Profile by drew garvey

Th e A A Pr no ofi n W rit le y m te n

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of o Ly us D es nd Pe ig ne a M op db l e y a Dr cN ew e Ga il r ve y

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ooking through the dusty window, a vast lunar landscape is the only life in site. Looking closer at the surface, a smiling brown-haired, spindly woman peers out of the glass with icy brown eyes and sees a limitless expanse punctuated by cracks, dust, and wind: Black Rock City. As Lynda MacNeil arrives to her destination, she pushes open the car door and places her feet on the alkali floor and is greeted with a sharp gale of dust that settles on her entire body. Rather than complaining, she takes a deep breathe and opens her arms to the dust in a gesture of deep appreciation. Savoring the liberating, energetic wave, she proclaims, “wow, I feel like I am finally home and I have found my people.”

That dust, a residue of Black Rock City, was now inside of her, and was never going to go away. For her, this desert is where she truly resides. It is a place where any worry about money vanishes, where uplifting, like-minded people connect, and judgement disappears. Burning Man brings out her

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true self, as she taps into the dormant part of her being.

Lynda embodies the pureness of the desert. She teaches music, promotes it, creates it, and lives it. For the past 21 years she has passed her extensive knowledge of the piano to her students and for the past 13 years she has provided over 1,000 volunteer hours to her second home, Black Rock City.

Black Rock City is more than a desert, it is a temporary city that begins empty and then attracts more than 70,000 people each August for the Burning Man counterculture festival. In Black Rock City there’s no life, no electricity, no water, no shelter, there is nothing but exalted space full of dust and alkaline. Burning Man is a temporary city that originates with absolutely nothing, therefore it requires people to create the city. Lynda’s large involvement with the creation of the city is necessary in order for the festival to occur year after year. Without the help of dedicated and passionate volunteers, like Lynda, Burning Man would not be possible for so many people.

Lynda knew at the age of seven

she was a musician:, “I did not want to be a musician, I was a musician, big difference.” In a world like today, it is often challenging to directly follow your passion. However, Lynda is an ambitious individual that followed this dream and never gave up. She seeked happiness and discovered her self actualization through creating her own personalized utopia, a world full of music.

Once you are placed in the desert, and free, you are almost forced to ask who you are as a person. As Lynda elaborates, “It’s like, wow, you are confronted with who you are for that past year and do you like who you are?

Maybe you did or didn’t?” At Burning Man, it’s not rare for many individuals to change their name, their jobs, and themselves. These unique changes do not occur because people were high, these changes arise because Black Rock City has a high proclivity to broaden perception, divulge opportunities, and inquire the suppositions we produce on how to properly live. For Lynda, she changes her name to Necktar, changes her job to a ranger, and explores many

facets of herself that she could not elsewhere. Burning Man truly is an optimal environment for Lynda to explore, reflect, and transform herself because it’s a place in which all possibilities are possible. In our world, it’s often hard to belong or feel completely accepted, thus we as individuals never feel complete with ourselves. Lynda feels as if her identity is complete at Burning Man, not fragmented like it is in her default life. It’s true, Burning Man has the power to change lives. Individuals who participate, are participating for a reason. The outcome is an unparalleled utopia in which humanity unites and connects, individuals rediscover hope and faith, and trust humanity and its purpose. The results are worth recreating and that is why Lynda believes so strongly in preserving this subculture through her service as a ranger and a volunteer for the past 13 years. Almost 100,000 attend this musical mecca, Burning Man, and for Lynda she is not only a participant, she is an organizer.

encounter random individuals in her camp sitting alone. Wanting to reach out and help, she would ask, “Hey how you doing?” The person would respond, “Not so good.” She would then grab them some water, electrolytes, food, a blanket, and clothes. She would try to help the person without having to reach out for law enforcement or further necessary help. Because of all of these encounters, she decided to be a Burning Man Ranger. Often media portrayals of Burning Man highlight the picturesque appearance of the festival. The event is mis depicted as a completely free city with no laws and attendees are persuaded to participate in illegal behavior. Against stereotypes, Burning Man is unique. In fact, the crime rate for Black Rock City is significantly lower than any city with the same size. The role of the rangers is not only to support law enforcement, but more importantly to maintain the concerted survival of the Burning Man community. The Rangers’ motto is to “[To help] lost souls to find their way Walking home to her camp af- home” (206). The rangers consist of inter a splendid night grooving away to dividuals from all walks of life, such as the beats on the playa, Lynda ran into educators, lawyers, and communicasomeone laying on the floor alone. tors who volunteer a large portion of Year after year, Lynda would constantly their time at the event. Prior to 1992,

rangers were nonexistent. When the event transformed into something more than just a lawless campout in the desert, the rangers were created in service of the safety and well-being of the community. Their initial purpose was to act only when specific help was needed. However as the event grew, they have recreated themselves as first mediator responders, safety managers, communications conduits, etc. By being a ranger at Burning Man, Lynda is preserving the safety and positive spirituality that is present in the community because she believes so strongly in the event and what it can provide for many.

In Cheshire, Connecticut Lynda discovered her passion at the age of seven, music. She did not want to be a musician, she was a musician. Growing up, she constantly had the feeling of being on the outside of the world, in her words, “Like looking at the fish bowl from the outside.” She explains why she always felt like this and it’s because she had an odd childhood in which two of her sisters had cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy is a group of disorders that affect a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and pos-

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ture. She expresses their degree, “My younger sister lived to be 22 which is kind of long with someone of her degree. Her life expectancy was 15 and her degree was that she could not speak, walk, move any muscles, expect her eyes.” Living in the same room with her sisters made her very aware of other people in a nonverbal way. This also gave her a lot of empathy, a characteristics, and did not do traditional activities like the other children in her grade. She pursued what she wanted, seeking independence at an early age.

What consumed most of her time as a child was musical practice. As 2 o’clock in the morning rolled around, Lynda’s hands would continue to softly curl on the keys. Her piano was placed against her parents wall, however her parents did not mind the music, they supported her throughout her musical journey.

One day, Lynda received a phone call regarding if she could play piano for a major theater group because their pianist could not attend the show due to medical reasons. Lynda had extensive experience with the piano, but only in her room. She wanted experience in the real world, outside of her comfort, so she told them yes. Although she was terrified, she dealt with fear in a very

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effective way. She describes her madness, “If you’re fear is rejection go out and get rejected everyday until rejection is apart of your normal day occurrence and then it doesn’t mean anything or you just learn to deal with it.”

Through the experience of performing in a play, she was given the opportunity to work with amazing conductors and

could not afford to pay for her tuition.

Money did not stop her, she was eager to learn more about her passion and was not giving up. Early on at the university, she figured out that her teacher was traditional and she knew she was not, she enjoyed difference. As a junior in college, she loved music so much she then wanted to pass her passion onto others because she believed “You can be somebody that doesn’t come so strongly in the power of from any money or have any connections music. She began teaching and really through your passion do what piano lessons in college. At first she experienced a slow you want to do and then have people be start, however this changed like, “Yeah you do that really well” and drastically as she continued that’s awesome.” to teach. Her clients began to love her and spread the performers, something she had never word like a fire. Before she knew it, she been exposed to before. She loved was working seven days a week. The it, performing, singing, and wanted success did not stop, she then had a more. She then took her love of music waiting list. Because the teaching was even further when a professional the- all brand new for her, Lynda would ater group asked her to play piano. Of just say yes. She was determined to excourse, she said yes. She practiced and pand her knowledge, she loved what rehearsed with this group for almost 3 she was doing, and wanted more exyears and 7 days a week. Upon leaving perience. She explains, “I was teachhigh school, she chose to study music ing seven days a week and people just at the University of Maryland because kept wanting me to teach them. I had she liked the teacher and she could af- waiting lists, I wasn’t advertising, I just ford it. At this time, she was putting kept thinking “well the world wants herself in school because her family me to do this, so I guess I’ll just keep

going and it just reached a point, enough is enough.” The excessive teaching grew old and was turning her passion into something stressful. Through this understanding, she realized something significant, she was not happy. By working a strenuous amount, she felt lost with herself and knew she had to do something to change it.

A close friend of hers, Jeffrey Chapel, called her and explained to her that he was traveling to Canada for a couple months and asked if she would be interested in joining him.

She thought this was the perfect way to temporarily escape her current state and return with a better understanding of herself and life. With that, “I made one call to sell my house and one call to sell my business.” And she was off in a 1977 VW Van. After this journey, she embarked on another one, traveling across the country to California to restart her life. She landed in San Jose, California which is where she lives now, absolutely penniless. Here she re-created the same business, piano lessons, however

in a way she could remain happy.

She started the business slowly and surprisingly she appreciated that. Starting slowly allowed her to experience opportunities she could not have made possible if she was overloaded with work. She was able to meet new musicians and work together with them to create new music that enhanced

through craigslist. She did not give up and continued searching for the right media to approach to get the business and eventually she found it, bay area parent. By posting one ad, she never had to put one in again. The rest of the time, it was word of mouth. Once she got into a specific neighborhood or family, parents spreaded the world quickly.

Living in California, she was asked by her best friend, J e f f , if she w ante d to tag along to Burning M a n .

Jeff tells h e r , “You’re already at Burning Man in your h e a d .”

Lynda was extremely interested, h o w ever she was not her as a person. At first she tried quite sure what to expect. So she communicating with other piano went and fell in love. After 13 and music teachers in the area by years of attending the festival, her looking in the yellow page and love for it still increases each year. calling ads on craigslist. Unfortunately, very few responded. However, some of her first success was

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Works Cited Bider, Juli. Personal interview. 17 September 2015.

Bider, Isabella. Personal interview. 17 September 2015.

Burning Man - Welcome Home.� Burning Man. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2015.

Doherty, Brian. This Is Burning Man: The Rise of a New American Underground. New York: Little, Brown, 2004. Print.

Krukowski, Samantha. Playa Dust: Collected Stories from Burning Man. London, UK: Black Dog, 2014. Print.

Lynda, MacNeil. Personal interview. 22 September 2015.

QT, Elecktra. Personal interview. 24 September 2015.

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