To Burn or Not To Burn

I have something of a strange relationship with Burning Man.

On the one hand, the weeklong bacchanal out on the salt flats of the Nevada desert holds strong appeal — evoking paganism, Native American peyote-tinged personal journeys of discovery, and the myriad of music festivals common in the U.K. I first heard about it from a co-worker in Southern California some twelve years back — it transformed him from a somewhat uptight, opinionated sort to a mellower version of himself — and have...