Burning Man, the "annual experiment in temporary community dedicated to radical self-expression and radical self-reliance," was this past week. It's an annual gathering in Nevada's Black Rock Desert where thousands of people gather to build weird art, get high, make friends, and give the the inhabitants of San Francisco a break.
But just because Burning Man is over doesn't mean it's over, y'know? Now some of the citizens of Black Rock City (the name Burning Man gives its "temporary metropolis") are taking to the Craigslist boards of the cities they live in to try and rekindle the magic of the playa.
Their Missed Connections are all very, very Burning Man.
In New York, someone is looking for Lindsay, who apparently sent a bewitching, nonsensical email. Or did she? It's hard to say. Ah, love:
In Sacramento, CA someone is trying to find a fellow burner using a name she made up for the person she's looking for.
Another Sacramentan is looking to connect via this stream of consciousness tale of love that was apparently ruined by someone talking about vaping:
Never to be outdone, San Francisco and environs have some of the best missed connections from Burning Man. Like this one, titled simply "French Maids- Umbrella? - m4w (Burning Man)":
Or Samantha, who's looking for "Ox":
Don't we all wish we could meet someone by a big light up orb?
But maybe the best Burning Man missed connection of 2015 is titled "Burning Man: Zeitgeist looking for Guess from the Ashram Galactica - m4w (Black Rock City)." It's posted not just in San Francisco, but also in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Lancaster, Allentown, and Reading (the poster thinks the missed connection is from Pennsylvania).
It's a tale of woe, of two people meeting and being parted. Of one trying to find the other but being "over whelmed by the beauty and chaos of the area" (and a desert storm, or "white out"), and it ends with a classic missed connections call:
If you're Guess, Zeitgeist is looking for you. And please let us know what happens as well.
Ethan Chiel is a reporter for Fusion, writing mostly about the internet and technology. You can (and should) email him at ethan.chiel@fusion.net