Host: Edgar Ruiz Jr
Edgar: [00:00:02] Welcome to The Moth Podcast. I'm Edgar Ruiz Jr, Manager of the Community Engagement Program at The Moth.
Brandon: [00:00:08] And I'm Brandon Grant-Walker, Director of Marketing at The Moth.
Edgar: And we're your hosts for this episode. As for what this episode's about, well--
[triumphant music]
Brandon: That's right. In honor of May the 4th, this episode is all about Star Wars, one of the most influential and resonant narratives of the past century.
Edgar: We're going to hear three stories, a mix of new and some favorites from our archive, that focus on that galaxy far, far away. Brandon and I are huge Star Wars fans.
Brandon: It's why we're hosting this episode.
Edgar: But even if you don't know how to pronounce Baby Yoda's real name or who shot first, we think you'll get a lot out of these stories. They may be about Star Wars, but their appeal is intergalactic.
Brandon: First up is Dame Wilburn. She told this at a Dayton, Ohio Mainstage, where she also hosted the show. Here's Dame, live at The Moth.
[applause]
Dame: [00:01:09] I was born in Macon, Georgia and raised in Detroit. So, I have this weird combination of Southern and Midwestern. I'm Midwestern to the point that I drove here from Detroit, because it seems senseless to take a plane for under a four-hour drive. [audience cheers and applause]
They're like, “We're going to get you a plane ticket.” I'm like, “Eh, it's under 12 hours. It's drivable.” [audience laughter] I have a tendency also to be, which I think is Midwestern, to be very punctual. I have a tendency to show up an hour ahead of things. I get laughed at a lot. Even when I fly, I show up to the airport two hours before boarding, because I'm not going to be one-- because basically what I do is get popcorn and watch other people run to their flights. [audience laughter]
Now, I want to say I get this because of living in Detroit and being Midwest. That's not true. I get it from my father. I want to say that I get it from my father, because he's punctual, [chuckles] but that wasn't true either. My dad had a tendency to be late for some things, but the biggest thing he was late for was always movies. He always felt that you didn't need to see things like the previews or the opening credits. He figured, if we get real late, we'll just stay at the movie and wait till it starts over and catch [audience laughter] the beginning again.
So, [clears throat] my mother wasn't a fan of going to the movies with him because of these issues. This brand-new movie came out when I was a little kid, and my mother said, “I'm not going, because I don't want to go to the movies with you.” And my dad said, “Well, I'll go by myself.” And she said, “Ha, ha, ha, you'll take the baby with you.” [audience laughter] Because that's what wives do. “You're not going to the movies by yourself while we have children. Are you insane?” So, I pack off with my dad, and we go see Star Wars. [audience cheers and applause]
Now, my father was late for the movie when we left the house. [audience laughter] So, by the time we bought our tickets, and he got in an argument with the fountain drink dude about how they only had new Coke, and he wanted to drink original Coke, which is not the fountain dude's problem, but my dad didn't see it that way. And then, he got into a fight with the popcorn girl, because they didn't have popcorn salt. Some of you know what popcorn salt is. And for those of you who don't, I'm not getting into it. [audience laughter] It's traumatic. It's triggering. [audience laughter] But I just want to tell you, we were super late.
So, we walked into the movie where the fight scenes are already happening. I, as a little kid, decided that this wasn't a movie. It was a documentary. [audience laughter] I didn't really have that thing yet that told me this is real, this isn't real. So, I figured, this is real. And so, above our heads in the sky at this moment, danger was imminent. [audience laughter]
So, I come home and I try to explain to my mother, because my father's not getting it, that we are in a galactic battle for good, [audience laughter] and we are fighting the number one villain of all time, Darth Vader. [audience laughter]
Now, I didn't hear Darth. I couldn't. He was dark, so I figured Darth Vader was what they meant. So, my mother's laughing at me, because I'm calling him Darth Vader and not Darth. She's going back and forth, she's like, “This isn't real. This is just a movie. Movies aren't real. This guy isn't real.” And I said, “Okay, I don't believe you. He is real, and I need to defend us.” [audience laughter]
So, my request for my birthday was a lightsaber. They had them everywhere, because you'd see the commercial, come to this toy store and get a lightsaber. Now, there are those of you who think that I'm trying to get a toy, I need you to understand that in my brain, I was getting the only weapon that could protect us from evil. I needed it, because this was real.
Now, my birthday happens to be 1st of November, which falls directly after Halloween. So, we are in Northland Mall, which is a mall just outside of Detroit in a little town called Southfield. It's one of the first mall built in the country, by the way. We are walking down the hall, and around the corner in movie quality costume, [audience laughter] coming in at 6’4” and approximately 230, 240 pounds is some dude 100% dressed as Darth Vader. My mother has spent months explaining to me that this guy isn't real, but there he be.
[audience laughter and applause]
Now, when you're little, all the synapses aren't firing. Your brain doesn't really know how to brain yet. So, I couldn't pick up-- I didn't have Darth to begin with. I somehow couldn't pull Darth at that moment. So, I just screamed. The only thing I could get out was, “Aa, it's Black Vader.” [audience laughter] My mother does what you did. She busts out laughing. I'm like, “The fate of the world is not funny. I am a member of the Rebel Alliance. I must protect us.” So, I dive into the toy store, go all the way to the back wall, grab a lightsaber. To my disappointment, it turned out to be a flashlight with a plastic tube. [audience laughter]
But I figured this dude is still far down the hall. He won't know, Like Darth, I'm going to do the stance, I'm going to have the whole thing and he's going to be 100%-- He's going to be so terrified that an eight-year old's got a lightsaber, he's just going to go away. That's my theory. So, I run out of the store with at least two cashiers behind me. I get to the door of the store and my mother is standing there, bold as brass, chatting [audience laughter] with Black Vader. [audience applause]
They're yucking it up. They're having a good old time. I'm standing in the door of the toy store with two cashiers removing my unpurchased lightsaber from my hands. I let it go, because I knew two things. One, my mother was a member of the Empire, [audience laughter] which quite frankly didn't shock me that much. [audience laughter] And two, I was going to need a lot more than a flashlight with a tube on it. Thank you.
[cheers and applause]
Brandon: [00:08:47] That was Dame Wilburn. Dame is a storyteller, a host of Dame's Eclectic Brain Podcast and various live shows including The Moth Mainstage. She has completed four residencies for storytellers including at Serenbe in Palmetto, Georgia and one with AIR Trez in Almont, Michigan. Dame is also presented at the University of Iowa and UCLA. She lives in a state of possibilities and in Michigan.
Edgar: [00:09:03] So, Brandon, how old were you when you got into Star Wars?
Brandon: I can't really remember. I'm pretty sure that I watched like the first set of movies somewhere in my late teens, and honestly didn't really care. Thought they were interesting, but didn't really think they were for me. It probably wasn't until about maybe eight or nine years ago when Rogue One came out and really showed a different side of Star Wars.
It wasn't Jedi forward. It was really about the everyday kind of person. And then, if I really think about it, then you have Disney Disney+ coming onto the scene and you get the back catalog of movies. But I'd never watched Clone Wars before, so I started watching the Clone Wars cartoons.
They do so many great things in animation. The Anakin character is just so much more developed, and you get Ahsoka and you see all these different worlds. Honestly, then, I just binged anything I could get my hands on, and I went back and I watched the original trilogy, and then I watched the prequel trilogy, and then obviously by then the sequel trilogies were out. It really showed you this world of so many different people working together to overcome evil and build a better world for themselves. I find it to be really inspiring on a lot of levels. But yeah, I was probably really young and couldn't really grasp it, but now, I'm in it all the way. So, what about you? When was the first time you remember seeing Star Wars?
Edgar: Well, the first time I watched it, I was eight years old with my aunt. I had a sleepover. But I just remember it being like boring and long. I'm going to be honest with you, I loved Return of the Jedi because of the Ewoks, just look the way he was doing. He put those puppets in there, and I was like, “Yeah.” I had a loving relationship, because I love my aunt and I love these movies. So, it was like a positive thing. And then, it wasn't until I was 18, 19 years old when The Phantom Menace came out that I really fell in love with Star Wars. I know that's a sentence [chuckles] to say to Star Wars.
Brandon: You're very brave to admit that.
Edgar: But yeah, it was my gateway into Star Wars. And then, I so happened to have one of these life changing summers in Puerto Rico with my dad, where we reconnected. I just remember we had a similar scene to The Return of the Jedi at the end where he says, “Remove my helmet. Let me see you with my own eyes.”
I was watching that with my girlfriend at that one point and I just started bawling, because I had the similar scene with my dad in a car in Puerto Rico where we're crying and emotionally just going at each other with like, “Oh, with the [unintelligible [00:11:50].” He was seeing me for the first time. When I was watching this, I broke down and I was just like, “Wow, this movie is deeper than what it really is.” And then, to come find out that not a lot of people like The Return of the Jedi. But when people ask me like, “Which one is your favorite of the Ogs?” I'm like, “Return of the Jedi.”
Brandon: Yeah. I think that's just what's so great about Star Wars, is that on any level, you can connect with it and see parallels in your own life. I love you sharing about your dad and that moment where you were both seeing each other so clearly for the first time. That's why I love the stories in this hour. They are all so different. But the way that Star Wars unites people in unlocking their imagination, and bringing people together, and making people feel seen and heard is something that's very, very special.
Edgar: [00:12:53] Next up is Shannan Paul. Shannan told this story at the Twin Cities StorySLAM, where theme of the night was Wonders. Here's Shannan, live at The Moth.
[cheers and applause]
Shannon: [00:13:08] Little black girls shouldn't like Star Wars. That's what I learned in the 1970s as I was growing up in Phoenix, Arizona. At least, if you ask my grandma, Edna, she said I shouldn't like Star Wars. But if you asked her, I also wasn't supposed to like disco music, I wasn't supposed to read science fiction novels and I definitely was not supposed to wear pants, only dresses.
What I was supposed to do was I supposed to go to our Baptista Costel Church very often. That's a blend of Baptist and Pentecostal. So, it's all those things you've seen in the movie. So, there's a lot of praying and shouting. We went to church a lot. We went on Wednesdays, and Fridays and Sunday mornings that turned into Sunday’s afternoons and quite often Sunday evenings. We had that cool pastor that shouted a lot, and occasionally danced a little bit and dumped somebody in some water. [audience laughter]
That's what little black girls were supposed to do. We were also supposed to sit still as she put me on a stool next to our stove in the kitchen, as she would take a hot comb and straighten my hair, and then braid it into these beautiful braids, quite often with little beads at the bottom. That's what she said little black girls are supposed to do. Now, the person that disagreed with her was my mother, who also happens to be black, in case you were wondering. [audience laughter]
My mother, who also was raising me in the 1970s along with my grandmother, she had different opinions. A lot of those were very subversive for the time. She would say things like, “No, you're supposed to be able to have your own identity.” I'm not saying that she didn't believe that. She did think that as a young person, it was my job to be able to sit there and floss them as a young person, to be my own young girl. But she was also doing it to piss my grandmother off, [audience laughter] because she and my grandmother did not get along. I mean, it was some giant fights.
I could think of multiple occasions where I know my mother did some things just to make grandma mad. But my mom, like I said, she was a subversive. She had a really big dope ass afro. It was amazing. She had all of those really cool polyester jumpsuits, and they all had pant legs. [audience laughter]
And then, to make it even worse, in 1977, what my mom decided to do for the first movie she ever took me to, she took me to see Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. And as a young black girl that grew up in the desert of Phoenix, Arizona, I remember sitting there in awe and going, “I can relate.” [audience laughter] Because I wanted to go on adventures. That's what I wanted to do.
So, when I first saw Luke Skywalker sitting there-- He went into, and he's talking to his family and he starts whining about how he wanted to go Tosche Station to pick up some power converters. I said,” I too want to go on that adventure.” [audience laughter] And Princess Leia had beautiful braids and eventually wore pants. [audience laughter]
And so, instead of listening to pastors talk about the end times and talk about the power of the Holy Spirit, instead, I also got to listen to people talk about Jedis, and using the force and talking about how, you know what, even if you grew up on this desert planet, you can go on adventures and you might be the one that saves this galaxy. I remember thinking that was a really lofty goal, because I was like five. [audience laughter]
I was just trying to get my mom to leave my hair alone. That's pretty much it. I just was like, “Okay. And no more Barbies. I want Tonka trucks. I just wanted that.” But it was my first foyer into going, you're allowed to be different than what they said you were supposed to do. And you were allowed to do something different than what they said you should do.
It was really wonderful to have my mom, who was a hippie at the time, that hippies were really cool. And to sit there cross legged in the corner of our living room while she sat around with her political science major friends at Arizona State University, and it was just a giant haze of weed. [audience laughter] I would just sit there cross legged and read Isaac Asimov and Lord of the Rings and all of these books, because my mom was like, “It's okay for you to do what you want to do, not what you should do.”
[cheers and applause]
Edgar: [00:17:51] That was Shannan Paul. Ms. Shannan uses her talents to care for her son and make the lives of other people better. She is a comedian, speaker, voice actor, event emcee and benefit auctioneer. She has appeared on NickMom Night Out, Laughs TV and can regularly be seen bringing her wit, whimsy and pop culture expertise to Twin Cities radio and television. Plus, you can hear Ms. Shannan on her podcast called Be Our Geek. If you'd like to see a photo of Shannan with one of her lightsabers, we'll have that on our website. Just go to themoth.org/extras.
Brandon: [00:18:27] So, I have two younger nephews. We don't live in the same city, so I don't get to have those moments where I can have them over and watch a movie and basically make them Star Wars nerds. So, having kids, do you force your kids to watch Star Wars? [laughs]
Edgar: Do I force? Yes, all the time. [Brandon laughs] If you go on my Disney+ account, you go on Revenge of the Sith and it's going to start, exactly. [chuckles] It's like you try to take it away from me immediately. [Brandon laughs] Like, all the good parts like-- I try to get them into it. I'm not going to force them into it. I think my daughter might be going down that route.
Brandon: Nice.
Edgar: He's going down that geek route.
Beandon: Nice. You have this really cute picture of you and your wife and your son, right?
Edgar: Yes.
Brandon: Dressed up as like Baby Yoda before Baby Yoda was a thing.
Edgar: Yes.
Brandon: What's that about?
Edgar: I honestly believe somebody from Disney saw this picture of my son [Brandon laughs] and was like, “No, we didn't make this happen. This was in 2016. It was his first Halloween.” His mother and I are huge Halloween fans. Like, we dress up a lot on Halloweens.
There was a time where I didn't celebrate Halloween, and then it was like, four years I did it, and then I came back and I was a Jedi for three years straight. [laughs] It was like four years I was a Jedi running around the village with a FX lightsaber that I paid $150 for.
Brandon: Yeah, I haven't done cosplay yet.
Edgar: I wouldn't say I do cosplay. [Brandon laughs] I know cosplayers.
Brandon: Right. You got it.
Edgar: They take it serious.
Brandon: That's true. That’s true. That’s true.
Edgar: They take it-- I went and made a Jedi outfit, just because I was tall and I couldn't fit into the suit stuff they were selling on Amazon and stuff like that. Why do you think people have a connection to Star Wars?
Brandon: I think there's so much to connect. It's like what's not to connect with. There's a fantasy element to it which is intergalactic, and gives you hope for life elsewhere and for our connection to that life elsewhere. I think there is the interpersonal aspect of it, where you have people from all different areas of the galaxy coming together on a common cause, whether that causes good or evil. I think there's still interesting stories told on both sides of it.
Obviously, Star Wars at its core is also a story about family. There's so much dimension to that in the way that they've been able to look at the legacy that we leave with family. For me, it's like what's not to connect with. I think anybody can find something in the Star Wars canon that they can feel that connection to.
So, for people who've never watched, I'm always like, “Start anywhere. If you like cartoons, start with Rebels. If you like live action, start with the movies if you want. If you don't care about the Jedi, start with Andor.” There's something for everyone is my take on it. What about you?
Edgar: I think we all see ourselves. Everybody here's different type of characters in the whole saga, and everybody has a little represented in the movies. I think that's why people are so passionate about their characters. It's such an emotional movie. It reminds us of our childhood of many of us, and a lot of them. The Star Wars is just one of those important things. Everybody remembers where they first saw it. I hope 100 years from now, people are watching them.
Brandon: Oh, I think, for sure. I think they'll be watching it from A Galaxy Far, Far Way.
[00:22:03] Our final story is from Manuelito Wheeler. Manuelito told us at a Mainstage in Arizona. Here's Manuelito, live at The Moth.
[audience applause]
Manuelito: [00:22:14] Yat a Manuelito Wheeler yinish. Yeah, sitting on jinny and shlong. yéé tłʼáchíní a básheen to headliní a dásháchí. Kia ani a dashinelle. So, I have just introduced myself in Navajo. [audience cheers and applause]
Language equals culture. So, it's the late 1990s. My wife has gone to grad school. She left me with our three year old son at the time. And so, she started school and she got an apartment in Tempe. We had a small apartment. Then, I came down three, four months later. I had a three-year-old son and I needed a job. I'd always found myself in the museum world. So, where do I go to look for work right away? The Heard Museum. You may have heard of it. No pun intended. [audience cheers]
So, I go, apply for a curatorial type job there and do great on my interview. Think I have it in the bag. Get a call, “Sorry, you didn't get it.” It wasn't that cold, but “Sorry, you didn't get it. But you know what, the herd's expanding.” They need some help in the carpenter's shop. And I'm like, “Okay, I need a job. I'll take it.” And so, I go, and get interviewed by the master carpenter there and get the job.
So, that's where I started. It's interesting that things that I've learned today about management. I really took a lot from that carpentry job. Measure twice, cut once. It's something that'll take you a long ways. So, I was a carpenter's assistant, and then I moved up to the exhibit installer and then I moved up to the design manager there at the Heard Museum.
So, during my time there, my wife has finished her master's and now she's on to her doctorate in English lit. All the while, she's teaching Navajo. So, she's teaching Navajo to high school students here in the Phoenix area. We would always have this discussion of, how do we make our language relevant? How do we get these young people to connect to our language? This is something that's very close to both of us.
It's close to me, because I'm not fluent in Navajo. That's a secret shame that I carry with me. That's a secret shame that people of my generation, we carry with us. It's like, there it is, something that's part of us, and it's fading and we're trying to figure out how to save it. So, then, we talk about this idea around. We're sitting around the dinner table and we talk about, “Man, it would be really cool to have our own movies in the Navajo language.” And so, they're like, “Yeah, yeah, that would be cool.”
So, we toss some ideas around. She maybe has said like, “We should do the Steel Magnolias in Navajo.” [audience laughter] But then, I say like, “Think about it for a while. We should do Star Wars. [chuckles] Maybe you've heard of it.” The reason I thought about Star Wars-- It stuck. It's such a timeless classic. There are themes in the movie that I really felt connected with Navajos/native people.
This idea that the universe is connected. If we do something that affects this side of the universe, it's going to ultimately affect this side of the universe. The idea that there's good and there's bad and how we choose to use it is up to us, but it will have its consequences. So, I really felt that those ideals would really stick with Navajo people, especially our traditional elders.
So, this is a time when the internet was brand new and there was that thing that was like AOL and You've Got Mail. Computers were huge and you would clack away on them. And so, I get on the internet, I find the script to Star Wars Episode IV, for those of you that need some clarification. And it comes in the mail, and I look at it, and I put it on the shelf and forget about it for a few weeks. And then, I find it again, I look through it, and there's my wife and I tell her like, “You think you could do these five pages and translate them in Navajo?” And she's like, “Yeah.”
I'm thinking, I'm not going to get this back until a few days or a week or so. She comes back in about 30 minutes. It's all typed up, and she hands me the papers and I'm like, “Whoa.” That's when I had the moment, that light bulb moment, of this can be done. This is real.
So, again, I research Lucasfilm, of course, and send emails. This process goes on for about 10 years of going to different parts of Lucasfilm. There's the emails. There's the 800 numbers. I'm not a pest. I'm not emailing Lucasfilm every day or anything like that. It's just like a couple times a year. So, that goes on. And then, the position opens up at the Navajo Nation Museum to be the director. I apply. I get it. We move our family back to our beloved res.
And then, the idea resurges again and I'm like, “I might try this other door.” Send the email off again, just thinking, oh, it'll never get answered. One day, the email pops up. And it's from Michael from Lucasfilm. The are email says, “We got your message, and this is something that we're interested in. Can we schedule a meeting?” And I'm like, “Oh, my gosh.” I sit back in my chair in my office and I'm like, “Whoa.” And then, of course, I call my wife first, I'm like, “Guess who I got an email from? It's Lucasfilm. They're on. They want to do this.”
The stipulation though, was that we would have to fund the production. The Navajo Nation would have to fund this production. So, I gather myself, I go up to my boss, go up to his office. He's a cool guy. I've always gotten along with him. And I tell him, “Hey, this idea about Lucasfilm, and they want-- They're interested in putting Star Wars in the Navajo language, and it's going to be great and it's going to be the best thing that ever happened to the Navajo Nation.”
He's sitting there, and he's just nodding his head and he's like, “That's nice, Manny.” It was there I just felt this sinking feeling, like he doesn't get it. He doesn't see the vision that I have. And so, he's like, “Well, put a budget together and we'll see if we can find some money for you to do this.” And of course, there are much bigger problems on the Navajo Nation. People actually live without running water and electricity there. So, my project was going to have to take a back seat for a while. But I'm not discouraged. I go to various Navajo Nation programs and I'm like, “Great project.” “No, sorry.” “Great project. We should do this.” “No, sorry.” “Great project. Let's do this.” “No, sorry.”
And so, this is over, I would say, six to eight months. At that time, it's something that you feel like you have lightning in a bottle, but nobody wants to buy it. Finally, I come across another person that I know. He oversees the fairs for the Navajo Nation. He's like, “I'm trying to look for something that's entertaining, something that would bring a lot of people together. Next time, I'll suggest The Moth.” He’s like, “I need something that's going to bring a lot of people together.” And I'm like, “I've got a project for you.”
I explained my idea about putting Star Wars, dubbing it Navajo into over a Star Wars movie. And he's like, “Yeah, that sounds pretty good.” Like, “Let's do it.” And I'm like, “Oh.” I'm trying to be cool on the inside. “Oh, okay.” [chuckles] So, around this time, when he said yes, I would say would be around February, maybe even March. And he said, “I need something for the 4th of July fair.” And I'm like, “Oh, okay. Yeah, I can do it.” [chuckles]
And so, after he agrees, I rush over to my team. My team was very small. It was a team of about 10 people. And I'm like, “Okay, we got to do this and we got to make this happen.” And so, everybody gets on board. We had to put together a press release and we send it to Lucasfilm for their approval, they approve it and then it goes out to the internet. And so, we're doing our stuff, getting ready and then it takes off like wildfire.
My phone starts ringing every day, at least every hour maybe. It's the BBC, it's NPR, it's CNN. All of these different major media outlets, they want to talk to me about how this project's getting done, why it's getting done. I couldn't believe it. And I'm like, “Oh.” And then, I get a call from my friend who lives in Los Angeles, and he's like, “Manny, this story, Navajo Star Wars is trending at number seven on Yahoo.” And I'm like, “Oh, cool. What does that mean?” [laughs] [audience laughter]
And so, he's like, “Well, let me put it this way. The Olympics are trending at number eight.” And I'm like, “Whoa.” So, that's when it hit me. We started to get rolling. The people from Burbank, they came out. They basically gave us a template and gave us a tutorial on how to get things rolling. So, we auditioned for Star Wars in two days. We had over 400 people come over those two days auditioning to be a part of this.
And then, we go and the translator started. We had five translators in a room, and they translated the whole in script in 36 hours. And then, we go into production. It was just one massive, amazing blur. But let me put it this way. We started on April 12th, and we premiered the movie on July 3rd. So, we did everything in that short amount of time, which even by Hollywood standards, is an amazing thing. And one of the things I'm most proud of is it was mostly done by Navajo people. We really got together and made this happen. So, here we are. [audience applause]
Here we are. We're premiering it. And guess what? A rodeo arena, classic Navajo style. [audience laughter] It wasn't just a rodeo arena. A rodeo had actually happened less than an hour prior to us doing this premiere. So, imagine, if you will. Here comes a giant semi driving into the rodeo arena. And my people, they had built a movie screen on the side of the semi-truck and it pulls into the middle of the rodeo arena. The stands are filled. There are thousands of people. Over 2,000 people were there, and they're all waiting for this movie to start. The cast and crew is there. People from Burbank are there. People from Hollywood are there. Everybody is excited to see this.
My wife, she's sitting right next to me. And then, the lights go down. People applaud, cheer kind of. And then, it happens. That light blue font, a long time ago in A Galaxy Far, Far Way, it appears on the screen, but it's in Navajo. And then, the crowd goes wild. They cheer. And then, the big Star Wars logo blasts on screen, da. daa. And Star Wars pops up the crowd goes wild again. It's almost like a frenzy. Here comes the crawl, the crawls in Navajo.
My wife and I are sitting there. I squeeze her hand. We're just sitting there and she's crying. Tears are coming down her eyes. But I'm not crying. [chuckles] Maybe I was crying. It was a rodeo arena. It's dusty. Dust getting in my eyes. [audience laughter] So, then, the crawl starts. And then, here comes the big imperial cruiser descending upon Princess Leia's ship.
It goes C-3PO. C-3PO utters the first words, and C-3PO is in Navajo. The crowd goes wild again. And then, here comes Darth Vader, and he lifts up The Rebel, and he's like, “Where is the princess? Where are the plans?” It's in Darth Vader's voice in Navajo, and the crowd is going crazy. I'm there, sitting there, squeezing my wife's hand. I'm thinking of our grandmothers that have gone on to the next world. I'm thinking of our grandfathers that have gone on to the next world, our uncles that have gone on to the next world, our aunts that have gone on to the next world, that I wish they were here to see this. This is our culture. It's living on. This is our culture. And now, there was a new hope.
[cheers and applause]
Brandon: [00:36:55] That was Manuelito Wheeler. Born and raised in the Navajo Nation, Manuelito is currently working with his wife, Jennifer Jackson Wheeler, as consultants for various networks and studios, helping them incorporate Native languages into their content. Their company, [unintelligible [00:37:09] Productions, specializes in dubbing, translations and cultural protocol, involved in film production and post production. Here's a clip of Star Wars - A New Hope translated into Navajo. This is the scene where Obi-Wan and Luke see Princess Leia's hologram for the first time.
Princess Leia: [00:37:25] General Kenobi, [Navajo language]
Brandon: [00:37:40] And that's it for this episode.
Edgar: [00:37:42] From all of us here at The Moth, may the force be with you.
Brandon: This is the way.
Edgar: This is the way.
Marc: [00:37:50] Edgar Ruiz, Jr is the manager of the Community Engagement Program and a StorySLAM host at The Moth. He is a comedian and storyteller who has been featured in the Moth's latest book, A Point of Beauty: True Stories of Holding On and Letting Go. If you're interested in reading more about his Star Wars origin story, you can visit edgarruizjr.com.
Brandon Grant-Walker has always loved telling a good story. And that passion informs his work as Director of Marketing for The Moth. Brandon is a die-hard Marvel fan, a tequila connoisseur and proud uncle. As a Florida native, he gravitates towards the sun and beach, but he has an equal love for his adopted home of New York City, the food, the culture, the skyline and the people.
The rest of The Moth's leadership team includes Sarah Haberman, Jenifer Hixson, Meg Bowles, Kate Tellers, Marina Klutse, Suzanne Rust, Brandon Grant-Walker, Lee Ann Gullie and Aldi Kaza. The Moth would like to thank its supporters and listeners. Stories like these are made possible by community giving. If you're not already a member, please consider becoming one or making a one-time donation today at themoth.org/giveback. All Moth stories are true, as remembered by the storytellers.
For more about our podcast, information on pitching your own story and everything else, go to our website, themoth.org. The Moth Podcast is presented by PRX, The Public Radio Exchange, helping make public radio more public at prx.org.