Inside Stories

Takeyla Benton describes a mother's fear for her son's future as a Black Man in America, her struggle to protect him from imprisonment or death, and her fervent wish for others to see her son as she does--as they see their own children. We talk about her decision to craft this story to impact a white audience and why she had to tell this story.

This week we listen to a story that Jen told at the Moth StorySlam and Takeyla interviews her. Jen describes how she turned a favorite anecdote about her grandmother into a story. Jen also talks about the book she published last year, 'We Are Staying: Eighty Years in the Life of a Family, a Store, and a Neighborhood' and how she used storytelling techniques to write this book.

Esty Dinur tells a story from decades ago, when she and her ex-husband lived in Israel and rescued caged birds. The story has a surprise twist that you probably won’t see coming. We discuss the months long process of preparing a caged bird to be released out into the world and what it was like having the birds live in her apartment.

Albert Watson tells a story from his work at the Dane County Juvenile Detention Center. The story centers around the cooking club he leads and the day he saved the life of teenager in the detention center. We talk about his philosophy of working with juvenile's, his cooking club, and how to cook neck bones.

Erica Solis tells a story about living on a livestock farm and killing animals for food. She describes the moment right before she pulls the trigger as the hardest moment - the moment you can't take back. This also become a metaphor for the demise of her marriage. We talk about how she knew it was time for her marriage to end and being a storytelling introvert.

Charles Payne tells a story about taking his class of middle school students to see the movie 'Wonder' starring Julia Roberts, the conversation he had with his students after the movie about what type of mothering they found believable, and he shared his own experiences with his mother. Our conversation got deep quickly as we talked about teaching, kids seeing their life experiences reflected by the teachers in their schools, and what Charles hopes people might learn from hearing his stories.

Bill Stork tells a story about Sally, a dog he treated in his veterinary practice, and the impact Sally had on her family. Bill is a veterinarian by trade and a storyteller. We also talk about Bill's writing and the value that a small business brings to a community.

Jennifer Esperanza tells a story about growing up as the child of immigrant and what she was able to get away with as her parents didn't fully understand how everything worked in the US. This is tested one Christmas as she tries to convince her mom to put chocolate chip cookies out for Santa so she can get the Barbie Town House.

Ann Imig tells a witty story about being a full time stay at home mom with two young and energetic boys. We talked about her experience founding Listen To Your Mother (which originated in Madison and became a national storytelling event) and what it was like to pull together this annual show. We also discussed the problem of not being able to include everyone who auditioned to tell their story.

Tandalaya tells a story about her love of daydreaming, how her cancer diagnosis and health struggles took away her desire to daydream and how she survived and altered her dream. We talk about why she chose to frame her story around daydreams and why she brought a videographer to the recording studio.