Opinion - By now, it's a bizarre tradition of the west

This year was artwork-installer Dennis Hinkamp’s 26th year at the week-long Burning Man festival that’s held in the desolate desert of Nevada. Why do 80,000 people gather in a place that’s hot, dusty and increasingly rainy—not to mention expensive? Hinkamp hates to have to explain that’s it’s something like ritual, homecoming or maybe even shared misery, so once back at home in Utah he tries to duck explaining. This opinion is the closest he can come to sharing what draws him back year after year.