BURNING MAN EVENT
Saturday Nov. 22, 11 am 4 pm

Every year for a week before Labor Day, approximately 30 thousand artists, crafts people and folks with an unusual philosophy of life, form what becomes for that week the third largest city in Nevada. It is based on sharing what you create in a completely non-commercial way from 20 foot sculptures to bead work, from children’s story telling workshops to BD SM classes in adult only encampments. Presenters include Harold and Dee Dee Goldstein, Max Wazel and other panel members who have been actively involved in this amazing example of intentional community. Video tape and slide presentations are part of this event. As if this fascinating topic were not enough for one day, the event is being held at the very unusual home of Al Denny who will take us through and tell us a bit about it during lunch break. His home has beautiful and unique movie memorabilia inside and a Rain Forest outside! Al is the man who did a lot of the lovely movie sets you saw in the 1970, and created magnificent waterfalls for the home of Clint Eastwood. Pot luck picnic bring healthy, delicious food to share. Bring your own meat to grill on Al’s outdoor BarB que if you are feeling carnivorous. Location:
20360 Haynes St
Winnetka, CA 91306
Phone (day of event only)
818-888-1226.
(Take Victory and between DeSoto and Winnetka, turn north on Mason and left at the second street.)

 

LOSCON LTD MEET POINT
Sunday Nov. 30, 10:30 am - noon

Happy thanksgiving!
Join us for fruit, cheese, juice, and talk! If you were inspired by the Line Marriage from MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS, warmed by the nest in STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND, or fascinated by the four-way marriage in FORBIDDEN TOWER come and share your experiences in multiply committed relationships, or learn more about them. People like us do not only exist in SF books! LOCATION: Ask at Burbank Hilton registration desk for room number of Live the Dream or see note in Los Con News.

LosCon Website http://www.loscon.org/

LTD ANNUAL HOLIDAY PARTY
Saturday Dec. 20, 7 pm to ???

Latkes and Christmas carols/songs about the Macabees, dreidels and Winter Solstice ritual. We'll light the Hanukkah Menorah--this is the second night. Did we forget a ritual important to you? Tell us and we'll add it! BRING stories/songs/poetry to share, your favorite holiday dish for pot luck supper, wrapped science fiction, fantasy or magickal gift ($5-$10) for GIFT EXCHANGE. Kids bring kid gifts to exchange with each other. Sharing our holidays is part of what weaves the bonds of Family in a group like ours. Understanding what is important to each of us during this festive season and how we celebrate it is a way to grow closer and delight in our diversity. Enclosed, clothing optional Jacuzzi (with holiday music playing inside it!) available all evening bring sandals and towels. Cost $5 for members, $7.50 non members, children free. Location:Penfield Group House at 8515 Penfield in Winetka the west San Fernando Valley between Roscoe and Chase (nearer Chase). Penfield is between Tampa and Winnetka. Phone number is the same as the LTD hotline 818-886-0069.

 

DARKOVER POT LUCK - FILK
Saturday Jan. 17

(Location: same as Holiday Party, 8515 Penfield11 am to 4 pm DARKOVER novels by Marion Zimmer Bradley: Discussion/ Role Play Marion's fascinating novels are based on the concept of a world on which a few hundred Terrans were marooned in a crashed space ship hundreds of years ago and were forced to build a viable community from this limited gene pool. Many women found themselves unable to bear children on the new world. This resulted in a society where a fertile woman having more than one child by the same man was considered a kind of selfishness. Group marriage became the norm and ties of fosterage frequently stronger than ties of blood...
We'll focus on SPELL SWORD and FORBIDDEN TOWER, two novels based on a real life two couple group marriage which lasted 16 years! How can we use this info to get the relationships we want in our lives? Pot luck lunch--bring something healthy and delicious to share. Hot tub available all day (clothing optional). Bring towel and sandals. 6 pm pot luck dinner and Filk (science fiction folksinging) on Darkover and many other stories. It’s bardic circle: request what you like, sing one yourself, or sit back and listen, Pick, pass or play.

 

What is Burning Man?
By Molly Steenson

Hurtling down the road to the Black Rock Desert, the colors paint themselves like a spice cabinet sage, dust, slate gray. Maybe you’re in your trusty car, the one that takes you to and from work every day. Perhaps you’ve got a spacious RV, your Motel 6 on wheels for the next days in the desert. Or you’re driving your glittering art car, complete with poker chips and mirroring to do a disco ball proud.

The two-lane highway turns off onto a new road. You drive slowly onto the playa, the 400 square mile expanse known as the Black Rock Desert. And there you’ve touched the terrain of what feels like another planet. You’re at the end and the beginning of your journey to Burning Man. You belong here and you participate. You’re not the weirdest kid in the classroom there’s always somebody there who’s thought up something you never even considered. You’re there to breathe art. Imagine an ice sculpture emitting glacial music in the desert. Imagine the man, greeting you, neon and benevolence, watching over the community. You’re here to build a community that needs you and relies on you. You’re here to survive. What happens to your brain and body when exposed to 107 degree heat, moisture wicking off your body and dehydrating you within minutes? You know and watch yourself. You drink water constantly and piss clear. You’ll want to reconsider drinking that alcohol (or taking those other substances) you brought with you the mind- altering experience of Burning Man is its own drug. You slather yourself in sunblock before the sun’s rays turn up full blast. You bring enough food, water, and shelter because the elements of the new planet are harsh, and you will find no vending. You’re here to create. Since nobody at Burning Man is a spectator, you’re here to build your own new world. You’ve built an egg for shelter, a suit made of light sticks, a car that looks like a shark’s fin. You’ve covered yourself in silver, you’re wearing a straw hat and a string of pearls, or maybe a skirt for the first time. You’re broadcasting Radio Free Burning Man or another radio station. You’re here to experience. Ride your bike in the expanse of nothingness with your eyes closed. Meet the theme camp enjoy Irrational Geographic, relax at Bianca’s Smut Shack and eat a grilled cheese sandwich. Find your love and understand each other as you walk slowly under a parasol. Wander under the veils of dust at night on the playa. You’re here to celebrate. On Saturday night, we’ll burn the Man. As the procession starts, the circle forms, and the man ignites, you experience something personal, something new to yourself, something you’ve never felt before. It’s an epiphany, it’s primal, it’s newborn. And it’s completely individual. You’ll leave as you came. When you depart from Burning Man, you leave no trace. Everything you built, you dismantle. The waste you make and the objects you consume leave with you. Volunteers will stay for weeks to return the Black Rock Desert to its pristine condition.

But you’ll take the world you built with you. When you drive back the dusty roads toward home, you slowly reintegrate to the world you came from. You feel in tune with the other dust-covered vehicles that shared the same community. Over time, vivid images still dance in your brain, floating back to you when the weather changes. The Burning Man community, whether your friends, your new acquaintances, or the Burning Man project, embraces you. At the end, though your journey to and from Burning Man are finished, you embark on a different journey forever.

 

GIVE US YOUR STORIES. We need your stories for research purposes--your names will remain anonymous. If you have been hassled by the government for your lifestyle, particularly by any child services department, we want to hear from you by phone, in writing or by E-Mail.
Our phone number is 818-361-6737.
Our mailing address is
6454 Van Nuys Blvd #211
Van Nuys, CA. 91401.
Our e-mail address is: [email protected]

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