The Moth Radio Hour: Disney, Racecars, and Red Sox

Summary

The Moth Radio Hour: Disney, Racecars, and Red Sox
Release Date: October 2, 2018
Host: Meg Bowles

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Introduction

In this episode of The Moth Radio Hour, host Meg Bowles introduces a collection of four compelling true stories that delve into personal struggles, unexpected triumphs, and the intricate dance between chaos and order in everyday life. The stories range from navigating a high-stakes wedding amidst a city-wide blackout to attempting to break a legendary sports curse, coping with a childhood in a hoarder's home, and confronting a life-altering medical diagnosis.

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1. Jessi Klein: A Birthday at Disney World Amidst Chaos

Timestamp: [02:00] - [15:16]

Story Overview:
Jessi Klein shares her tumultuous experience attending her younger sister's wedding at Disney World on her 28th birthday—a day she had originally anticipated celebrating alone. The wedding festivities are overshadowed by a massive blackout that disrupts transportation, forcing Jessi into a series of misadventures to reach the enchanted ceremony.

Key Events:

• Blackout Struggles: As the city plunges into darkness at [04:30], Jessi navigates the chaos of a halted Northeast blackout, realizing she's left with the cumbersome bridesmaid dress and battling through crowded streets to return to Brooklyn.

• Flight Frenzy: Unable to fly due to the blackout, Jessi secures an expensive last-minute ticket to Orlando. However, in her stress, she inadvertently takes more medication than intended, leading to a drug-induced hallucination during the wedding reception where she interacts with Disney characters, specifically Dale the Chipmunk.

• Emotional Highs and Lows: Post-reception, a delayed flight becomes the setting for a heartfelt, albeit awkward, birthday celebration orchestrated by well-meaning airline staff. The episode crescendos with Jessi confronting the fleeting nature of her special day amidst public attention.

Notable Quotes:

• Jessi reflects on her family dynamics:
  "I am the only single one of the group... And now they've both married, you know, my brother had married and she is marrying like very nice people. And I am the one who's home alone..." ([07:30])

• Describing her flirtation with Dale:
  "I'm having a really great time with you... you're like, yay." ([13:20])

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2. Joe Lemony: Breaking the Red Sox Curse with a Magic Nail

Timestamp: [15:16] - [37:52]

Story Overview:
Joe Lemony recounts the adventurous tale of how he and his close friend Lou endeavored to lift the infamous 86-year curse on the Boston Red Sox using a "magic nail." Their whimsical yet determined acts intertwine with the Patriots' fortunes, leading to unexpected successes in both franchises.

Key Events:

• The Origin of the Magic Nail:
  In 2001, after Lou survives a near-fatal accident where a nail pierces his neck ([20:10]), they jokingly name him "Lucky Louie" and decide to hide the nail in various stadiums to bring good luck to their favorite teams.

• Impact on the Patriots and Red Sox:
  Each placement of the nail coincides with the teams' winning streaks, notably the Patriots' Super Bowl win in 2001 and 2003, as well as the Red Sox's World Series victory in 2004.

• Climactic Revelation:
  Their final act involves hiding the nail in Fenway Park, which directly correlates with the Red Sox breaking their long-standing curse. The story culminates in a heartfelt moment of friendship and triumph during the celebratory parade.

Notable Quotes:

• Joe on the significance of the nail:
  "How about if you try and give some of that good luck that you have to the New England Patriots. Why don't you go hide the nail in the stadium?" ([25:45])

• Reflecting on friendship and risk:
  "What are you saying, like, shutdown? We're gonna fix the curse on a nail." ([35:10])

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3. Alison Manami: Living Amidst Hoarding Chaos

Timestamp: [28:58] - [37:52]

Story Overview:
Alison Manami opens up about her challenging upbringing in a household plagued by her parents' hoarding tendencies. The physical clutter mirrors deep-seated emotional turmoil, shaping her path toward independence and self-discovery.

Key Events:

• Childhood in Chaos:
  Alison describes the overwhelming mess in her parents' home, where everyday spaces are engulfed by accumulated items, making simple activities like eating or inviting friends almost impossible.

• Attempted Cleanup and Its Consequences:
  During her college break, Alison honors her mother's request to clean their chaotic bedroom, accidentally discovering $8,000 of her mother's cash hidden under the bed ([33:20]). This act temporarily transforms the space but leads to conflict with her father, culminating in an emotional fallout.

• Understanding and Acceptance:
  Through years of estrangement and reflection, Alison realizes that the physical disorder was a manifestation of her parents' unaddressed emotional issues, ultimately embracing the notion that true change requires internal resolution.

Notable Quotes:

• Alison on the impact of her parents' hoarding:
  "I think it started with my dad because when I was in middle school, my dad turned our house into his home office... I wasn't allowed to invite friends over because there was a self-consciousness about it." ([32:10])

• On the emotional burden of physical space:
  "Your physical space is a reflection of your mental, spiritual and emotional state." ([36:15])

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4. Ryan Knighton: Racing into Blindness and Identity

Timestamp: [38:45] - [51:58]

Story Overview:
Ryan Knighton narrates his journey from reckless driving to confronting a debilitating medical condition—retinitis pigmentosa—that threatens his vision and independence. His story explores themes of identity, familial expectations, and the quest for personal autonomy.

Key Events:

• Reckless Beginnings:
  At 17, Ryan's careless driving leads to minor crashes, instilling a false sense of invincibility and a disdain for his father's disciplinary approach ([40:30]).

• Diagnosis and Revelation:
  A series of accidents prompts Ryan to visit an eye doctor, where he is diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa—a condition that gradually impairs his vision ([45:00]). This revelation forces him to reevaluate his past actions and future prospects.

• Embracing Change:
  Struggling with his new reality, Ryan and his father share a poignant moment that underscores their strained relationship. Ryan eventually channels his frustration into writing and music while grappling with his diminishing independence.

Notable Quotes:

• Ryan on pursuing speed despite consequences:
  "I wanna feel reckless... maybe just a little faster, I'll find it there." ([50:10])

• Reflecting on his condition and its impact:
  "What am I chasing? Like, where am I trying to go so fast?" ([51:30])

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Conclusion

This episode of The Moth Radio Hour masterfully intertwines stories of personal adversity and triumph, highlighting the resilience of the human spirit. From Jessi Klein's chaotic yet memorable birthday wedding to Joe Lemony's playful yet impactful attempt to lift a sports curse, Alison Manami's heartfelt journey through a hoarding household, and Ryan Knighton's confronting reality of impending blindness, each narrative offers a unique glimpse into the complexities of life and the power of storytelling to heal and inspire.

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Additional Resources

• Listen to More Stories: Visit themoth.org to hear more inspiring tales.
• Featured Speakers:
  • Jessi Klein: Comedy writer and stand-up comic. Check out her Comedy Central special.
  • Joe Lemony: Author with a passion for sports and storytelling.
  • Alison Manami: Performer, writer, and writing instructor in Los Angeles.
  • Ryan Knighton: Author of the memoir "Cockeyed and Come On: Dispatches from a Dad in the Dark."

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Note: This summary intentionally omits advertisements and non-story content to focus on the essence of each narrative shared during the episode.

Transcript

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[Meg Bowles]

From PRX this is the Moth Radio Hour. Hello, I'm Meg Bowles from the Moth's artistic team and I'll be your host this time. The Moth hosts live events around the country where we invite people to take the stage and share stories from their own true life experiences. In this hour, we have four stories. We'll hear what finally broke the famous curse that haunted the Boston Red Sox for 86 years. And from a woman who tells us what it was like growing up in a house full of hoarders. We'll hear a story from a man who wonders if his desire for speed is as important as he imagines. And our first story from Jessi Klein. Jesse told this story at the Symphony Space in New York City. Here's Jesse Klein live at the Moth.

[Jesse Klein]

On the morning of my 28th birthday, I woke up at the happiest place on Earth. AKA the Enchanted Kingdom, AKA Disney World, AKA what the hell am I doing here? And actually, I was there for the wedding of my little sister who in a sort of like Sixteen Candles twist, had decided that she was going to get married on the day before my birthday at Disney World. And just to be clear, it wasn't like she and her fiance were like, quote unquote, getting married at Disney World. Like ironically, like ha ha. So funny, you know, like it wasn't like drinking PBR wearing like Von Dutch trucker cap. Irony funny. It was more like she and her fiance were both like super into Disney World and like mega psyched to get married there. That's their thing. Now the thing is, my family is Jewish obviously, and my sister's fiance's family, they're conservative Jews. So when, when we found out they wanted to get married at Disney World, we were collectively very surprised and collectively super not stoked. And my dad nominated me to have the talk with her about maybe not doing this, but she was very stubborn about it. That's what they wanted to do. And she was insistent on going forward with this plan, which meant that I was going to spend my birthday sliding into my 30s as a single girl celebrating the wedding of my little sister at Disney World. Yay. So just to give you a little bit of background, I am the middle sibling of three little sister, older brother, and at this point in the story, both of my siblings have found their partners on the worldwide interweb. I am the only single one of the group. Still am. That's not really the point right now. Just putting it out there if anyone really gives a. Or whatever, but. And while I'm very happy for them, I'm also very disturbed for myself. Because the thing is, when we were kids we were all super nerdy. Hard to imagine, I'm sure we were super, we were shock and awe nerds. But comparatively I was like the least nerdy. So I always imagined that if any of us were going to find someone, it would be me, you know, and my like mantra when I was with them was always like, good luck nerds, hope you find someone. And you know, and now they've like both married, you know, my brother had married and she is marrying like very nice people. And I am the one who's home alone eating like macadamia nut, lonely heart chunk ice cream and listening to the Ally McBeal soundtrack, which that's sad and true. Anyway, so like a couple of weeks before the wedding, my sister informs me that she and her fiance have decided to spend a little extra to have the characters attend the reception. So my plan is to leave Friday morning for the rehearsal dinner, which is Friday night. And because I leave everything to the last minute, I don't pick up my bridesmaid dress until Thursday morning. It's like a floor length lavender embroidered sateen thing. It's just beautiful. Anyway, so I have it and then around 4:30 that afternoon, as I'm wrapping up a long day of personal emailing and googling myself, all of a sudden the lights pop out and my computer goes off and the Northeast is plunged into the worst blackout in the history of the United States. I don't know if anyone remembers that fun time. And so with the subways not working, I joined just like the third remembers like throngs of humanity trudging through the August heat from Midtown. I have to walk home to Brooklyn just with like thousands of other New Yorkers. But I notice that I'm the only one carrying a 30 pound bridesmaid dress over my shoulder. And I realized somewhere around Varick street that I have become a Kathy cartoon. Like is that horrible woman from the comics who like hates horizontal stripes and doesn't want to shop for a bathing suit. And it was like argh, sweat beads. And I was like, ugh. So with all of the power out, I really almost did not make it to the wedding. And in fact I did not make it to the rehearsal dinner. I went to the terminal at JFK the next day, to the Delta terminal, and I discovered that all the power is out there. And miraculously, in a post 911 world, they also have no plan for dealing with no power, like at all. And in fact, some guy gets on a megaphone and tells all of the people that it's a crapshoot as to whether any planes are going to take off. And crapshoot isn't a word you want to hear anywhere near air travel. It's like maybe, maybe not. And so actually I didn't make it. You know, no planes take off that day. And I get home desperately trying to find any plane to get me to Disney World the next day. There is one ticket left on any carrier, right? It's on Continental, one way, New York to Orlando. It's $800, which is what I spent going to Japan round trip a few months before. But I have to buy it. It's my sister's wedding. The next morning I go to the flight. I'm so stressed and nervous before the flight that as soon as I sit down I take an Ambien. I forget that you should not take a whole Ambien before a two hour flight. So oops. So when I land, I am wildly hallucinating, right? Wildly seeing double, greeted by a wedding planner who's like, go directly to hair. And I'm like, I'm going. And then you just melting. Everything's melting. And the ambient just starts to wear off sometime around the beginning of the reception, at which point I'm so exhausted, I just decide the only logical thing to do is get really drunk and wait for the characters to arrive. The amazing Thing about the way they do the character entries at a Disney wedding is that they go. Is that they go B list, and then C list and then A list, right? So first Donald and Daisy come in, right? And then Chip and Dale, the Chipmunks. And then just when you're, like, going crazy, you can't wait another second. You're gonna burst. Mickey and Minnie are here. Mickey and Minnie are here. You're like, yay. And it's, like, staggered. And so Mickey and Minnie come in, and they start us doing the hora because it is a Jewish wedding for real. And the character whose hand I end up holding is Dale's. And pretty quickly, I find myself in a flirtation that I can best describe as smoldering. Because, like, at first we're dancing, and then we're, like, slow dancing, and my torso is pressed against his furry little underbelly. And I think part of the reason it's so sort of sensuous. Two things. One, they're not allowed to speak, so they. Silence. You can't talk at all. Nothing. And then the other thing is, you can't see into their eyes. All you see are just these black dots of, like, vast, endless hatred. And so sexy. So a few hours later, I am, like, so wasted, but totally happy. Me and Dale are entwined. We are the envy of all the other interspecies couples in the room. And lady in Red is playing, and I have my head on Dale's shoulder, and I realize there's never going to be a more perfect moment to make my move. So I, like, squeeze his paw, and then I step back, and I'm like. And I try to be sexy, right? And as sexy as you can be after, like, three vodka tonics, two Disney Chardonnays, and a 10 milligram Ambien, and I'm like, look, I'm having a really great time with you. And I kind of. I don't want it to end. I am staying at the Contemporary resort in room 239. And if you would. I don't know if you want to come back to my room, but you're totally invited. And Dale just, like, stops and takes a step back, and then he just goes. And that was the moment when I realized, oh, my God, if he consummates this, he will probably be fired, potentially also killed. You know, like, we're in a kingdom. Like, who knows what laws apply? And then it wasn't until a few. A few days later that I, like, literally maybe a week, I was, like, person in the costume not necessarily a man. Actually, probably not. Anyway, it was a night. The next morning I wake up. It is my birthday. I am on a twin size bed, alone, on Eeyore sheets. And even though my flight is not till 10, I leave there at 6am because the room is so unbearably disgusting, I cannot be in there another second. It's so. So I get to the terminal, I watch the sunrise. I wait for the woman to come and start letting people into the gate. And I never ever play the birthday card. I hate that. But because it's been such a crazy weekend, when the woman arrives, I go up to her and I'm like, look at this crazy time getting here. Blackout. Is there any way you could upgrade me to first class? And she's really nice and she's like, you know, there's no first class on this plane. But I promise we'll take care of you. Great, fine. I figure maybe an extra blanket. That sounds perfect. So people start to arrive at the gate. It's like a couple hundred people, whatever. And then we find out we're gonna be delayed again. So everyone's cranky and the woman gets on the loudspeaker finally. And she's like, okay, I want to thank y'all for choosing Delta Song today. We're probably gonna board you in about 20 minutes. But before I do, just want to let y'all know we have a birthday girl here today. Her name is Jessie. I think we should all sing her Happy Birthday. And I'm just like, you, you. You know, just tidal wave of hatred for her. But it's interrupted because everyone, despite the fact that it's super early and we're delayed and everyone's really upset, everyone starts to sing Happy Birthday to me. And that, you know, like, really sweet. And it just suddenly, it was like, it just changed everything. I was like, this has actually all been leading to this moment. And I feel like people, like, I have this like optimism now. Like, people are really nice. People are basically good. You know, we're all just on this crazy blue marble together and, you know, one love and it's like so just lovely, you know. And then we get on the plane and I get like a plastic glass of champers. So nice. And I just sit in my seat and I'm like, I'm making. Everything's fine. Like, I feel I've done it. I made it through this weekend. It's my birthday, it's going to be fine. And I'm really relaxed. And then like about, I don't know, Half an hour into the flight, just feeling good with the champers. And all of a sudden the woman gets on the thing and she's like, we're gonna be short flight today. Gonna be cruising back into New York in about 45 minutes. And thank y'all for choosing Delta song today. I do wanna just let y'all know we have a birthday girl here on the plane today, so why don't we all sing her happy birthday? And I'm like, no, because it's so obvious. Everyone's looking at me. Everyone's like, what? You know what I mean? Because it's so clear. The woman at the gate did not communicate with the woman on the plane. And like now it seems like I'm a jackass. Like I'm the kind of person who tells everyone I meet it's my birthday. Like I'm five years old. Like some. And I'm so embarrassed. And then this guy like eight seats behind me says super loud. He goes, we already sang it. And I just, I was like, oh, right. People are basically bad. People are basically bad. And just slouched down in my seat, waited to get back to New York where the lights were finally back on. Thank you guys so much.

[Meg Bowles]

That was Jesse Klein. Jesse is a comedy writer and stand up comic. If you want to hear more from Jesse, you can check out her Comedy Central stand up special on itunes. In a moment, we'll have a story of how two friends set out to change the fate of their much beloved and long cursed Boston Red Sox.

[Joe Lemony]

The Moth Radio Hour is produced by Atlantic Public Media in Woods Hole, Massachusetts and presented by the Public Radio Exchange.

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[Meg Bowles]

This is the Moth Radio Hour from prx. I'm Meg Bowles. Our next story is from Joe. Lemony Joe told his story at the Calderwood Pavilion in Boston. For an evening of stories, we called out on a limb.

[Alison Manami]

Psst. Hey, kid. I'm scanning my exam, perfectly content in the knowledge that I think I've answered every question right, but not sure and wanting to make absolutely, positively sure it's correct. And I look up and I think, now I imagined it. So I'm about ready to get up and hand my test in, thinking I did very well on my Latin examination. And all of a sudden I hear, hey, kid, again. And now I'm sort of focused on it, and I knew it came from behind me, so I quickly look up, see if Father Vai has seen any of this going on and making sure that the coast is clear. And when I'm sure that he hasn't noticed anything, I look back, and there's this kid behind me with this inquisitive look. And in the quietest of voices, he says, hey, kid, what's the answer to number six? Now, a little bit of background information here. At this point in my life, I'm a sophomore in high school, and I'm a complete introvert. And. And, you know, I always do what I'm told. I never get in trouble. Most of the time, people don't even know I exist. And that's just the way I like it. Now, I don't know if this was a sign of things to come or if it was who I truly am, but for some unknown reason, maybe it was the look on his face of desperation. I actually take my entire Latin exam and hand it to him. You should have seen the look on his face. So he kind of looks at me and he's like, all right. And he writes all the answers down. And I'm just sitting there with no test in front of me for one, maybe two minutes, which is an eternity when you're an introvert in a Jesuit high school with a mad priest looking at you, right? So he hands it back to me. Didn't get caught. Hand the exam in he walks in, he hands his in, and we're walking out of class, and. And he comes running up, and he's like, hey, kid, what's your name? My name's Joe. Hey, my name's Lou. That took balls to do what you did. But I want you to know something. I'm a good student. I study all the time. I was down vacationing with my parents in Florida, and our plane got delayed, but I really do study, and I didn't get a chance to. Have you had lunch yet. Lou and I have been the best of friends for the last 25 years. Now, being born in Boston, and as a male in Boston, you're indoctrinated into the sports culture, everything. Celtics, Bruins, Red Sox. Yes. Okay. So, you know, I'm a huge Red Sox fan, and I think the reason why I'm a huge Red Sox fan is I have very fond memories of my dad and me going to games. And my dad is Old World Sicilian, and he's arm's length, and, you know, three boys in the family. He's never told any one of us that he loves us, so. But at games, I always felt his love because we would interact. We would talk about plays, we would talk about players, we would talk about Fenway Park. You know, he would pay 25 cents for bleacher seats back when he was a young boy, and he would get all pissed off that this new guy, Carl Yaskrimski, was trying to take over for Ted Williams. That would really piss him off. So, you know, as a Red Sox fan and a lifetime Red Sox fan, you know, there's a lot of. There's a lot of pain associated with that. All right, so let's go to 2001. My friend Lou has landed an incredible job as chief marketing guru for the New England Patriots. Now, the New England Patriots at the time are also another tragic bad luck team. Bad ownership, bad teams, bad stadium, the whole nine yards, Just awful. And he's working for them in that role, and they're building a new stadium in 2001, and they're trying to turn the whole franchise around with new ownership and whatnot. So I go and visit him, and he says, hey, do you want to take a tour of the new stadium? And I'm like, sure. So we put on the hard hats, we jump in the golf cart, and we drive out to the stadium, and they built a new stadium right next to the old one. So we were right there. So he's sort of. We're going around, and he's pointing to what's going where? And you know, all these funky new age things that are going on. And all of a sudden we hear this big crash and banging and we look up and this whole bunch of staging is falling on top of us. I dive out of the way, he's not so lucky, right? I jump up, he's on the ground, there's blood everywhere. Well, a big two by four with these huge six inch nails came down and it went right through his hand and into his neck. So I'm screaming, construction workers are everywhere. We call the ambulance comes, they take him to the hospital. I follow the ambulance to the hospital and the emergency room doctors take the nail out. They say, he's very lucky. He could have bled to death an inch or two either way. And he asked the emergency room doctors for the nail. And so a few weeks later, after he's recovered, we're out with a bunch of friends and we're joking around and I'm like, why? Why'd you ask for the nail? And he's like, I just wanted to remember how lucky I was. So we named him Lucky Louie. And so we're hanging out and we're drinking and we go out all the time. And he's like, what should I do with the nail? And we're trying to come up with some ideas. So I'm like, how about if you try and give some of that good luck that you have to the New England Patriots. Why don't you go hide the nail in the stadium? And he's like, that's stupid enough that it might work. That sounds like fun. I'll go do it. So he has access to the stadium. He goes and he hides the nail in the stadium. And in 2001, the Patriots, the first four games go one in three. And you know, he's like, yeah, the stupid nail. And then all of a sudden, the Patriots go on an unbelievable run and they win the Super Bowl. So we're like, hey, the nail. We're joking around like two jerks, right? And so now 2002 rolls around and they're in the new. It's the first time in the new stadium and they're going to demolish the old stadium. So he goes and takes the nail out of the old stadium and they demolish it. And he leaves the nail on his desk for the 2002 season. The Patriots don't even make the. Don't even make the playoffs. So 2003 rolls around, he's like, you know what? I'm going to put the nail in the new stadium. See what happens? And I'm like, yeah, I think that's a great idea. So 2003, the Patriots go 2 and 2 the first four games. Then they go on this unbelievable historic run and they win the Super Bowl. So we're like, the nail. Holy crap. Are you kidding me? And so he's like, I'm leaving the nail until something. Until they lose. This is unbelievable. And so I give him this look because my brain is now working, right? And he knows. And he looks at me, he goes, what? And it's that I have an idea look. And I'm like, obviously, the nail is magic. I said, what if we put the nail in Fenway Park? And he's like, aghast. He's like, it's too much to ask her. The nail. It's the curse. We're talking the curse, Joe. And I'm like, I know, but we have an obligation as Bostonians, Red Sox fans, and as human beings to hide that nail in Fenway Park. And he's like, all right, all right, let's do it. Now, the trick is, how do we do it? So he goes and gets the nail from the stadium. And, you know, we're lucky because he's the chief marketing guy at the Patriots, so he has all the friends in the other sports. So he calls someone in the marketing group at the Red Sox and he's like, listen, hey, I got a client who's gonna buy. Who wants to buy these massive amounts of tickets, and we can work a deal. He's interested in Fenway, but he wants to see the park. Can we arrange a tour? Yeah, sure. No problem, Lou. So we walk in and I'm like, oh, God, I'm like, scared to death. And a couple of marketing people come, they take us on a little tour, and they're like, listen, we got a big meeting, but we'll be right back and we'll have lunch. We'll do the whole nine yards. You can go anywhere you want in Fenway Park. What you can't go near is the Green Monster. Everybody familiar with the Green Monster? The big. Okay, alright. So of course they leave. And Lou and I look at each other and where's the safest place for the nail? The Green Monster, right? So we're kind of like walking around left field. La da da da da. And I'm like, okay, give me the nail. I'll run in the door. I'll hide it real quick and come back out. And you watch. And before I know it, he goes, no, I'll do it. And I'm like, lou, don't you got a great job? You'll get. I'm the idiot friend. You could just see he was an idiot. I can't believe he did what he did. So he runs in before I could start, and I'm like, again. One, two minutes go by. It's attorneys, maintenance, people walking around. Hey, what are you doing around here? Lou comes out. They don't see him. Hey, you know, you gotta leave left field here. And we leave, and he's, like, sweating out of breath. Okay, I hid the nail behind some pipes. It's safe. So now it's 2004. You know, the Red Sox, you barely make the playoffs. They're a wild card. They play in the Yankees first round. We're like, yeah, the nail, the nail, the nail. They go down.03. And he's like, I told you it was too much to ask her. The nail, right? And I'm like, oh, man, it's not a magic nail. And then the Yankees collapsed. The worst sports franchise history flop. Unbelievable. So it's. We're watching game seven, and they're about to win game seven of the Yankees, and they win it. And we're with a whole bunch of friends. And all, me and Lou, the two jerks are doing. We're jumping up and down. It's the nail, the nail. And our friends are like, what? What are you talking about? Nothing. Nothing. I'm like, oh, my God. Right now. My dad's 82 years old. I've seen him cry twice in his life. Once when our dog died, and the second when the Red Sox won the World Series. And we're. Lou and I are drunk up at the parade, and it's raining and it's kind of cold, and we're feeling good, and we're happy. And I look at him, and I'm like, I can't believe you did what you did. You could have lost your job. And he sort of turned to me, and he gave me this knowing look, and he's like, are you kidding me? The first time I ever met you, what you did, you could have gotten expelled from school. That's what best friends do for each other. And I love you like a brother. Well, Lou, I love you, too. Thanks.

[Meg Bowles]

That was Joe Lemony. After the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, after the nail successfully wiped out the curse. You have to wonder, what happened to the nail? Is it still behind the Green Monster?

[Alison Manami]

It's not behind the Green Monster. We took it out in 2004, after the Red Sox won the World Series, we put it back in gillette Stadium in 2005. And the Patriots won the Super bowl in 2005, we put it back in Fenway Park. You know, the Red Sox won the World Series in 2007. So we took it out of Fenway park after 2007, put it in the Boston Garden. And, you know, in 2008, the Celtics won the NBA championship.

[Meg Bowles]

So where is it now?

[Alison Manami]

Well, I can't, I can't tell you where it is now, but it's in a place that, you know, those fans need it really, really badly.

[Meg Bowles]

To hear more of my interview with Joe lemony, go to themoth.org there you can also find pictures of Joe Lou and the Green Monster and the all powerful nail. Our next story comes from Alison Manami. Alison told this story at a store slam we hosted at Busby's east in Los Angeles. The theme of the evening was clean. Here's Alison Manami.

[Ryan Knighton]

I grew up in a really nice suburban town. And we, my family, we were like the black sheep of the neighborhood because the grass was really up to here, always taller than I was. And the car in the driveway didn't work, but it saved sat there for many years. And that was just sort of a preview of what was inside because inside was a total physical chaos because my parents were pack rats and they were hoarders. And, you know, I don't think my mom would make the cut for the show Hoarders, but she would be a top contender in their applicant pool. And just some examples, like in her living room, there's a giant shelf that is really designed to go up against a wall, but it just sits in the middle of the room. She picked it up off the street. And there's the old TV that you have to change the channel manually and it doesn't work, but it's still there. And in front of it is the new TV, which is probably from like 1990. And my mom's the kind of person who will go to the bank and get 10 free calendars because she can give away nine of them as gifts, even though it says Citibank on them. And the really sad thing is they just sit there. They just sit on the table and every surface is covered with stuff. It's just like unopened mail. The kitchen table, the coffee table, the dining room table. And I think it started with my dad because when I was in middle school, my dad, he started his own business and he turned our house into his home office. And he didn't have an organizational system, but he would just write notes on these tiny little pieces of memo paper. And he would bring in all his files and his mail and he would put them in piles all over the house. And I wasn't allowed to invite friends over because there was a self consciousness about it. It was just mess everywhere. You couldn't even eat at the kitchen table. And I used to try to manage the chaos. I would try to clean. I would clean every day. I would clean little corners of the house, but it would always come back and accumulate. And then I remember thinking, God, I just can't wait to get the out of here. I can't wait to get out of this place. And I did. I got out of there. I went to college, and I went far, far away. Now, my sophomore year in college, my mother calls me up and she says, hi, Alison, do you want a car? And I say, what? And she says, your father wants to buy me a car, but I don't need it because I'm moving to Hawaii. And I say, well, mom, why don't you tell him you don't need the car so that he doesn't spend the money for the car. But you have to understand that my mother is an Asian immigrant. My parents are both Asian. And they don't really talk about relationships, they just sort of exist in them. And so my mom was not willing to tell my father that she was leaving him. And the way so he did, he bought the car. And then the way that she told him was like a week before she left, she said, I'm moving to Hawaii. I don't know when I'm coming back. Can you give me a ride to the airport? And. And he did. He gave her a ride to the airport, miraculously. And my mom went. And bless her heart, because she did, she had a very liberating experience. But the one thing she asked me to do for her before she left was to clean her room. And by her room was really my parents bedroom because it was total chaos, right? It was just like stuff everywhere. Clothes, books, just junk. And so I honored that request. I came home from break on a college break, and I just cleaned. I spent the whole week cleaning. I didn't talk to my friends, I didn't hang out with my high school friends. And the cool thing is when your parents are hoarders, you find some really cool. So, like I found a really nice vintage dress, circa 1975, that fit. I found all these cool letters and photographs that really show that maybe Your parents had a life and maybe they actually liked each other. My mom's diary, fortunately for her, it was in Japanese, so I couldn't quite crack that code, but I would have. The craziest thing that I found was something underneath the bed. And it was so crazy, I didn't know what to do with it. I had to call my mom up and I said, mom, you know, I just found underneath your, your bed in a tin can, $8,000 of cash. And my mom goes, oh, yeah, that's mine. And so she instructs me to go to the bank and deposit the cash into her bank account. And because I had alliances with my mother, you know, I didn't tell my dad about the money because I knew if I did, he would say that it was his. And I just listened to her and I just, I took $8,000 of cash in my back, on my back, outside in the street, street. I'd never done that before. And I deposited the money for her and I was too stupid to take a cut for myself, which I really should have. And I would today if it happened again. And so the room was awesome. It was like I put a bed skirt on the bed and I had the fluffed up pillows and it was like a class A motel room. And there was like 10, 10ft of space from the wall to the end of the bed. It was like unprecedented. Gorgeous bedroom. And the first thing my dad did when he came home and he saw all that clean open space is that he started to take out all the little pieces of paper from his pockets. And he went to the kitchen and he got his files. He used to keep files in like ramen boxes and he just put them in tiny piles all over the bedroom floor. And at that moment my heart just sank. But I didn't say anything because I don't know why I didn't say anything. And I kept cleaning. And the next day I was cleaning the kitchen and I was throwing out the three year old mayonnaise, and I was throwing out the Taco Bell sauce packets and all the takeout paraphernalia and the plastic bags that were in piles, shopping bags in the corner. And I remember the moment where I was scrubbing the floor, I was on my hands and knees. And my dad was at a higher level than me because he was seated at the kitchen table. And we got into a fight because I was really upset about the bedroom. And I said, dad, I'm doing this for you. I'm doing all this cleaning for you. And in the meanest coldest voice, he said, I didn't ask you to do that. And you know, at that time I was too young and too angry to realize that there was really so much pain behind those words. And so I just went back to college and I was like, f it, F you. And I didn't think about him and I didn't call him and he was all alone and everybody in his life had left him and I didn't care. But I've come to realize that your physical space is a reflection of your mental, spiritual and emotional state. And no matter how much I tried to clean in that house, it was always going to come back because there was so much tied to it. It was like my parents fear, their resentment, their anger, their hatred. And until they were ready to confront that with each other and for themselves, I could never clean up my parents mess. Thank you.

[Meg Bowles]

That was Alison Manama. Alison is a performer and writer. She teaches writing in Los Angeles. To see a picture of Allison, you can visit the Moth website. And while you're there, we'd love to hear your story. Go to themoth.org, click on tell a Story and it'll take you on a step by step how to so you can pitch us your story. When we come back, we'll hear a story from a man who cites being seen as inspirational as one of his biggest pet peeves.

[Joe Lemony]

The Moth Radio Hour is produced by Atlantic Public Media in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and presented by the Public Radio Exchange prx.org.

[Meg Bowles]

This is the Moth Radio Hour from PRX. I'm Meg Bowles from the Moth. Our last story is from Ryan Knighton. Ryan told this story on our main stage at the Players in New York for an evening we called Stories of Shifting Gears. Here's Ryan live at the moth.

[H]

I'm 17 years old and I've got thick glasses and I've got really complicated 1980s hair and I've got a fresh driver's license. And I'm out gassing my dad's car up out at a gas station out among the blueberry farms of my hometown in Canada. And I'm late and I'm way past curfew because I've been helping my girlfriend climb in through her window. And so I gotta get home. And so I finish gassing up the car and I'm leaving this gas station. I look down the road, it's all clear, and I make my turn and suddenly there's this horrendous metal crashing noise and I'm not hit from the front and I'm not hit from behind. It emanates from underneath the car and the car lifts and stops. So I open the door and I get out and it's a long way down. And when I look under the car, I see I've actually managed to Stonehenge my father's Pontiac Acadian on a boulder. There's actually this row of decorative boulders that lead to the exit of the gas station. I've turned about 20, 20ft shy of the road and I'm perched. And I hear the gas jockey shout, nice one, you're a smart one, aren't you? How am I gonna explain this out where I lived out there in those farms, like if you don't have a car, you don't have a life. I just got my life. I'm not letting these boulders take my life. And the gas jockey says, I'll get a tow truck, which is going to take my life. So I just get in the car and I do the only thing I know how to do. I start it and I dump the clutch in the gas and I bounce and it catches and somehow I launched a Pontiac Acadian off a boulder and I'm free. But I didn't notice that there was another row of boulders across the lawn, which I then cleared. The next morning my father wakes up and he goes out to work and he gets out and his car is sitting in a pool of oil in the driveway. And so I dig a finger into my 80s hair and I just scratch it like I don't know what happened. And I keep it to myself and I tell myself, just look harder next time. Just look where you're going, you idiot. So I do look harder. I look harder and I don't notice the stop sign that I blow through a week later when I frogger right across a four lane freeway. And so I look harder for stop signs when I drive in the oncoming lane twice. So I stopped listening to music in my father's car. I cleaned my glasses and I even took my 80s hair out of my eyes. My 1980s were over, but my independence had just begun. I just needed more practice, that's all. I kept telling, telling myself. So one night at about 2 in the morning, I'm crawling home in first gear from this party because I'm looking for the turn to my parents street and I can't find it. I don't know why, it just seems really foggy for this time of year. And I see the turn and I make it and the car descends into this ditch. And it doesn't even touch the bottom. It doesn't even touch the water. I just literally parked my father's car the banks of a ditch, like a mole on a face. And I got out. How am I going to explain this? Like, if I had crashed my father's car at 50 miles an hour, I would have been normal. But crash your father's car at two miles an hour? It scared the hell out of me. And it scared the hell out of my father, who demanded an explanation. And I said, I don't know. I just didn't see the turn. He's like, how do you not see. See a massive empty ditch? I don't know. It's just a big blank spot. I don't know. And he says, how do you not know you had to see something? And I don't. So I just say I lied. And I said I was drunk. And he didn't speak to me for several weeks. And it hurt because I knew it was a lie and it was mine, but it filled the hole. Something about it just didn't sit right with my mom. So a few weeks later, she sent me to the doctor to get my glasses checked. You know, maybe they needed to be thicker. And so I go in, and the doctor shines his light in the eye, and it doesn't refract back. And he says, you're night blind. And he said, you have this thing called retinitis pigmentosa. It's a genetic condition. It just can occur. It begins by losing your night vision, and then you slowly lose your peripheral vision, and it closes in. And then. Then you go blind. It could take two years. It could take 20. Do you have any questions? My father's car was right. I was going blind. It's what had been telling me all along. My father and I drove home from the doctor, and it was my 18th birthday. And we drove past that spot, and he did this sort of bullseye that he does, you know, through the nose, the dads do. And I knew what he was doing was he was filling with a guilt for what he'd said to me. And it's a guilt he's never let go. So, you know, after that, it was sort of odd because how did I feel about being told I was going blind? I felt relieved, because suddenly it all made sense. Everything that had happened to me on those nights. I wasn't crazy, I wasn't clumsy. I was going blind. And my driver's license became this picture of a guy who was slowly receding from me. And I gave My dad, his keys. And instead I picked up a white cane. And it didn't take long. And the relief gave away to an anger. And that anger was only saved by punk rock. And it was odd because, you know, I just gotten my independence, right? I'd just become a man. And they took it away. And now my mother is driving me to school, my mother is reading my mail to me. And worse, I became inspirational. You cross the street and people applaud, you cut your meat. Angel choirs come down and sing. And worst of all, I became he. Would he like a menu? Would he like a hand across the street? And he never drove again. Then one day I'm camping with my brother and my father. I'm now 30, it's been 12 years. And we're out in the boonies in these logging roads. And my brother is tearing around on this four wheeled ATV out in the woods. And it just sounds fun. And I haven't run in seven years at this point. And to feel like going fast and controlling yourself at the edge of that speed, it's just been so long. So he gets back, I say to him, do you remember that stupid movie, Scent of a Woman? There's a scene in it where Al Pacino plays this blind guy. He drives a Ferrari around New York like anybody could. And you know, there's a guy in the passenger seat, says, little left, little right. He just does it. Do you think it works?

[Jesse Klein]

Works?

[H]

So 15 minutes later, we're on this narrow logging road and I'm holding the handlebars and my brother's behind me. And he says, are you sure you want to do this? And we go and I'm blowing through gears like potato chips. I don't know how fast we're going, but it's fast enough that the wind is making my eyes water. A little left, a little right. Little left, Left, Left, left, right, right, right. And it's working and I'm chasing it. And I cannot feel that edge of independence. I just feel reckless. And I think maybe just a little faster, I'll find it there. So I go faster and he says left. And I hear right because the wind is wiping his words away. So I wrench right and he says left. And for some reason I wrench right harder. He reaches around and makes this death cry and he wrenches us clear of a tree. Tree about a foot away from us. I've almost killed my brother. For what? You know, for a little bit of independence, for a little speed. What do you say to somebody when you've almost Killed them for that. So I turn to him and I say, let's do it again. And he says, shut up. And I'm like, how fast were we going? He's like, shut up. Were we really close to that tree? He's like, get off. And I feel bad, but not bad enough that I don't ask him to record his death cry on my voicemail. It's like, please leave your message after the. Then one day I get this call from a writer in Toronto, and he says, have you heard about this race in Granby, Quebec? And there's a race around a speedway track. It's a circular track and it's 40 cars, and it's blind drivers, and they're allowed to have a sighted passenger tell them what to do. And it's a race to see who can complete 10 laps first. Would you want to do that? And I hear my brother's pig slaughter death cry. And I say, of course it's racing. It's not driving. I swore I'd never drive again, but this is racing. So two months later, we're standing at the safety briefing. There's 80 people standing there. And because it's Quebec, they give you the safety briefing in French first. And I don't understand a word of French. So we just listen and we wait. And I say to Pasha, who's my sighted passenger, I say, tell me what the people around me look like and what are we up against? And he says, well, there's this dad and a son over there. The dad's blind. He's about 60. Son's maybe 30. He's got his hand on his dad's shoulder. They look inspirational. I hate inspiration. And you could just hear the Disney music underneath it. The choral angels come down. It's like, we're gonna do it, dad. Yeah, we're gonna drive, son, just the way we used to. And I turn to passion. I say, I don't care what happens. We take them out. And he says, that's a bit mean, isn't it? And I say, somebody has to take a stand. And they finish the safety briefing and they say, bon chance. And they don't do it in English. So 15 minutes later, we're sitting in our car and I turn on my turn signal to drive the sighted people crazy. And they wave the green flag. They wave the green flag and nobody goes. I don't really know why. Like, we had sighted passengers. I don't know. You guys are sighties. You figure it out. But. So they went and got a pistol and they shoot the pistol. And then it was Road Warrior. It was a demolition derby trying to be a race. And it was like cholesterol. Like, cars pile up in the bloodstream of the track and we're all, like, going around trying to get around each other. And there's fenders falling off and there's wheels falling off and people are screaming and Pasha's going left, right, left, right. And it was boring. I couldn't see any of it. All I got was a little left, little right, little left, little right bump. And when it was over, Pasha had to climb out my side of the car. And I shut the door and I just. Something in me shifted and I realized, like, what am I chasing? Like, where am I trying to go so fast? You know? It's like I live at the scale of my foot, not the tire. I live in a world that didn't expect me I between the urinals. That's how I roll. And as for that father and son, I mean, did we win? Did we take them out? I think sometimes in a story, as in a life, you know, maybe you just don't get to see what happens at the end.

[Meg Bowles]

That was Ryan Knighton, author of the internationally acclaimed memoir cockeyed and Come on. Dispatches from a dad in the Dark. You can find all the stories you heard in this hour at the iTunes store or on our website, themoth.org thanks so much for listening and we hope you'll join us again next time for the Moth Radio Hour.

[Joe Lemony]

Your host this hour was Meg Bowles. Meg directed the stories in the hour along with Katherine Burns and Jennifer Hickson. The rest of the Moth directorial staff includes Sarah Haberman and Sarah Austin Janess with production support from Jenna Weiss Berman and Brandon Echter. Moth events are recorded by Argos studios in New York City supervised by Paul Ruwest. Our theme music is by the Drift. Other music in this hour from Disney's Pinocchio journey, Lawless music and dispatch. The Moth is produced for radio by me, Jay Allison at Atlantic Public Media in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, with help from Vicki Merritt. This hour was produced with funds from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the John D. And Catherine P. McCall Carthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. The Moth radio hour is presented by the public radio exchange prx.org. for more about our podcast, for information on pitching your own story and everything else, go to our website themoth.

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