From PRX, this is the Moth Radio Hour. I'm Meg Bulls and in this hour we'll hear four

stories recorded live on stage. Stories of nerves under pressure, survival, and one family's

amazing generosity. Our first story from Alana Kynarski was told that our slam series

in Chicago, the theme of the evening, was busted.

Thank you. I was born in the former Soviet Union in a country that is known as the last

dictatorship in Europe. I was about five years old when the Soviet Union crumbled and my

parents filed for the paperwork to move to America. And so in December we packed up all

the very few things we had into two suitcases. It was my mom, my dad, my grandmother, and my

two-year-old sister and I. And we were leaving behind this place that was empty. The stores

were empty, the streets were empty, the hearts of the people oftentimes were empty because

it was pretty sad. It was a pretty sad place to live at that time.

So we make this long journey with two suitcases in hand for four people, five people, and

we end up in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. And so it's December in Detroit and the five

of us pile into a two-bedroom apartment on the second floor where lots of other immigrants

live. And we all displace ourselves in different rooms and pockets of the living room. And we unpack

our two suitcases and realize there's a whole bunch of stuff that we need. And so we put

on the fur coats that yes my parents brought in the two suitcases that we had and the hat.

And we don't have a car or anyone to drive us or knowledge of how to navigate the bus

system. So we walk. So December 1991, my grandmother, my mom, my dad, my 20-year-old, pissed off

sister that she has to live in Detroit and five-year-old me are walking down the side of

the street in Detroit towards a cameart. And it was miserable, but we walk up to it. And

these magical doors just part open. And this cold air breezes past us. And there's shelves

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