Dan Kennedy (8:48)

That was David Coven. David Coven is a recent graduate from the University of Washington, where he fell in love with education, renewable energy, and just overall trying to do good for the world. He's worked at the National Science Foundation, Boeing, Tesla. He helped create the first Pacific Northwest Hyperloop team for SpaceX's competition. And working for all these dream companies inspired David to help others get to experience their dreams, too. His nonprofit Scholarship Junkies helped students get to college for free and experience the magic of higher education. Our second story on the podcast this week was told at a special college slam that we did at AM Indiana University. Taryn Dickerson shared this story. The theme of the night was choices.

Taryn Dickerson (9:38)

So nowadays I typically tell people I'm more of a tattoo editor than a tattoo artist. What that means is that it's your job to provide me the content. And then I'm going to say, we need to add this, we need to take away that. And rarely ever do you have a tattoo that ready just now. So I always didn't tattoo. I started out just being a student at IU. I wanted to tattoo. When I was 17, I went into my first tattoo shop, and I was with my girlfriend at the time, and she wanted to get her nose pierced. So I knew she was like a badass, you know, And I saw this tattooer with these beautiful arms. I mean, I didn't even know tattoos could be so beautiful at the time. I mean, tattooing wasn't on TV like that yet. I mean, now it's a little too much on tv. So, you know, I inquired on how you do it, came to iu, figured it probably would never happen, and I need to get a little smarter. You know, it's not really fun trying to be in your dorm and someone says, what do you want to do for a living? I tattoo I want to tattoo. Your friends are like, I thought we grew up when we left high school. So, yeah. So after my freshman year, I went to Chicago and I found a shop, and I just hung out all the time. I said, I don't want to learn anything. I just want to draw here, if that's okay, and came back to Bloomington with, like, nine drawings and went into a tattoo shop and showed them. And I knew I could get a job because I had drawn nine things, you know, probably had more drawing experience than anyone in town who tattooed. At that point, I figured, you know, I thought so. And the guy told me, I don't know about that. Maybe you need to do a couple more. So a year went by. Spent a year, one week. I draw, drawing just one at a time, one at a time. And at the end of the year, I kind of didn't even want to tattoo anymore, but I just wanted to show him that I. I drew 50 things, so now I'm probably, like, 50 times the tattooer than anybody in this town. So I showed it to him, and he was like, you know, these still all suck, but you're tenacious, so I mean, maybe you can just hang out if you want. So for the next six months, I didn't get paid. I just drew constantly. And all of a sudden, the day came for my first tattoo, and my boss said, do you have any friends? At the time, I kind of didn't, but luckily I had Facebook, so made a little status update, and all of a sudden I had, like, all these people asking for a tattoo, and I selected one of my friends, and I'm getting ready to have to do something I've never done before. And I never thought I'd be terrified to actually tattoo, to be honest with you. I feel like you have to have a little delusion to think that you can do something that most people don't do. And then also, just drawing on canvas is one thing. Drawing on paper is another thing. Drawing on a person that you don't quite know is terrifying. Does anybody else tattoo in here? Exactly. It's terrifying. So the day comes, and my boss says to me, this is how you put your machines together. This is the liner. This is the shader. Ask so and so exactly if you did it right, because I'm going to the back. I'm terrified now. I thought I'd be like, step by step, okay, you're going to get through it. And I'm all alone now. So I get my machines together, I'm double checking, checking, triple checking. Everything. I figure this is maybe more important than the first time I had sex, because the first time you have sex, you don't have to actually be good at it. You know, I asked who tattooed, but a lot of you guys made noise, so I'm guessing a lot of you know what I'm talking about. Just there. So. But so I put the machines together. I'm triple checking everything. The girl's relaxed. She's not worried at all. And I'm kind of wondering if that means that I just got this, and my boss peeks his head over the shoulder and she's my hands just shaking. And he tells me, you know, you don't have to shake the machine. It does it for itself. So I'm shaking, and I get everything ready. I put the A and D on her skin. I make sure the stencil's ready. I probably asked her, do you want to change the positioning of it just in case, just to delay it just slightly more? And I go to make my first line. And I really thought that it was, like, going to be the moment where it all made sense. All the hard work, all the dorm conversations. The first time I stepped in a tattoo shop, it all was circulating around this one event. And I do it, you know, I put this needle into this girl's skin for the first time ever, and I wipe where the ink should be, and there's nothing there. Apparently, I forgot to put the ink in the machine. Luckily, I was able to figure out how to put ink back in the machine, and we were able to actually tattoo her. It was actually not bad. And so I did my first tattoo, and I thought, I gotta do this for the rest of my life. And, you know, now I just have to figure out how to pass finite math.

Dan Kennedy (16:04)

That was Taran Dickerson Taren is the owner of Crybabies Electric Tattooing in Bloomington, Indiana, where he currently resides. In 2017, he was awarded an Emerging Artist award by the Bloomington Society of Arts and Letters for a painting series that he's done titled Black Girl Magic. He's also currently working on a tattoo vlog series on his YouTube channel. For that and more of his work, we have links to his social media and his personal website on our site, themoth.org Our final story on the Moth podcast this week comes from David lepelstadt. And he shared this at a high school grand slam that we did live here in New York City. The theme of the night was growing Pains. Here's David Lechistek.

David Leppelstadt (16:52)

Yeah, it's good. So, like many Other younger children. When I was little, I lived what I call a phase to phase lifestyle. And this was pretty much I was defined by whatever phase I was in. And these phases would be like TV shows or books or something that I just become obsessed with and devote my entire existence to and then have that whole thing completely shift in like a week. And this would become a big dilemma come birthday time when grandma was getting me Hot Wheels, when I'd already fully transitioned into Power Rangers territory. But there was something different to my phases, and that was that I had this theme to them, like this overarching theme. And that was the color red. And it wasn't anything satanic. It was just. I really love the color red and all characters and things associated with it. I remember I was 5 years old and in the backseat of a rental car that my dad was driving, and my whole family was in it, my mom and my brother. And I was just sitting there and I was just thinking, why do I have to be in this car when I have the ability of super speed? And this was during my superhero face. Of course, I gravitated towards the Red Flash. But this time I actually thought I had his superpowers and I could run and. And get to our destination. And we were headed to my uncle's pool party in New Jersey. And it was a very exciting time. It was an annual summer pool party. And it was so different for me. It was this new world. It was suburbia. It was staying up late and going to the mall. And there was a pool table and a ping pong table and a pool for the pool party. And there was also Michael. Now, Michael was always introduced to me as Uncle Dan's partner. So I thought my Uncle Dan was in the FBI or something, but I was told to call him Uncle Michael, which kind of confused me because he wasn't my uncle. I always defined family, defined my uncles and aunts as people who were related to me by blood or by marriage. And Michael was neither. But I had no problem calling him Uncle Michael because he was like an uncle to me. He was amazing. He was the adult who would actually pay attention to my brother and I. When we were little, all the other adults would just come up to us and be like, wow, you grew up so quickly. But Uncle Michael would actually play with us and talk with us and really make all these family gatherings so special for my brother and I. So we're at the pool party, and my brother and I, we just want to get into the pool like that. That's our goal. We live in the city, we don't really get to do that that much, so. So the second we're in there, we jump in the pool and we're having some fun. I'm staying in the Shaolin, but my brother, who just kind of learned to swim, is swimming all around. He's very excited. This is his new skill that I don't possess. And I'm just sitting there and I'm waiting for Uncle Michael to get in the pool. Because once Uncle Michael's in the pool, that means splash fights, that means diving contests, that means a really fun time. But he's all the way at the other end of the backyard and he's grilling everything. And I'm just waiting there, watching my brother flex on me and swim all over the place. And I'm getting really envious. And then it hits me. Today I have the abilities of the Flash. I have super speed. And if I put my super speed to work, I could probably use it and get to the deep end of that pool. If I'm moving super quickly, if my body's going, I'm going to float, I'm going to make it. I'm going to develop buoyancy. So I'm getting impatient. I'm not waiting for Uncle Michael, and I decide to take off. And I think I'm going really quickly. Like, I'm running, I'm using all my force, but I'm a puny little five year old and I'm in water. So I'm moving very slowly and I'm running. And the way this pool is set up is there's a very shallow end which I can stand in, and then a steep incline and then a very deep end that I cannot swim in. So I take off and I'm running. And the second I hit the ramp, I slide in and I lose all my power. And I'm trying to break the surface of the water, and I'm swimming up and trying to break it, but I can't. And I'm getting tired and my eyes are sort of closing, and this is a sensation known as drowning. So I'm drowning, and I'm in the pool drowning. And I'm trying to call for help, but no one can really hear me.

Taryn Dickerson (21:17)

And.

David Leppelstadt (21:17)

And my eyes are really coming down now. And all of a sudden I feel something grab me all around my stomach and pull me out of the pool and pull me onto the surface of the concrete that was right by the pool. And I open my eyes for a little second and I see Uncle Michael's face. And then he pulled me into the house and put me in the master bed, which was like tempur pedic with a really nice warm pillow and I fell right to sleep. Now, recently my biological uncle and Uncle Michael broke up and this was really rough for me because it meant I really wouldn't get to see him. These pool parties would no longer have Uncle Michael at them, which was a really rough thing for me. You know, he was such an influential part of my life, but he will forever change my definition of family. My definition of family is no longer born related by blood or by marriage. It's someone who would run from the backyard and ruin his really nicely picked out summer outfit just because he saw that red bathing suit going up and down. And he thought maybe there's a chance that David's in trouble. And he jumped in and he saved my life. And I'll also never forget waking up on that summer day to a red Clifford the Dog plate with a hot dog on it with a line of red tomato ketchup and a red post it on it with writing on it that said, here I come to save the day. Love, Uncle Michael. Thank you.

Dan Kennedy (22:56)

That was David Leppelstadt. David is a senior at LaGuardia High School in New York City where he's an acting major. He likes making jokes, playing basketball, and playing guitar. Next year he's going to be attending Wesleyan University to major in something he says, but he just doesn't quite know what yet and he still visits his Uncle Michael in New Jersey. He also plays Words with Friends against him and he swears that he will always be Uncle Michael regardless. David shared some great photos with us and if you'd like to see pictures of David and of Uncle Michael, just check out what he sent us at our site@thethemost.org and that does it for this week's episode of the Moth Podcast. Three great stories that we loved dearly and we hope you did too. Have a story worthy week and we'll see you next time. From everyone here at the Moth in.

Sponsor (23:47)

New York City, Dan Kennedy is the author of Loser Goes First, Rock on and American Spirit. He's also a regular host and storyteller.

Dan Kennedy (23:56)

With the Moth Podcast, production by Timothy Lou Lee. The Moth Podcast is presented by prx, the Public Radio Exchange, helping make public radio more public at prx. Org.