EP 76 Shadow Shorts #14

Shadow Shorts #14 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  a Russian expatriate named Margo, who describes how the event’s culture of creativity and radical kindness restored her faith in humanity and shifted her worldview. Their conversation highlights the festival’s ability to foster a sense of universal belonging, as Margo reflects on the transition from the physical hardships of the desert to finding a global chosen family. She explains the lasting emotional impact of the event, illustrating how the communal effort behind the art inspires participants to give back to the community.

Please visit https://shadowoftheman.buzzsprout.com/ for all of the details and links.

Email shadowofthemanpodcast@gmail.com if you want to be a guest or if you have any concerns about the show.

Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, it REALLY helps the show to even appear in search results.

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 Podcasts 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 Burning 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.

My name is Margo and I'm from Russia. personally but I live in New York and it's my fourth year of vering man and how that it completely changed my life like 180 I I came back first time different person I can't I need it because I stop um believing in kindness in you know humanity

and when I When I first got here, I was like, "This is something this is something unreal." And um I first two year first two days I cried because it was so hard for me. I never lived in the the desert. I I'm not a

How did you get to Burning Man? Like what got you to come to Burning Man?

Um my my roommate, she's um she's been here many many years. So I wanted to go with her. And the first two days was the hardest. And then I was crying. I didn't want to leave. And when I came home, I was also crying waiting counting days till I can come back and years by years and I hope many many more years are coming and this is my home.

Yeah. So what what keeps you coming back?

U people. It's I I can't. It's just something in my heart. that tells me you must go. It's something like you know you

and you don't get that in your the rest of your life when your job or where you live or

um of course I do but it just this is this is all I wanted art creativity kindness um I don't know um this constant feeling that you're like a kid,

like awe, like you see something like like you're wow, you know, like it blows you away.

Like yesterday we went to see the man um at night and I just realized that how many people work on it and it's just for you. It's all for you and for everyone and I spend there two hours and And it's just so detailed and I'm like damn so and not only the man every single art object I stopped at few today to see it during the day and I'm like and you can touch it and it's for you and

pretty well. How are you?

So enjoying a bit of shade.

Yes.

Yeah. So you see yourself coming back year after year.

Oh yes. Oh yeah.

Do you like volunteer or do you have your own art or what do you do?

I actually I want to volunteer next year. I was thinking to volunteer at the airport.

Airport's good. Yeah.

Mhm. So because um at this camp we had a pilot

and um I always wanted to fly around

and the flyer provides and magically we have a pilot. I'm like next year I have to bring give something back.

So you can be the TSA tell people tell take off their shoes.

Whatever whatever they need me for, I'll be there.

So,

and do you do uh any of the regional events or like a Burning Band like in in in your community? You said New York, right?

Yes, we have a community of the Verners uh but not really, you know, I wanted to join but I always miss the events like

But do you have like Burning Man friends like people you've met here that like back in your rest of your world? become like your new friend.

Of course. Yeah. Um the guy last year we met so we're good friends now and a girl two years before she is a cool girl and we sometimes meet. Yes. And we always have this group chat going and uh with each burn I have like four group chats and we always sharing um some memes, some funny stories. Uh wishing each other happy birthdays, happy holidays. So yeah, I feel like I just have one big family and and yesterday I felt all this I don't know 70 or 80,000 people this year. They all my friends.

One big family.

One big family.

It's fantastic. Um it's hard to explain what Burnman is actually. It is hard. So

yeah. Yeah. No, but you've done a fantastic job. Well, thank you for the interview.

The five minutes.

That's been five minutes. Yeah. Perfect. Thanks.

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 reaches quite far, especially in the Burning Man community. If you would like to contact us, please send an email to Shadow of the Man podcast 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 Chef. Shadow of the Man.

Thank you for listening to this latest show. We have another one in the can. Very soon you'll be listening to a new Shadow of the Man.