At Burning Man, participants share gifts freely with the community. These gifts range from simple objects (my favorite this year was a pendant that changes color with my mood/temperature) and food/drink to large scale dance clubs with international DJs. Our gift to the Burning Man community is small, but unique. We call it the Brush Brigade.

The Brush Brigade is a mobile toothbrushing unit, complete with new toothbrushes, toothpaste, water and working sinks. Without the Brush Brigade, people often skip brushing their teeth because everyone is camping and there are no real bathrooms (only porta-potties). Our cart provides a much needed service, improving oral hygiene and freshening breath, but also making brushing fun. It is one truly of the best ideas I have ever had the privileged to help bring from concept into reality.

The idea for the Brush Brigade was germinated in 1996 when Jennie and I attended our first Burning Man. We stopped by Bianca’s Smut Shack and were offered small tastes of food laid out on an artist’s pallet. We declined because we had just brushed our teeth. Later in the evening we made our way back to the Shack and discovered they had added some toothpaste to the tastes on the pallet tray. We were intrigued by the idea of sharing toothpaste/toothbrushing as a gift, but it did not become concrete until 2001. We were brainstorming about how to participate that year with friends Corey and Aurora. We told them the story about the toothpaste and Aurora suggested a toothbrushing cart. We refined the idea together and the Brush Brigade was born. Here’s a history:
As you can see, we started out very low-tech. We’re a little more advanced now with the working sinks and water collection, throughout the years the team has changed but the energy remains the same. This year we were out on the playa with 500 toothbrushes and it was an amazing experience to give the gift of clean teeth. It is really a simple thing, but it brings a lot of joy. I love telling someone that they can brush their teeth right here, right now and watching the excitement on their face. We also won an award this year! We placed first in the Black Rock County Fair’s Oral Hygiene Division (given by Catie from the Temple of Flux).

This year we had our first repeat customer! Polo from Paris brushed his teeth with us in 2004 and said he has saved that toothbrush for all these years to remind him of the good times. Here’s a picture Polo shared with me from 2004 (in the photo to the left are Carolyn, Maitland, Polo and Seth).
 
 
 
 
Here’s the 2010 Brush Brigade team Kelley, Kate, Aurora and I (Jennie didn’t end up coming out to the event with us, long story but she was there in spirit); and cart:
You can find more photos of the cart in my Burning Man photoset on Flickr.

This year was so much fun, I can’t wait to do it again. We’ve got some ideas for improving the cart in the future: more and softer brushes, toothpaste tubes with attached caps and perhaps a mirror for making sure you don’t have toothpaste on you face. We definitely need to decorate more, we had a large lit up toothbrush planned to adorn the top of the cart, but we just didn’t get it together out there. I’d also like to decorate the canvas cover with a painted mural.

This year I attended Burning Man for the ninth time (for those of you who don’t know what that is, the burningman.com site gives a good overview, for more details read the Burning Man Wikipedia entry). My first Burning Man was in 1996 so I’ve seen the event change a lot. I expected to be pretty much over it this year and even said that this would be my last one. Instead, I was inspired and amazed by my experience on the in Black Rock City, it reminded me why I have been so many times and why I will continue to go.

There are many special things about Burning Man: a smorgasbord of theme camps, large and small scale art, music pumped out by incredible DJs, mutant vehicles moving across the desert outrageous costumes (or lack thereof), fire in so many forms, and the neon nighttime skyline. However, the best part is the people. I go out there with my people; my partner Jennie and I always camp with a group of some of our closest friends. At the event we meet and experience amazing new people from all over the world. Everyone is there to enjoy themselves and contribute to the enjoyment of others; they have created things to share with you but are also sharing of themselves. Our gift to the Burning Man community is The Brush Brigade.

There is an openness at Burning Man that is often lacking in our daily lives. I attend the event because it reminds me that I can be open and creative and bring this energy into real life. It reminds me to look people in the eye and say hello and share myself every day. It reminds me that life is wonderful and that there is always something in it to be positive about. It makes me a better person.

It is difficult to capture the Burning Man experience on film, I stopped trying a while ago because it can interfere with my ability to enjoy the moment. However, I did manage to get some images, you can find them in my Burning Man 2010 photoset on Flickr.