Black Rock City — mid-2000s to present.

“We’re not cops, we’re not your mom.”

The Black Rock Rangers are a volunteer peacekeeping organization at Burning Man — the people in khaki who show up when something’s wrong. Not law enforcement, not medical. Something closer to community elders with radios. The philosophy is harm reduction and curiosity.

My playa name is Ranger Mushroom. It was acquired at someone else’s initiative, as playa names tend to be. The Rangers had a venerable OG named Badger; the “Badger Badger Badger (Mushroom Mushroom)” meme was circulating when I joined. The name was partly imposed to harass Badger — standard tradition. But I’d also been talking on that shift about mushrooms: edible, deadly, or trippy. The Rangers thought that framed the role well. See: Ranger Mushroom

My primary role is Operator — sitting in a shack at Ranger Outpost Berlin, listening to the radio, transcribing incidents. A six-hour shift covers a cross-section of what Black Rock City actually is. In 2022 I also did a Green Dot shift: emotional support, quietly available, no fixing. See: The Operator Shift

The SD Rangers circle:

  • Lynn Browne (“Ranger Beauty”) — SD Ranger; Electra FM 89.9
  • Eric Apple (“Sasquatch”) — Fred hauls his gear. “Perennially unemployed Windows-specialty IT support.”
  • Murf (“Filthy”) — Sasquatch’s campmate
  • Shawn Hulsebos (“Blank Page”) — 2008 virgin Ranger
  • Robert Newlin (“OBwan”) — physician
  • Kristen Dixon (“Burnstream”) — SD Ranger; lives next to Pu’uhonua
  • Tom Brown (“Alpha”) — UCSD community
  • Dustin Decker (“Kyrka”)
  • Grapefruit — “she likes the energy I bring to an event”
  • Anthony DeVito (“Business Buddha”) — SD BM organizer; installed solar at Fred’s house 2015
  • David Wedeen (“Strider” / “Widget”) — LA Decompression; BEquinox at Seraphim Ranch
  • Rhuarc Garmsten (“Wookie”) — SLC; partner is Vader
  • (“Vader”) — Wookie’s partner
  • Eddie (“Mithra”)
  • (“Labelmaker”) — photo with Fred exists somewhere
  • (“Ginger Fox”) — Youtopia Ranger coordination 2018–2022
  • (“Firefly”), (“Pumpkin”), (“Coal Smoke”) — and many more

“Edible, deadly, or trippy is actually a pretty good framework for the Ranger role: you encounter people in all three states and your job is to tell the difference without judgment and hold space for whatever’s happening.”

“It’s cool being part of a club whose art is helping people.”