hours before the crash.

Brown told officers he had wanted to jump off the Stratosphere and that he was excited to be making news, according to the police report. He said he had the same birthday as Elvis Presley, worked as an electrician, getting his first job at Transfer Electric, then at the Burning Man counterculture festival in northern Nevada, and had being fired after a domestic dispute with his wife. Her name and his hometown weren’t provided.

He told police he was born in Indiana.

Brown later became combative with jailers, who restrained him with a cover over his face to prevent him from spitting at others, the police report said.

It’s always sad to lose a Burner, and our condolences and sympathies go to the family and friends of Ryan Brown. After an earlier Burner suicide this year in Utah, some commenters drew the link between mental illness and recreational consumption of mind altering substances. Something to be considered, Burners, next time you go and “get crazy” for a week in the desert.

National Suicide Prevention Hotline: No matter what problems you are dealing with, we want to help you find a reason to keep living. 1-800-273-TALK

 

 

Sep 21 2014

Life Lessons From Burning Man

Maya Zuckerman, “cultural hacker”, has shared 13 Life Lessons from 13 Years at Burning Man.

From Huffington Post:

The dust has finally settled after my thirteenth year at TTITD, “That Thing In the Desert”, the ephemeral psychedelic experience that is often referred to as Burning Man.

Burning Man celebrates the simple notion that “people have permission to be whoever they want to be. It is such a powerful ideal that people will go to the most inhospitable places in the world in order to get a little taste of it.” To explain what the event is or isn’t would take a few blog posts, so I will not attempt that here. More reading about the event can be done here!

Every year, participants drive hundreds of miles in the scorching heat in search of Black Rock City, Nevada; a barren desert in the middle of nowhere which we call the playa. They come for different reasons. One perhaps is to find nirvana in a sea of mesmerizing music and sense-blinding electronica. It is a place where people can learn through participation, revelry, and inquiry, how to truly connect and experience what it means to be human.

Here are 13 life lessons from my 13 year journey:

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1. Do-ocracy – a thought construct that celebrates the empowering notion of taking individual responsibility. In a harsh desert environment, resources are limited. As a result, most everyone choose to work together to achieve community goals (there are those to choose to pay for a “vacation”, a controversy being debated in the community at present). This proactive mentality imbues a sense of personal responsibility where actions are motivated not only by self-preservation, but by a desire to make a difference and affect change through actions.

2. Cultivation of Awe – If you can imagine standing in a crowd of hundreds and peering up at art installations/sculptures up to 100 feet high as they burst into flames in symbolic offerings, you would come away with feelings of awe, veneration, wonder and even dread. That feeling of ‘awe’ challenges our sense of mortality and teaches us to cultivate tolerance, patience and humility. It gives us new perspectives.

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The beautiful art installation Hybycozo

3, Respect and Accountability – Survival instincts kick in when you are in the desert surrounded by over 65,000 other attendees. One realizes that in order for the festival to work, one cannot coexist peacefully without mutual respect from each member of the ‘tribe’. Respect is an essential theme that forces one to look at the whole ecosystem of one’s life: respect for self, body, health, nature and others. Accountability enshrines one’s individual right to exist, to make decisions, to practice responsibility and to realize that one is held accountable to both self and others.

4. Service to Others – “Burning Man is devoted to acts of gift giving that celebrates the philosophy of unconditional servitude. “Gifting” does not contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value.” Essentially, being of service teaches and encourages us to be of service to community, friends, city and ultimately planet.

5. Listen to Your Body – In an overstimulated environment with temperatures rising above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, blocking everything out and listening to one’s own instincts can be a challenge. Many times I would find myself especially in the earlier years ignoring my inner voice and over-exerting myself – pushing harder, partying harder. What I learned later on is that your body has its own intelligence and the ability to listen and honor its messages helps you to achieve mental and physical peace.

6. The Playa Gives You What You Need, Not What You Want – What we want is not always what we get and oftentimes we react by attempting to control everything and everyone. Burning Man is like a ‘wise mentor’ expressing the notion that all things happen according to a universal plan. It is that sort of understanding that has given me grace and tolerance in the face of difficulties.

Read the rest here.

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Distrikt Camp day party

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The temple of Grace – By David Best

 

 

Sep 20 2014

Riding Inside A Dust Devil At Burning Man

Burning Man Project Director Chip Conley’s Fest300 has released another Burning Man promo video. This one is 3:05 long, the 0:05 is for Fest300 advertising. So is this now the Commodification Threshold? Anyone can shoot promo videos at Burning Man, as long as they just show their logos at the start and end for a few seconds? Just wondering, because I can think of all sorts of brands that could do epic Burning Man videos, ending in 3 seconds of their logo.

Commenter Reb has pointed out that once again, Fest300 is ignoring safety guidelines:

Although some may say a Dust Devil differs from a White Out, the official Survival Guide advises the following regarding White Outs: “Be on alert for moving vehicles. ❧ If you are driving a vehicle, STOP and wait for the air to clear. You will not be able to see where you are going and could hurt yourself or others.” The video shows just how poor the visibility is inside a Dust Devil- riding a bike inside one looks like a good way to get impaled, smash into people, artwork, a bus, guy wires, etc. Now there’s another reason not to ride into one- it can be full of idiots