Freedom

My purpose in coming here was to find out whether or not Burning Man has anything to do with the Beats. Is this a Beat event? Is there such a thing as new Beatniks? Certainly, there are many commonalities between hippie gatherings and this annual engagement, such that it could be described as a "modern Woodstock". And surely there are many differences as well... But from my viewpoint, a current of freedom flows through Black Rock City. The Beats had always sought freedom in their lifestyle and in artistic creation.

Freedom. This is the fundamental notion that seems to me to correspond to this "spirit of the West", embodied by Dean Moriarty in On the Road. Kerouac was continuously in search of such freedom in his life, as well as in his writings. Freedom borrows from folly, which compels this declaration: "The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!”