Interview with Deaf man who attended muddy Burning Man festival

Alex (Daily Moth): Hello! Can you introduce yourself and tell us whether the Burning Man festival you attended was your first time or did you have experience?

Andrew “Anbo” Bottoms: Hello. I’m Andrew Bottoms. People know me as Anbo. It was my third time at Burning Man. I really love it and always look forward to it.

[Image of Anbo walking in a desert setting]

[Image of Burning Man festival-goers holding bright neon lights at nighttime]

Alex: There was a lot of attention because of the bad weather. The rain and the mud. Can you describe what it was like there?

Anbo: For this year, the weather was great during the week. There were very few dust storms. It was beautiful and you could see really far away, all the way to the mountains.

[Image of Anbo and another person’s shoes as they lay down on the desert watching the sunset over the desert mountains]

Anbo: I did feel that this Burning Man was incredible until the rains hit. Then everything flipped and was completely different. It was wet and the rain was intense. Walking in the mud was not like other muddy experiences because the ground was clay. It absorbs and clumps up. So you actually become taller and taller. I was joking that if I walked a long distance, I would become 8 feet tall.

Alex: You’re becoming taller!

Anbo: That’s what we were signing! We had to figure out ways to remove the mud. We used kitchen utensils to scrape it off our shoes. We used a knife.

[Image of Anbo scraping mud off his shoes]

Alex: You’re Deaf and there were a number of other Deaf people there, around 50 of them? Were you all in the loop with communication and updates on the weather? About sheltering in place and delays? Or were you unaware of what was going on? I’m curious.

Anbo: I stayed at Deaf camp called “Deaf Granny’s Kitchen” (DGK).

[Image of two men hoisting up a sign that says, “Deaf Granny’s Kitchen]

Anbo: There were other camps as well. I felt that because I was in a group, it was easy to know updates and to stay calm. Many people had experience with going to Burning Man festivals. So I knew we had a system. Also, Burning Man provided volunteer interpreters. They weren’t there all the time, but they did come and provided updates to us. So I felt… was the interpreting access top-notch with them always being there? No. But I felt that I did receive information.

Because of the rains, there was one beautiful thing that I had never seen before. You may have seen it on the news. There were two, double rainbows over BRC (Black Rock City).

[Images of double rainbows over the Burning Man campsite]

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Alex: Did the rain and mud cause delays? Were you supposed to finish the festival and leave at a certain time? Can you explain?

Anbo: For the Burning Man’s main burn of the “man” and the burning of the temple, it usually happens on Saturday. Then the temple is on Sunday. Then people usually leave on Monday. But it was delayed because we couldn’t burn it on Saturday. Some people left and missed the burn. We finally burned both on Monday. The “man” was burned on Monday night at 9:00 p.m. The temple was burned at midnight. Both had to happen at the same time. So there was an impact with a delay. There was also a lockdown. People were allowed to leave, but they had to do so at their own risk. That means if they ended up becoming stuck in the mud, there would be no help provided. But when the (exit) gate opened, there would be services provided for those who became stuck or needed anything to leave. But not when you were “at your own risk.” So that is what caused delays. It caused me to be delayed as well. I left late. The traffic was terrible. To travel eight miles, it took seven hours in the desert.

Anbo: Each year during Burning Man, you can’t have expectations. Everything will be different. All of my three experiences were different. So this third experience was unique and I treasure it. It was one of the best experiences and yes, it was different. I was challenged for sure. Again, it depends on the individual. Some may feel that it’s the worst experience or others may feel it’s fine. Burning Man is defined by you, yourself. For me, I felt great. Maybe someone else would say no.

[Image of Anbo posing with a tutu in a phone booth among flamingoes]

[Image of burners riding on bicycles and cars that have bright neon lights on them during nighttime]