My origin story:

I was first introduced to what the Burning Man event and culture was like one night over drinks at a bar in Nebraska. The path that lead me to the bar that night was from a lot of self reflection. I had determined that my biggest regret in life was my lack of international travel. I started doing research into it, making initial plans & I ended up creating a profile on Couchsurfing.com

Couchsurfing isn’t super popular in the States but it is in other countries so I figured I would create a profile, build up a good reputation, maybe even host a few international travelers @ my place.

The first person that reached out to me was a guy who lived in Los Angeles, was moving back to New York City via car & was stopping at the half way point between the two, my hometown: Omaha, Nebraska.

We met up at the bar that night & one of the first things he said to me was ”have you ever heard of Burning Man?”…. For the next 3 hours, he proceeded to tell me the craziest stories I have ever heard & I sat there with wide eyes & a total sense of wonderment. Afterwards, we went back to my place & the next morning, I honestly couldn’t wait for him to leave because the second I said goodbye to him, I proceeded to sit in front of YouTube for the next several hours, consuming every single video I could about Burning Man!

For YEARS, I tried getting a ticket in the Main Sale without any luck. On the second year, I had two computers going & on the third year, three. I would click that button the second it would light up within seconds, sold out. I would always give up after the Main Sale & after my failed attempts, multiple years in a row, I kind of gave up. I ended up buying an RV & hitting the road instead. Within a month on the road, I ended up meeting a cool group of fellow RV’ers who invited me to an RV festival a couple of months later. At the RV festival, I met a cool dude (Cottonwood) who mentioned that he had been to Burning Man before & he knew somebody who ran a theme camp! He gave me his contact info & that night I was sending an email! The next morning, I had a reply back saying that if I agreed to help volunteer & be an active part of their camp, he would make sure I had a direct path to buying a ticket! I agreed without hesitation & the rest is history!

What is Burning Man?

People often say that it’s hard to describe what burns or Burning Man are like but I call bullshit on that. They are being lazy. Perhaps it’s difficult for them to describe what it is like because it is different for everybody & that is EXACTLY what makes the events so great!

Burning Man is a giant ”Choose Your Own Adventure” book come to life. It’s Disney World on drugs for adults… if you want it to be. It’s honestly whatever you want to get out of it or make of it. It can be as tame or as wild as you want it to be. It can be a little of both.

I was once asked what my favorite thing was about going to burns. Without question, for me, number one is connecting with people on a deeper level than you normally would at other types of events. However, at a close number two is the art! The most beautiful things my eyes have ever seen were at burns. Number three is the magic in the air! Some of the craziest coincidences I’ve ever experienced have happened there!

My burner name is Blowpop (I earned that name the hardway, lol).

If you are inspired to learn more or go someday, go here: https://burningman.org & read up about the 10 principles here: https://burningman.org/about/10-principles/ & sign up for the Jack rabbit Speaks newsletter here: https://burningman.org/news/jrs/ & get involved with your local regional burning man scene here: https://regionals.burningman.org !❤️!