Burn2 - A Personal AfterBurn

Burn2 is over ..... well except that everything is still there for you to visit through Saturday, October 30. The events are finished ..... well except for impromptu parties all week and the Skin Burn next Saturday. But Burn2 2010 is mostly done and that means that my posts about the event are mostly done. I'd like to wrap up this series with a few personal thoughts and comments.

It was very flattering to have people walk up to me on the playa and say they'd read my blog and were going to visit something I had mentioned. It was disconcerting, however, when people asked me why I would write so much about this festival. I'm not sure there's a short answer but I'll make it as brief as I can:

• I'm a big believer in Community - the big C community - encompassing all of us Second Life. Those who know me well know that I have a huge appreciation for grid-wide events. The opportunities for everybody inworld to share the same experience and find something they enjoy are very limited. I'm thinking of things analogous to World Fairs that attract people from countries all over the world for a specific period of time not tourist destinations such as Hawaii.

  The annual SL Birthday celebrations and the Burn are the only two I can think of that could/should have mass appeal. If my blogging about it can persuade my two readers to go visit either of these events then I'm happy.

• The amount of effort required to organize these events is enormous and, I think, deserves some payback in the form of awareness (again my two readers now know more than they might have wanted to know but they're aware).

• The talent, vision, skill, artistry and effort put in by the builders sharing themselves and their work with the entire Community deserves recognition. I couldn't include everything and every build in my series of blog posts but I tried to acknowledge and recognize the efforts of as many as possible and included as broad a range of installations (e.g., first time builders, well known artists, volunteers etc.) as possible so that some sense of the size of the gift being offered to the rest of us was conveyed.

• I'm not a critic. It's not my job to say what is good and what is not. I'm also not inclined to shill for somebody. I'm more of a travel diarist. Everything I say about my reaction to what I see is true. If I saw something I didn't like then I won't include it but if I rhapsodize about something you can be sure that's how I really feel.

Burn2 was exceptionally well organized. The breadth as well as the depth of planning and preparation which was done was very impressive. There were things I missed from previous Burning Life experiences but nothing that limited my appreciation for and enjoyment of this festival.

I'd like to personally congratulate everybody associated with Burn2 2010 - their warmth, enthusiasm, and sheer unadulterated pleasure in what they were doing and presenting made this something I'm very very pleased to have experienced.

There was one installation I had a lot of difficulty visiting and it's hard to share this particular photo but I need to because he's deserves the acknowledgement. Adric Antfarm had built his campsite before his death - his friend put an In Memoriam prim on the site and left the rest as if he had just stepped out for a bit. I think he would have loved Burn2.