In this hour, stories of healing, hope, and heart. A birthday celebration, a dream job, the importance of an heirloom and chance encounters when we need them the most. This hour is hosted by Jay Allison, producer of this radio show. Storytellers: Katya Duft goes camping for her 15th birthday. Aditya Dakshinamourtay learns a lesson about negotiating. Brenda Williams finds meaning in a set of pots and pans. Alistair Bane finds a kindred spirit in his horse, Bo. Kathi Kinnear Hill has hard conversations on the campaign trail. Jason Schommer has a chance encounter in a grocery story. Podcast # 707 To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What themes are explored in this episode of The Moth Radio Hour?
This is the Moth Radio Hour. I'm Jay Allison, and in this episode, stories about finding the light at the end of the tunnel, bright futures in dark times, and hope even when things seem hopeless. Our first storyteller is Katya Duff. Katya told this story at one of our Open Mic Story Slam competitions in Los Angeles, where we partner with public radio station KCRW. Here's Katya live at the Moth.
Chapter 2: How did Katya Duft find strength through adversity?
When I was 14 years old, my parents decided it was a great idea to get me out of school and move a million thousand miles away from the far east of Russia, close to Moscow, so I could go to a great college several years later. I didn't want any of this. I liked my school. I liked my skiing. I liked my rock climbing, my friends. So when they just moved me to Moscow, I got very depressed.
In addition to everything, once we moved, we had a little bit of savings, but they suddenly all disappeared because of a financial crisis. So when I came to my new school, not only we were poor, but also I had no friends. I mean, it's all my fault. I was very grumpy about moving, and I didn't want any friends. But the first year in the new school was extremely miserable.
So for my 15th birthday, my dad told me, I know what you'd like as a birthday present. Let's go camping with a bunch of other adults and kids. And this way you can climb the tallest mountain in Europe. You know, most girls for 15 years old, at 15, they want probably a dress or a pair of shoes. For me, it was an amazing idea. Yes, I really want to climb the tallest mountain in Europe.
So we go on this trip. which was not very well planned, honestly, because it was 10 parents and about 15 kids. And we didn't bring enough food for all of us. And it was nonstop camping for a month. We lived in intense bathing in rivers. And for the last two weeks of our trip, we completely ran out of food and we were in the mountains.
So we had to stop by different villages asking Highlanders for cheese and milk. And that was our diet for about 10 days. We all lost about 10 pounds, I'd say. And we were completely emaciated. But for my birthday, I said, I'm still climbing that mountain. So we spent the night in a wooden house, all of us. And they tell me, Katya, the weather doesn't look very well.
You know, they promised a little bit of rain for tomorrow and maybe a little bit of a storm. I say, no, we are going. It's my birthday. I absolutely have to do it. So next morning, when I get out, I realize that there is no electricity because all the electric cables lay on the ground after a storm. My dad tells me, Kati, we are not going. No, you're not doing this. I say, no, it's my birthday.
I'm 15. My life has been crap for the last year. I absolutely have to do it. So when my dad turns away, I put all the equipment on these special metal shoes, and I bring a metal stick, and I started climbing. Good thing my dad got out of the house and he saw me on the horizon and he was like, oh God, she decided to do it. So he starts chasing me with other adults. They grabbed me off the mountain.
They bring me back to the house. They say, Katya, you don't want to die on your 15th birthday. And that's when I started bawling and saying, oh, my life just sucks. It's been nonstop for a year. It's so bad. I'm so depressed. Why, why, why, why did you take me away from my friends? You started this. And then my dad looks at me, he says, Katya, but you know what?
This is the worst event of your life, you think? Then after all, it can only get better. So look forward to going back to Moscow, going to a new school, and it will all be amazing from now on, I promise you. Except when we get on the train. and listen to the radio, the first thing we hear, there is a coup d'etat in Moscow. It's 1991. It's the collapse of the Soviet Union.
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Chapter 3: What challenges did Aditya Dakshinamourtay face as an international student?
You promised my birthday was the worst thing ever. What is going on? So when we come home and turn the TV on, they say, OK, coup d'etat was a failure, but Soviet Union has collapsed anyways. But it's not going to be that bad. But for me, it was more than bad. And I actually, I get so sick with flu. My temperature was like 103 or something. And for two weeks, I don't remember anything.
When I got out of this condition, I felt different. I felt like I was suddenly stronger or something. Because to be honest, it's been, what now, 28 years since that happened. And no matter what happened in my life after that 1991 summer, nothing shocked me anymore. And I think that really made me a strong person as I am now. Thank you.
That was Katya Duft. She is the author of the public transit blog, Tales from the Bus. She's a linguist fluent in English, Russian, and French and works in subtitling and translating. She's a frequent participant in storytelling shows and contests in Los Angeles and is a Moss Story Slam winner. Katya says to this day, this remains the most challenging camping trip she's ever been on.
To see a photo of Katya and her father shortly after their trip, visit themoth.org. Up next, we have another moth slammer, Aditya Dakshinamoti. Aditya told his story at the Bell House in New York City, where we're presented by public radio station WNYC. Live from Brooklyn, here's Aditya.
Well, I'm not really proud of admitting this, but one of the biggest breakthroughs I've ever had in my life is to get an interview from the greyhound of the skies, Spirit Airlines. I'm not sure if any of you know, but getting a job as an international student here in the U.S. is very hard. In fact, most companies have it in their policy not to hire internationals.
And I was painfully made aware of that in my first year here in the U.S. As a student, probably applied for over 100 jobs, zero callbacks. Every recruiter I spoke to would say, good resume, but we don't hire internationals. But in hindsight, it's not really a surprise that Spirit Airlines is the first company to give me an interview, is it?
They probably tried hiring regular Americans here, and they didn't want to work for them. So they're coming after desperate folk like me. But that didn't matter to me. I came here not just to get a master's, but also to get a job and live and work here. So I was ready for this. This is what I've been waiting for.
And they came through my university, which meant I had a head start over the others by default because I was living up to my Asian student stereotype. I had a 4.0 GPA, and I was the darling of my professors. So they put in a very good word for me. The first round of interviews was on campus. I feel like I did that pretty well. Second round, they invite me down to their headquarters.
Went there, again, feel like I did pretty well there. Two nervous weeks go by, and then I get a call from the recruiter. And she says, hey, you know, thank you for coming down. We feel like you'd be a great addition to the team. We'd like to offer you the job. And as she's saying that, I'm on this side going... And then I calm myself down and I say, oh, I'm so glad to hear that. I'm very excited.
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Chapter 4: How did Aditya Dakshinamourtay's experience shape his career in the airline industry?
I told my mom, I told my girlfriend, I told my dad. Everybody knew. And I was thinking, man, this is messed up. Now I got to walk all of it back and also try to find another job. This is going to be fun. Things eventually worked out well for me. I went on to work for Southwest Airlines, which is a much better company. And... This time I did not negotiate past the phone.
For those of you who thought I would have never negotiated, if you fuck up something the first time, next time you do it right, you don't not do it. And I waited one whole month till after I got the job to tell anyone that I now got a job. Thank you.
That was Aditya Dakshinamurti. Aditya is an airline professional, storyteller, and DJ. He grew up in South India before moving to the U.S. for his master's and currently calls New York City home. He has appeared in Moth Story Slams, as well as many other storytelling shows throughout the U.S.
We followed up with Aditya to find out more about his experience job hunting as an international student without a work visa.
There's always this can they hire me question that goes into your head before, you know, am I a good fit for this role? So there's a lot of shot in the dark. And the first thing you tend to ask anyone is, do you sponsor for a visa? And most of the time the answer is no and the conversation ends then and there. You have to probably try way more than you normally would.
You cannot be picky at all because you don't know who will sponsor and who won't. So you might have to take a job that's not necessarily what you really want.
So are you still working with Southwest?
No. So I actually had to leave Southwest and the U.S. because I couldn't get a visa. Then I left Southwest thinking I will never come back to the U.S. and it's all over. And I took a job in a Middle Eastern country called Qatar, working for an airline there. And six months into my job there, they asked me to move back to the U.S. completely out of coincidence.
So I ended up back in New York, like within the next year. That's what happened after.
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Chapter 5: What role did a set of pots and pans play in Brenda Williams' family story?
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This is the Moth Radio Hour from PRX. I'm Jay Allison, and this episode is all about looking ahead to what promises to be a brighter future. Next up is Brenda Williams, who told this story at a New York slam presented by WNYC. Here's Brenda.
You're welcome.
Hello, I'm Brenda, and I'd like to share with you how Worth came to be defined in my family by a set of pots and pans. And we have to go back to when I was about three years old, growing up in London. My parents emigrated from Jamaica to England before I was born, and there was never enough money.
So my mom would go to Freddy the Butcher, and she would get these scraps and turn them into these really delicious... savory stews and soups. And at that age, I thought it was some kind of sorcery, some kind of kitchen magic, total mystery. And it was around that time that the door-to-door salesman came calling, and he came with these stainless steel pots
lots of them with every imaginable insert, broiling, steaming, you know, everything, whatever. Anyway, I don't know what it was about these pots, but they ignited in my mum some kind of fierce longing, enough that she entered an instalment arrangement with this man that she could in no way afford. So she struggled through it, And I was about six years old when the box arrived.
And I had elder siblings who were not interested in the box, but I was. And I remember my mom made me wash my hands. So I washed my hands, and we opened the box, and we took out the pots one by one, and we oohed and aahed over their magnificence. And I figured that the kitchen magic at this point would take on some kind of upgrade, but my mom had a different idea.
She took the pots, put them back in the box, and put them on top of the fridge. And that's where they stayed. And I remember just every year, once or twice a year, I would beg, oh, mommy, mommy, can we look at the pots? And she would take them down from the box, ooh, ah, back in the box, up on the fridge.
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