For years I have been hearing about Burning Man and now here I am, finally going for the first time!

By Steve Moran

For years I have have been hearing about Burning Man, the hedonistic, anything goes, utopian cultural phenomena that takes place in the nothingness of the Nevada desert. I have been intrigued and yet not so sure it was very compatible with my Christianity.

Then . . .

Last year, at the Fall NIC conference Lynn Katzman gave a powerful NICTalk on the problem of ageism and proposed doing an anti ageism camp at Burning Man in 2016. My thoughts included:

  • Cool idea

  • Never happen

  • I want to go

  • I better not

  • If it happened what a cool way to address the problem

  • What a cool story to write

  • It’s part of my job . . . so I have to go.

Camp Aging Insurrection

Cindy Longfellow, the Vice President, Business Development, Sales and Marketing at Juniper, took on the job of mayor of the Aging Insurrection Camp at Burning Man. She has put in many hours and tons of energy making this all come together.  

The goal of Camp Aging Insurrection is to take a strong stance against ageism. We will be hosting two events. The first is the Insurrection Salon, which will provide a forum for discussing aging inclusion, intentional communities and the sharing of wisdom.  

The second event is an intergenerational coloring party that will create fantastic murals that will beautify the camp’s exterior.

Who’s Going

Much of the heavy lifting in terms of cost, energy and effort have come from Juniper Communities, AARP’s #disruptaging campaign and Cadence McShane Construction LLC.  Participants include:

  • Steve Moran, Founder, Senior Housing Forum

  • Sue Lehrer, National Director of Business Development, Cadence McShane Construction LLC

  • Bailey Beekin, President, Validated Learnings, LLC

  • Tamara Coughlin, Nurse Practitioner, Redwood Health Partners

  • Linda Donato, Vice President of Operations, Juniper Communities

  • Diane Byrne, Vice President of Training and Program Development, Juniper Communities

  • “Mayor” Cindy Longfellow, Vice President of New Business Development, Juniper Communities

  • Don Moran, Steve Moran’s 87-year-old father and retired emergency medicine doc

While we hope to provide some reports live from Black Rock City, it appears internet access is improbable. However, we will do a Facebook Live Broadcast on Wednesday at 2:00 PM Pacific Time while on the road to Burning Man and Camp Aging Insurrection. You can find that broadcast by going to the Senior Housing Forum Facebook Page.