More than a hundred miles north of Reno, Nevada, is Black Rock City, an expanse of desert ringed by distant mountains, a beautiful place, that has been home to the annual Burning Man festival since the 1990's. Started by a small group of artists in San Francisco in 1986, the weeklong event is held around Labor Day every year.
If you're not familiar with Burning Man, you're likely either under the age of 12 or have been living under a rock for most of your life. Just in case, here's a bit of history. Burning Man is an annual event that takes place in "Black Rock City." It is a temporary city erected in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada.
The famous bonfire to "burn the man." "The man" was a 9-foot tall wooden man and he has since grown to be around 40 feet tall. Why they burned "the man" is widely disputed, and it doesn't really matter anymore since it's just become an excuse for people to pay a bunch of money to dress up in costumes, roll around in the heat and dust, and spend a week being whoever or whatever they want to be, freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.
I've been aware of Burning Man since I was in high school and my curiosity about the goings-on of the festival made it an early entry on my bucket list. I envisioned dusty, naked hippies taking large amounts of acid and driving around on giant art cars while bumping to electronic dance music. In 2016 after I graduated law school, I was finally able to make the trip with my sorority sisters Lynne and Megan and as it turns out, my vision wasn't too far off.
Most of the tens of thousands of attendees go to experience the openness, art, whimsy, freedom and of course the open nudity. high on drugs, riding on bikes or art cars, and snapping selfies. In the dusty desert basin, or the playa, all of those elements coalesce magnificently in the orgy dome, an air-conditioned sex haven where guests can visit in groups of two or more. Its creators claim that 5,000 attendees cavorted within its folds on any given festival.
