Mars College: An Off-Grid Desert Community Offering Unorthodox Education

No tuition, no grades, no power grid: why are people flocking to a ‘college’ in the middle of the desert?

Two hundred miles from LA, an off-grid community with roots in Burning Man offers an unorthodox educational experience – is Mars College the future? A dozen writing students perched around a collection of weather-beaten couches, laptops balancing on their knees, ready to discuss their work. Next up to read was Ira Birch, a poet sporting black boots and a shag haircut. “I told myself I was gonna share today,” Birch said nervously, looking around the circle. “But there are a lot more people her...

By Amanda Ulrich in Bombay Beach, with photographs by Alex Welsh