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Hey Raisins
It may feel too soon to talk about your experience of living in Blazin Raisin at BM06. A few Raisins have expressed a willingness to form a discussion group to talk over the possible direction that our Collective
Community Village could head in this next year. ANY Blazin Raisin village member who has input is VERY encouraged to communicate , so that ideas can be dicussed to meet the needs of the community. ANY Blazin Raisin village member who wishes to participate in the discussion group is encouraged to contact
AJ,Adam,Indria,Susie K. or Bradley or any other Raisin you know who has enthusiasm for this effort to Refine/Define/Improve the Blazin Raisin Village Experiment . Please communicate your Opinions/Ideas
soon, while they are fresh and passionate from your experience on the Playa . Help those who are interested in discussing this to be fully informed of your opinions so that good decisions can be made with
consideration to the desires of the group as a whole . It takes a village to build a village .
It may feel too soon to talk about your experience of living in Blazin Raisin at BM06. A few Raisins have expressed a willingness to form a discussion group to talk over the possible direction that our Collective
Community Village could head in this next year. ANY Blazin Raisin village member who has input is VERY encouraged to communicate , so that ideas can be dicussed to meet the needs of the community. ANY Blazin Raisin village member who wishes to participate in the discussion group is encouraged to contact
AJ,Adam,Indria,Susie K. or Bradley or any other Raisin you know who has enthusiasm for this effort to Refine/Define/Improve the Blazin Raisin Village Experiment . Please communicate your Opinions/Ideas
soon, while they are fresh and passionate from your experience on the Playa . Help those who are interested in discussing this to be fully informed of your opinions so that good decisions can be made with
consideration to the desires of the group as a whole . It takes a village to build a village .
posted by:
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City of Santa Cruz
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Adam and others,
I felt so fortunate to have spent my first B.M. with Blazin Raisin! I couldn't imagine having found a better village to be part of and my only regret is that I didn't get a chance to connect with more of you beautiful people outside of the Punta Mona Pod.
I do have input to offer and a desire to participate in the effort to make next year even better. The areas I'd like to see us grow are primarily in how can make an offering to the Black Rock City community as a whole. I have some specific ideas on this and will contribute them once the discussion ensues. Also, i'd love for us to find a way to utilize solar power for all of our camp needs. This year I did an experiment in which I brought 40 watt solar panels which were used to charge batteries for me and a number of other Punta Mona pod members. Next year, I'd like to offer a self-service battery charging station for our village and perhaps for the rest of the Playa.
Rudi -
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Rudi ,thank you for your gratitude/enthusiasm/participation and especially for your intention to create ecogroovy energy options . You may not be aware that Blazin Raisin already has a small solar electricity set-up comprised of :
a medium sized solar panel
a charge controler
1 HUGE gel deep-cycle marine12 volt battery
5(thats right,5) standard size solar-specific 12 volt batteries
an array of 12 volt lights , both functional and decorative
In the past , it has fallen to Jason or to me to set it all up, however I would love it if other camp members who are interested, could organize and execute that task . Maybe you could contact Jason(see his profile,this site) and talk about diagraming a combined system that could meet the needs of our Village and the Playa Public's as well . One very concrete thing would be the making of an enclosed junction box to organize all the different output leads from the charge controler to the various light fixtures . Next years BM theme is THE GREEN MAN , eco-friendly options will be highly emphisized , our village has been asked to be a Leave No Trace camp tour demo village and we litteraly got the green flag(a green bandanna) from the Earth Guardians during our requested inspection of camp systems. Thanks again for your interest and intentions. -
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Hi Adam,
Thanks for the background -- I didn't realize we had solar panels but did see the batteries as I helped push them onto the truck during our breakdown! I had thought they were charged with the generator. I'd love for us to have enough solar power/batteries to leave the generator behind next year but that's a lot of panels/batteries and would likely need to be rented rather than bought.
The array of 12 volt lights were beautiful. I'd love for us to have a bit more ambient light under the tent. Perhaps a dimmable 1 watt luxeon set of lights mounted stategically. I'd be happy to help figure out some sort of junction box/wiring scheme. I'd also be happle to help with load analysis and am already starting to research panel rental options.
I'm hoping to setup a solar/led lit Sukkah in a few weeks and that would be a good mini-effort to try for me.
I'll touch base with Jason too...
Rudi -
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Rudi , 2 things in response to your last post : The generator is only there for the DJ sound system which draws 3000 watts and would be impractical to power with a battery/inverter set-up( it is alo used for smoothie blender& cordless tool recharge but those could easily go to battery/inverter) . 2ndly, the group concensus is in preferance towards buying parts and building things ourselves rather than renting .One of the things that Blazin Razin as a group intends is to gather resources for self suficient community building in case Babylon really does fall . In regards to a junction box , any arrangement that allows clear organization of Iput/Output with a kill switch or a shunt to divert power to additional batteries would be fine . Even something really ghetto ,like a length of thick copper ground wire in a wood block to which leads could be attached would work . The various electrically minded members of Blazin Raisin have agreed that what is missing in the system is organized,clear routing of the different elements in a centralized location . Another heavy hitter to contact if you wish would be Daylon(tall guy, welded the crows nest,see profile this site ) as he is a commercial electrician . Your continued enthsiasm for this project is VERY appriceated by myself and by the whole community ! It takes a village to build a village .
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Oh lordy, I practically PROMISED that I'd wait........but I just can't help myself, since this year's Burn is still the thing I'm thinking about most of all......
Things that were great:
- All the up-front communication that explained the intention of the Village, set the tone for the space, etc.
- The way the small pods created very personal, intimate spaces within the container of the larger village.
- The big parachute public structure was BEAUTIFUL when completed!
- And Scott's lights were gorgeous. I'm so glad the Village commissioned that work!
- Really enjoyed the dance party (too bad the generator died!)
- All my interactions with Seed Pod members were perfect. You guys did a terrific, terrific, warm and openhearted job all year and all week.
Things that could be different next year:
- The biggest thing that I worried about was the access/egress routes that were NOT left once the pods filled in. If there had been an emergency (RV or kitchen fire, medical emergency) I don't think folks could've gotten in to many areas. And, if someone had needed to leave mid-week for an emergency of some sort, that would've been impossible too. (We had quite a difficult time getting out Sunday night!) I don't like the rectilinear formality of the way Otter zones their village, but I'm guessing that some of our planning and design pros could help lay something out that would preserve vehicular access AND retain the lovely feel. (Granted it's more work for the early crew to lay out the "roads" – but I DO think it's worth it. It would only take ONE bad emergency...)
- I would've liked more up-front communication about planned Village Meetings and expectations for village participation/support. I ran over and greeted Richard when the crane arrived Wed. (even 'though we were still mid-setup of our own scene), but wasn't around or able to come out for ANY of the other village meetings (knew about them just when someone walked through and said "village meeting happening now!"). If we'd known that there would be, e.g., a Village Cleanup meeting on whatever day at about whatever time, it would've been easier to plan to be around or be sure a representative was around.
- Related to the above – the Seeds did such a great job of handling nearly everything that it wasn't at all clear what all village citizens should expect to do (and maybe that was explained during the meetings... but I wasn't there!) It'd be nice to know up front, e.g., that everyone was expected to spend an hour mooping the village public spaces and to take home 5 gallons of village grey water when they left. (or whatever the expectations s/b) We would've been glad to do it – but didn't know what we should do! If we'd KNOWN up front, we could've built it into our exit strategy/plan.
- For some reason, I didn't know about the Friday community dinner either – just thought the PARTY was our village event. (I happened to wander through back from the potties as it was starting; couldn't tell whether it was a specific GROUP of Raisins, or open to all... and plus we'd already eaten.) I loved loved loved the looseness overall, but it seems like communication could move a LITTLE bit more up the continuum.
- Last thought on communication: some of our pod members were on Tribe, some were on the BR email list... and some were on neither. Might be nice to have a formal plan that says that either (1) the list is just Focalizers, who are responsible for forwarding everything to their pods, or (2) someone collects all email addresses in a more structured way and gets them on the central Raisin list. In addition, it'd be great if all "official" email communications were posted on some specific (and easy-to-find) part of the BR site so anyone could go find them even if they're late arrivals to the email list/pod.
- In terms of "green-ness" and Rudi's ideas etc. – could we have a resource topic on the BR site where folks with the knowledge could post info like: "If you're planning to run up to 20 strands of xmas lights and a small music player, you'll need to bring/purchase THIS MANY solar panels/batteries/whatever."... and then pods could ask questions and get help so we can all do this [semi-] independently?
I think that's it for me for now. Sorry I couldn't hold off on the detailed brain-dump!
With deep gratitude and appreciation to you all,
Dana -
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thanks for all that input,... now is the time when it is all fresh.
I agree about set pathways,... A good use of ribbon laying. now that we have grown to this size it seems essential.
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Dana's post is very usefull and points clearly in some great directions. I sure wish that others were as willing to come out and say what is in their minds . It is my fond hope that with more Raisins posting their ideas , the concept of our future evolution could clarify during the rest of the year instead of at the last minute just before next years burn . Infrastucture takes time to implement . I would love the leisure of concentrating on the various projects over a years time. Often a planned effort comes out better than seat of the pants jury rigging onsite . It is such a joy to collaborate with others on a project when concensus has been reached , then all that is left is the doing of it . I personally wish to encourage anybody to say anything that might point us towards refinement so as to better serve the community/ourselves/the public at Blazin Raisin .
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Great to have a discourse goin' so early on. I agree with everything being said. Dana, your feedback makes a lot of sense. Clearer pathways between pods and better communication about official BR meetings and events/rituals/partiessense seem like great things to work on. Maybe if (and only if) you are inspired, you could take on some role in facilitating a more clear communication of such things?
We had a white board next to the community bar/kitchen with scheduled things on it, but maybe it wasn't always updated. Also, I have found that at Burningman there has always been a strange chaos around organizing meetings and specific gatherings; things can be so swirly that even if events are more strictly organized connections are missed and such and often there are changes and a spontaneous call is made around the village and some people miss out.
All that notwithstanding, we could still be clearer and more repetitive in our pre-burn tribe posts about standard Blazin' Raisin events. Here they are as far as I know, some of them loose traditions, but could be more solidly intended next year:
Thursday dark: Mojito Dance Party
Friday AM: post -Hamsa pancake breakfast
Friday afternoon: pre-Critical Tits painting party
Friday Dark: Potluck dinner provided by men (and others who didn't go to Crit Tits) to honor women returning from Critical tits
Sunday dawn: gather at temple to pray/dance/hug/honor those passed
My other input:
I sense (and hope/desire/request) that the era of Impossibly Stuff-Stacking the Great White Normal-sized Rental Van has now passed. Let us now join hands with the Valiant Bradamrich Six-armed Stacking Beast and bid tearful farewell to this illustrious epoch of the Leaning Tower of Raisin. May a village of things never make a Chevy van look like a matchbox again. Amen.
Other than that, it would be awesome to just do it all again and, WITHOUT ADDING MORE MAJOR THINGS, tweak and perfect so it is oiled and massaged and EASIER. To me that means we NEED TO GET MORE PEOPLE PHYSICALLY INVOLVED EARLIER. And lo, the passing (I hope) of the Leaning Tower of Van era would mean we would maybe have a bigger uhaul-type panel van that everything would fit easily INTO (not onto, OR unto), which would HALVE the work of load-in and load-out. I would be very happy to research rental costs for such a vehicle.
And then this, which I will also post as a separate topic:
I've been VERY inspired lately to ABOVE ALL, ask you all and myself this question:
What is the deep intent of Blazin' Raisin? Chime in everybody. Why are we REALLY doing this?
First, I'll say that what I love about Blazin' Raisin this year was that our offering to the Playa, although still jelling, wasn't just a gimmick or a show or a direct service, but A WAY OF BEING that created a warm and magnetic vibe; it's that "Raisin' " thang (raisin' each other, raisin' consciousness, etc..) I know this sounds vague and maybe to some a cop-out in a city where theme camps are so good at being VERY (almost too much?) specific about what they are offering. And maybe we will continue to get more specific at least in the way that individual BR members will develop and grow their own personal offering to the larger community, and at MOST in terms of our evolving GROUP ideas. As to the latter, for now I really liked that our "Theme" was a vibe of softness, peace, refuge from the OONSE-OONSE subwoofer Playa reality, non-violent communication, omni-faith spirituality, and humility, just to name a few.
I really believe that BR can be a spiral dance of consciousness and joy and AUTHENTICITY AND FREEDOM (one thing that means is that even the “darker” thoughts and feelings are normal and welcome), and our combined love, excellence, genius, full-heartedness and health just keeps Raisin’ the energy swirling around the Parachute, such that all are lifted and cradled in that power. For me, THAT'S THE BEST KIND OF "SPECIFIC" SERVICE A GROUP THIS LARGE COULD OFFER: keep Raisin' consciousness, keep asking what our deep intent is, keep loving and accepting, keep being honest, keep spinning magic that heals and transforms, keep caring for the earth, keep spreading joy and hope. I guess as I'm looking at this it still has vagueness, SO PLEASE FILL IT IN, HELP ME. And it also has quite a bit of general new age churchiness, which I'm not sure is the whole picture. Anyway, I ramble..... -
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Eli -- I'm definitely interested in playing with the Seeds in some of the organizational and communication zones. I've emailed with Adam about it briefly ... but the right path will emerge in the right time. (Sure sounds like fun to me -- but, of course, that's the kind of thing that I think is fun...)
best,
Dana
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Thanks Dana! Your feedback got some wheels turning for me and Rocky regarding how "village design" might be done to: 1. invite a greater sense of interconnectedness of individual pods to the whole of Blazin' Raisin, 2. support easier/better communication about camp happenings, 3. inspire more intermingleling of pods, 4. create easy exits/entrance regardless of arrival/exit times, and 5. invite a more intimate, inviting environment to develop under the parachure "great room" (better feng shui).
We've drafted a proposed lay-out for next years camp that I think supports all of these things. Offering it up for feedback and continued brainstorming. (See our photos section to view map.) -
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[ALSO POSTED AS A COMMENT IN THE PHOTO SECTION]
I think it's SO fabulous that people (you) are thinking so specifically and tangibly about the possibilities for next year so SOON!
I don't have a good enough sense of spatial relations and #-humans-per-sq-ft to be able to evaluate your plan totally practically -- but I LOVE the way you're thinking.
The "pod living rooms and kitchens here" plan might not be TOTALLY exactly practical because, for example, our pod used a lot of the structure and windbreak of one podmember's RV for our kitchen, so I don't know that it'd quite work for us to set the kitchen up separately in the way this picture suggests if interpreted totally literally. But, the idea of moving our pod social structures toward the center of the village - and, presumably, leaving clearance for village people to enter our social space and pod space from the central area -- is GREAT, and one I think is really worth pursuing. (I guess this all gets back to Eli's question about "What do we want to be?"
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Thanks for asking Addy... I thought everything was really cool this year as far as our camp went, except for the fact the the parachute and lights went up so late. But the real issue is that some of you seemed REALLY overworked. I would like to see our camp continue as we have, but I think we need more set-up time. I think the crunch at the end was due to the lack of space in the van and, personally, I think we need a larger vehicle. Now that I am writing I feel overwhelmed by the question and I think I'd like to chat with you in person. Also, I think Dana makes a good point about emergency access and even access in genral. By the time most folks showed up Whitney and I had only one convoluted way to access our little camp.
Peace and Love -Ian -
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Yes, yes Ianbra. I love your need to talk in person about this stuff. I hope you don't mind me riffing off of that: I really support the in-person thang for anyone if they are noticing some kind of disconnect or dissatisfaction with the internet. It's a powerful and crucial tool, but the phone works, too (if you don't have someone's number, ask them!). Shit, surprise someone and write a real letter (remember those?). PRETEND YER ON THE PLAYA!!! No phones, no internet (mostly), just talk to the person who's in front of you. Wouldn't it be cool if you responded to a tribe post by showing up at someone's door? I guess this is a good plug for the FREAKOMPRESSION PARTY the 30th at 1031a (see Adam's post). Anyhoo, I know I hate being on the computer sometime, so I just wanted to pipe in on that (although I'm crusing the keyboard now...gotta burn off that mate!)
Good to see another person agreeing that the Leaning Tower of Van days are over. And I agree with Ian that more set-up time could help with the overwork issue. And what is even more important in my eyes is MORE PEOPLE, since it's hard to get on the playa earlier. But with more people comes MORE DELEGATION, which means MORE ORGANIZATION, and also MORE LETTING GO OF PERSONAL CONTROL AND SPECIFIC PREFERENCES.
Unless yer a rich corporation, it's almost a law of nature in grass-roots organizing that more helpers equals some detachment from individuals' specific vsision of how it'll exactly go. In other words, many hands make light work, but the path to the final product will be less predictable.
So, just like a musician having to listen to the other players and making little adjustments in each moment for the greater good of the greater sound, so the leaders of BR might benefit from continuing to dance with the moment, adjust their expectations and solutions, even allow people to make mistakes or maybe even allow people to veer from some orginal vision. Don't mean to sound like an advice-giver. Really this is already happening in WONDERFUL ways. E.G. I saw Bradam let go of expecations many many times. I just wanted to highlight and reinforce it in light of increasing needs/desires for more ease and delegation.
Incidentally, in the spirit of the first half of this post: my celly is 831.345.7320. My home address is 251 Dufour St. Santa Cruz, CA 95060. I live in a beautiful home a few blocks from the beach with a guest room. All Raisins are welcome (my housemate/friend/landlord is also a Raisin), and please send a letter and be a beacon in the sea of junk.
Much Love,
Eli -
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Now this is what I have been praying for , PARTICIPATION ! COMMUNICATION ! Keep it up , please ,please . I just spent some days with Bradley and we cooked up some cool ideas and plans , stay tuned to this site for these and other things . I can say that a informal meeting of many Raisins is likely to occur the morning after the Freakompression Party and a written download from that will be posted soon after . Please continue to share your hearts and minds with each other .
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