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in a series of bonus stories

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that celebrate community, fitness, travel, health,

0:08

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0:12

hear from Neshawn Lasley as she receives

0:14

some over-the-top encouragement from her father. The

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1:28

Welcome to the Moth Podcast. I'm Amanda

1:30

Garcia, your host for this episode. I'm

1:33

a big summer camp person. In

1:35

fact, it's safe to say I wouldn't be here if

1:38

it wasn't for my summer camp. Not

1:40

just because camp shaped me as a person and led

1:42

me to the Moth, but because if it

1:44

hadn't been for camp, my mom would

1:46

have never developed a crush on the

1:48

cute, and from what I've heard mischievous,

1:50

kitchen boy, my father. I've

1:53

spent a total of 12 summers attending

1:55

camp, first as a camper, then on

1:58

staff. And my experience has stayed. with

2:00

me. It will take me less than

2:02

five minutes into any conversation to bring up

2:04

summer camp. And just this morning, I received

2:07

a photo of a camp friend, still in

2:09

the hospital, holding her newborn

2:11

baby. And my indoctrination into camp culture

2:13

began long before I ever stepped onto

2:15

those 700 acres in southeast Connecticut when

2:18

I was 11. The men and women

2:21

I grew up calling aunt and uncle bore no

2:23

blood relation to my parents. They were their camp

2:25

friends. My family would sing

2:27

camp songs at dinner. I knew

2:29

how to build a fire at a young age. And

2:32

my first summer at incarnation camp was

2:34

a big deal. So yes,

2:36

I guess you could call me a summer camp

2:38

Nebo baby. But even if you

2:40

haven't spent your summers competing in color

2:43

wars or making beaded friendship bracelets, camp

2:45

serves as this perfect storm of

2:48

awkwardness and hormones that make it

2:50

a great backdrop for stories and

2:52

memories. On this episode,

2:54

we've got two stories all about summer camp

2:56

and what you take away from it when

2:58

summer ends. First up is

3:01

Jean Spindler. She told this at

3:03

an Ann Arbor story slam where the theme of

3:05

the night was without a net. Here's

3:08

Jean live at the mall. So

3:16

I was a summer camp professional for the

3:18

last 16 years in Stillam. And for eight

3:20

of those years, I was a program director

3:23

at a co ed overnight camp

3:26

in the beautiful state of Maine next to this

3:28

gorgeous lake. And, you

3:31

know, as as a program director, one of the

3:33

things that I got to do was

3:35

basically plan all the fun. I was

3:37

the master of fun and I was

3:40

the controller of organized chaos, which I

3:42

loved best job in the world. And

3:45

maybe my favorite part of the

3:47

job was pranks. Not mean pranks,

3:49

not bad pranks, but just pranks

3:51

that make you feel alive. I was a quiet

3:53

kid, I was a quiet kid in school. And

3:55

even when I went to Girl Scout camp, when

3:57

I was a kid, I really wanted to do

4:00

color guard and I

4:02

don't know flag raising ceremony was really cool and I

4:04

might please please pick me my arm was out of

4:06

the socket and they're like oh Jean

4:10

oh no you're too quiet and

4:13

I'm like no I can be loud I'm

4:15

comfortable quiet but I can be loud when

4:17

I want to and pranks made me feel

4:19

powerful they made me feel like you don't

4:21

know who I am but I'm

4:24

out to get you and so I

4:26

promoted this amongst our staff we always knew what

4:28

the kids were up to we still got

4:30

to be safe but I said you know

4:33

if you want them to remember you 20

4:35

years from now you got to help them

4:37

plan the biggest most epic most amazing prank

4:40

ever and I've seen some good ones most

4:42

of them resonated around stealing my my mascot

4:44

buttermilk the amazing rubber stunt chicken could jump

4:46

through a flaming hula hoop and shoot itself

4:49

out of a can and they would kidnap

4:51

it I have 10 different ransom letters it's

4:53

wonderful so pranks you know those quiet kids

4:55

they step up to the plate and

4:58

all of a sudden they're not so quiet anymore

5:00

and they're the ones who are leaders they are

5:02

the ones like I mean who knows better to

5:04

be who knows better on how to be quiet

5:06

than a quiet kid they're like gosh hear

5:10

you so one

5:12

of my favorite pranks was

5:14

led by a counselor named Jeff and

5:16

Jeff was like the counselor of counselors

5:19

everybody wanted to be in Jeff's cabin and

5:22

he had a cabin of eight eight-year-old boys

5:24

about this big so not very big not

5:26

very strong and they wanted they heard that

5:28

in the house of fun which is where

5:31

I kept all of the activity supplies and the chips

5:33

and the cookies and the ding-dongs and the skittles and

5:35

the pop is that is

5:37

that they wanted to steal it and so

5:40

Jeff is like but whoa wait guys

5:43

Jean sleeps in the house of fun the program

5:45

director sleeps there like a dragon

5:48

like a dragon guarding its treasure I don't

5:50

know guys so they were he was building

5:52

it up in their minds that if

5:55

you try and take this from her and you wake

5:57

her up it's over we're all gone out of camp

6:00

We'll never be here again. So these

6:02

kids have the weight of the world on

6:04

their shoulders, but they're up for the challenge.

6:06

They're just, there's nothing beneath them but failure,

6:08

but they could succeed and they could be

6:10

legends. And so out they sneak in the

6:12

middle of the night. They're

6:15

dressed all in black, because that's how

6:17

you hide in the dark. And they

6:19

sneak out of their cabin with Jeff, and they're

6:21

ducking, and they're diving behind rocks, behind

6:25

cabins and trees.

6:28

And every now and then we

6:30

would place a counselor on his time off to

6:32

walk by and scare him, to

6:35

make them hide. So they make it to

6:37

the house to find, and they're like, guys, guys, oh

6:39

man, here it is. She's out there. I

6:41

see her. And I just got into

6:43

my sleeping bag. It was on my pillow,

6:45

and I was like, pfft. And

6:48

I was pretending to sleep. It's sleep talking. I'm like,

6:50

oh, pirates. And

6:54

they're like, she's talking about pirates. And

6:56

so they sneak in, and they gather around me in

6:58

a circle. And I can hear them,

7:00

and they're like, OK, guys, guys, pick up the edge of

7:02

the sleeping bag. Get her

7:04

head, get her head. And so

7:07

they're shaking, and I'm like, oh, god, don't trap me.

7:09

Don't trap me. And so I

7:11

hear them open up the door, and the first thing I

7:14

know, I know there's stairs going down. And

7:16

next they go down the hill, past

7:18

the dining hall, to the floating

7:20

dock. And I'm like, oh, god. And

7:23

so eight little boys, eight year

7:25

old boys, I'm

7:29

heavier than they're used to lifting. And they're like, whoa, whoa.

7:32

And they set me down on the end of the dock.

7:35

And I'm like, thank god. OK. And

7:38

so they were like, reach it. And they were so

7:40

geeked. But they're like, shh, shh, guys, it can't be

7:43

hard. And so they race back up to the house

7:45

with fun, and they loot it for all it's worth.

7:48

I actually just like two bags of Doritos because I

7:50

pre-planned. And I'm like, Jeff, you can have like two

7:52

bags of Doritos and maybe a bag of cookies, but

7:54

that's it. And

7:57

so they loot the house with fun, and they race

7:59

back. to their cabin and once I see they're gone I'm

8:01

like okay I can get out now. Right

8:04

as it starts to begin raining. So

8:06

the next morning I

8:09

come down to breakfast and they come

8:11

down to breakfast and

8:13

I'm going over my announcements. Okay if

8:15

you're in swim class don't forget wear

8:17

your swim class, your swimsuit it is

8:19

swimming and if you're in ceramics, glazier

8:22

pieces at free time today. I know!

8:25

If you were the ones who did what

8:27

you did last night I will not

8:29

rest until I find you. And

8:32

I amped it up but they

8:35

wanted credit. They had achieved this

8:37

impossible dream and they

8:39

stood up on the picnic tables all eight of them

8:41

all these eight little boys and they're like it

8:44

was us the cabin of Streak It and

8:46

we pulled off the best the most amazing

8:48

most epic the most legendary prank ever and

8:50

we're only eight. And those

8:52

boys walked off proud that day with something

8:55

that they will never forget and those

8:58

quiet kids those kids who are you know

9:00

usually in school just little wallflowers they

9:03

felt like they'd stepped up to the plate and

9:06

they were something that nobody thought they were and

9:08

that makes it all worth it and that is why

9:10

I love being a program director. So thank

9:12

you very much. Applause

9:20

That was Jean Spindler. Jean worked for

9:22

summer camps for 18 years. She

9:25

loved sunshine, hot days, thinking up

9:27

incredibly strange things to do and

9:30

enjoyed watching kids and young staff

9:32

find their strengths, build confidence, make

9:34

friends and become leaders. If you'd

9:37

like pictures of Jean at summer

9:39

camp just go to themoth.org/extras. We'll

9:41

have some fun summer camp pics

9:43

on our website. Up

9:45

next is Liz Krippel. She told this at a

9:47

Dallas Story Slam where the theme of the night

9:50

was drive. A note that this

9:52

story talks about lice. Just a warning for any

9:54

people that are icked out by bugs. Here's

9:56

Liz live at the mall. I'm

10:05

nine years old and I'm on the

10:07

way to the best summer of my

10:09

life. I'm

10:11

on the bus driving eight hours to go

10:13

to Camp Mad Penai. All

10:16

girls, Jewish summer camp, think

10:18

parent traps on steroids. I

10:21

look around and all the girls are screaming,

10:23

all the camp songs and I'm thinking to

10:25

myself, this needs to be good. I

10:28

had a really hard school year. I just

10:30

got diagnosed with dyslexia. I

10:32

had no more friends and I experienced a lot of bullying.

10:35

So this summer had to be good. The

10:38

bus pulls up to camp and everyone starts pouring

10:41

out and screaming and hugging their

10:43

best friends. They acted

10:45

like they hadn't seen years. All

10:48

of a sudden all the girls start lining up. I

10:51

ask the one in front of me, why is everyone lining up?

10:54

She says we need to get our heads checked

10:56

for lice before we go in. My

10:59

stomach drops because two years ago I

11:02

had lice and I am pretty sure

11:04

I have lice right now. I

11:07

didn't want to tell anyone because I didn't want my

11:09

summer to be taken away from me. So

11:12

I get to the front of the line and I sit down

11:14

and I am inching lower and lower in

11:16

my chair as the camp counselor starts combing

11:18

through my hair. Then

11:20

she stops. She looks at me

11:22

and she says have a great summer at camp,

11:25

you're all clear. And

11:27

I do. I have the best time.

11:30

I am making friends. I'm going

11:32

water skiing, ropes course, playing tennis,

11:34

making best friends and the coolest

11:36

part is I get

11:38

this cool nickname, red. Everyone

11:42

at camp is calling me red and I

11:44

feel so seen. I have never experienced this

11:46

before in my life. It's

11:49

an amazing experience. We

11:53

are three weeks into camp and we are playing

11:55

jacks during rest hour and the

11:57

unit leader comes in. She says girls we are going

11:59

to have a great summer. everyone come outside we need

12:01

to have another lice check and

12:03

I'm thinking oh no my

12:06

lice has gotten so much

12:08

worse I'm finding

12:10

bugs on my pillows I'm

12:12

sneaking behind the showers

12:14

so that I can take Alexa Hurwitz's

12:16

lice under spray and spray it all

12:18

over to try to get them out

12:21

and I'm so itchy but I've been trying to hide

12:23

it because I don't want to be the icky girl

12:25

that gave everyone lice so I go

12:28

outside and the camp counselor starts looking

12:31

through my hair and she says red

12:34

we can't really see the lice

12:36

we can't really see your head in this light can

12:38

you please go to the health center I

12:41

walk up the stairs or the hill up to

12:43

the lice of the health center and

12:46

the nurse doesn't even look in my hair and

12:48

she says this is the worst case of lice

12:50

we have ever seen so I start

12:54

hysterically crying and

12:56

the camp director and my counselor comes and they say

12:58

I have to go home because

13:00

it's so bad and the whole

13:02

time at camp I didn't brush my hair because no one

13:05

told me how to take care of it so it was

13:07

a huge knot so I

13:09

go home back to New York and I

13:11

spend the week they are combing through my

13:14

hair pulling and yanking and the bugs are

13:16

flying everywhere and it's

13:18

disgusting but after the

13:20

week they decide I'm all clear I get

13:22

to go back to camp and I'm dreading

13:24

going back to camp because my perfect summer

13:26

has been taken away from me I've

13:29

now the icky girl that gave everyone lice

13:31

and the worst part is that they're gonna

13:33

take my nickname away so

13:36

I get back to camp and it's

13:38

rest hour and I walk through the bunk and

13:41

all my bunk mates are standing there with a

13:43

huge sign that says welcome home

13:45

red and they all run and hug me

13:47

and it's like no time has passed and

13:49

they weren't upset that I get everyone lice

13:53

so camp became this very special

13:55

place to me it was where

13:57

I found my drive to be

14:00

my true authentic self, it

14:03

was where I learned to be

14:05

silly and laugh and know that

14:08

things don't need to be that serious.

14:10

I went to camp for eight summers

14:12

holding very closely to my nickname red

14:16

and as time went

14:18

on I graduated from college and I

14:20

moved to Dallas things became really serious

14:22

and things became intense and I lost

14:24

that lightness and that

14:27

joy and that silliness

14:29

that I had at camp and when

14:31

things get really intense and I feel

14:34

like I've lost that sense of security in

14:36

myself and feel like I don't belong I

14:38

just think what would red do. That

14:50

was Liz Cripple. Liz,

14:52

also known as red, is

14:55

currently venturing across Asia and

14:57

Australia as a backpacker on

14:59

a trip of self discovery

15:01

and exploring her passion of

15:03

small-scale sustainable farming. She

15:05

fondly remembers her time at camp where the nickname

15:07

red stuck with her to this day. If

15:10

you'd like to see a photo of Liz at summer

15:12

camp with her extremely red hair just

15:15

go to the moth.org/extras. That's

15:18

it for this episode. Remember if you

15:20

like the stories be sure to share this podcast

15:22

with a friend and tell them to subscribe

15:24

so they can listen as soon as it comes out. From

15:27

all of us here at the Moth have a story

15:30

worthy week. Born

15:33

and raised in work New York Amanda Garcia's

15:35

favorite part of growing up was the sleepaway

15:37

camp she attended every summer in Connecticut. She

15:40

first discovered the Moth radio hour while doing

15:42

laundry and it incentivized her to make the

15:44

tour a weekly routine. One of

15:46

her favorite things about the New York experience

15:48

is overhearing strangers share their stories with one

15:50

another on the subway. This episode

15:52

of the Moth podcast was produced by

15:55

Sarah Austin-Janisse, Sarah Jane Johnson and me

15:57

Mark Sollinger. The rest of the

15:59

Moth leadership team includes Sarah Haberman, Christina

16:01

Norman, Jennifer Hickson, Meg Bowles, Kate

16:03

Tellers, Marina Gloucet, Suzanne Rust, Brandon

16:06

Grant Walker, Leigh-Anne Gulley, and Aldi

16:08

Caza. The Moth would like to

16:10

thank its supporters and listeners. Stories

16:12

like these are made possible by

16:14

community giving. If you're not already

16:17

a member, please consider becoming one

16:19

or making a one-time donation today

16:21

at themoth.org/giveback. All moth stories

16:23

are true, as remembered by the storytellers.

16:25

For more about our podcast, information on

16:28

pitching your own story, and everything else,

16:30

go to our website, themoth.org.

16:33

The Moth Podcast is presented by

16:35

PRX, the Public Radio Exchange, helping

16:37

make public radio more public at

16:40

prx.org. This

16:45

story is brought to you by Brooks Running

16:47

and told by Nashawn Lasley. Stick

16:50

around, give it a listen, and should

16:52

it inspire you to move towards your

16:54

own finish line, remember that Brooks

16:56

has the gear to take you to

16:58

that place that makes you feel more

17:00

alive. Let's run there. Open

17:02

up your arms, relax your stance,

17:05

spread your legs, keep going. Oh

17:08

my God, Daddy, if you don't shut up, I'm going

17:10

to come across this fence and show

17:12

you how relaxed I am. Mind

17:15

you, I'm in the middle of a

17:17

400-yard dash, which I don't know

17:19

how anybody dashes 400 yards

17:22

in high school. Mind you, this is also

17:24

a race I did not want to run,

17:26

but because I was kind of fast, but

17:29

not super fast, I got to run the

17:31

400-yard dash. I didn't want

17:35

to go. The person who was supposed to be

17:37

there just didn't show up, which I was kind

17:39

of wishing I had done at that moment, but

17:41

I was there. From the moment

17:43

I stomped to my place

17:45

in line, to the starting little

17:48

thingies, runners, my

17:50

dad was there

17:52

yelling, open up

17:54

your hands, open your stride,

17:57

go, Vinay, go. I

18:00

wasn't here for it like the first couple

18:02

of laps. But there's something you need to

18:05

know about my dad. He has always been

18:07

my cheerleader. Like he was just, he was

18:09

a coach. So everything he told us came

18:11

out like in, go, you can do it,

18:13

do your best. And he always repeated everything.

18:16

Like I can tell you everything he always

18:18

told us, keep your eyes wide open, you

18:20

know, expect the best from people,

18:22

but be prepared for the worst. Like he told

18:24

us the same thing over and over,

18:27

but it was all to make us

18:29

better people and to encourage us. And

18:31

I remember one time when I came

18:33

home from college, my dad

18:35

was sitting in the living room watching a

18:37

documentary on Beyonce. So

18:39

this was pre-Queen B status, but

18:41

you know, I was still digging her. So

18:44

I sat down to watch with him and

18:46

we were just enjoying it, you know, just

18:48

sitting down like fathers and daughters do, I

18:50

guess, watch Beyonce. And

18:53

at one point Beyonce tells when her

18:56

birthday is and I'm born 1981, Beyonce

18:58

was born September 4th. Everybody

19:01

knows that, 1981. And

19:04

so at that moment, my dad like

19:07

just looks over at me, like looks

19:10

back at Beyonce. He

19:13

looks at me again, he looks back

19:15

at Beyonce and

19:17

he's like, she's the same age as you.

19:20

I'm like, yeah, we just both heard 1981. He

19:23

looks at me. You

19:25

know how many millions she's made? So

19:31

I looked at my dad and I said, you realize her dad

19:34

is her manager, right? But,

19:41

you know, being my dad, he kind of laughed it off. He's

19:43

like, no, I'm just trying to get you to understand she's

19:45

the same age as you. You

19:48

know, she was a little girl and then

19:50

she grew up and you know, she followed her

19:52

dreams. You know, now you can do anything that

19:54

you want to do. Anything you put

19:56

your mind to. But

19:58

back to that race. I

20:01

am running begrudgingly, but it

20:03

seems like in every, if

20:05

you know how you run track, it's a circle, right?

20:08

But there are like corners. If

20:10

you're running, that's the way it helped me break it up to

20:12

think of it as, you know, little

20:14

corners. And I would count the corners and

20:16

that's how I know how soon I would

20:19

be done. And at every dag corner, there

20:21

is my daddy. He's like 50 years old,

20:23

I promise you, at every corner. And I'm

20:25

running as fast as I can. I'm like,

20:27

how will you just turn? And

20:29

now you're here and

20:31

telling me, go Vinay, go. So,

20:35

and I really wanted to yell, shut up daddy. Like,

20:37

just let me run. But I just like,

20:39

okay, the best way to shut him up is to run. I

20:41

was way behind the start because I did not

20:43

want to run, but he's still

20:46

there and he's just yelling, go, go. So

20:48

I just start going. And I mean, I'm just cooking and booking,

20:51

like, I can't wait to get to the end of this thing.

20:53

So I can tell him to leave me alone. Don't ever do

20:55

that when I run again. And

20:57

then suddenly I look up and I

20:59

realize, oh crap, like I'm close. Like

21:01

I could win this thing. Like here's

21:04

the girl that's supposed to win. Here's

21:06

everybody else. I don't even know how

21:08

this happened. And then,

21:11

but I'm like, there's no way I'm beating her. Like

21:13

I wasn't close to her though, right? Like she's up

21:16

there, but it was just me and her, right? And

21:18

so then I heard my dad, come on Vinay, you could

21:20

take her, you could take her. And I'm like, no, I

21:22

can't daddy, like she's up there. But

21:25

I just, I was like, okay, whatever, forget it. I'm gonna

21:27

do it. And so I just start booking and I'm like,

21:29

okay, daddy said I could do it, I can do it.

21:31

It's always been true my whole life. I could do it.

21:33

And sure enough, like we're toe to toe.

21:35

And homegirl looks over at me like, hold up. Like, where'd

21:37

you come from? Like, this is

21:39

my race. Like she was taking all

21:41

the things my daddy were saying and like, my name's

21:44

Vinay, right? And so I'm

21:46

just going and I'm like, I can do this. And

21:48

I promise you it was like something you see on

21:50

TV. Like it was her, then it was me, then

21:53

it was her, then it was me. And then I

21:55

hear my daddy go Vinay go. And so I went

21:57

and it just so happened. Like there was the lion.

22:00

I was. So, thank you. I

22:05

was so pumped

22:08

and I'm really super duper sad to

22:10

tell you that my dad passed in

22:12

2008. And you

22:14

know when I think about all those times that he

22:16

repeated things to me and got on my nerves and

22:18

I'd be like, daddy shut up. You tell me that

22:21

every day you always telling me that. But I feel

22:23

like somewhere in him he must have known or God

22:25

knew that I was going to need those things because

22:27

I lost him when I was 27 and

22:29

he was he's not there to repeat those things

22:31

to me anymore. But I don't have

22:33

to worry because every time I get to a corner

22:35

and I think I'm not going to I think I'm

22:38

not going to I make it I can

22:40

hear the most beautiful voice in the world

22:42

saying go Vinay go. Other

22:51

classic movies presents Decoding John Ford,

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23:00

of renegade movie director John Ford.

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Ford was a living legend, a

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cinematic giant, and also a notorious

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egomaniac who could unload on actors.

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You will hear from the best

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23:18

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23:20

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23:23

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week, available wherever you get your podcasts.