Take Care of One Another
It’s been a tragic year in our world-wide community. So many people whom we love, who helped inspire and guide us have left holes in the world by their untimely departure. We understand mortality in our minds and we know it’s real, but that doesn’t make the heart hurt any less.
The gates of Transformus are about to open for the thirteenth time, and we gather in the shadow of those departed, not to mourn but to celebrate their lives and the inspiration they gave us.
One of those insights is that we are not alone on this path – we are in this together. Not as leaders and followers but as a diverse community that shares a common bond. A bond of caring.
As we celebrate and remember, let’s all look around at our friends and lovers and embrace them even tighter because we know this life is temporary. It can vanish in a heartbeat. Another hole in the world.
We know we need each other. So let’s dedicate this year and every year to taking care of one another. When your friends, when your community members even those you don’t know need a helping hand, don’t look the other way. We can’t prevent every tragedy, but we can try. There’s always risk, which we accept, but not all risk is the same. There are stunts, and mistakes, and there are life-threatening mistakes. Some of these are very preventable. Speak up. Take care of one another.
We have an amazingly safe environment to play in, and almost all our community members can be trusted. But not everyone who walks through the gates can be. We are not immune to the problems of the culture that surrounds us. There could be those among us who don’t know and don’t care about the concept of consent. They depend on people looking the other way, minimizing or explaining away their behavior. Keep your eyes open. Protect one another. Take care of one another.
Transformus has many trained and dedicated teams and resources to help us when we need it most. Don’t hesitate to call us.
Rangers are trained volunteers who patrol and stand on duty 24 hours a day to help Mysterians with anything they can’t handle. They wear distinctive Ranger shirts and are usually found in pairs. They are not here to enforce rules, they are trained to help people. Whether that’s to mediate a dispute, or solve a problem, or use their radios to call for more resources they are there to help you. When anything is beyond what you can handle yourself, find a Ranger or anyone with a radio. They can help — or get people there in a hurry who can.
The First Aid team on center stage are volunteers who can handle your minor hurts and boo-boos. Bee stings, minor cuts or bruises, sprains, or anything that is uncomfortable for you, First Aid can either help you find a solution, or get in touch with those who can.
EMS is the next level up from First Aid, and these are the highly experienced, certified, paid professionals from FLOW event services. They can handle the more serious cases, and/or call for outside medical services if necessary.
Sanctuary is the team that handles the mental and emotional needs of our community members. If you are overwhelmed or exhausted or having trouble coping with the burn for any reason, the trained and caring volunteers of Sanctuary are here to help. The team is mobile, they patrol and they can come to you, or you can ask a Ranger or anyone with a radio how to get to Sanctuary’s location. If you see someone else that might need their services, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. All situations are handled gently and confidentially.
Security is a team of paid professionals from FLOW event services to handle those situations that we hope never happen, where the normal resources of the community need backup. FLOW is very experienced at handling events like ours – many of their employees would probably be participants if they weren’t working instead. They use a very low-key approach and non-confrontational style whenever possible. They aren’t patrolling the event looking for rules violations (except for people without wristbands or drunk/reckless golf cart driving.) They are here to help, just like Rangers, no one should be afraid of them. They prefer to be less visible and blend in, but this isn’t some kind of undercover operation, it’s to help keep the vibe of the burn as relaxed as possible.
The 11th Principle Team has a primary duty to help educate all participants about how the principle of consent works, but they also have many useful guides to help you help others when you see something that just doesn’t feel right.
All these resources are here to help but the bottom line is that to make them effective, and to try and do our best to keep the burn as safe yet as fun as possible, we need to always remember to take care of one another.
We wish you all the joy, growth and discovery possible this year in the city we call Mysteria.