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- [00:00]
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- [01:09]
Dan Kennedy
Welcome to the Moth Podcast. I'm Dan Kennedy. Oh, and a quick thing to tell you. Literary Arts presents the Moth Main Stage in Portland, Oregon. That's going to be on Tuesday, February 7th. For more information and tickets, just visit themoth.org so this week we bring you two stories from the Moth Shop Community Education Program, which teaches storytelling principles to students and disenfranchised adults in underserved communities. The first story you're about to hear by Deborah Allen Carr was told live at the Moth in January at the annual Moth Shop All Star Review. The theme of the night was New York Stories.
- [01:56]
Deborah Allen Carr
Hello, hello. I'm standing in line at McDonald's and I really want those chocolate chip cookies. I have like $2.39 in my pocket. And just as I'm about to order the cookies, I see the McFlurry's. So I'm like, oh crap, now I want a McFlurry. I end up buying it. But. But I still wanted the cookies. And I'm still online. So I call out to my friend sitting at a table near the cashier, guys, do you have a dollar? They say, no. Then about four people behind me, I hear, oh, I got a dollar. And I turn around and see this tall, dark and handsome young man walk up to the front of the line. He gives me a dollar. I happily buy my cookies and sit with my friends. Now he and his boys are two tables away and they're all telling jokes and me and my friends are all laughing at them. One of his boys decides to come over and talk to one of my girlfriends. And then he walks over to me, stuffing my face with chocolate chip cookies and says, I see you putting Mandala to good use. I laughed. And that was the day I began my friendship with Samuel Jenkins. After that day in 2008, Samuel and I became really good friends. I liked hanging out with him because he's a good conversationalist and I'm a good listener. He's also extremely hilarious and I'm extremely sarcastic, so we have a lot of fun. He also never tried to flirt with me or hook me up with any of his boys, so that was a plus. And he was a very, very good friend to me. And I'm the type of person, you know, as a girl, I believe that a guy and a girl can be just friends. You know, no kissing, no flirting, no sexual activity. And Samuel was it for me. So I really enjoyed being around him. One weird thing that I did notice about Samuel was how he dressed. And he'd wear these bold red and blue hoodies and sometimes green fitted. And if some you don't know, these colors are associated with gifts gangs. And if you wore these colors and you weren't a member or associated, that meant trouble for you or that made you an easy target. Like the kids at my school who had been getting cut and robbed and jumped. And there was this day called blood initiation day where basically members of the blood gang go around slicing girls faces. So I told Samuel about this, and he opted in to pick me up after school and then take me home. I walk outside and I see him waiting for me, and he's wearing a red hoodie. And as I'm walking to him, I'm thinking, what is he wearing? So I go up to him, look him up and down, and tell him, semi jokingly, boy, you better stop wearing these colors because I'm not trying to get shot with you. His response was, nah, we good. At that point, I questioned whether he was in a gang or not. But I shrugged it off because we got home safely until he finally asked me, yeah, cause you know, I'm in the gang, right? There was a long moment of silence and I just stared at him. And I didn't want to believe him because he didn't know my serious near death experiences with multiple gang members. He didn't know that I hated gangs because I feel that they're pointless organizations created by people who victimize others and claim power because they put the fear into people, and that means respect. But there's a difference between being feared and being respected. You live longer when you're respected. So as his friend, I made it my job to keep him alive and persuade him out of this nonsense. Initially, I was upset with him and more disappointed. But we were already friends, and I wasn't ready to cut him out of my life. So our fun conversations about past blind dates and stealing fruit from bodegas when we were younger changed it to him sharing his stories with me about how he got an adrenaline rush from firing his gun at a group of boys who messed with one of his fellow gang members and how he robbed this kid for a Zune because he looked at him funny. I would argue with him about how ignorant he sounded and pleaded with him. Samuel, had I known from the beginning that you were in a gang, we would not be sitting here right now. I don't understand how someone as intelligent and generous as you can enjoy being in a gang. He just sat there with his head down, and he only apologized for not telling me earlier, and I kind of felt sorry for him, so I changed the conversation. Summer of that year, 2009, we decided to go to the pool together. And as I'm waiting for him, we're laughing and reminiscing about how funny Dave Chappelle's skit on Tyrone Biggums crack intervention was. And out of nowhere, he says, you know I was gonna recruit you, right? I wasn't finished laughing, but I just stopped. I've never been so furious so fast in my life before. It was as if my heart was a volcano and it exploded and all the lava shot straight up to my head. And it was more of a physical anger, not an expressive one where I curse him out or punch him in the face. And he saw that I was at a loss of words, so he continued trying to cover it up, but I didn't because I got mad respect for you. You're like a sister to me, and I don't really trust girls, but you're one of the three that I do trust. All I could think about was, I am so cutting this dude off. This friendship is over. And I wanted to leave, but we didn't. And I spent that whole day very upset. And I hadn't spoken to him. A week after that day, I didn't even miss him. He texted me twice, and I never replied. And then he called and I picked up with the intention of cursing him out, telling him to go to hell, and then hanging up the phone. But he kept apologizing over and over and kept talking about how I was like a sister to him, like, fam. Eventually, I forgave him. But we hadn't called each other like we used to, and we hadn't hung out like we used to. And then we just stopped communicating with each other. I graduated, and my friends decided to go to McDonald's. McDonald's is basically the spot for us. It was our lives. And we were sitting there talking. Oh, I'm gonna miss you. This is gonna be our last year together. And one of my friends asked, d'boy, what happened to that boy? I'm like, what boy? My other friend says, your boyfriend. I'm like, whoa, boyfriend? And then they both say, the boy that bought you the cookies. And I was just like, first of all, he's not my boyfriend. Second of all, he gave me a dollar. I bought the cookies. So after that, I couldn't stop thinking about him. So I was just thinking, well, it wouldn't hurt to text him. But then I realized that after you haven't spoken to someone in over a year and you text them, it's kind of like, who are you? So I decided to call him. And when I spoke to him, he sounded really good over the phone, really mature. And he told me that he left the city and he was in Pennsylvania working at a wood and bat factory. He told me, I gotta get out of the city. I'm tired of the city life. I need a break, so I'm gonna be here for a while. And when he told me that, I just thought, wow, I miss him a lot now. But I'm proud of his attempt to change his life. And I feel like I had something to do with that. And the feeling was mutual because he also changed me. And I'm more of an understanding person. It's easier to judge someone than understand them. And that was hard for me to do in the beginning. So instead of judging him as a gang member, I understood him as a friend and as someone who felt that he was born into a gang. And I felt the need to change that. So now with my friends, they're openly telling me their stories. And I'm saying, okay, I understand, but here's the better side of things. And that's what he taught me. That's what our friendship resulted in. Me. The change in me. And when he comes back, I hope he comes back. I plan on treating him to a day at McDonald's for some chocolate chip cookies.
- [10:56]
Dan Kennedy
Deborah Allen Carr is a freshman at Lemoyne College in Syracuse, New York. She completed the Moth Shop Community Community Education program in fall 2010 as a senior at the Bronx Preparatory Charter School. Her academic interests include neonatal nursing, environmental research, and physical chemistry. She dedicated this performance to her mother. The next story you're about to hear by Bernard Jenkins was recorded live at the Moth Shop Community Education Showcase in May.
- [11:30]
Bernard Jenkins
All right, so it's December. You know, every kid loves Christmas around December. I'm giving y'all a little outline of my family on the outside world. It consists of just me and my brother. Me, my brother, and my mother. But when you walk in my house, it consists of me, my brother and my two brothers and my sister, which are two cats. So it's December time, you know, every kid loves December. Christmas is coming. We bragging to all our friends, telling them Christmas is coming. We're going to get new PlayStation, new Xbox, new sneakers, new clothes, new everything. We excited. We can't wait for Christmas days go by. December 15th happen up here. Me and my brother sleep. We hear this loud boom. My mother kicking the door. Who the fuck broke my cat legs? Me and my brother pop up and look at each other like, what is she talking about? We look at the cat, the cat stretched out on the floor. Spread it out, end to end. My mother's hysterical. Who broke my cat legs? We don't know what she talking about. Anyway, my mother goes, I gotta take your brother to the vet. Go get a box. So I get up, get dressed, go to the corner store, find a nice Corona box. I come back home, my mother got my brother wrapped in a towel and holding him, she placed this cat in the box and went about her business. I asked my brother once again, shaw, did you mess with this cat last night? Was you playing with it? He said, no, I had nothing to do with the cat. I always go by. My mother come home, she's hysterical crying. Oh, my God. Your brother had a hard murmur, a hard murmur. So we looking. She go, oh, your brother needs surgery. We gotta save your brother life. He needs surgery. So she goes through with the surgery. Days go by, days go by. My brother come home. He come home with this big hat on his head, looking like a satellite dish. Now he done got his surgery. He's all fixed and normal. He's back to being a regular cat, knocking Stu down, doing what cats do. My mother's happy, I'm happy. My brother's happy. December 20th, come. You know, we still excited about Christmas. We gonna get this, we gonna get that. December 24th, come we don't see. We wake up, we don't see no decorations in my house at all. There's no tree, no lights, no snowballs, no nothing indicating that Christmas is coming. So now, 12 o'clock come around December 24th, you know, me and my brother, we ready to open our gifts at 12 o'clock. There's no gifts to be found. So, you know, we go back to bed, we wait, December 25th, get here. We up extra early in the morning looking for these gifts. So now we go in the living room, still no decorations. We look and we look and we look. And my mother wakes up and tell us, I'm sorry, but y'all won't have a Christmas this year. Y'all be lucky if y'all have a dinner. I had to spend all the Christmas money to save your brother on this surgery. $1,500 she had to spend so the cat could get operated on. So now my cat is back to being healthy. My mother's happy, we're happy without Christmas. So days go by, my cat is still being a cat. New Year's come, we wake up, my cat is dead. Laid out dead on the floor, just dead. So now my mother got to get a box once again, wrap this cat back up and take it back to the vets, spend more money. That's $200 more she got to spend to get this cat cremated. So now my mother's sad, my sister sad because her brother just died, and four days later, my sister died. So now both cats are dead, and my mother's just hysterical. So one day we decide. Me and my brother come up with a great idea. You know, we gonna make mommy happy. We're gonna go get her two new cats. So one day, my mother go to work. Mind you, my mother works at the Bronx Zoo. She see cats and exotic animals every day, seven days a week. So she get up, she go to work. Me and my brother get up without planning, we go on to find two cats. We find a neighbor who found who has two cats, a black and a gray cat. We take them. No problems, not thinking about it. We take these two cats, bring them in our house, and let them roam the house. My mother come home later on, off of work. My brother goes, mom, we got a surprise for you. We got you two new cats. We got you a black cat and a gray cat. My mother goes, you ain't bring no fucking black cat in my house. I don't like black cats. They are bad luck. I don't want no black cat. So days go by, days go by. This cat finally come out of his hiding spot and my mother finally sees this black cat. She sees this black cat and falls in love with this black cat. And to this day my mother sleeps in her bed with this big black cat. Thank you.
- [16:16]
Dan Kennedy
Bernard Jenkins was born in Harlem. He completed the Moth Shop Community Education Program through the Phipps Opportunity Center. He loves all types of music but rap is his favorite. He loves his family and most of all himself. The Moth is a non profit organization so consider supporting our free podcast by going to our podcast contribution page or by becoming a Moth member and you can do that@themost.org and keep track of all our activities by friending us on Facebook or following us on Twitter where we tweet under the handle Moth Stories.
- [16:53]
Deborah Allen Carr
Our podcast host, Dan Kennedy is the.
- [16:56]
Rosetta Stone Advertiser
Author of the book Rock An Office Power Ballad.
- [16:59]
Deborah Allen Carr
Learn more@rockonthebook.com thanks to all of you.
- [17:02]
Dan Kennedy
For listening and we hope you have a story worthy week. Podcast Audio production by Paul Ruest at the Argo Studios in New York Podcast hosting by PRX Public Radio Exchange helping make public radio more public@prx.org.