Kriti Mehrotra
With HBO’s ‘The Man Will Burn’ being a documentary series tracing the history of Burning Man through all its upheavals and reinventions over 4 decades, we get an insight into its purpose. It thus comprises not only archival audio-video footage but also exclusives from co-owners, artists, builders, community members, and investors for whom the event has evolved into a movement. Among them is Raymond “Ray” Christian, a veteran, podcaster, educator, and burner who viewed the desert festival more as a means to overcome his issues and traumas than as a creative spectacle.
Ray Christian Dedicated Two Decades of His Life to the Army
A native of the poverty-stricken streets of Richmond, Virginia, Raymond “Ray” Christian grew up in an environment far from comfortable, happy, or stable. According to his own accounts, his parents were illiterate, his stepfather was emotionally inaccessible, and there were no opportunities made available to them. There was a point when he believed even he would be subject to the same nothingness, especially with his teachers telling him he was never going to make it. However, that’s precisely what sparked his thirst for knowledge – he wasn’t great at school, but he was a learner.
Whether it be nature documentaries, comic books, or novels, Ray consumed anything he could get his hands on at the library, which inadvertently helped him truly understand his situation. Therefore, he enlisted in the Army upon graduating from high school, completed basic training at Fort Dix near Trenton, New Jersey, and then headed to Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia. His early years of service were admittedly hard for him because he’d not only left home for the first time but also realized he had no discipline, no global perspective, and no social skills to build camaraderie.
Therefore, Ray grew up emotionally, mentally, and physically in a relatively short period, which is reflected in his career trajectory and his overall reputation within his base/his units. He subsequently served in the Gulf War as a paratrooper, navigated countless missions, and remained on active duty for over two decades before deciding it was time for him to move forward. Over such a long period in the military, he said, “s**t repeats itself constantly in a very stressful way,” so he parted ways with the organization while holding the rank of Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO).
Ray Christian Achieved Educational Wonders While Struggling With PTSD
When Ray was nearing the end of his army career, already tired, traumatized, cynical, and censorious, he realized that education mattered a lot in this space, too. He once stated, “If you don’t have a college education, you can be the hardest working person ever, (but) it means nothing. Even in the military, the guys advancing had college educations. Even a little bit of college meant a lot against someone with no college.” Thus, once he’d returned to civilian life in his late 30s, he shifted his focus back to his studies, hoping it would help him figure out his next steps.
Ray had completed around two years of college while in service, so the first thing he did was return to that path and earn his Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts from Excelsior University. He then pursued a Master’s degree in Public History from North Carolina State University, as well as an Education Specialist (EdS) and an Education Doctorate (EdD) from Liberty University. His focus on Educational Leadership was so commendable that he soon established a name for himself in the industry, all the while becoming an amateur farmer and a family man.
Yet, what Ray never expected was that despite his achievement of breaking a generations-long cycle, his post-traumatic stress disorder would continue to hang over his head like a dark cloud. Everything he’d experienced as a child in poverty and during his two decades as a paratrooper had a grueling impact on his mind, so he decided to attend Burning Man alone to do some healing. His first time there in 2022 admittedly gave him many war flashbacks owing to the heat, the dust, and the chaos, but it also helped him face his fears. His second time in 2023 was even better, with him allegedly even hoping to do psychedelics as a way to come to terms with his past and really move on.
Ray Christian is Flourishing as a Creator, Educator, and Public Figure Today
It was while Ray was pursuing his Doctorate that he decided to hone in on one of his early childhood passions of stories and storytelling, driving him to start drafting original pieces. He believes he received over 30 rejection letters before he was finally asked to present the raw account of his childhood titled ‘Comfortable in the Water’ on the ‘RISK’ podcast, hosted by Kevin Allison. From there, he went on to secure a position on a live show, an appearance on the ‘Snap Judgment’ podcast, and a feature on the WFDD radio station, all of which culminated in him blowing up.
Ray even won in the Story Slam Category at the National Storytelling Festival in 2016 and had a piece titled ‘Water Color’ published in Reader’s Digest: Best Stories in America Edition. Then, in 2017, he became the Artist-in-Residence at Wildacres in Little Switzerland, North Carolina; the Frances Focus Fellow in Serenbe, Georgia; and the Michael & Andrea Stone Visiting Storyteller at the University of West Georgia. As if that’s not enough, he is a 12-time Moth Story Slam Champion (2016-2021), a Fulbright Specialist Scholar in Education (2021-2025), and the 2022 Inaugural Black Appalachian Storytelling Fellow.
Over the past decade or so, Ray has established himself as one of the best Black Contemporary, Historic, and Personal Narrative Storytellers of recent times. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that he is often even asked to give keynote addresses, helm workshops/training sessions, offer consultations, or just perform at events. He is also the host of the podcast ‘What’s Ray Saying?’ since at least 2024 and is the brains behind The Ray Christian School of Audio Production. For the former, he won in the categories of Best Solo Host, Best Editing, and Best History Podcast during the 2024 Black Podcast Awards. The 65-year-old has done all of this while residing among the scenic mountains of Appalachia in Boone, North Carolina, where he, his wife, and their 6 children comprise arguably one of the few Black families in the area.
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