The Moth Radio Hour: Defining Moments

The Moth

Arts, Performing Arts

4.6 • 25.4K Ratings

🗓️ 29 July 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this hour, stories of turning points, decisions, and the moments that come to define us—from summer camp to nightclubs. This episode is hosted by Moth Director Jodi Powell. The Moth Radio Hour is produced by The Moth and Jay Allison of Atlantic Public Media. Storytellers: Jeff Birdsall leads a motley crew on a wilderness canoe trip. Lauren Allen really wants to be good at something. Madeline Pots's artist husband encases her in plaster of Paris. Jean Cardeño meets the man at the center of her failing relationship. Duncan Hills's septuagenarian father takes up clubbing. Errol McClendon receives some heartfelt gifts. Podcast # 930 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

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, Moth listeners. For 17 years, the Moth podcast has shared thousands of stories from stages around the world.
0:07.7	Now it's your turn to take the stage. We want to hear from you. The Moth has created a listener survey to help us better serve our community and continue bringing you the best possible content.
0:18.6	Visit the moth.org to share your thoughts.
0:24.5	It takes just a few minutes for your voice to be part of our story.
0:27.7	Head to the moth.org and take our survey today.
0:32.8	Race the rudder, raise the sails, raise the sails!
0:35.0	Captain, an unidentified ship approaching.
0:35.4	Over.
0:36.4	Roger that.
0:40.3	Wait, is that an enterprise sales solution?
0:44.5	Reach sales professionals, not professional sailors.
0:49.2	With LinkedIn ads, you can target the right people by industry, job title and more.
0:54.5	To get £100 off your first campaign, go to LinkedIn.com slash lead to claim your credit.
0:57.9	That's LinkedIn.com slash lead. Terms and conditions apply. This is a Moth Radio Hour. I'm your host, Jody Powell. In this hour, we're hearing all about turning points. The moments when you make a game-changing decision and decide who you're going to be right now or for the rest of your life. Her first story comes from Jeff Birdsaw.
1:30.3	Jeff told this at a Seattle StorySlam where KUOW is our radio partner.
1:36.3	In college, I led wilderness canoe trips in the Boundary Waters canoe area of Minnesota
1:43.3	at a camp
1:44.5	Widgee Wagon. Try saying that three times quickly. And as a novice I quickly
1:49.9	learned that carrying large canoes and Duluth packs across massive portages
1:56.0	between beautiful lakes required a lot of strength. And so the desire to have a team of youth that were able to complete this task was highly desired.
2:07.6	And right before a trip started, you gathered with the other staff and you got a packet of information
2:13.6	about each of the campers, medical forms and parental notes.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 12 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

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

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