“Burning Man Used To Be Way Better” Says Darwin Woman Who Went To Burning Man Two Years Ago

CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT

A Darwin-based social worker who’s entire personality is based around the fact that she took heaps of acid in the Nevada desert in 2016, says no one else will ever be able to experience what she did.

Burning Man is an annual, nine-day gathering in the desert that includes artistic performances, installations, and music. The nine-day gathering of 70,000 people is known for changing people. Especially Australians, like Deidre (29).

“Yeah, I’ve heard it’s changed heaps” says Deidre, who said the same thing last year.

“It’s like way more commercial than it was 24 months ago, real burners don’t go anymore”

As a real burner, it’s Diedre’s duty to tell people about how good Burning Man was when she went, before it changed.

A ‘burner’ is someone who has embraced the social experiment of “Giving as a Way of Life.” In gifting, sharing, offering heartfelt concern or apathy or whatever open expression the group chooses to offer at the Black Rock City site that hosts Burning Man. It’s label given to those who understand a “Gifting Economy” – which is different to a ‘share economy’ – which is a hyper-capitalistic structure created by hipsters who went to Burning Man back when it actually was good (up to three years ago).

While Diedre claims to have been a burner for a long time before she organised her ESTA visa to America during the Trump election campaign, she is most likely to highlight her burner status during the month of September, when she remembers that she got to see Burning Man when it was actually good.

Diedre now spends her time remember how good Burning Man used to be at low-key bush doofs in Kakadu.