I was having a discussion with folks in the Portland Burning Man community yesterday, and here’s something I penned about gifting:
“Jason, I would say it’s not an exact science, and rather perhaps more of an
art form this giving and receiving. I’ve been working on something
recently that’s in a similar vein, Farm My Yard (http://farmmyyard.org ) and it’s been an interesting trip. I thought it would be an a + b = c kind
of experience, but instead, it’s full of thousands of variables and every
situation is different.
same with giving and receiving. it’s not that cut and dry. each of us is
in a very different place in life – may be same age, but diff class
background. may have same skin color, but different gender. may have
different life experiences – having had a lot, easy access to stuff; or
none at all.
that said, I take each situation as well as I can in the moment and use my
judgement, wisdom, and also make plenty of misjudges and mistakes along the
way.
thank God there has been Burning Man, because that has been an incredible
crucible for me to try this type of exchanging, gifting, asking/receiving,
activity out for the last 12 years.
one year I came back and started FreecylePortland – and I don’t mean that
as a show-offy comment, just that I think about this concept A LOT. and
try to live it, and share it, and yeah
hope everyone’s having fun preparing this year….
Then, later, I added this in. Feel free to play in the comments section!
I’d love to hear you take a few minutes and spell out what a gifting
economy is. your words, a few paragraphs, go.
winner is all of us.
I’ve gifted you with some of my understanding of gifting economy 🙂 what’s yours? 
Albertideation 