Host: Lauren Gonzalez
Lauren: [00:00:00] Hey everyone. Welcome to The Moth Podcast. I'm Lauren Gonzalez.
Jodi: [00:00:03] I'm Jodi Powell.
Chloe: [00:00:04] And I'm Chloe Salmon.
Lauren: [00:00:05] And we are all producers here at The Moth. So, last year, we celebrated a special milestone. We celebrated 500 episodes of our podcast.
Jodi: [00:00:13] [hollers]
Lauren: [00:00:15] Yeah, very exciting.
[laughter]
And last year's episode featured Catherine Burns, Dan Kennedy and George Dawes Green. They've been with The Moth since the early days and chose some of their favorite stories from throughout the years. But this year, for our 10th anniversary podcast, we're switching things up a little bit. We're all relatively newcomers, and we'll be your hosts for today.
Jodi: [00:00:37] And you’ll get to hear a little bit of everything. We're all representing different departments, and we've all selected stories for you to hear.
Chloe: [00:00:43] Yeah. The selection process was harrowing, but we did it. You're welcome, Moth listeners.
[laughter]
And we just had some really great stories to pick from. And the ones that we're sharing with you today are stellar as well.
Lauren: [00:00:54] Yeah. So, I work within our community and education team, and so we host storytelling workshops all throughout New York, and all throughout the country and even world, and we record all those stories that are told.
Jodi: [00:01:06] And I work on the StorySLAM team. So, if you've ever been to a live storytelling event, that's what I help put together.
Chloe: [00:01:13] And I work on our Mainstage program. So, Mainstages are our curated traveling series at The Moth. We go all over the country and the world as well. So, first up today is Lauren, the story that you picked. How did you, or guess, where did you find Shana?
Lauren: [00:01:27] Yeah. So, this story comes from Shana Creaney. And she told her story at the City University of New York Young Women's Voices Festival, which is sponsored by the Kate Spade and Company Foundation.
[cheers and applause]
So, here's Shana, live at The Moth.
Shana: [00:01:43] So, I went to high school at a private Catholic all-girl prep school. [audience laughter] Woo in hindsight, at the time, [audience laughter] I hated it because I didn't really fit into the stereotype of a private Catholic, all-girl prep school girl. And one of the nuns took an immediate dislike to me. So, she was the teacher for my junior year English honors class. She was always very condescending to me, she always like pulled the rug out from under me whenever I would answer something and she just bullied me. But she was the fun nun. [audience laughter] So, she's rollerblading down the halls with noisemakers and horns. [audience chuckles] And so, you can't really go to anyone and be like, "Hey, Sister Joan's really mean to me," because they're like, "Sister Joan? No, she's the fun nun." [audience laughter]
And so, one day, I got to school early and I was putting my books into my locker. Sister Joan rollerblades up to me, [audience laughter] and she says, "Take all of the books out of your locker, empty out your backpack, open all your folders, open all your notebooks." Because she didn't think that I had done my homework for her class, which I hadn't. [audience chuckles] But I had a study period before her class where I was going to do the homework. And so, she has me doing all of this in the middle of the hall. My school is very small. There's only 99 girls, so classes haven't started yet. Everyone is milling around watching me do this.
And because my junior year class had one spirit week, we got a dress down day in pajamas. So, I was in red and white striped footy pajamas with a button-up butt, [audience laughter] unloading my locker, feeling everyone watch me, feeling hyper-visible and humiliated and embarrassed, because I had nothing to show her. And then, when all my stuff was on the floor, she just was like, "Well, now put it away," and rollerbladed off. [audience laughter] So, I was upset the whole day. I was crying on and off, because I was-- I'm 15. I was humiliated.
And on my way to lunch, my old English teacher from freshman and sophomore year pulls me aside and takes me to the guidance counselor. I was relieved, because Mrs. Stout had always been very encouraging. Like, she was the perfect freshman English teacher, because she made you feel so smart. She used to be a district attorney. She was so, like, strong. She would always tell us, "Girls, have the courage of your convictions. [audience chuckles] Never say, I think. Say, I know." [audience laughter] [audience applause]
And so, she took me to the guidance counselor where I told them what Sister Joan had done to me. They brushed it off, and I was like, “Whatever.” I figured that would happen, and I went to lunch. I was still splotchy faced and in my stupid pajamas. The cafeteria worker felt bad for me, and she gave me my bagel with cream cheese and my water for free. [audience chuckles] And as I was entering into the cafeteria, about to walk to my usual lunch table, Sister Joan enters the cafeteria and she grabs me by my arm and she says, "Come with me." And so, I look over at my friends and they look over at me, but there's nothing.
So, she drags me away up to the second floor where she is teaching a class. She sits me in the back of the room and she says, "Eat your lunch." And so, the whole room felt silent outside of her narrating a class, which is what she did, and why I didn't like her classes because she didn't encourage discussion. And these are seniors. I felt like everyone was looking at me. I could feel myself, like, anxiety sweating, like trying to eat my already pretty bad bagel because it's from the cafeteria and just feeling horrible. And then, the class ends and they all leave. She calls me up and she asks me, "Don't you feel grateful that I did this?" And I said, "Yes," because I didn't really know what else to say.
What had happened was the guidance counselor had gone to her and told her that one of the students had complained she was being a little mean. And so, Sister Joan wanted me to eat lunch in her classroom, so she could watch me to make sure that I wasn't starving myself out of depression and dramatics. And so, I left the room after and just went about my day. And towards the end of the day, I was walking in the hall and I passed by the teacher's lounge. I heard Mrs. Stout, my old English teacher, talking to Sister Joan. So, I stopped and eavesdropped. [audience chuckles] I'm really glad that I did, because what I heard was she was asking why she was being so mean to me and why she was singling me out.
And Sister Joan said, "Because Shana is the disgrace of the entire English honors program." And my old teacher, Mrs. Stout, said, "No, she's not. You don't like her, because she thinks outside the box. But Shana cares about English, and she cares about the classes and she's a very engaged student. She got everyone on the last day of sophomore year to stand up on their chairs and do, O Captain! My Captain!' for me, [audience chuckles] which I would never do for Sister Joan in a million years. [audience laughter] I felt so validated to hear an adult that I looked up to sticking up for me and saying they believed in me. And so, the next year, when I didn't get into AP English because Sister Joan wouldn't sign my release form, I was accepted into a college writing program. When she came up to me, she said, "Well, how did you do that?" And I said, "Because I didn't need you to believe in me to do it. I just applied myself."
[cheers and applause]
Lauren: [00:07:59] That was Shana Creaney. Shana is a writer, reader and native New Yorker, who is working on her master's in literature at City College of New York.
So, I was in the room when Shana told this story. If you're listening to this story, there's this point that this girl is like, “Woo,” when she says-
Chloe and Jodi: [00:08:15] [chuckles]
Lauren: [00:08:16] -like, “Oh, she went to an all-girls school. And that was me.”
Chloe: [00:08:18] You're the woo girl.
[laughter]
Lauren: [00:08:18] I'm the woo girl. I am, because I also went to an all-girls Catholic school. I feel like those are very particular schools. There's just like so many idiosyncrasies that she mentions that I so vibed with.
Chloe: [00:08:33] I feel like it's super easy to be the woo girl in this story though, because you just like, by the end, it just is like she is so sure in herself and is so obviously so like, I want to say badass. [chuckles] Like, such a badass. It's really nice to hear of her making her own change there.
Lauren: [00:08:52] Totally.
Chloe: [00:08:53] I mean, with support.
Jodi: [00:08:54] Got it. And I loved her revelation in terms of her overhearing that conversation that happened towards the end of the story. Because throughout the entire time I kept wondering, what is wrong with this nun?
[laughter]
Why is she doing this, you know? When I overheard that conversation, I feel like she walked away literally from that room feeling completely empowered and was like, “I know what's up with you.” That was good. Do you know if Shana ever reached out and reconnected with Sister Joan?
Lauren: [00:09:20] So, I asked her that and she said that they never really had a moment of reconciliation, unfortunately. But it doesn't sound like Shana really needed that, you know? But she did say that she's still writing and that Sister Joan and Mrs. Stout are still teaching and that some things never change.
Jodi: [00:09:37] I completely hear that. And speaking about teachers, this other story is also about a teacher. Dennis Oulahan comes by way of Milwaukee, Wisconsin from the StorySLAMs. The theme of the night was Wonders. Here's Dennis, live at The Moth.
[applause]
Dennis: [00:09:52] Thank you. The theme for this evening is Wonder. And on the webpage where they announced theme, they gave a couple of examples. They said that it could be an expansive view or a small perfect instant. And my story tonight falls into the small perfect instant category.
In April of 1981, my wife and I were working at a school in Veracruz, Mexico. And the school was at a camp that was next to the construction site for the first nuclear power plant in Mexico. It was a dual language school. The kids did half a day in English, half a day in Spanish every day. In April 1981, they celebrated Teachers Day at our school.
Teachers Day is a great holiday. It's celebrated in Mexico, many countries around the world. We don't do it here. I really think we should, because Teachers Day is about appreciating teachers. [audience cheers and applause]
God knows, teachers in this city and in this country could use a little more appreciation. On Teachers Day in April 1981, at our school, the parents came and they made this terrific breakfast for all the staff at the school. The kids came and put little presents on our desks. As I remember, I got little bottles of cologne. I'm not sure what the message was there. [audience laughter] Some keychains and a lot of handkerchiefs. In Mexico in 1981, men still carried a handkerchief in their pocket. I think they probably still do. With the set of festivities were over for the morning, we went through our day, our math and our science and so forth.
And then, at lunchtime, we switched groups and we did the presents again, but not the breakfast, obviously. And then, we went through the rest of our day and the day got done and the kids went home. A little boy appeared in my doorway, one of my third graders, his name was Erlindo. He came in and he was really upset. And he said, "Maestro, I feel bad, because I didn't bring you anything for Teacher's Day." And I said, "Erlindo, you are a great kid." And he was. He was a wonderful kid. I said, "You come to school every day, you work hard, you do well, you help the other kids, you get along with everybody. That's the only gift you have to give me. That's plenty."
But it didn't work, because the next morning, Erlindo came in with a little box that he'd obviously wrapped himself, and he left it on my desk. I waited until everybody was gone before I opened it up. I unwrapped it and it was a matchbox. I opened it up, and inside was a matchbox car. It was a 1979 yellow Corvette Stingray. [audience chuckles] And some of the paint was missing, it had been rubbed off. My heart just sunk to my stomach. I thought, my God, he's given me one of his toys. I can't take one of his toys.
And so, I went down to his parents' house, or to his house. He lived in the camp not far from the school. When I knocked, his mom answered the door. I held out the car and I said-- I get told of the story. I said, "Erlindo gave me one of his toys, and I can't accept this." But she didn't take it. She gave me the momentito sign and she went back into the house. A little while later, she came back with a shoebox. And in the shoebox were lots of Matchbox cars. And she said, “Every day when Erlindo comes home from school, he gets this shoebox and he gets his cars. And every day the first car that he pulls out of this box is the yellow Corvette. That's why he chose that one to give to his teacher. That's why he chose that one to give to you.”
So, at this point, my heart's going from my stomach up into my throat, [audience chuckles] and I'm trying to tell her how I felt. And it came out something like [speaks gibberish] [audience chuckles] She just smiled and it was like she knew what I was saying and she knew what a remarkable son she had too. Needless to say, I've had that yellow Corvette. I have it to this day. It had a place of honor on my desk at school during the whole time I was teaching. It has a place of honor on my desk at home now that I'm retired. And every once in a while, I get it out and I'll play with it a little bit. In fact, I have it with me tonight. [audience aww] Here's the yellow Corvette, back by the cash register. Can you see where the paint was rubbed off? [audience laughter]
This has come to mean two things to me. One is honor and one is responsibility. The yellow Corvette means honor to me, because it's an honor to have been in a profession where the children you interact with every day think enough of you to give you their favorite toy. And responsibility, because what you do when you're a teacher, when you're an educator, because anybody who interacts with kids is a teacher, believe me, it's a lot of responsibility.
These parents aren't sending you their appliances to be fixed or their money to be invested. Those all have measurable value. They're sending you their kids who have value beyond measure, and they're asking you to take care of them and teach them. There's huge responsibility in that.
My wife and I are retired now. We made a good living as teachers. We didn't get rich, but we made a decent living. I drive a 15-year-old truck, but I consider myself a very wealthy man because I'm the proud owner of a 1979 Corvette Stingray Yellow. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
[cheers and applause]
Jodi: [00:15:57] That was Dennis Oulahan. Dennis and his wife, Ann, have lived and taught in several states and countries. They are now both living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with Stella, their English bulldog. Dennis also has a book out, Shorties: Stories from Life. Visit our website for more info.
Chloe: [00:16:14] So, Jodi, I know working on The SLAM program. The SLAMs generate over 5,000 stories a year at this point, right?
Jodi: [00:16:20] Yeah, yeah, I think so. Yeah.
Chloe: [00:16:21] Yeah. Okay, so that's a lot of stories. [Jodi laughs] [chuckles] And so, I just wondered what made Dennis’ story stick out to you?
Jodi: [00:16:29] Yeah. A few different reasons. The one that comes to mind is the teacher aspect. I was like, “Oh, they do that in Mexico too?” It literally mirrors exactly what Teachers Day looks like in Jamaica. It's a very big deal for the teachers. If you think about it, like, all the other days they are working and making, putting on a show for the kids, and it's literally the reverse. This is a day where the teachers put on their best shirt or best blouse and show up expecting something from their class, expecting the school and even sometimes the community to really celebrate them.
Lauren: [00:17:00] Yeah. Do you have any special stories from Teacher's Day?
Jodi: [00:17:04] I have a wide array. [Lauren chuckles] Teacher's Day was a little bit of everything. This was where my mother came home with gifts, because I come from a family of teachers, but I remember being in both positions, being able to buy the teachers, a nice pack of pencil or whatever they'd use.
And also, at other days where we couldn't afford anything, and my mother taking a nice plate or a little cup for their coffee or tea, whatever, from the cupboard and wrapping that inside, and you'd be totally embarrassed taking it. I totally get in with the little kid, because I don't know if he really forgot the toy or they couldn't afford a toy, you know? So, that really stuck with me.
All right, so, the good news is-- Do we go good news or bad news first?
Lauren: [00:17:43] We always go bad news first.
Chloe: [00:17:43] Bad news first
Jodi: [00:17:44] Oh, really?
Lauren: [00:17:44] Yeah.
Jodi: [00:17:46] So, the bad news is we have one more story left.
Lauren: [00:17:48] Oh, no.
Jodi: [00:17:49] But the good news is, we have one more story left.
[hollers]
And Chloe, that's you, right?
Chloe: [00:17:55] Yeah, that is me. Yeah, so, our last story in this anniversary episode that has been so much fun to do with the both of you was told at The Moth Mainstage in St. Louis, Missouri, where the theme was Voices Carry, which is actually the perfect theme for our next and last storyteller Carol A. Daniel. Here's Carol, live at The Moth.
[applause]
Carol: [00:18:21] So, I was a junior in college, when I got my first paying job in my field on the radio. This is not an internship. I'm getting a check. It was a country and western radio station. [audience chuckles] And my job, though it was only on the weekends, was to play the top country hits of the week each Sunday. It actually came on an album prerecorded. So, I had to take it out of the sleeve, [audience chuckles] and put it on the turntable just so and put the needle down on side one, caring not to scratch it and then let part one play. My moment is coming now. Yes, all the training, it's coming now. When side one would end, I had to lift the needle. [audience chuckles] And here's my moment. I get to read the weather live for Jefferson City, Missouri. [audience cheers and applause]
Then I played commercials. And while the commercials were playing, I had to flip the album, [audience chuckles] put it back down on the turntable, put the needle back down now on side two, and let part two of the top country hits of the week play. You know when you're getting a degree in communications or broadcasting? They teach you all kinds of stuff, but they do not teach you how to flip an album [audience chuckles] in record time before the commercial break ends.
My career would eventually bring me here to St. Louis. It's the largest market I had ever been in. I was excited and I was nervous, and so I am trying to get to know the community. And so, I'm going to every fundraiser and every event I can think of. And after one of those events, I promise you, it was actually here at The Sheldon in St. Louis, Missouri. A young man approached me outside on the sidewalk. He was black. And he said to me, "I knew you were black." [audience laughter] Now, [audience laughter] keep in mind that I had heard pretty much my whole adult life, "You sound white." I'd heard that. I'd heard, "Oh, you sound white. You sound like a white girl." I'd heard that. But I had never, ever heard, "I knew you were black." [audience laughter]
So, he tells me about this debate, apparently, that had been going on in St. Louis [audience chuckles] when I first started here. People told him, "Oh, no. No, she's white, man. She’s white. She sounds white. She's white.” And he convinced, having never met me, that I was black. Well, as it turns out, he was right. [audience laughter] I am black. But this whole debate messed with my head a little bit. I thought, here I am, major market, fantastic job of my dreams, and people still don't know who I am, all of who I am. So, I hatch the secret plan, this mission. I didn't tell anybody about it. I am going to start dropping hints on the air, [audience chuckles] so people will know who I am.
And so, my first hint is me discussing an article I'd read in Essence magazine. [audience laughter] Anybody? Essence? Yes, you get it. Essence magazine, of course, targets African-American women. And so, I think surely now they know. They know. They got to know now. Debate put to a rest. So, I am now all about town, and people are beginning to recognize me just from my voice. I'm at the grocery store. I'm chasing my kids at the St. Louis Zoo, yelling at them. People are recognizing my voice. I'm going to drop another hint on the air. I'm enjoying the secret mission. And so, I describe trying to make my mother's collard greens. [audience laughter] Boom. [audience laughter] They got to know. They got to know now that I'm a black woman.
One day, at one of these many events, an education panel discussion, after it's over, I'm in a small group of people, and we are talking. And an older white gentleman walks up to me and he says, "You speak well for your people." [audience aww] I could feel what you just said. [audience chuckles] I could feel it in my stomach, rising to my heart, to my throat. And I said to him, "Well, what people are you referring to now?" Now, mm-hmm, I knew what he meant. [audience laughter] We all know what he meant. But I wanted him to say it out of his own mouth. I wanted him to say it. And he said it. "You know, black people."
So, now, it's really gurgling. It is threatening to come spewing out of my mouth. I am embarrassed, because people are standing around and they're hearing this, and I'm angry. How dare he diminish me? And I'm indignant even. Before I could say another word, he says to me, "Have you had any training?" [inhales deeply] she said. Well, I said, "Nope. [audience laughter] My father speaks this way, my mother speaks this way and they're from Mississippi. My siblings all speak this way. God-given talent. No training, no classes, none of that. Just little old me." [audience laughter] [audience applause]
But I'm still feeling the secret mission. So, I decide to engage in a drop-the-mic moment. [audience chuckles] It's closer to Thanksgiving now when I drop this hint and I describe again one of my mother's recipes for cornbread dressing. I took care on the air to say, not bread, not white bread dressing, but cornbread dressing, where you make the cornbread the night before and then you soak it. Cornbread dressing. And I thought, boom, mic moment. They got to know. I'm through. I can go home now. They know I'm black. They know I'm black now.
And so, on the air one day, I was just remembering this conversation I'd had with these two women, these two petite, older black women, gray hair, coiffed. One had a single strand of pearls. They both had a touch of makeup. One of them took me by each hand, and she pulled me close and the other leaned in so she could hear, and she said to me, "We are so proud of you." And I got a lump in my throat. I knew what they meant. They're looking at me, this young, talented black woman making her mark on this big radio station in St. Louis. But I'm looking at them. They have seen and experienced more than I will ever see or experience or have to see or experience. I'm looking at history in its face, and I can feel it.
One day, we're in this debate on the air. We were talking about a-- It was a controversy. An organization, one of many, decided to walk out onto the highway. Not a road, but the interstate, and stop the traffic and shut it down. They were protesting the lack of minority jobs in construction. And so, one of the organizations that was involved was one I knew of from the time I lived in Kansas City, Missouri. But my co-host at the time had never heard of them. And so, he was truly dismissive, and I was truly frustrated. And I'm thinking, this is a movement moment. This is a moment where you either educate, or chastise or enlighten. I think I'm going to do all three. [audience chuckles] But I am also thinking, and I am also worried.
I'm still new here. I'm still young. I'm a woman. I'm black and I'm pregnant. I'm worried about the stereotype of the angry black woman. And yet, I'm also worried that I don't speak up enough about black issues. I'm thinking all of this, and I dive right in and I said to him, "You know, they're in the Yellow Pages. You can look them up right now and call them. They've been around for 50 years. And so, we took some calls and we ended that conversation, turned the mics off and left the studio.
Now, just a few weeks ago, a gentleman came to our house for a service call to repair the windshield of my car. It's right in there in the driveway. I met him outside, and he said to me, "I have a friend who lives over here.” And he told me that that news lady lives over here. [audience chuckles] “Do you know her?" [audience laughter] And I said, pausing, feeling pride and trepidation, [audience chuckles] and I said, "Well, I am that woman." "You are?" "I'm Carol Daniel." And there it is again.
He's looking at me. He's sizing me up. He sized me up in my driveway. And I thought, did he think I was white? Is he surprised now to find that I'm black? And I thought, the debate. Apparently, the debate is still there, in some form or fashion. I am not at all sure I can ever really do anything about it. There's a lot more at stake. There's a lot more to juggle in my life. There's a lot more weight in my life. I just try to not let it weigh me down. But this I know, I deserve to be here. I deserve this job. I don't have this job, because I sound white. I have this job, because I am good at what I do. Thank you.
[cheers and applause]
Chloe: [00:31:41] That was Carol A. Daniel. Carol is a proud mother of two sons. She and her husband, Patrick, are celebrating 23 years of marriage. Carol has been with KMOX, the Voice of St. Louis, since 1995. She has also been a campaign organizer and an award-winning newspaper columnist. And her first book, All I Ever Wanted - Relationships, Marriage, Family, is out now.
Lauren: [00:32:02] So, Chloe, I know we've talked a lot in the office about this story and it brings up a lot of personal things for you.
Chloe: [00:32:08] Yeah. I think Carol in her story talks a lot about how she has to deal with people assuming what race she is based on the voice that they hear from her. That's something that I've dealt with a lot. I was told all the time that I sounded white and it was good that I didn't sound black. And so, listening to Carol's story and listening to her talk about her experience with that, it made me think more about my own experience with it growing up.
Jodi: [00:32:37] I hear that. I hear that.
Chloe: [00:32:38] Yeah.
Lauren: [00:32:39] How do you feel now?
Chloe: [00:32:42] For me, it's about like what that means to people to say when they say that to me. They 100% think they're giving me a compliment. It's very prescripted, like who sounds “good and bad,” and gives me a lot of doubts about myself. It's always that kind of voice in the back of my head. And then, on the other side of that coin is just frustration that I feel that I'm not allowed to be a full range of a human being, that there are these external limitations that are expected that-- I absolutely don't have to abide by, but they're hard to kind of shake off.
Jodi: [00:33:19] It's interesting that you say this, Chloe, because I remember listening to this story with you-- Probably the first time we've heard it. It struck a chord with me, because I remember when I was in college, I studied broadcast journalism. Really wanted to read you the news. I was told that I couldn't read the news, because I didn't have the right accent. They wanted the perfect Seattle tone. And a Jamaican accent just don't do that for you. It would be hard for you to understand what I'm saying. So, I really, really hear you on that. In terms of you or the society wanting you to fit into a lane. And if you either curve left or right, that's just not good enough. Or, it has a tagline that's not palatable for some.
Chloe: [00:34:00] Yeah. I think that's something I really admired about where Carol ended up in her story, where she's like, "You know what? No, I'm amazing.” Like, “I deserve to be where I am." I don't know if I've ever 100% felt that way.
Lauren: [00:34:13] I think too a Moth story needs an ending, you know? But a lot of times, the conflict that we're dealing with doesn't end. It's always ongoing. And so, I think that it's okay that your last line is TBD for now. Yeah, that's okay.
Chloe: [00:34:29] Okay. Well, I don't want to do anything else for the rest of this podcast episode, because that was a great last line. And we're done. We're done. Nothing else.
[cheers and applause]
Lauren Gonzalez coming in with the last line.
[audience laughter]
Jodi: [00:34:43] So, before we go, we have this cool thing lined up for you, guys, to take on. In celebration of The Moth Podcast's 10th anniversary, we are looking for the ultimate Moth fan to guest host an episode of this podcast.
Chloe: [00:34:58] Okay. Well, I'd like to, at this point, use this to throw my name officially into the ring.
Lauren: [00:35:03] Me too.
[laughter]
Jodi: [00:35:05] Put my name in the bag.
Chloe: [00:35:06] Okay. Well, I think we've maybe gotten our chance in the sun for today, so let's share this space. But yeah, so, whether you've been with us from the very beginning or whether this is your first episode, which, by the way, completely unbiased opinion, great first episode to tune into.
Jodi: [00:35:21] [laughs]
Chloe: [00:35:22] You can go online to themoth.org/contest to throw your name into the metaphorical hat, or check out the webpage for this podcast episode and find the link there. But we hope to hear from you.
Lauren: [00:35:35] Yes. So, that's all from The Moth this week. Thanks for listening. And we hope you have a story-worthy week.
Jodi: [00:35:41] Lauren Gonzalez is the associate producer for The Moth Community program. She spent Saturday mornings writing out to-do lists to plan her weekend fun and has almost mastered crossing New York City streets without blinking an eye.
Lauren: [00:35:53] That's right. Chloe Salmon is an associate producer for The Moth Story SLAM and Mainstage departments. She moved to the Big Apple from the little Apple of Manhattan, Kansas, and feels that the decreased number of Wizard of Oz references she fields means she's fitting in just fine.
Chloe: [00:36:08] Jodi Powell is an associate producer for The Moth's StorySLAM and Mainstage departments. She spends most of her time exploring the historic and quaint neighborhoods in New York City, and is always on the lookout for the next inspiring quote for her Pinterest board or a place to go dancing.
Podcast production by Timothy Lou Ly. The Moth Podcast is presented by PRX, the Public Radio Exchange, helping make public radio more public at prx.org.