EP 61 Shadow Shorts #9

Shadow Shorts #9 is out now! Recorded at BRC in 2025 participants were challenged to explain BM‘s impact in 5 minutes or less. Each Shadow Short is one person’s story, please enjoy this short story of how Burning Man has impacted and influenced people over time.

Meet Mary Pia who describes her journey from being a scammed solo traveler in 2019 to finding a sense of belonging through volunteering with a camp community. Her narrative emphasizes the beauty of coming out of one's shell by engaging in daring social interactions and shared rituals like sunrise humming. Her story illustrates how the spirit of self-expression and service creates a lasting connection that participants carry back into their everyday lives..

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Transcript

Before we start, I would like to ask your help to do two things. First, tell a friend or two who you think might like the show. And second, please rate and review the show on Apple Podcast and Spotify. The more reviews the show gets, the more likely it will even appear in search results. Thank you, and now on to the show. 

They make the trek out to Burning Man for a week and a day. After a lot of work, oh, there's a lot of play. Party party drama drama drama b**** b**** b****. Year after year, they come back to scratch that itch. They all say their lives have been changed. After many years, lives have been rearranged. That changes what this show is all about. You'll see the impact. of burning up and out. So sit back, relax, and cancel all your plans. These are the stories about the shadow of the man. 

Hello and welcome to the Shadow of the Man Show. I am your host, That Andy. This is a Shadow Shorts episode recorded at Bernie Man 2025. You can tell because of the background sounds. Okay, I have to apologize in advance for the variable sound quality. The microphones are quite sensitive and it picked up some noise from handling and occasionally the speakers allowed the microphone to drift away while speaking. Uh the sound might be more variable than the studio recordings, but the stories are fantastic. Please enjoy.

How are you?

How are you doing?

How you doing? Hi I'm Mary Pia. I am from Quebec, Canada. This is my second years that I'm burning. And the impact of burning men in my life is definitely coming out of my shell. Socializing, welcoming people and also daring. Daring to wear what you want

and dance. Daring to talk to a stranger to say hi.

I'm down for it. Yes, I think there's a lot of beauty in challenging yourself to come out of your shell if you're someone that is more in the introspective side.

And what is really great in my life is that I found community that express themsel very freely and I'm just right there on the wave expressing myself each day. I to wake up at 6:00 a.m. and Burning Man is like

look at the sunrise and

make you know a beautiful home sound with 100 people around you and as the sunrise we're humming

and you feel the connection. So when you come back home after running you have connected to a whole different level and that stays with you as long as you you open your heart and you remember those experience. I think it lasts forever.

So when you went home for Birdie Band last year after your first year, like how did how did the life seem different or how did life change for you?

My first year was actually in 2019.

Oh, it's been a couple years.

Yes. And I came very late because I could not find a ticket. Those those were the years that it was very difficult. You would buy a ticket and then realize that your ticket was false. I got spent.

Oh, someone scammed you or something?

Yeah, I I got scammed and I put my name and my phone number on the billboard saying, "I want a Burning Man ticket. Please call me." And I put, you know, postcard everywhere. I was really determinated. And out of the blue, I found a ticket to get a real one.

And that was on Thursday

this year.

2019.

2019. Oh.

And the burner already started the burn week. So I arrived Thursday night.

Did you come by yourself?

By myself?

Really?

I jump on the ride that someone was offering and I had, you know, a few gallons of water, a backpack, and a tent.

Wow, that's

And I had no camp and I had no money.

This was it because I I thought that I would not be able to do it because I couldn't find a ticket for the longest time. And then I've finally found a ticket to get. It was Thursday. I spent a few days here trying to figure my camp out. Someone offered me to camp with them and they made pancake every morning and I I had like the most beautiful time ever. After that year, I was like, "Wow, I I hope I can come back." And I was wanting to volunteer. And it's this year that I found the Swift team at Cinder Camp. I get to volunteer. between was like the co years of 2020 2021 and

yeah it was not ideal to go you know be in public at that time I was back to my introspective

comfort zone so

but this is the year for you to come back

what

this was the year for you to come back

yes 2025 the year of the snake this is definitely a good time for me

so did you get like in job involved with the Swift team beforehand or you decide that's how I'm going to go back.

I wanted to find a camp because the ones I did it in 2019 was like by myself without knowing how it works.

That's hard.

And I wanted to find a group of people that I could, you know, understand what is the spirit of Burning Man better. And um that was only a few months ago that I met the sweet manager and uh she offered me a position. So

now I felt like okay I'm with the camp I can understand how it works

and when you volunteer you get to

to be part of something that

is transformative at a heart level because we meet together and we're all here to make this experience the most wonderful for others and then in that exchange it becomes the most wonderful for us. And do you think you'll come back to be part of Swift again next year?

Yes, I believe so.

Well, thank you for the interview. This is wonderful.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this show, please subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you listen. The more reviews the show has, the more likely it will even appear in search results. Also, please tell a friend and share this show with anyone that you think might like it. Word of mouth reach is quite far, especially in the Bernie man community. If you would like to contact us, please send an email to shadow of the manpodcast atgmail.com. You can also follow Shadow of the Man on social media at Facebook, Instagram, Blue Sky, and YouTube. The links for all of these are available at shadowoftheman.com. Feel free to use any of these social media accounts to provide any feedback you might have. Your thoughts on the show are greatly appreciated. Thank you and see you soon for a new episode of The Shadow of the Man. Thank you for listening to this latest show. We have to make another one in the can. Very soon you'll be listening to a new shadow of the man.