How To Be A Melon
Fruit-based love.
There are lots of ways to be a Melon. To start, read our Melon Manifesto. Then review these here biggies:
Respect Each And Every Melon
Melon Camp is an inclusive camp: Melons respect each other and practice active consent. We want Camp Melon to be a place where people feel safe to be themselves during the Burn. If you see a melon who needs some help, please make sure you take a moment to check in: listen, offer water, offer a shoulder to cry on or some of that bacon you just made. The playa can be a very emotional place and it’s important we are there for each other. These interactions can be some of your most memorable moments on playa.
Participate Before The Burn
Get your logistics in order. Register and pay your dues. Read your email. Then just pitch in! Attend (or host!) a Build Day. Make some art! De-MOOP your stuff! Ask questions on our Facebook group. Get pumped.
Help Set Up And Take Down Camp
Depending on when you arrive at Burning Man, Melon Camp could be half built, not built at all or totally built. However, with new Melons arriving every day, we will always some need help building camp. This can mean helping to load and unload shade from the trailer, setting-up communal furniture, or building melon art projects which need to be completed on playa. It isn't hard and we've got Melon Tips to guide you.
And we don't just need help building camp, the Melons also need your help taking camp down. When the week is over, we all have to go home. And so does camp. Luckily we've got Melon Tips to help you with that, too.
Read The Melon Tips
Seriously, all around camp you’ll see Melon Tips (pictured) to help you practice radical self-reliance. MelonTips can teach you to do anything around camp from putting your bike together to working the camp shower (maybe you should try a communal foam bath instead?) to helping build camp shade as more people come to camp. If you have a question, see if the answer is located on a Melon Tip. If it’s on a Melon Tip, we are 110% sure you can do it. If you still need help, ask a friend! Melons love helping.
Pitch In Around Camp
Camp is only as good as we make it together. So Melons all take some time out of our day to make sure to contribute to camp in some way. Some fun things that we do include: Going on an ice run, helping newly arrived Melons set up shade, refilling the shower bags, moving water spigots between barrels, doing a MOOP (Matter Out Of Place) sweep, bringing empty aluminum cans to be recycled at Recycle Camp, and more!
Because we have a camp full of melons, it’s important to keep common spaces clean - this reduces MOOP around camp and also allows everyone to enjoy our shared space such as our kitchen and living room area. Please make sure to pick-up after yourself before you leave camp for the day and keep your personal items in your tent, cooler or burn box so they don’t blow away when a dust storm blows through. If you come back to camp and can't find your stuff, it is probably in the "Who's Shit Is This?" box.
Another important part of keeping commons spaces clean? Do your own dishes. Leave the kitchen as you found it.
Do Your Dinner Duty
One of the best parts of Camp Melon is our shared Melon dinners. As a melon, you will be asked to contribute to camp by preparing dinner with a group of people. We don’t have a lot of rules at Camp Melon except one: You do your dinner. Please make sure you show up for your dinner shift and participate in your dinner team’s meal whatever your role may be in the process. Melons are depending on you to do your part and if you are not there, you will be missed.
Deal With Some Trash
Melon Camp prides itself on its organized trash and recycling system. Our bins are color coded and have instructions on top of them. Please make your properly sort your trash and replace bags when they are full. Otherwise you might be the lucky Melon who takes that bag home. Because every Melon takes home some trash.
Practice Consent
We are a sex positive camp and support consent at Melon Camp. Every year we take part of the Bureau of Erotic Discourse (B.E.D) theme camp challenge to support the right of every person to say "NO" and be respected. We want to facilitate a space where people feel safe and supported in the choices they make, whether those choices involve a sexual encounter or conversation. If you are unfamiliar with how consent works or need a refresher on the topic, please visit B.E.D's website prior to coming to the playa. We need every Melon to participate in educating themselves and others in this important part of camp life.
Watch Your Sound
There is no official sound policy at Melon Camp, however, it’s important to recognize that everyone likes to listen to different music at different levels at different times of the day. Please respect your fellow melons (and playa neighbors) and think about your noise level at night and in the morning - some people like to go to sleep early and others like to sleep in. If you need to speak to someone at any point during the Burn about their noise level, please do so with respect. If someone talks to you about your noise level during the Burn, please listen and adjust accordingly.
Take Your Melon Photo
Every Melon does it. Make sure when you get to camp or shortly thereafter you take a Polaroid of yourself and add it to the melon patch photo wall! So other Melons know how you are (and your friends can leave you messages). If you’re not on the wall, were you ever even a Melon? In addition to our individual Melon photos, Melon Camp traditionally takes a "class photo" before dinner on Burn Night.
Don't MOOP
Burning Man is the largest Leave No Trace (LNT) event in the world and that begins with you! Be considerate of MOOP (Matter Out Of Place) on the Playa. We recommend that every Melon have a MOOP bag with them as they travel to pick-up MOOP that might cross their path.
And before you leave at the end of the week, please make sure to check your camping area and camp for any MOOP before you depart. Always be MOOPing!
Say "Yes"!
Join in! Volunteer! Play! Make sure you say “yes” to experiences that cross your path in unexpected ways.
Gift
Give to the Playa and you will receive. You may have heard about the ever-present gifting culture at Burning Man. What is a gift? A gift anything you want it to be. It can be creating a special experience for others, helping a person in need, sharing your breakfast with a stranger or stopping to help someone fix their bike. When it comes to gifting, it's whatever you want it to be. Just remember that THINGS (like stickers or small trinkets) that can be lost on the Playa and become MOOP are not necessarily the best gifts to bring with you.
Participate After The Burn
Attend a Clean Day, help your each other out, share your photos, fill out the post-playa Melon Survey. Be you.
