The Burning Man Nasiriyah connection.

Yes, I know, it is a bizarre comparison.   

I took some photographs the other day while being driven around by my security detail (they took me and another woman for an “outing”…we drove around, visited the river, snapped a bunch of photos, etc).  I was sort of startled by the similarity these photos bare to my photos from Burning Man…big, flat monochromatic expanse crowned with an even bigger veil of blue sky…bright, vivid Blueness. 

In addition to that vibrant blue, the alien landscape encompasses a variety of makeshift buildings that possess a varying degree of permanence…strange structures litter the horizon. 

And today, the wind kicked up.  I saw people riding around on bicycles with their faces wrapped in scarves to prevent inhaling the pale dust that filled the sky and knocked out the light…leaving us all in this fuzzy haze. 

From this line of thought, being strictly comparisons of the visceral similarities of the two sites I have drawn additional connections…perhaps far fetched.  I found this passage just now on the Burning Man website:

“The touchstone of value in our culture will always be immediacy: experience before theory, moral relationships before politics, survival before services, roles before jobs, embodied ritual before symbolism, work before vested interest, participant support before sponsorship.”

Do I need to elaborate further? 

I think that sums it up pretty well.