What Worked 2008 - PolyParadise Burning Man

With the Playa 2008 behind us, It is again time to reflect on the things we did right and what could have been done better. Looking back on PolyParadise '08, I am so very proud of what we created, on the Playa this year. There were so many people who made comments to me about the amazing space PolyParadise is, a place to relax, a place to learn and even sometimes a place to find Love, but what there is most of is Friendship. I thank you all for being part of the 10th Anniversary of PolyParadise in Black Rock City.

Since '03, I have used this space to reflect on "What Went Write & What Went Wrong" in PolyParadise, gain some perspective, and learn.

Anything said here is NOT meant to accuse or berate anyone, it is just an open dialogue, an airing of issues so that we may move forward.

I offer my own observations and as always welcome Comments, Praises, Bitches & Roses....

****PolyParadise****

PolyParadise's population increased by 12 campers to an On-Playa total of 108. We had 50 veteran campers return and 68 new campers. There continues to be a large draw to camp within our borders from people far & wide around the globe, we had representation from Europe, Canada & New Zealand. I thank all of the returning campers for making PolyParadise your Playa home, I so depend on each & everyone of you in making our camp an amazing loving space. I hope that all of our Virgin campers have seen what Community really means, and I hope that you will all camp with us again.

It was my decision to try and squeeze in additional 8 folks from a previously decided population cap of 100. This decision was made due to a foreseen budget shortfall. This decision, although it made up the needed funds, did not work out as I had hoped. We ran out of space, there was no more room to place folks within the designated borders of camp. When these additional folks arrived the only thing I could offer was for them to create a satellite camp on the outer road and make due. I felt absolutely terrible that there was no room left to accommodate them. Thus PolyParadise Satellite camp was created on 7:30 & J. My deepest gratitude to all those that were forced to camp way, way out there. I came by several times a day to make sure you all felt part of the Main Camp. Each and every time I went down there, I could see the most amazing thing occurring...Community was being created and transformed into long-lasting friendships...

From year-to-year the biggest issue we face as a camp is the space we are given by BMORG. The sheer dimensions just do not fit relative to our total Playa footprint. As our structures grow so does our need for space. YES, we were tight, in-fact we were the tightest we have ever been. I am sorry to many folks that could not spread their wings as they had hoped or had planned for. I wish there could have been a way to accommodate the grand plans of everyone. I did my best to maximize the space we had.

There was very little Camp Drama, but I did see that the harsh Playa conditions and 24hr nature of BRC played havoc on many individual relationships.

Each year there are more and more people that want to camp with us. The No Vacancy sign went out 3 weeks early this year, I turned away at least 25 people after the NV sign was turned on. I think that as long as we can get a larger allocated space from BMORG that our infrastructure could accommodate at least 125 people, but I think our upwards limit is 150.

****Playa Location****

The submitted Theme Camp Questionnaire requested us to be located at 7:38 & 'E'. We obviously did not get that Playa Address, regardless we were not placed near 24/7 music or part of the Adult-Themed area of 9:00 as we had been in '07.

I was generally pleased with our given Playa location. The back-side of the Esplanade gave us high foot traffic for our events and a much more central location to all of BRC. The camps we were next to were not overtly loud, though being on the back side on Tribal Thunder did have reverberations throughout the night, that constant drumming sound.

What were your impressions on being 7:15 & Allante -

****Kitchen & Stuff****

One of the most incredible parts of our collective camping experience is breaking bread with each other. The Community Kitchen was an awesome success! Thanks so much to HypnoBurn and all of their helpers throughout the week!!! and to everyone else who helped setup and maintain the kitchen all week long.

The kitchen itself was setup much differently than in previous years and allowed for a clear definition between serving & cooking areas. Hats off to HypnoBurn for orchestrating chaos!

Thanks to everyone that took the time & effort to create some awesome meals all week long. There were so many great courses served each day. Of course a highlight had to be Trash Can Turkey!! We consumed 60 lbs of turkey & 20 Boxes Stuffing...There were so many people in line to have Turkey Dinner, it was an awesome site. That of course means we will have 4 Turkeys for '09....

We had plenty of snacks for everyone, and all seemed satisfied with the selections available. The juice boxes were very popular and were gone mid-week, Note for '09, more Juice Boxes.

Dishwashing and keeping the Pots/Pans washed and available for the next person continues to be something we need to address. I appreciated each and every person that did dishes all week long.

I for one was very glad that we had a full stocked First Aid Kit as I continue to bang the same finger with the same hammer every year. Having a First Aid Kit in camp will continue to be a priority.

Again, my deepest thanks to HypnoBurn for managing the kitchen all week. You do an amazing job and I appreciate your efforts.

Our events have become well known over the past 10 years, the HCW continues to draw hundreds of folks each day, the discussion groups we host draw 50+ each. There were always so many people milling about in the Community Space, coming & going from our events. PolyParadise hosted 11 separate events throughout the week....Absolutely INCREDIBLE!!!

****Playa Events****

The This was an amazing year for PolyParadise Playa Events. We has 12 events that drew large crowds each day.

Poly High Tea >> Human Carcass Wash >> Greater Intimacy with HYPNOSIS >> Mind Melt Past Life Regression Group Session >> The Heart of Now >> AZBurner Pot Luck >> Jealousy Love Letter Clinic >> Honest Seduction >> Appreciative Inquiry >> Funology

Major Judos to the organizers _Greg & Crew (HCW), HypnoBurn, Facilitators of Poly High Tea, BrotherLuv, Keith & Lenel, Tobias, Paxus & Angie. You all are aces in my book!!! Thanks to everyone who assisted in each and every event. The events are as much for us as a camp as well as sharing with the Playa Citizenry.

Thanks as well to who ever posted an event @ PolyParadise: wanna cyber - need a break from the intensity of F2F playa connections - come check out our closed-circuit webcams. free XXX chat!

This was listed as a daily event, I know that I saw many folks who came by looking for this event and felt cheated that it was not taking place. If this was posted Monday, July 14, 2008 3:22am by someone in our camp, then I am very disappointed. If it was a prank or someone getting a good one over on me from my April Fool's web sites, then I say YOU GOT ME, YOU GOT ALL OF US!

****Perfect Place for Poly Play****

Major Kudos to Tailfeather for securing a 30ft Dome for us to use as a Poly Playa Space. Thanks to Keith & others for assisting in erecting the dome & in dismantling the dome in record time.

Please see Tailfeather's Perfect Place For Poly Play - Review 2008.

Again, I thank Tailfeather and everyone involved in this project for all their efforts in making a Playful Space for Poly Play.

Our structures held together quite well, providing shade & a respite from the wind. Though it is strikingly clear that we need to separate out our Community space from our events space. That was of course the plan, but the real estate was taken back as we needed the room for campers.

****Community Space****

Due to space limitations when we arrived On-Playa the planned full size of the Community Space was not realized. It had been the intention for the Community Space itself to be an additional 20x20 bigger as well as a separate Events area.

Decisions were made upon initial setup of the camp space that we would not be able to accommodate a separate Events area and still have enough room for our campers.

Because Our events are attracting more & more people, having a separate Events area is a priority for 2009. This space needs to be large enough to accommodate all that attend. We will need to purchase an additional 20x20 structures to create a 20x40 separate events space. This space will have lighting for evening events like Mind Melt. We will also need to purchase additional camo nets and probably a few more pieces of carpet

****Poly Shower****

Providing a Shower Facility for a camp of 100 people has continually been a challenge over the years. But this year I think we got it right.

Major Kudos go to Tailfeather & Twist for coordinating the pieces to the shower. Twist created the shower base with retractable legs & steps. Amazing job my friend. Tailfeather constructed the shower stall portion.

The use of the Shower Bags worked well, though we did not erect a place to hang them due to space limitations. I think a coat rack anchored to the ground would work well for this purpose in the future.

Both pieces of the shower weathered the Playa well and will be back again in '09

Thanks to Twist the shower drain had an identical pump system to the kitchen sink. When the water level filled the container, the pump would turn on and shoot the water to the storage tank. Well Done TWIST!

There is no doubt that as a camp of 108 we will generate large amounts of trash. Thanks so much to Stagger for heading up the Trash area. Many thanks to Uncle Bob and others that assisted in bagging & tapping up trash. More importantly, thanks to all of you for taking some trash home. We generate this trash a camp, we need to deal with its removal from the Playa as a Community. This year the amount of trash that remained that we transported back to Phoenix was 12 Bags less when comparable to '07.

We purchased two additional metal racks for Dish drying. These worked much better than the plastic ones from '07.

Thanks again to Twist for the '07 Dishwashing Station, it just rocks.

It was nice to see a foot washing station be manifested, but the Kitchen area is not the place. I should have insisted it be moved to another location within the Community Space.

****Gray Water Reclamation****

Over the years, water reclamation has been a nasty, dirty and time consuming job On-Playa. I have appreciated past efforts of Water Log (Steve), & Tailfeather for their innovative approaches to dealing with Gray Water. As the size of our camp continues to grow and the amount of Gray Water we produce increased proportionately with that population, it was necessary to take much different approach to dealing with Water Reclamation in 2008.

Thanks to Tailfeather for doing the initial research in finding a vendor that would assist us with Gray Water Collection. Our conversations with Sani-Hut Corp provided us with an option to have a 1,000 Gallon tank on site, have it serviced during the week and hauled away after the event. The cost would be expensive but give us an option of not having to deal with Gray Water collection or evaporation.

Major thanks to Twist for creating two pump mechanisms for under the sink and shower to pump the Gray Water directly to the holding tank. The pumps worked flawlessly and provided us with a system of getting Gray Water to the holding tank without any worry.

The Tank delivery, service and pickup were without incident and thanks have been given to Santi-Hut. Over the course of the week we generated just over 700 Gallons of Gray Water. Despite the $1950 cost of this service, it provided a no-worry way to deal with the Gray Water issue. There is no doubt that we will again use the services of Santi-Hut in 2009 for our Gray Water collection & disposal.

PolyParadise What Worked - 2008