The Shadow Of The Man
Why do people go to Burning Man year after year, some for decades? Isn't it all a big party or is there more to it than that? The Shadow Of The Man show explores the impact and influence Burning Man has had on people over time in their own words. New long form interviews from a wide range of participants come out weekly. You will hear from the founders to key volunteers to regular participants. No one person has the answer to what Burning Man is all about but by listening to these series of interviews you get a clue to the glue that binds all of these diverse people (from all over the world) together. Everyone who has been says Burning Man has changed their lives, are you curious to hear what that is all about? #burningman #blackrockcity #burningmanpodcast
The Shadow Of The Man
EP 82 Shadow Shorts #16
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Shadow Shorts #16 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 Meet Lee who discusses her personal transformation, describing how Burning Man allowed her to shed her social inhibitions and embrace her "big creative person"after decades of hesitation. She highlights the event’s unique environment as a catalyst for radical presence, where the unpredictable nature of the desert forces participants to live entirely in the moment. She shares her experience about BRC’s power to rearrange one's life through art, community, and the courage to prioritize the soul's calling over fear.
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
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.
SPEAKER_02After a lot of work, there's a lot of play. Party, party, party, drama, drama, drama, bitch, bitch, bitch. Year after year they come back to scratch that bitch. They are saying the lives happen today. After many years lives happening away. That changes what this show is all about. So sit back, relax, and cancel all your plans. These are the stories about the Shadow of the Man.
SPEAKER_03Hello, 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. But the stories are fantastic. Please enjoy.
SPEAKER_00Okay. So my name is Lee, Journey on the Playa, and I am from Long Beach, California, and this is my second burn. And I will tell you how it has impacted me. But I see you have your microphone, and you probably have a question. No, no, no, no. I'm listening. Okay, cool. So um I had wanted to go to Burning Man since I was in my mid or late 20s. I'm gonna say 25, 26. I saw Burning Man on the cover of a magazine for the life of me. I cannot locate that magazine cover.
SPEAKER_03Oh, it just like a couple years ago.
SPEAKER_00No, yeah, I was yeah, no, I'm 55. What? And I didn't make it to the burn until I was 53. What I call the water season. You know which one? Which one is it? Yeah. Um, you know, because I wanted to go and my soul called me to go, but you know, we have a soul, we have a spirit, and we have a personality, and my personality was still like chicken shit. Like just, you know, afraid that maybe it's dangerous, maybe it's just stupid shit. Of course, I didn't lock my tent once, and it and that leads me to how Burning Man has impacted my life, and that my whole life I'm you know, the hydro light under a bushel. I'm such a big personality, and everything is exciting and beautiful to me. But I really pare myself down, and when I come to Burning Man, I get to just actually be me, and it feels so good in my body just to be the sort of big creative person that I am and bring this beautiful goddess witch out of the broom closet.
SPEAKER_03And do you take that home with you?
SPEAKER_00I do. It's it's it's really allowed me to like that first burn and I mean Burning Man says radical self-reliance, but it's more than self-reliance. It's about really learning your edges and finding out what you're made of, and and it burning man forces you, like it's not a force. There's no other way at Burning Man to be present because whatever it is that you're trying to get done, the burn will happen. A neighbor will come by, somebody will say hi, something will distract you, someone will be something will be beautiful. Look over there, look over here. So it's one of those things where I think Burning Man, for all people, if they're really listening to themselves and to what the experience can give them, it really allows you to learn a point of presence. Because you have no choice but to be present at Burning Man. Wouldn't you agree? Oh yeah, totally.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Uh do you get involved with like re well so this is only your second burning burning. Have you done any regional events?
SPEAKER_00No, no, we haven't. Um I am Corporate by Day, and every single night, uh, just about I'm in the studio working on a massive art show. Um I'm it's gonna be called The Goddess Awakens. So I have like I'm losing friends because I can't give them my free time. So I haven't done anything for the burning, you know, like that that's associated, but I wanted to, but I've been working on this art show for so long. I know, that's what I'm saying. There's time. It's like hello.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I mean, anything inspire you here? I mean, like anything you want to watch. Oh my gosh, yes.
SPEAKER_00Help me, help me with the help me with the name of the deer.
SPEAKER_03Uh that one? Um pointing towards the temple now. There's some sort of deer off in the distance.
SPEAKER_00Oh, have you seen it? Not yet. Please do. Yeah. A collective put it together, but as an artist, it is awe-inspiring. And I'm not gonna. Oh, I don't need any inspiration to make my creations. They come through me and then it blossoms.
SPEAKER_03So, what do you might create for next year?
SPEAKER_00I don't I'm not what I want to do is I want to finish my Goddess Awakened show, which are paintings, and I want to figure out how to trans translate that eventually into an installation here. I don't know what that looks like yet because the way that my art has always happened is that it speaks through me and I just like I'm paints, bitch, and I just listen. And I always say things when my paintings are done, like, wow, I wouldn't have thought of that. That's amazing, because I just listened the whole step of the way. So some answers I don't have yet. And I know that they'll come.
SPEAKER_03Look at you look around and take inspiration from other people.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I've been so inspired. I have been so inspired.
SPEAKER_03But you can translate that painting into like a performance or an art car or like a artist.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, we've been talking about art cars. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Like, so this is cookie. Um, one of my best friends, my neighbor, and my burn partner who went to 2023 with me, and man, like everything that we look at, we don't just look at it and appreciate it for what it is overall. We look at it like, look at what they did, and look at the joins on that, and look at look at how they oh wow, and then they've got the power here, and look under the that's the kind of things that we do. We're also impressed with what people do.
SPEAKER_03Anyway, 30 seconds left.
SPEAKER_0030 seconds left? I would just say to anyone who is contemplating going to Burning Man, if they haven't, who listens to your show, it's something that if you even feel a nickel, let your soul speak louder than whatever trepidation keeps you here and calm because it is even if you go once, an experience of a lifetime. Every part of it. The hard and the easy, the storms and the beautiful sun. It's life, right?
SPEAKER_03That's right.
SPEAKER_00It's life, it's an accelerated life, an adult like freaking survival camp at like pseudo wonderland.
SPEAKER_03Perfect. Well, thank you so much for the interview.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much for asking.
SPEAKER_03Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this show, please subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts, 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 manpodcast at gmail.com. You can also follow Shadow of the Man on social media at Facebook, Instagram, Blue Sky, X, 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.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for listening to this latest show. We have to make another one, so gotta go. Don't worry, for next month, we already have one in the can. Very soon you'll be listening to a new shadow of a man.
