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Calling all educators. Join the Moth

0:57

this summer for the virtual Moth

0:59

Teacher Institute. We're not your average

1:01

teacher training. Forget what you think

1:03

you know about professional development. At

1:05

MTI, we're all about infusing your

1:07

classroom with the magic of storytelling.

1:09

MTI is for 5th to 12th

1:11

grade teachers, whether you're looking to

1:14

fine-tune your strategies or you're a

1:16

curious newcomer eager to learn more

1:18

about Moth storytelling. Picture this, a

1:20

new community of teachers all over

1:22

the country. Vibrant discussions, engaging activities,

1:24

live storytelling shows, access to Moth

1:26

curriculum, and so much more. This summer,

1:29

MTI will take place from August 5th

1:31

to the 9th. Applications close

1:33

on June 23rd. Visit

1:36

themoth.org/MTI to apply

1:38

today. From

1:53

PRX, this is the Moth Radio Hour. I'm

1:55

Meg Bowles. We all have

1:57

childhood memories. Some fond, some

1:59

painful. Some childhoods are full

2:01

of dreams and wishes, while others are more

2:03

focused on survival. In this

2:05

hour, we bring you three stories. From a

2:08

small town in Texas to upstate New York,

2:10

to the southeast of England, we'll hear how

2:12

different and yet how similar the experience of

2:14

growing up can be. Our

2:17

first story comes from Sifras Mansour. He shared

2:19

it live on stage at Alice Tully Hall

2:21

at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in

2:24

New York City. Here's Sifras

2:26

Mansour live at The Moth. So there

2:28

were no photographs of my parents' wedding

2:30

day in

2:42

the house when I was growing up. I

2:45

grew up in a town called Luton, just outside of London

2:47

in the 1980s. And

2:49

my parents were Pakistani Muslims and

2:52

they'd had an arranged marriage and apparently

2:54

it had been such an uneventful day

2:57

that nobody could remember the day, the week,

2:59

the month, or even the year that it

3:01

happened. Now,

3:05

my parents were many things, but the

3:07

one thing they definitely weren't was in love.

3:11

And the word love

3:13

was never used in our house. It

3:15

was completely taboo. You could almost say

3:17

that love was a four-letter word. And

3:21

so I was never told I love you before

3:23

I went to bed. Nobody told me I love you before

3:25

I went to school. And

3:27

my parents never said, I love you to each

3:30

other. And they made out

3:32

that this was a really good thing

3:34

because their argument was that white people

3:36

fell in love, got married

3:38

and then got divorced. Pakistanis

3:42

never loved the people they married, but

3:44

we stuck with them forever. So

3:51

my parents thought it was their duty to sort of

3:53

keep me away from the idea of love and

3:56

any kind of intimacy. And one way they did this

3:58

was by making sure that I had a that

48:00

I ended up at the highway, which I crossed.

48:02

And then I went down through the town cemetery

48:04

and the town golf course and all the way

48:06

into the center of town. And in the center

48:08

of town, I just happened to run into my

48:10

best friend, Paul. And I was so

48:12

relieved to see him. But I

48:14

couldn't bring myself to tell him what had happened.

48:17

I was certain that it was both

48:19

a great love story and

48:22

completely pathetic. Afterward,

48:26

for months, I was embarrassed

48:28

and heartsick. And on instant

48:31

messenger, I was always away.

48:35

And my away messages were

48:37

often dashboard confessional lyrics. And

48:44

I think I could tell you that that was the

48:47

end of the story. And I think if I did

48:49

tell you that, that would be kind of like saying

48:51

that God lives up in the sky. And

48:55

the truth is, the story really didn't

48:58

end there, although I was sure that

49:00

it had. A

49:04

couple years later, when she and I

49:06

were both juniors in high school, we

49:09

got cast as husband and wife in the

49:11

school play. We

49:14

were Mr. and Mrs. Keller in the

49:17

very serious drama, The Miracle Worker, the

49:19

story of how Helen Keller learned to

49:21

read and write. And

49:24

all of a sudden, I didn't need to think of

49:26

anything to say to her anymore. It was all just

49:28

written out for me. And

49:32

I don't know if that's why, but even

49:34

in between scenes, she and I found

49:37

we could talk easily and joke easily.

49:40

And we laughed a lot more than

49:42

I'd ever laughed with anybody. In

49:46

the play, I was supposed to

49:48

be Helen Keller's father, this stern,

49:50

sad, southern man. And I

49:52

really wanted to do a good job. But at

49:54

rehearsal, all I thought about was talking with her

49:57

and laughing with her. There

50:00

was this one moment where she and I were

50:02

laughing so hard We were just crying and then

50:05

the lights came up and the scene started

50:07

and I had to slam my fist on

50:09

the dining room Table and shout damn it

50:11

Katie. She can't see That's

50:17

the southern accent that I prepared for

50:19

the role And

50:26

so the play was bad But

50:34

by the end of it she and I were headed out on our

50:36

first date We

50:40

went to Applebee's This

50:44

It was early winter in

50:46

Western New York when everything is gray

50:50

The slush on the ground was gray the

50:52

strip mall was gray The sky

50:55

was low and gray and to me

50:57

on that night it all felt Endless

51:01

and it seemed entirely possible

51:04

that God lives everywhere These

51:17

days max Garcia Conover lives in a

51:19

small town in Maine He

51:21

is a songwriter and splits his time

51:23

between writing touring and teaching He

51:26

says his songs are both personal and political

51:28

and when he performs he'll often tell stories.

51:30

I saw the

51:32

scatter that stream Down

51:35

to the century trees you

51:37

can see a picture of max and find out more

51:39

about his music on our website the moth org Max's

51:42

latest album is called among horses 3

51:45

you're listening to a track from it

51:47

now called crow song slate

51:49

rockin teaming with carry

51:52

on bird caught in killed

51:56

by collision with door Endowment

54:00

for the Arts. The Moth Radio

54:02

Hour is presented by PRX. For

54:04

more about our podcast, for information

54:06

on pitching us your own story,

54:08

and everything else, go to our

54:10

website, themoth.org.