‘Do It, I Dare You.’

Modern Love

The New York Times

Love, New York Times, Nytimes, Essay, Loss, Storytelling, Society & Culture, Redemption, Nyt

4.3 • 9K Ratings

🗓️ 6 July 2022

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In his early 20s, Kevin Renn moved to New York City with dreams of making it as a playwright. When money got tight, he decided to fall back on a familiar option: babysitting. “The question, though, wasn’t whether I would be a good nanny, but if anyone would let me — as a Black man who is over six feet tall,” Kevin said in his Modern Love essay. Kevin soon became a nanny to Lucas, a 4-year-old boy with a wide smile and stylish parents. Today, Kevin takes us into his secret world with Lucas — their intertwining daily routines, the nights full of spaghetti and meatballs and jazz music, and the times they stood up to strangers with a phrase that became their refrain: “Do it, I dare you.” Then, we get to hear from Lucas, now 7 years old.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello.
0:01.0	Hey, I'm.
0:02.0	Hey, Anna.
0:11.0	From the New York Times, I'm Anna Martin.
0:13.6	This is Modern Love, and that's my sister, Emily.
0:18.1	Do you remember Miss Dina?
0:21.9	Of course I remember Miss Dina.
0:23.4	She was her baby, so we were living in DC.
0:26.8	Miss Dina took care of me and Emily when we were young, and she's this totally mythical
0:32.2	figure to us.
0:33.9	Our memories of her are full of color.
0:36.5	I remember her hair is like fire engine red.
0:39.0	Me too.
0:40.0	That's only color I remember.
0:41.0	I remember her laugh.
0:42.0	I feel like she was constantly smiling.
0:44.6	In my memory also, she's wearing a turquoise tank top.
0:47.1	Does that track for you?
0:48.7	No.
0:49.7	In my memory, she's wearing a red tank top, V-neck with low rise pants.
0:59.0	We spent a lot of time with Miss Dina.
1:02.4	So many snacks and neighborhood walks and books read out loud.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The New York Times, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The New York Times and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.