Hindsight and all That...

As rewarding OvoEvoDevoHolocluckolution was for me on some levels (I made several friends out of it and had many laughs), I think I'll be doing the land grab next year.


As with SL6B, there was too much favoritism on LL's part. Some people with access rights conducted their own ongoing event throughout with hefty personal use of the notice feature. Despite my being among a select group of winning applicants to be rewarded a theme campsite, it's a sure bet that Dusty and her inner circle didn't venture beyond the elite named builds and builds of people endorsed by entities who endorse Linden Labs. Saying "Oh just add your event to a broken third party events calendar listing" was an insult to the rest of us. We all know no one looks at it.

They look at pink stars with rollover descriptions on the map, but damn give those little ants like me that and who will go to LL's official stages.  Heaven knows how disastrous it would have been with dispersed visitor population.

If you're someone like me who just draws and creates art, whose friends are either not in Second Life or had their own BL campsites, one hopes the art and effort would speak for themselves and draw attention. It doesn't do a THING if you don't belong to some prestigious inner circle.

The same goes for logos. The spirit of the event - considered an official extension of Burning Man - was compromised by the source when I reported to Dusty the existence of a big Church of the SubGenius™ parcel filled with the org name and marketing trademark Dobbshead. Speaking as an abnormal who was doublesainted by Rev Ivan Stang himself, I can tell you when it's nothing more than a pinkboy showing off. A SubGenius would have no problem simply expressing their abnormalcy at such an event, and many did. That parcel wasn't made by a SubGenius, and thinking it cool to allow the content brings Dusty's integrity into question.

Dusty: We're through being cool, remember?

Next: the Trekkies. There's nothing wrong with being a Trekkie. There's nothing wrong with being a Trekkie at Burning Life. However there IS something wrong with them making a medical outpost with Federation and Starfleet Medical flags and spinning beacons all over. Violations of the Prime Directive. By the way, on the second weekend they were caught with RPG recruitment material in their freebies package. I'm so glad I have nothing to do with them. As Worf would say: "They are withOUT honor!"

These were only two examples.  The rangers' response to my questioning logos was "The Trekkies come every year. They're welcome just the same as everyone else."  Yes, but why are they exercising organizational representation?

In the end, the only true carriers of the proverbial flame of Burning Life who worked in an official capacity were the Art Department and the Lamp Lighters. Bless you both. Bless Mom and White for your hard work. Bless Widget and the random vehicle dispensers throughout the Playa. Bless the faithful artists who TRULY respect the spirit of Burning Man and brought unconditional joy to visitors without catch-22's or promotional linkbacks beyond your profile picks.

Epilogue:

A couple of weekends ago, a featured diva on the playa - someone who got their start at Show n Tell - made an appearance in Lummerland. She originally showed up earlier in the year as a cyberpunk neko, quietly showing her multimedia sculptures. A corporation picked up on her work and now has it installed on their island.  So here she was two weeks back, appearing like Princess Naboo meets the snow goddess, standing to the side of the bleachers while a couple of clearly marked corporate recruiters sat among the spectators. Apparently she couldn't sully her glow and sit with the common avatars *shrug*

I have to give her credit: At least she didn't come to show something and bring artificial voters in tow like some people do. But you know she's beyond that show n tell thing anyway.