“Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda spoke powerfully about how sometimes the truth sneaks up on you.
For him it popped up in the form of a best friend who died when he was 4. He can barely remember her, but his subconscious sure can. She metaphorically popped up in a student musical he wrote and even in some lyrics from “Hamilton.” One particularly powerful song is about parents losing a child, and Miranda says lots of people has asked him how he ever found the words.
“One thing that is true is that it took me a day to write that song. It wrote pretty quick. And another thing that is true is that I have been writing that song since I was 4 years old.”
Miranda’s 12-minute talk was part of The Moth, which embraces storytelling with a variety of live events, videos, podcasts and assorted activities. It’s a nonprofit that’s been around over 25 years, but I was clueless about it until I stumbled across this Miranda video on YouTube.
We all have instances when the truth pops up, from Freudian slips to diary entries to someone apparently overreacting because of a past trauma — “If it’s hysterical, it’s historical,” one counseling adage goes. After he saw “Rent” on his 17th birthday, Miranda appreciated the truths that must have arisen for creator Jonathan Larson as so many friends died of AIDS.
Lots of Moth stories sprinkle in humor — even Miranda’s emotional tale is far from somber — but they’re all supposed to be recollections of real incidents. Even this next one, from Shaun Gohel, who describes how his 16-year-old self fabricated a first kiss.
The Moth’s podcasts tend to come in two sizes: a 51-minute “radio hour” and shorter ones like this on magic, which are just a couple of tales that fit the theme. One, like Gohel’s, is about youthful awkwardness, in this case realizing that all the magic in the world might not be enough to turn a platonic relationship into a romantic one.
The radio show includes more speakers or varying lengths, again with different interpretations of a theme. In this episode, people talk about letting go of everything from trying to fit in in middle school to a father’s history of hoarding to male pattern baldness.
I can’t imagine many people listening to the episode and not finding a story they can connect to or empathize with. One woman talked about being married to a Vietnam veteran who rarely spoke of the war, but the truth still had a way of popping out. A wrongfully convicted man described the tension of being pulled over by a police officer years later.
If The Moth doesn’t help you see the light, consider something I’ve written about before: the Time to Walk series from Apple Fitness+. You do need an Apple device, of course, but it offers several walks with 20-minute-or-so talks from celebrities — usually three or four anecdotes — plus three songs they like.
Two stories, for example, illustrate how great teachers can change lives. Hasan Minhaj described how he talked too much in class, giving his teacher plenty of opportunities to send him to detention. Instead, the teacher offered a deal: Join the debate team and I’ll turn the other ear.
Constance Wu wanted to be a writer in eighth grade, and turned in a paper she was proud of. But the teacher accused her of plagiarism, basically saying she couldn’t have written the first paragraph. That was hard to prove, especially in the pre-internet era, so the teacher took Wu around to her other teachers and asked if they thought this eighth grader could have written that paragraph. All said no. Wu was devastated.
But one more teacher was asked to look at the paragraph. He showed Wu his faith and showed his colleague the door. In her moment of truth, he was by her side. He taught drama.
Murphy Slaw
Something old: Since it’s Halloween week, let’s throw in a trivia question: How many views do you think this video has on YouTube, as of 10 p.m. Pacific time Thursday night? (Answer below.)
Trivia answer: Over 943 million. Maybe it’ll hit a billion by next Halloween.
Something new: We all have nuisances in our lives, but sometimes the way we react just makes this worse. “There’s a saying in meditation circles that Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional,” this meditation newsletter explains, using the example of a jackhammer operating in the neighborhood. “It’s not that I need to convince myself that the noise is pleasant. It’s probably not. But I can’t make it stop either. If I resist the noise (with complaints and exasperated sighs every few minutes), I’m simply increasing my discomfort.”
Something borrowed: Getting employees back into the office has turned into a huge challenge for many companies. J.M. Smucker has an approach that seems to be working.
Something blue: The recent Alaska Airlines cockpit incident involving an off-duty pilot has raised fresh calls for more effective mental health treatment for pilots. Many are concerned that current policies encourage pilots to lie about any difficulties they might be having.