Podcast Review: The Moth – Stories Told Live

A few months ago I discovered The Moth and I’ve been addicted every since. The Moth is all about storytelling, not by famous writers but mostly, everyday people—true stories. The venues come via live events, radio and podcasts: stories about life circumstances, discoveries and lessons. At turns, the tales are funny, informative, poignant, uplifting, surprising. Sometimes the storyteller’s voice cracks with emotion. For every one I’ve thus far heard I’ve been touched in some way. Better yet, I’m not listening to or watching some kind of drivel that’s so prevalent these days on TV or radio. The narratives mean something. It’s about our humanity.

George Dawes Green is the Founder of The Moth. It says this on the website: “George wanted to recreate, in New York, the feeling of sultry summer evenings in his native Georgia, where he and his friends would gather on his friend Wanda’s porch to share spellbinding tales. There was a hole in the screen which let in moths that were attracted to the light, and the group started calling themselves The Moths.”

For me, it takes me back to my childhood when we lived in France during the time there was no TV. (Yes, it was that long ago.) I used to lay on the floor next to the radio—riveted—taking in the old shows, imagining pictures in my head.

I’ve opted to subscribe to the podcast so they’re automatically available on my iPad when it’s convenient for me. So they’ve entertained me on long road trips and kept me awake, when I’m cooking or other activities where I don’t need focused attention. Best of all when I’m relaxing after a long day.

Here are just some I’ve listened to lately and thoroughly enjoyed…

• Launa Lea: Playing Parts about a worker at a community center who has a knife pulled on her.
• Janna Levin: Life on a Möbius Strip about a young astrophysicist finding wild parallels in her research and personal life.
• Kodi Azari: The Perfect Human Hand, a surgeon detailing his involvement in one of the world’s first-ever hand transplants.
• Jason Schmidt: Sit Tight, Kid, who as a boy realized his father was not a superhero, just a man who did his best.

Go here to peruse the archives, see if there’s a live event near you or subscribe to the podcast.  And…if you have a story and want to tell it, contact them. That’s how The Moth fills their shows.