The Moth - 25 Years of Stories: Finding Community

Episode Date: November 18, 2022

On this week’s episode, we take a look back at 1999, to the origins of the Moth’s community program. We’ll have a story about The Mets, and one about life after prison. This episode is hosted by Larry Rosen. Storytellers: Marie Hershkowitz David Gaskin

Attention Houston! You have listened to our podcast and our radio hour, but did you know the Moth has live storytelling events at Wearhouse Live? The Moth has opened Mike's storytelling competitions called Story Slams that are open to anyone with a five-minute story to share on the night's theme. Upcoming themes include love hurts, stakes, clean, and pride. GoodLamoth.org forward slash Houston to experience a live show near you. That's theMoth.org forward slash Houston. Welcome to The Moth Podcast. I'm Larry Rosen, your host for this episode. In 2022, we've been marking the 25 years of The them off by looking back at our history.

This episode, we're going all the way to 1999. The year we began our community engagement program. We started the program as a way of engaging with storytellers who might not otherwise have found their way to us. Today the program partners with local groups, cultural institutions, and nonprofits to host workshops that inspire confidence and self-reflection and deepen connections within and between communities. To celebrate the program, we're playing two stories that came out of community workshops and stick around after the stories to hear a little more on what the program's all about. First up is Marie Hershkoids. Marie participated in a

workshop we conducted in partnership with the Brooklyn Public Library in 2014. She went on to share her story in a New York City community showcase that same year. Here's Marie Leibat-Maw. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. It's the summer of 1965, the one right before junior high school. My parents are hard workers. That's what they did. They worked. Vacation was not a word in our family dictionary. So here I am, bored to death, just wishing for school

to start already, so I'd have something to do. So the one day I turned on the television set, and I find the New York Mets. Now I don't know much about baseball at that point, but I decided to have nothing else better to do, so I might as well watch. So I watched the point, but I decided to have nothing else better to do, so might as well watch. So I watched the game, and I realized that this is simple. I can follow this.

There's nine players, nine innings. They come up in the same order all of the time, and with my mets, it's three up, three down. Very easy. I caught on quick. I caught on quick. And by the end of the game I understood baseball. I know all the players names and I was hooked. So now my sister and I start

watching all the televised games and my parents actually managed to take us to a couple of games over that summer of 65. By the summer of 66 my sister and I are taking the Aaron Haif long trek out to Shea Stadium on the trains by ourselves. And we're going as many, to as many games as my father could get tickets to, not realizing that it's easy to get tickets because the Metzusolousie nobody else wants to watch them play. So in the meantime, we don't care if they win or they lose, we don't care how good or bad they are. We don't even know they win or lose, we don't care how good or bad they are, we don't even know that they're terrible. But we're a Met's fans and we're happy. And then the season ends.

And we're sad. And it takes until 1967, when I'm there with my parents watching the World Series that I realize, if my team was good, if they could actually get into first place with the National League, my season wouldn't have to end because they could actually get into first place when the National League, my season wouldn't have to end because they could go to the World Series. So I asked my dad, when the Mets get into the World Series, will you take us? When he says, sure. Well, in 68 comes, we go to lots more games, we're happy campers, and 68 World Series comes along, and of course the Mets are not in it. And we ask our dad when the Mets get into the World Series, will you take us?

And he says, sure. And of course, my father knows the Mets finished last in 1968. And no one in the baseball world or in fact anybody in their right mind would ever expect that he was going to have to make do on a promise like this any time soon, if ever. Well, now if you're a Metz fan of a certain age, you know what happened in 1969. Straight from the Sella, 9th place, last place, 9 out of 9, they shot right up to first place in 1969 and actually won the National League Pennett and went into the World Series against the hard-hitting Baltimore Orioles. So here we are. They're back from Baltimore having won one and lost one so they're even even

coming into New York to Shay Stadium for games three, four and five on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, even one, one. So Monday I don't see any Metts tickets. So I'm hearing on the radio that they're hard to get. It costs hundreds of dollars. and Thursday, even one-one. So Monday, I don't see any Metz tickets. So I'm hearing on the radio that they're hard to get. It costs hundreds of dollars. It's going to be record-breaking crowd standing room only. And I'm worried, so I asked Dad, are we going to the World Series?

And he says, don't worry about it. So Tuesday comes. Tuesday goes. We don't go to the game, but the Metz manage to win. So now they're going into Wednesday to game three, no, to game four, winning, leading two games to one. So of course that night we're asking Dad, are we going to the world series?

He says, don't worry about it. Well now I'm worried because, you know, there's only two games left here in New York. And even if they win, they're gonna win them both, and they're gonna win it here at home, or they're gonna go back to Baltimore and play the last two. But either way, there's only two games for me to watch.

If for me to get a chance to go and share this with them. So anyway, Wednesday comes. We again watch them win on TV. They manage to win without us. Wednesday night. I'm asked, there I am, asking dad again, like a broken record. But we're going to the World Series.

And he says, don't worry about it. So here it is, Thursday afternoon, today when they can win it all. And we're home. So we're getting ready. I'm resigned now to watch this game on TV and all of a sudden my mother comes into the kitchen with two tickets in her hand, this hand and the car keys in the other. So now I am overjoyed and panic-stricken. So I look at the clock and I see there's no way even for my mother drives us to the train. There's no way that we are going to make it to this game for the start of the game.

So, the nights when I know we're in the car and before I realize it, we're not going in the direction of the train, we're going the opposite way. And I'm understanding that my mother, this woman who has never driven out of the neighborhood, intends to take us to the ballpark. Well, I don't know how we got there, but it was in record time, and my very next memory is of my mother arguing with the parking lot attendant, because they want her to pay the fee, and she's refusing to pay. And this is going back and forth, and the meantime, getting more and more nervous, and all the

cars behind me would be perfectly happy to pay their fee and get into this ballpark and time to watch this great game of the century, and all, so they're hunking their horns. And this is getting the attention now of a police officer. So he comes on over and he wants to know, what's the hold up? The attendant tells him, this woman won't pay. So he says, lady, you better have a good reason. So she says, this three of us, only two tickets. I'm not staying.

I'm just dropping them off. This lady, you're crazy. What are your nuts? I'd never let my kids go when I had the chance to go to a game like this. But he felt so sorry for her and so impressed that she was doing this for us, that he waived her on in for free, and even told her how to get back on the parkway. So she rushes us to the nearest gate. We've run in, we have to stop

for the national anthem, but we're this close to our seats and we actually managed to slip on in there as the first pitch is being thrown. Well the rest is history. You all know what happened. The Mets won the World Series. They became World Champs and I was there. Best sports moment ever. For me, still to this day, all these years later, best moment ever. So now here I am at the end of the game. I'm on the 7th train, coming home with all these jubilant, mad fans screaming and yelling, I'm holding on. It's for dear life, and I'm clutching my souvenir right-field grass close to my heart.

And I'm thinking, how on earth did my father come up with these tickets? And what on earth did my mother think, and when did she get these tickets? And what was she thinking that she couldn't go? And what gave her the strength to think that she could drive us there? Right? So I'm sitting now, I'm a smart kid.

I know what parents are all about. I know they're supposed to keep you safe. They're supposed to provide you the basics. They're supposed to teach you right from wrong, and maybe give you a little encouragement now and then, but when I'm standing there, it occurs to me that parenting is more than that. It's about keeping promises and about self-sacrifice, and I'm thinking to myself right then and there that if I'm ever blessed to have children of my own, that I want to be the kind of parent that my parents were that day.

Yeah, I'm a Mets fan and I believe, but that day was the first time that I actually believed that every child deserves at least one day of perfect parenting. That was Maria Hershowitz, a devoted Mets fan for 57 years. Maria is still waiting for that elusive third world series championship. She and her family of long, suffering Metz fans thought for sure this was the year. In 2022 was a great season while it lasted. Marie says it's never been easy being a Metz fan, but it's always been fun. You gotta love the Metz, for all the joy the team has brought to my family over the years.

Our next story is from David Gaskin. We met David in a workshop we conducted with a second chance, Studio Hoos, a non-profit digital media company that trains and employs formerly incarcerated individuals. David went on to share his story at the 2022 Roth Bowl. You are. Christopher. It was September 10th 2009 and I was located in Governoral Correctional Facility. Governoral Correctional Facility is a medium classifier correctional facility and I was at the tell in a serving nine

years and eight months from 11 year bed. Bed is a terminology that we utilize to describe the length of a sentence. I was standing beside my cue, looking around, and I had a thought, Dave, you need to get rid of some of this crap. And the crap that I thought about getting rid of was my personal belongings that I had accumulated

over the years, and the reason why I was thinking about getting rid of was my personal belongings that I had accumulated over the years. And the reason why I was thinking about getting rid of it was because I was scheduled to be released the very next day. Upon having this thought, I looked around the dorm and I caught the eyes of my conwrites and I motioned them over to my cue with the nod of my head like, come over here. And they came over and once they got to the queue I just told them go in there and take whatever you want. My car ran June walked in first and he decided to take some of the clothes. He took some sweatsuits and some shirts that we call visitor room shirts. It allowed us to look cool I was out there on the

visitor room. Animal was the next one inside the queue. We went straight from our books about two or three reading books, and the rest were BBWs and black tells that he continued to grab. And I was who's the greedy one out of the whole crew went directly for my locker. He went right in, he started digging in the non-perishable items, the snacks, the canned goods, even a little packs of sugar he decided to take. Right then, that moment I was feeling great. Yeah, I'm about to be released the next day and I'm doing something great for my guys. And I was feeling with snacks the way. I began to

feel the pain in my chest. It happened so fast, it was sharp, and just as fast as it happens, it was just as fast as it left. So I could tend you on with my day, and I did something that I usually, uh, were young black men were doing at that moment when they were counting the fill in that they do not know. I just regarded it. I went about my day as a gym worker to my minotaur, the program, and when that was over, I returned back to the dawn.

When I returned back to the dawn, and I walked in, I noticed the usual. Some people standing around talking, some sitting down watching TV, others playing card games, chasas, chakas. But then I noticed the unusual. I noticed eyes, jewellery, and animal, and a far back at a TV room standing in what appears

to be around circle, meeting. To the untrained eye, they might have just been standing there, but to my eye, they was having a meeting, and this meeting was pretty intense. I immediately had two thoughts. The first, the fuck is going on over there. And the second, why wasn't I invited? So, I decided to make my way over to this circle to be fake nosy, right?

And that's being nosy, but first you have to fake it first, so I slides over and I start mosey in the rounds how I get a little close and as I get close I say the June what's going on over here and he turns around baby fast he says we're trying to figure out what to make you for your last meal today and he goes and turns back around and he snaps back with fast and then he says and I don't know why I be thinking about making you anything because you always go home the modern shock. Shockingly, I step back. I look at eyes and animal.

They begin to chuckle. I turn back and I look at June. And I says, sounds like you hate and broke. And me and June stay out of each other for a second. And they be both breaking. I tell our own little laugh. Mixed with a handshake and a bro hug. They decide to make some of my favorite items that night which is honey barbecue chicken, baked macaroni and cheese, some yams, and coconut

rice. Now animal who is from a Caribbean descent actually Jamaican made this coconut rice and this coconut rice was everything. I mean 10 plus years I've been out here in the world and I have yet to find anybody, any place, any restaurant who can make coconut rice like animal. I mean, it was fire, right? So I have to be made this fool. We all sat there and we get to break bread together, share some stories, reminisce of the time that we have spent together. And I remember that moment feeling very appreciated, very grateful. Like look at my guys, they had communicated, took their time out, put the gather this mill for me. And in that moment, those feelings and no motions was ripped away. Once again by that pain in my chest with this time, it was much more intense.

I felt like I had to coach myself the brief. As we were sitting here having conversations, I was hoping nobody noticed. And then the count was called. And I alleviated that feeling. After the count was called, I returned back into my cue and I laid on my bed and I put my hands behind my head when my fingers interlocked like this and across my legs. And I began to look out of the window and zone out. And as I zoned out, I noticed that feet shuffling and lock is open and closing, beginning to die down. Staring out the window, I began to have these thoughts, right?

And my thoughts was like, I wonder how many people slept in his bed, and I'm sleeping in right now. I wonder how many people slept in his bed who was supposed to be scheduled for release the next day. And of course, I thought about those that would never be released. Stephen out of the window, I noticed that the sky went from being dark black to a dark gray. And that dark gray turned into a light gray. And those feet shuffling and lock his doors opening and closing they had died down they begin to pick back up those thoughts were broken by

the sound of a telephone ringing ring ring ring the receiver was snatched up but nothing was said on my and the only thing I could hear was a loud bang when it slings. Boom. And then I heard something I've been waiting in here for a long time. Gaskin, which is my last name. My moment had come and I was about to be released, y'all. As if I didn't walk through the little small corridor, who else is there waiting for me?

June, I was an animal. Soon as I walked through the little small corridor. Who else is there waiting for me? June, I was an animal. Soon as I walked through the door, here go June, throwing his best combination of air punches, some jabs, mixed with some body shots. I found myself blatantly blocking them, but none of God in. I was standing behind him, he screaming, yeah, yeah. And an animal who's about six foot four, 230 plus pounds,

casually walked up to me, put his arm around my neck, his big arm, and what I thought was just going to be a humble hug, his arm began to get tighter, and tighter, and tighter around my neck. I found myself hitting him with a little jab, like, come on bro, loosen that up some. And right then that moment I was attacked again, but I same underlying feelings and emotions that I was having before.

But this time, it was very intense. I felt like somebody was squeezing on my esophagus and my heart at the same time. I had to coach myself to breathe. I felt like I was getting a little dizzy. I don't know if I was bugging out or In the long was just that tight of around my neck, right? So I hit them again with the little elbow like now. Girl, you gotta get up off me We set out good vibes and some farewells and I began to make my way The next step to that gel was like a blur. I remember going down to Outtake, which is the opposite of intake.

They gave me $40 and a bus ticket. And I was waiting with about 20 to 40 guys at the facility, waiting for the facility bus to take us to the nearest city, where we could catch a gray hound or a pita pan to get down to our city. Moms happen to be New York City. Woo! Woo!

Woo! I remember getting off the bus and looking at the people walking around so freely, men, women and children, someone's on cell phone and had blew my mind. Because I was so used to walking in straight, single-fowl line, I was like used to walking in straight single foul line. I was like, wow! I remember the smell. It was the McDonald's and the burger came mixed with the pollution in the air. I was like, yeah, I'm almost dead. And I remember

the guys talking about what they were going to do when they got home. Some of the food that they was going to eat. Their loved ones they couldn't wait to see. The things that they were going to do with their girlfriends. But I could think about none of that. The only thing I could think about was those guys that I left back in the facility, my comrades. I wonder what they was doing at this moment.

What was they having for lunch? Were they still working out? Are regular scheduling workouts? You know what I got, Joan, that I spoke to you about? Well, he had utilized any excuse to miss a workout. So I was pretty concerned about him, right? And then I thought to myself, what is wrong with me? Why I'm not having the thoughts that these guys

as being released are having? It wasn't a time I got my first job as a group facilitator when I was facilitating a group full of young men and I shared this story. And a young man inside that group said, that survivor's guilt, I turned the round like, facts. But the fact is, I ain't even know what survivors gave us. Thank God that

Google is our friend. So in that moment I learned that survivors gave us commonly associated with PTSD post-traumatic stress syndrome is when an individual or people survive an incident that most people did not survive. And it was in that moment I began to understand those attacks that I was having. When I was giving away my stuff to my car rash, that was cool, but what I really wanted to do was be able to give them their freedom. When they took their time out to make me that meal, I was grateful, but what I really wanted to do was something like what June said, for all of us to be on the outside eating,

whatever that we wanted to eat. And then those last five to the moment was when we were saying our goodbyes, what I really wanted was for them to be able to embark on that journey with me. I still get those attacks to this day. But instead of disregarding them, I utilize them to fuel the work that I do. When I work with the men and women that's formerly incarcerated and I help them navigate the barrier to a successful entry, I like to say, yes, that's what I do.

When I work with those young men and women that's closely associated the gang and gun violence, helping them change their mindset was to ultimately help them change their behaviors. I like to say, yeah, that's what I'm doing. Instead of disregarding those feelings, I utilize these feelings to help other survivors. Thank you. and Brooklyn? I want you to know that the old bet's dying, not the new bet's dying.

David recently discovered his interest in storytelling by assisting at an encouraging formerly incarcerated people to share their stories. David is a community leader working against gun and gang violence. He's also the lead consultant for conspiring for good, which helps organizations, corporations and individuals to imagine, cultivate, and co-create safety inside of their communities and work spaces. If you'd like to see a photo of David's community work, you can check out themawth.org-slash-extraus. The Community Education Program has grown a lot since 1999. Jennifer Birmingham, the most managing director of programs, tells us.

In 2022, the program initiated a participant to instructor pipeline. We also held our first drop-in workshops where alumni, their families, and friends come to develop stories in monthly virtual moth meetups. In 2023, we'll hold our first community's story slams, where alumni will share their stories in front of live audiences. In the 14 years I've been with them off. I've worked very closely in and with the community engagement program. And through all of this wonderful growth, what's remained consistent is the spirit, the energy, and the love that our participants and our instructors

and our partners bring to the process. So here's to many more years of connecting communities and shedding light on some of our most pressing social issues through the art and craft of true personal storytelling. Larry Rosen is a master instructor at The Moth. After 25 years teaching, directing, and practicing theater and comedy performance, Larry discovered the simplicity, power, and beauty of true stories. Shortly thereafter, he found them off. As they say, timing is everything.

This episode of the Moth podcast was produced by Sarah Austin-Geness, Sarah Jane Johnson, and me, Mark Salinger. The stories in this episode were directed by Larry Rosen. The rest of the Moth's leadership team includes Sarah Haberman, Katherine Burns, Jennifer Hickson, Meg Bulls, Kate Tellers, Jennifer Birmingham, Marina Klucche, Suzanne Rust, Brandon Grant, Leanne Gully, Indochladowski, and Aldi Kasa. All Moss 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, TheMouth.org.

The Mouth podcast is presented by Pierre X, the Public Radio Exchange, helping make public radio, more public at PierreX.org.