00;00;00;00 – 00;00;25;10
Marc Moss
Welcome to the Tell Us Something podcast. I’m Marc Moss, founder and executive director of Tell Us Something. We are currently looking for storytellers for the next Tell Us something storytelling event. The theme is hold My beer. If you’d like to pitch your story for conSyderation, please call (406) 203-4683. You have three minutes to leave your pitch. The pitch deadline is December 7th.

00;00;25;12 – 00;00;29;26
Marc Moss
I look forward to hearing from you this week on the podcast.

00;00;29;29 – 00;00;47;13
Jesse Ballard
I distinctly thought about the doll house in the corner, the horse mural on the wall. And so when I started to wake up from that nighttime nap, I was really surprised to look around and see thorn branches instead of that childhood bedroom wall.

00;00;47;15 – 00;01;08;26
Betsy Funk
The flowers are there and they’re up to our knees in color and riotous glory. It’s a misty day, so we aren’t hot. It’s cool. And the mist has made the flowers scream at us. It’s glorious. And I’m hiking with my daughter, who?

00;01;08;29 – 00;01;31;02
Syd Lang
Goodness. For the open mouth piece. Right? Yeah. So I’m throwing up everywhere, and all of a sudden, the crowd of kids just falls completely silent. And. And a kid goes, hey, that’s my grandma’s costume that you’re throwing up in.

00;01;31;05 – 00;01;58;18
Marc Moss
Three storytellers share their true personal story on the theme Never Again. Their stories were recorded live in person in front of a packed house on September 18th, 2024 at the George and Jane Denison Theater in Missoula, Montana. Tell Us Something acknowledges that we gather on the ancestral lands of the Salish, Kootenai, and peoples. These lands have been inhabited for millennia, shaped by the wisdom and stewardship of the First Nation peoples.

00;01;58;20 – 00;02;24;27
Marc Moss
We acknowledge the historical and ongoing trauma inflicted upon indigenous communities, including the forcible removal from their lands, the destruction of their cultures, and the systemic injustices that continue to persist. As we honor the indigenous people who have called this place home. Let us commit to learning from their traditions and values a tangible way to do that. If you live in Missoula, Montana, is to visit the Missoula Public Library on Friday, November 1st.

00;02;24;27 – 00;02;51;27
Marc Moss
Missoula Public Library hosts a First Friday event highlighting native art and culture, showcasing the library’s permanent collection. That event kicks off four weeks of programing celebrating Native American Heritage Month. A tooltip will be installed on the Harrison Children’s Library. They will unveil an exhibit of the Salish Kootenay Seasonal round that gives children a new interactive learning tool. They will also debut a new collection of indigenous books and materials.

00;02;52;00 – 00;03;17;04
Marc Moss
Stop by the library or visit Missoula Public Library Board to learn more. Tell us something. Stories sometimes have adult themes. Storytellers sometimes use adult language. Jessie Ballard and her family are stranded in the Kenyan desert, where they faced danger, dehydration, and exhaustion. Come along with Jessie on a wild, adventure filled with unforgettable memories in a story she calls the best walker.

00;03;17;11 – 00;03;25;21
Marc Moss
Thanks for listening.

00;03;25;23 – 00;03;57;10
Jesse Ballard
I want you to think back to the last time your car broke down, or you were riding in a car that broke down. Think through the steps involved to being rescued. I imagine it was a stressful situation, but pretty simple to get rescued. A phone call to triple A, wave down a passer by. Call a buddy and maybe within a few hours you were safely back at home or in a safe place at least.

00;03;57;13 – 00;04;22;27
Jesse Ballard
Now, I want to take you back in time to late 1980s in a remote area of northern Kenya. Myself, I’m around eight years old. My younger brothers, around six, were with my parents and we had just finished visiting family in a remote area of northern Kenya. We were living in Nairobi, the capital city, at the time we’d finished our visit.

00;04;22;29 – 00;04;47;27
Jesse Ballard
We packed up our double cab white Nissan and we were well on our way back to Nairobi. We happened to hours after our travel. We ended up in this area part of our travel called the chawl B desert. Chawl B is the gabbro word gabbro. Being one of the groups of people that lives in the area for dry and salty.

00;04;48;00 – 00;05;12;02
Jesse Ballard
So I just want you to imagine dry and salty for miles and miles around you. Well, I’ve set up how remote it is, but here we are driving along and another car happens to come by us, and they stop. And it’s Mr. and Mrs. Anderson. Family, friends. Wow. What are the odds of that? So my parents strike up a conversation.

00;05;12;02 – 00;05;35;14
Jesse Ballard
I think my brother and I are just playing in the back seat, and then they wave and off the Andersons go. My dad goes to restart the car. Nothing happens. We all jump out of the car and start waving at the Andersons, who by this point are miles down the road in a dust cloud of dry and salty.

00;05;35;17 – 00;05;58;02
Jesse Ballard
Well, that didn’t work. My dad tried valiantly to get the car started, but it wasn’t going to happen. So he makes the decision. He’s going to be the hero. Dad, and is going to embark out on his own and find help. My mother, sitting in a pickup truck with an eight year old and a six year old, said, not.

00;05;58;05 – 00;05;58;20
Betsy Funk
We are.

00;05;58;20 – 00;06;25;04
Jesse Ballard
All coming with you. So we gathered the supplies, the few supplies we had, which included a jerry can. For those of you not familiar with that phrase. It’s kind of a big plastic or metal container that’s often in the back of a car on Safari with extra gas, or in our case, with extra water. So my mom grabs the jerry can and we start our walk through the child B desert.

00;06;25;07 – 00;06;44;22
Jesse Ballard
At first, my brother and I think this is great. We’re skipping. We’re throwing rocks. We’re having a grand old time. What an adventure we’re on. Eventually, the charm starts to wear off. It’s made extra irritating by my mother banging on the now empty Jerry can.

00;06;44;24 – 00;06;47;08
Betsy Funk
Boom boom boom boom.

00;06;47;10 – 00;07;11;09
Jesse Ballard
Over and over and over and over. Mom! Stop that! That’s annoying. I pause here to have you think of walking a Montana trail, where you might encounter something like a bear. What is it that you do when you’re on a trail where you might encounter a bear? You make noise, right? You’ve got your bear bells. You’re ready with your bear spray.

00;07;11;12 – 00;07;34;18
Jesse Ballard
My mother knew that we might encounter lions or some other wildlife, and the boom boom boom was out of protection for us. But of course, I was childlike, blissfully ignorant to that, and just annoyed at the incessant bang bang bang. So we’re walking and walking and walking and eventually the sun starts to go down and we are exhausted.

00;07;34;18 – 00;08;00;27
Jesse Ballard
So tired. My dad managed to grab some thorn branches and build an enclosure for us to rest in. I don’t my dad and my mom were doing much resting, but I was so tired and I felt so safe in that enclosure that I conked out. I fell fast asleep even though I was only eight. I have this distinct memory of feeling like I was back in my childhood bedroom.

00;08;00;27 – 00;08;30;00
Jesse Ballard
Even though I was in the middle of the desert in a thorn bush enclosure. I distinctly thought about the doll house in the corner, the horse mural on the wall. And so when I started to wake up from that nighttime nap, I was really surprised to look around and see thorn branches instead of that childhood bedroom wall. So as I was waking up, I start to hear the sound of cowbells in the distance.

00;08;30;00 – 00;08;54;14
Jesse Ballard
Digging, deep digging. So we are all listening, and we know that if there’s cowbells, there’s humans, there’s civilization. So we get up and we follow the sound of the cowbells. And that leads us to this. Now abandoned old tented camp. But it wasn’t totally abandoned. There was a caretaker there watching over the property, and he welcomed us in.

00;08;54;15 – 00;09;24;04
Jesse Ballard
He pulled out some cots for us to lay on, and again, we just fell fast asleep. Sleep through the night and as the as we’re there, he’s also giving us cup after cup of tea or chai so that we could get hydrated. And as we’re waking up, I remember this what’s probably an old wives tale to test if you’re dehydrated or not, where if you lift the skin on the back of your hand, if it sticks together, supposedly you’re dehydrated.

00;09;24;07 – 00;09;48;15
Jesse Ballard
And I thought, oh, I’ve been walking in a desert. I mean, I’m dehydrated. And sure enough, when I lifted that skin, it stuck together. So keep that tea coming, get rehydrated. But as I’m waking up that next day, I hear another strange sound. It’s little kids yelling and I can hear that thunk, thunk thunk of rocks being thrown up into this tree near my bed.

00;09;48;18 – 00;10;13;19
Jesse Ballard
And I look up and there’s a giant snake up in the tree. I was pretty scared, but these kids just kept at it and kept checking the rocks, and eventually that snake slithered away. So big sigh of relief there. So now we had to figure out how in the world we were going to get home. Well, this old camp happened to have an old ham radio.

00;10;13;21 – 00;10;40;00
Jesse Ballard
The problem was it had a dead battery. So these two Samburu Lascaris guards, who were part of the the staff at the camp, decided they were going to book it back to our car and get the battery out of the car that we could hook up to the radio and call for help. They did that trip so quick for my brother, and I felt like hundreds and hundreds of miles, but they were back real fast.

00;10;40;03 – 00;11;14;11
Jesse Ballard
So we hooked up the radio and my dad gets on there and we hear this crackling over the radio and another familiar voice. It’s our neighbor from back in Nairobi, placing the order for her tented camp. A dozen eggs and a bag of flour. What are the odds that it would be Mrs. Cotter on the radio? But eventually my dad got through to friends who were wonderful and volunteered to drive up and help get the car and get my dad and the family back home.

00;11;14;13 – 00;11;46;10
Jesse Ballard
Well, my parents decided that another long drive was not the best thing for it and seen little me and my brother. So they managed to make a connection with a local pilot who had a little Cessna plane, likely something like an hour story earlier, and he flew into this remote area. No landing strip, just a bumpy road, but bumpy fields that he landed in, and myself and my brother and my mom loaded into this tiny little plane, which for me was so exciting.

00;11;46;10 – 00;12;11;11
Jesse Ballard
We were going to fly in this cool little plane and get home. My brother was prone to car sickness, which also translates to air sickness. So he’s in that plane just trying to hold it together, and my mom’s doing her best to distract him from wanting to vomit by pointing out things that were flying by. So we’re flying along, and my mom sees this waterfall in the distance.

00;12;11;12 – 00;12;37;04
Jesse Ballard
Look, man, look at that cool waterfall. Our daredevil pilot decides you want to see the waterfall? Let’s go. Hangs a really sharp right. Pulls the plane right up against the waterfall, which did not help the air sickness at all. Eventually we make it back home. My dad makes it back home and we are safely under the roof in our own house.

00;12;37;07 – 00;13;07;23
Jesse Ballard
And I’m back in my bed with my dollhouse in the corner. The horse mural on the wall. I’m sure my parents were in their room going. Never again. But for me, I had a trophy proudly up on my bookshelf, given to me by my parents. A little trophy that on the bottom, red nest Walker. You get.

00;13;07;26 – 00;13;31;04
Marc Moss
Thanks, Jesse. Jesse is a perinatal care coordinator who moonlights as an actor and a birth doula. She lives in Missoula with her husband, two kids, and two cats. In our next story, Betsy Funk hikes with her adult daughter Kelsey, in Glacier National Park on what would become a grueling hike for her daughter. Kelsey’s determination and love for the outdoors pushed them through tears and exhaustion.

00;13;31;07 – 00;13;42;19
Marc Moss
Betsy calls her story Glacier calls. Thanks for listening.

00;13;42;21 – 00;14;07;12
Betsy Funk
I’m from Glacier country. And for those of you who know Glacier Country, you know that the park calls to us and often that means we’re compelled to go visit her. This is happening this one week, and I was feeling it, needing to go back to Glacier. Back to hike. So I made the decision to go. One day I called a friend.

00;14;07;14 – 00;14;23;00
Betsy Funk
I said, let’s go hiking. She said, yeah, I’m up for it. Let’s go. I said, well, have to start early because we want to get back in time. She had a baby and we wanted to make sure the baby got back in time to get some rest. She says, yeah, no problem. I got this. And so I went and picked her up.

00;14;23;03 – 00;14;49;29
Betsy Funk
We loaded up the baby backpack, the snacks, all the Kutama of going to Glacier. Of course, we got our layers and our bear spray and headed up to Glacier to our favorite hike. Now, my friend is my daughter, and she, she has her son, and she’s excited about going on this hike because she’s been doing this with me since I was carrying her in the backpack up the hike.

00;14;50;02 – 00;15;11;01
Betsy Funk
She did it with me when she was a teenager and says, I will go no farther. And she also did it with me and kicked my ass up the switchbacks. So we know it’s her favorite. She has, she has a real passion for this part of the park, as do I. So we get to the trailhead. It’s about eight in the morning.

00;15;11;01 – 00;15;31;29
Betsy Funk
We decide we’re going to start early. This particular trail takes on a slow day, about six hours to do. It’s not extraordinary hard, but it is touted as one of the most beautiful hikes in the park. So as we’re unloading her son and I’m unloading her and we’re getting things ready to go, I look over at her and I say, Kelsey, how are you doing?

00;15;32;04 – 00;16;05;16
Betsy Funk
I’m good mom. I said, so you sure about this? Yes, mom, I got this. I said, great. Okay. You’re sure of it? Let’s go. So the trail drops off. the going to the sun Road, and it goes for about a mile into the subalpine forest. And as you step on that trail, the sounds of the road drop away and you’re surrounded by the moistness of bear grass and ferns.

00;16;05;19 – 00;16;31;17
Betsy Funk
A soft foot underneath. And it gradually hikes uphill into these beautiful mountains. That compelled us to go and call us. So as we’re hiking, I’m realizing this is taking Kelsey a little longer than I thought it would. Now she’s carrying her son, and, And that’s okay. So I turn around and say, you sure you’re up to this?

00;16;31;17 – 00;17;02;17
Betsy Funk
She says, oh, I got this, mom, so I’m fine about I don’t know, I want to make a guess, but a mile to a mile and a half in on the trail, it’s becoming pretty apparent to me that this is going to be a long day. She’s taking a while, and I guess this is where I tell you that my daughter is in six plus years of living with and gradually dying from, glioblastoma multiforme, which is brain cancer.

00;17;02;20 – 00;17;38;27
Betsy Funk
It’s terminal. She’s been through two brain surgeries, five and a half years of chemotherapy and a full term pregnancy. she’s a fighter, and she wants to do this hike. She loves this hike. But when you look at her, you realize that cancer, it doesn’t take you all at once. Cancer takes you. Bit by bit, one piece at a time.

00;17;39;00 – 00;18;04;17
Betsy Funk
And I’ve been watching for over six years. My daughter die in front of my eyes, one piece at a time. So we’re hiking along the trail and I’m starting to be concerned. It’s taking her a while. She’s gained a lot of weight with all the treatment. She’s slow, she’s tired. And I ask her, else we can stop at the why?

00;18;04;18 – 00;18;34;04
Betsy Funk
It’s okay. We’ve been here. It’s wonderful. She says, no, mom, I got this. So we get to the why where she knows the next thing she’s going to see are these glorious meadows filled with arnica, an Indian paintbrush, mountain aster. And she has a degree in horticulture. So she she says she’s jazzed. She wants to see this. So we get to the line and I say, okay, we’ve got a choice.

00;18;34;06 – 00;18;55;18
Betsy Funk
We could stop here, go back, have lunch. It’s great. We’ve seen wonderful things. We could go on up to get an idea, or we could head over, say, pass. And she says, mom, Syde pass. That’s the only option. I got this. So we head up. The meadows are there. They’re up to our knees in color and riotous glory.

00;18;55;21 – 00;19;29;00
Betsy Funk
It’s a misty day. So we are as hot. It’s cool. And the mist has made the flowers scream at us. It’s glorious. And I’m hiking with my daughter. So from there we open up and we go through some beautiful waterfalls and creeks and we get to the switchbacks. Now these switchbacks are no fake. Go. They’re real switchbacks. They go and they go, and then there’s little summit and then you go some more.

00;19;29;03 – 00;19;53;05
Betsy Funk
at this point, we’ve been on the trail twice as long as it would take anybody else to be on the trail. I said it was a misty day, so there were very few people on the trail, and those people had long since passed us where I thought we’d be done. At about two in the afternoon, it was becoming pretty apparent that we might be down after dark.

00;19;53;07 – 00;20;18;15
Betsy Funk
We go to start the switchbacks, and it’s even more apparent that Kelsey is weakening. She’s struggling about every ten meters. She has to stop. Let’s feed the baby mom. Let’s take a rest. Kelsey. We can go back any time I got this, mom. It’s okay. I got this on these switchbacks. She finally allowed me to take the baby.

00;20;18;17 – 00;20;44;07
Betsy Funk
I carried them on my back. Now you’re wondering, what’s he doing? Well, he was just hanging out. He was cool. He was wrapped up all snuggly warm, and I just kept handing food back there. He was good. So we’re hiking up the switchbacks, waiting for calcium, checking in. How are you doing? I’m okay. I got it, mom. Take the next switchback.

00;20;44;07 – 00;21;11;21
Betsy Funk
How are you to him? Mom, I’ve got this. Okay. We eventually make it to the top. Along our way, we pick up a couple of heart stones. And as is tradition in my family, we put the heart stones on this enormous cairn that stands at the top of the pass. And we put them there to honor those who come before us and to guide those who come after us.

00;21;11;23 – 00;21;34;24
Betsy Funk
And we hold each other and we celebrate and we embrace and we feed the baby more food. and then I ask for calcium. If we go back, it’s shorter. We know where we’ve been and we’re okay. It’s an extra mile, a mile and a half to go down the other Syde. Mom, I didn’t come here to quit.

00;21;34;26 – 00;22;03;17
Betsy Funk
I’ve got this. So I take a deep breath. I say, I’ll take the baby. She’s my baby, I said. Okay, she was a stubborn one. so she carried the baby as we drop down this trail. If you’ve never been there, you walk through hanging gardens of monkey flowers and orchids all scream and riotous color in the high alpine saying, come have sex with me, please.

00;22;03;20 – 00;22;31;25
Betsy Funk
The beautiful. And she is relishing in it. She’s in rapture. She’s loving this at the same time. Her legs are shaking. She’s worn through one pair of leggings because she’s large and her legs have chafed. She’s bleeding. I give her another pair of leggings. She’s begun to walk through them. She falls. She breaks up, holds. I ask if I can take a photo.

00;22;31;27 – 00;23;00;27
Betsy Funk
She says, nope, I got this mom. So we continue down, shaky knowing it’s getting late. There’s nobody on the trail at this point. The clouds are settling, it’s getting scary and it’s bare. 30 if anybody knows what bare 30 is. Well, basically the rule is stay 100 yards away from a bear right? Oh, I have someone with me who’s having trouble walking on the trail.

00;23;01;00 – 00;23;25;03
Betsy Funk
And when we see the full size, the grizzly bear ten feet off the trail and I ask her, can you bushwhack? She says, mom, I don’t think I can. I don’t think I can hold myself up. We can’t walk on the trail. I take a breath and I say, okay, so there is this full sized grizzly ten feet off the trail.

00;23;25;03 – 00;23;53;11
Betsy Funk
The trail goes on a switchback above the bear and below the bear. So we’re going to cut across a little field to try to avoid doing it twice. Right. So I tell Kelso, right here it is. Kelso, I’ve got the bear spray and I’m standing with the bear spray, and I go, you walk behind me and she goes, mom, I said, just walk behind me because I’m looking at that bear.

00;23;53;11 – 00;24;26;20
Betsy Funk
And I say right to his face, she’s not going to die today. Not today. And she makes it. She gets the other Syde. I start to back up, still holding the bear spray. The bear shakes his head and huff 70, walks over to a pine chain just below the bear. We made it. We continue down the trail and it’s clear Kelsey is truly struggling.

00;24;26;22 – 00;24;49;08
Betsy Funk
a ranger has been sent in to help us, although what could he do but help her up? Because at this point, I’m giving the baby her modality of getting down this trail, bleeding and shaky and very unstable is to sit on every step, slide on her ass, and have us help her up. And then she walks away to the next one.

00;24;49;08 – 00;25;17;02
Betsy Funk
Sets and slides. It’s getting later and later, and I’m thinking, we need to call somebody in. And I ask him, should we call for help? She says, mom, I gotta do this. I got this. We make it to the bottom. It’s glorious. I’m relieved. I’m crying. The baby’s asleep. and there’s a at the bottom of this trail.

00;25;17;02 – 00;25;42;06
Betsy Funk
There’s this beautiful path that goes down on the river. And I go and put my feet in. Because I’m an old woman and my feet hurt. And she goes and puts her feet and she’s. Oh, this doesn’t this won’t do, mom. And she goes because she’s bleeding and she sits right in the creek and she goes, you know, mom.

00;25;42;08 – 00;26;02;12
Betsy Funk
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do that again. And I looked right at her and I said, you know what else you got? This. Thank you.

00;26;02;14 – 00;26;24;04
Marc Moss
Thanks, Betsy. Betsy Font lives in the Flathead Valley, where, surrounded by mountains, she raised her family. She believes stories are the result of the mischief wonder and magic of life and of a willingness to be witness to all of it. To see photos of Kelsey and Betsy on their hike visit. Tell us something, doc. Work coming up after the break.

00;26;24;06 – 00;26;40;28
Syd Lang
Thank goodness for the open mouth piece, right? Yeah, so I’m throwing up everywhere, and all of a sudden the crowd of kids just falls completely silent.

00;26;41;01 – 00;26;42;13
Syd Lang
And a kid goes.

00;26;42;16 – 00;26;43;18
Betsy Funk
Hey.

00;26;43;21 – 00;26;47;23
Syd Lang
That’s my grandma’s costume that you’re throwing up in.

00;26;47;26 – 00;27;08;22
Marc Moss
Remember that the next tell us the main event is January 13th. You can learn about how to pitch your story and get tickets at Tell Us something.org. Thank you to our story sponsors who help us to pay our storytellers the Good Food Store. For more than 50 years, The Good Food Store has been Missoula’s homegrown independent source for natural, organic and locally sourced food.

00;27;08;24 – 00;27;43;14
Marc Moss
Learn more at Good Food store.com. And thanks to story sponsor ParkSyde Credit Union, whose mission it is to be the best place for people of western Montana to get a loan. Learn more at ParkSyde fcu.org. Thanks to our accessibility sponsor SBS solar, allowing us to provide American Sign Language interpretation at the live event. SBF solar stands at the forefront of the solar energy revolution, with over 30 years of industry experience specializing in custom solar design and installation for both reSydential and commercial applications.

00;27;43;20 – 00;28;10;17
Marc Moss
SBA solar is committed to promoting energy independence and environmental sustainability. Learn more at SBS linc.com. And thanks to our workshop sponsor, White Tide Designs, helping us to feed our storytellers at the group workshop. White Tie Designs is a woman led art and design studio that produces colorful spaces and stunning artwork that fosters positivity and empowers individuals to be their best selves.

00;28;10;19 – 00;28;34;26
Marc Moss
Learn more at Wide Tide designs.com. Thanks to our media sponsors, Mizzou Events Dot net, where you find all the good things that are happening. All of our Missoula and Missoula Broadcasting Company. Learn more about them and listen online at Missoula Broadcasting company.com. Thanks to our in-kind sponsors. Float Missoula. Learn more at float msl.com and choice of Tyler. Learn about Joyce at Joyce of tile.com.

00;28;34;29 – 00;28;58;14
Marc Moss
All right, let’s get back to the stories. You are listening to the Tell Us Something podcast. I’m Marc Moss closing out this episode of the Tell Us Something podcast. Syd Lange is a summer camp counselor at a small, long running camp in Colorado. Listen as she meets a special individual one summer and watch their friendship blossom amidst laughter, shared stories, and a whole lot of fun.

00;28;58;16 – 00;29;08;17
Marc Moss
Syd calls her story lovesick. Thanks for listening.

00;29;08;19 – 00;29;39;15
Syd Lang
I’m standing in the middle of a large dining room, and I’m in a bit of a pickle. The problem is, there is a cute girl sitting in the corner and I am in fluorescent, Colorado. well, actually, not in fluorescent. Fluorescent, as of the last census, had 149 people who lived there. It’s technically an unincorporated community, and I’m in Florissant, but not really forest.

00;29;39;15 – 00;30;02;20
Syd Lang
And I’m actually 30 minutes up a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. And I’m in this dining hall, and I see this girl and she’s sitting in the corner, and I want to go sit by her. She’s got this wild mullet that I later learned. She’s cut herself with a river knife on the Grand Canyon, and she’s got these vibrant eyes, and I want to sit next to her.

00;30;02;20 – 00;30;32;15
Syd Lang
But I’m a little bit nervous, and I’m nervous because on the drive out from Montana to Colorado, I’ve lost my voice somewhere. Wyoming’s long takes a long time to drive through there. I’m sure somewhere my voice has taken a stop and not come with me. I get to Colorado and I, I have laryngitis. And so here I am, standing in this room trying to meet a staff of seven people, small staff, and I can’t speak.

00;30;32;15 – 00;30;36;07
Syd Lang
And so I’m introducing myself, scratching through words. And I’m saying I am sad.

00;30;36;07 – 00;30;37;12
Betsy Funk
And I, I don’t.

00;30;37;12 – 00;30;57;00
Syd Lang
Normally sound like this, and I don’t know what to tell you. And I’m so happy to be here. And, it’s my fourth time coming to work at this outdoor education center. And we do summer camp, and we also do, teaching students. And so I spend the next week during staff training trying to get to know this girl.

00;30;57;01 – 00;31;14;19
Syd Lang
It’s not going well. I’m not really getting to know anyone because no one can hear me. And so at the end of training, we decide that we’re going to go all together as a staff. We’re going to go into town. The big town. And so we get in two separate cars, and I manage to weasel my way into the car with her.

00;31;14;19 – 00;31;32;03
Syd Lang
And I’m thinking, oh, good, here we go. Now it’s my time to rock. And so we get in the cars, you know, five, seven person staff team, right? Five people and one car, two people and the other. Here we go. So we get in the old 2001 Subaru Outback, and she rolls down all the windows because it’s August in Colorado.

00;31;32;03 – 00;31;52;12
Syd Lang
It’s still pretty hot. She turns on the radio and she’s singing the whole drive, and my little scratchy laryngitis voice is no competition for the windows or the music. And so I’m silent. The whole two hour car ride. We get to town and she has this great idea. We should go to karaoke.

00;31;52;14 – 00;31;54;16
Betsy Funk
Like, oh, awesome.

00;31;54;18 – 00;32;23;15
Syd Lang
This is perfect. So I get to karaoke and Big Green Tractor, my typical karaoke songs. Not sounding as good as it usually does, and I’m up there and I’m scratching through the lyrics and I finally, as the night goes on, I get a chance to sit outSyde with her and we’re talking about how we both have worked at this camp, but we’ve worked there opposing seasons, and so we have never we’ve never met before.

00;32;23;18 – 00;32;26;03
Syd Lang
And she goes, oh, I’ve heard of you, though.

00;32;26;06 – 00;32;26;11
Betsy Funk
Like.

00;32;26;13 – 00;32;48;25
Syd Lang
Oh God, this can’t be good. And she goes, yeah, you’re Patient zero, aren’t you? Yep. So, so let’s go back to 2019. It was my second summer at camp, and I’m coming as the climbing director this summer. And my goal is to get students excited to sign up for my climbing program, because the more they sign up, the more I get to climb.

00;32;48;25 – 00;33;17;02
Syd Lang
And that’s the dream job to a 19 year old. And so here I am. I’m dressed in front of all of the kids. It’s 150. Kids are sitting in an outdoor auditorium, and I’m putting on an opening night performance, and it’s this zany, wild experience and I’m dressed head to toe in a giraffe costume. And luckily, there is a break in the giraffe costume from the top of my head to the bottom of my chin.

00;33;17;02 – 00;33;33;27
Syd Lang
It’s got this like big giraffe muzzle, you might call it these big ears. And I’m in a belay system, which is a climbing term. If you don’t know, I’m wearing a harness and another person is also wearing a harness, and we’re kind of mocking what climbing might be like. And I have no control over if I’m moving forwards or backwards.

00;33;33;27 – 00;33;53;20
Syd Lang
I’m tied into a rope and my player is deciding how much slack I get. And so here I am, and I’m like dancing in front of everyone. I’m so excited. I’m the giraffe and I’m going to climb with you all summer. Come sign up, and all of the sudden I turned to the left and I just start spewing vomit just out of nowhere.

00;33;53;20 – 00;34;10;18
Syd Lang
Thank goodness for the open mouthpiece, right? Yeah. So I’m throwing up everywhere, and all of a sudden the crowd of kids just falls completely silent.

00;34;10;20 – 00;34;12;03
Syd Lang
And a kid goes.

00;34;12;05 – 00;34;13;06
Betsy Funk
Hey.

00;34;13;09 – 00;34;36;14
Syd Lang
That’s my grandma’s costume that you’re throwing up in. And so I’m standing in front of everybody spewing vomit and also spewing the norovirus, which took over the entire camp all summer. looking back, it was pretty awesome. You know, kids in the dining hall, they’re standing up and three kids are vomiting at once. And all these interactions, it was a real stand by me moment.

00;34;36;15 – 00;34;56;21
Syd Lang
We had a barf tally on the Syde. Yeah. Totally awesome. So I coined the name patient zero, and I’m sitting here and I’m like, really going into this story, like telling her maybe more than I should. And I look over after talking about this and I’m expecting her face to be like, oh. And she looks at me with just this, like excited astonishment.

00;34;56;22 – 00;35;14;03
Syd Lang
She goes, well, hey, that’s cool. Have you heard of my character early? Like, oh, okay, we’re going to do this. Here we go. And so she starts telling me about this character named Earl, which is a bird, and the bird dance to every event. And Earl kind of sounded like this. So she’s going into Earl.

00;35;14;03 – 00;35;39;11
Syd Lang
And then I start talking about granny. And granny was my other claim to fame at this establishment. Granny is an old character. She’s an old woman character. And I’m working outdoor ed season at this time. And so fifth and sixth grade students from the surrounding area in Colorado, they come up and they spend a week with myself and the other field instructors, and we we replace part of their curriculum from the class.

00;35;39;11 – 00;36;01;16
Syd Lang
So we’re teaching it. And also acting it out. It’s really an odd place. And so I am working I’m teaching the, the homesteading curriculum, and I’m granny dressed head to toe in a bonnet. And granny, I just fell in love with granny. So I spent two months being granny and granny sounded like this. Hey, kids. Well, come.

00;36;01;16 – 00;36;01;23
Betsy Funk
On.

00;36;01;23 – 00;36;07;08
Syd Lang
Down. Here we go. We’re going to churn some butter.

00;36;07;10 – 00;36;29;20
Syd Lang
And granny had a really rough season because granny had giardia. And if you don’t know what giardia is, it is a parasite you get from drinking unclean water. And she already really stays until you take care of it. So the idea, Judy, a granny, is running around teaching these kids in her bonnet and her and her homesteading dress.

00;36;29;27 – 00;36;45;19
Syd Lang
She keeps going, Granny’s got dysentery. Where is the chamber pot? So at this point, everybody has heard about patient Zero and also granny with giardia.

00;36;45;21 – 00;37;08;21
Syd Lang
And I’m swapping stories with this girl. Her name is Sophia, and we’re going back and forth, back and forth and just doubling over in laughter outSyde of this karaoke bar. And we decide that what we need to do is bring Earl and granny together. And there’s a perfect opportunity for that. We have, in this outdoor ed season, what’s called the hoedown.

00;37;08;24 – 00;37;29;29
Syd Lang
And I can guarantee you, you have never been to anything like the High Trails Hoedown. It is magical and wild. All the students are packed into a small auditorium. The teachers are. They are wide eyed, confused, or like, this is what you do. What? And all the staff comes in, were dancing around in different costumes and we put on a performance.

00;37;29;29 – 00;37;51;14
Syd Lang
And every night the performance looks different because we don’t play in it and it goes on for like two hours. These kids dancing at the hoedown and granny and Earl come out and they just steal the show. And for the next two months, granny and Earl steal the show every single week, granny and Earl.

00;37;52;24 – 00;38;26;08
Syd Lang
Spend a lot of time together. Granny and Earl also sit in Sofia, fall in love. throughout the entirety of that season, Sophia’s mullet slowly grows out. My voice slowly comes back. Thank goodness. Good old Larry’s kicked it, kicked the curb, and, we moved back to his unit together. And granny and Earl still live in Missoula. We’ve been here for two and a half years, and we have a pretty darn good time.

00;38;26;11 – 00;38;38;07
Syd Lang
and I would say we still know how to throw a pretty dang good hoedown.

00;38;38;09 – 00;39;12;06
Marc Moss
Thanks, Syd. Sydney Lang grew up in Olympia, Washington, and has been living in Grand Old Missoula, Montana on and off for the past seven years. She attended the University of Montana, where she studied communication and climate change. She spends much of her time climbing big rocks and zooming through the trees on her bike. She has been working in the outdoor education world for many years both in Montana and Colorado, said love seat bubble gum, ice cream, practice slack line by the river, play on local trails and cook dinner with friends.

00;39;12;08 – 00;39;35;12
Marc Moss
Thanks for listening to the Tell Us Something podcast. Remember that the next Tell Us Something event is January 13th. The theme is hold my beer. Learn how to pitch your story and get tickets at Tell Us something.org.

00;00;00;00 – 00;00;25;10
Marc Moss
Welcome to the Tell Us Something podcast. I’m Marc Moss, founder and executive director of Tell Us Something. We are currently looking for storytellers for the next Tell Us something storytelling event. The theme is hold My beer. If you’d like to pitch your story for consideration, please call (406) 203-4683. You have three minutes to leave your pitch. The pitch deadline is December 7th.

00;00;25;12 – 00;00;29;07
Marc Moss
I look forward to hearing from you this week on the podcast.

00;00;29;10 – 00;00;47;16
James Crosby
Someday you’re going to be cool. That is what the rebellious older sister says to her younger brother. Towards the beginning of Almost Famous, my rebellious younger sister did not share that same positive outlook.

00;00;47;18 – 00;01;02;15
Aaron Miller
A couple of weeks later, mom got me into private speech therapy in order to improve some of my speaking, reading and writing. And mom was also told that I was not going to be able to read or write in my life. When she first found out I had autism.

00;01;02;17 – 00;01;16;15
Marc Moss
For storytellers to share their true personal story on the theme. Never again. And it’s a party. Everyone’s dancing. Everyone singing along. Strangers are kissing each other. Hugging. Everyone’s just. It’s a celebration.

00;01;16;17 – 00;01;34;07
Karna Sundby
I realized that I was in the middle of this horrific storm. Suspended from a few sheets of ripstop nylon. It’s funny how there’s not fear, how logic kicks in when you’re making decisions that may possibly save your life.

00;01;34;09 – 00;01;55;09
Marc Moss
Their stories were recorded live in person in front of a packed house September 18th, 2024, at the George and Jane Denison Theater in Missoula, Montana. Tell Us Something acknowledges that we gather on the ancestral lands of the Salish, Kootenai, and Pender peoples. These lands have been inhabited for millennia, shaped by the wisdom and stewardship of the First Nation peoples.

00;01;55;11 – 00;02;21;18
Marc Moss
We acknowledge the historical and ongoing trauma inflicted upon indigenous communities, including the forcible removal from their lands, the destruction of their cultures, and the systemic injustices that continue to persist. As we honor the indigenous people who have called this place home. Let us commit to learning from their traditions and values a tangible way to do that. If you live in Missoula, Montana, is to visit the Missoula Public Library on Friday, November 1st.

00;02;21;18 – 00;02;48;19
Marc Moss
Missoula Public Library hosts a First Friday event highlighting native art and culture, showcasing the library’s permanent collection. That event kicks off four weeks of programing celebrating native American Heritage Month. A tooltip will be installed on the Harrison Children’s Library. They will unveil an exhibit of the Salish Kootenay Seasonal Round that gives children a new interactive learning tool. They will also debut a new collection of indigenous books and materials.

00;02;48;21 – 00;03;19;04
Marc Moss
Stop by the library or visit Missoula Public Library Board to learn more. Tell us something. Stories sometimes have adult themes. Storytellers sometimes use adult language. In our first story. Listen to James Crosby share his disastrous sailing camp experiences and life changing moments as a lifeguard. James shares his journey of self-discovery and resilience, and discovers how a seemingly simple act of kindness led him to finding his true calling and inspire others along the way.

00;03;19;04 – 00;03;27;28
Marc Moss
In a story that he calls too big to sail. Thanks for listening.

00;03;28;01 – 00;04;11;07
James Crosby
Someday you’re going to be cool. That is what the rebellious older sister says to her younger brother. Towards the beginning of Almost Famous, my rebellious younger sister did not share that same positive outlook. I had no shot at being cool. All the things you needed to do to be cool. I was not good at seeing. When I turned 13, I had gone through a growth spurt that was kind of like one of those Play-Doh pasta presses.

00;04;11;09 – 00;04;17;23

My limbs just shot out of my body.

00;04;17;25 – 00;04;28;19

And I was a total liability on the sports field. I was kind of like, if the wacky inflatable arms guy had a jersey on.

00;04;28;22 – 00;04;29;29

His.

00;04;30;01 – 00;04;36;16

Nice defense. James, I’m on your team. Well.

00;04;36;18 – 00;05;01;25

So I had yet to find my thing. I had yet to find the thing that would make me cool. But if I was signing your yearbook, headed into the summer. That summer that I turned 13. I knew that my time was coming because I was looking forward to sailing camp, sailing camp last summer. This is when I was 12.

00;05;01;25 – 00;05;30;24

I had gone for the first time. It was the Chesapeake Bay and you couldn’t have been further from the ocean. It was great because I had just started watching Shark Week. So sailing was not a great choice. But we overcame that because my goodness, I got it. Port side. Port. Port. That’s left. Left. Nice starboard. I like starbursts, I opened them with my right hand.

00;05;30;24 – 00;05;54;11

Starboard. Starburst. Right. Yes, I got it. I could tie some knots, like. All right. That’s pretty good. And when we finally got into the boats, I kind of understood how the wind worked. And, boy, that feeling when you got going downwind and you tacked so the wind caught the other side of the sail and the boom swung over your head and caught the wind.

00;05;54;11 – 00;06;23;25

And you felt the power of the boat surged forward. The sun on your face, the wind, the sound of the water on the hull of the boat. I was in it, and there was nobody else I could disappoint. It was just me out on my boat. The captain of my craft. It was great. The things that I had to endure with sailing camp also included golf.

00;06;23;27 – 00;06;34;22

It hurts when you swing in with. It hurts even worse when you hear somebody behind you go. Ooh!

00;06;34;25 – 00;06;59;16

And then there was tennis. Tennis? I was the only camper to ever lose an entire game on the serve. I was serving up nothing but disappointment. I was so bad that after I lost this entire game, I went to practice my serve against the fence. And I just hit the ball straight over the fence, across the road, into the pool.

00;06;59;18 – 00;07;25;15

Nobody wanted me on my team. Nobody wanted me on their team. I didn’t want to be on my team. Let’s be honest. So finally it came time to sail and I was so excited. I was so excited. Except as a as a camper. I was there towards the end of the summer, so a lot of the other campers, they were there the whole summer and this summer that I returned.

00;07;25;17 – 00;07;55;16

I noticed that the people I had been sailing with last summer had moved on to bigger boats. Suddenly the people around me were a lot smaller, and when I went to set up my boat that year, I noticed that the mast was kind of short. In fact, the whole gear was unusually easy to carry over, and when I finally set up my boat and shoved off shore out into the great wide open of the Chesapeake Bay, once again, this is far from the ocean.

00;07;55;19 – 00;08;24;16

You could probably stand the whole time, but there I was, out on my boat, and when I went to tack to turn the boat, when the boom was supposed to go over my head, this time it hit me right in the arm, and I wrestled the boom over my head and pushed it out to the other side, at which point the boat had turned back into the wind and the boom came right back.

00;08;24;18 – 00;08;41;05

Knocked me into the back corner of my craft, and I took on some water. Yikes. All right, so I’m bailing it out and the booms coming around, and I try to push it around, and I fall back and I take on some more water. And before I know it, I hear the thing that still chills me to my soul.

00;08;41;08 – 00;09;13;04

It’s the recovery boat coming out to say, hey, are you okay? If you have to say, are you okay? I am not okay. And as they dragged me back to shore, waist deep in water because I couldn’t fit on the recovery boat while they held the sail, the look from my peers was mortifying. I did fail upwards, though.

00;09;13;05 – 00;09;39;18

I became somebody else’s problem. I was too big to sail, so they put me in the bigger boats. That didn’t make me a better sailor. Now I just had two other people in the boat with me. Luckily they were also bad at sailing, so I wasn’t really letting them down. We were all figuring it out. Well, at the end of the week it came time for the Gibson Island Regatta and we had accomplished nothing.

00;09;39;23 – 00;10;02;27
James CrosbyIn fact, our boat was so bad that by the time we thankfully crossed the finish line, the other boats were already rigging up on the beach. But there were only three boats in the race that day, so we got a medal.

00;10;02;29 – 00;10;28;26

I still felt like a loser, but I was so bankrupt of mojo that when the cute girl at camp asked me to go to the dance, I said no because once again, the wacky wavy inflatable arms guy was not on the dance floor. I promise. So I vowed at that time I would never sail again until years later.

00;10;28;28 – 00;10;48;27

I had become a lifeguard. Now I became a lifeguard because I thought lifeguards were cool and in a pool. I didn’t really have to swim because I could stand just about everywhere. So I had become a lifeguard and I took it very seriously. And my sister was also a lifeguard, and she could assure you that I was still not cool.

00;10;49;00 – 00;11;12;27

And one day I met a guy who would change everything. I saw this guy get up onto the diving board with his son and throw his son from the diving board into the water and from across the pool. I was like, it’s time, I gotta go. So I went cruising, sir. Sir. And his son was flopping in the deep end.

00;11;12;28 – 00;11;35;12

Looked like he was drowning. And as I get closer, he pops his head out of the water. He’s got this huge smile on his face and he’s swimming as though, oh my gosh, okay, what’s happening? And the guy on the diving board is laughing and he’s laughing. He says, hey, it’s okay, we do this all the time. This is my son Josh, and Josh has cerebral palsy.

00;11;35;14 – 00;11;57;20

He can’t get around grade on land, but when he’s in the water, he can do his thing. And Josh is a daredevil. He doesn’t want to get into the shallow end. He wants to get chucked in to the deep end. So it turns out Ross says, hey, we’re looking for lifeguards. Are you looking for some extra time, some extra help?

00;11;57;20 – 00;12;08;14

And I said, yeah, I think that that could be cool. And he says, actually, it’s a, it’s a windsurfing program. Do you know how to sail?

00;12;08;16 – 00;12;18;10

Well, Ross, I got third place in the Gibson Island Regatta. I,

00;12;18;12 – 00;12;40;07

So I show up for my first day on the job, meet the other instructors. They’re all really cool. We’re all getting along. And this camp is for kids with disabilities. And the whole thing is to get them out on the water, to get them to move in ways that they can’t on land. And my job as a windsurf instructor is to use this adaptive windsurfer.

00;12;40;09 – 00;13;05;01

It’s two long, skinny windsurfers with a sheet of four foot by eight foot plywood in between. It has two sails. The front sail is for the instructor to work the sail, catch the wind and move us around the back. Sail a much smaller one is for our athletes, kids in wheelchairs, kids that can’t move around. Sometimes the only thing they can move is one finger.

00;13;05;01 – 00;13;31;06

And my job is to get that one finger on the boom so that they can feel the wind catch the sail. They can feel the boat surge across the water. They can hear the water on the hull, and if the wind moves the wrong direction, I’m there to block the boom. That was something I was super qualified at.

00;13;31;09 – 00;13;50;18

So whatever it took for me to get to that point was something I was happy to endure, because the look on those kids faces made it all worthwhile.

00;13;50;21 – 00;14;21;11
Marc Moss
Thanks, James. The oldest and tallest among dozens of first cousins, James Crosby oddly and infuriatingly found himself outmatched in many backyard sports. He earned scores of nicknames Stone hands, Butterfingers, flood pants, all apt descriptions of his athletic prowess and giraffe like physique. After years of searching for the thing that could make him cool, a summer job with Access Sport America taught him to be something better.

00;14;21;13 – 00;14;56;17
Marc Moss
To learn more about the adaptive programs at Access Sport America, visit go access.org. In our next story. ‘s autism diagnosis doesn’t define him. It fuels his determination. From speech therapy to high school theater, Aaron overcomes his challenges and proves his capabilities. Aaron believes that disabilities aren’t limitations. They’re opportunities for growth. Aaron calls his story growing up. Thanks for listening.

00;14;56;20 – 00;15;26;07
Aaron Miller
Sorry I was laughing too hard. From James’s story. So I have less of a story and a little bit more of a statement. So a lot of people think of mental disabilities such as autism, ADHD as bad. But I’m going to say they’re not. And I’m not saying that because I have one of my own. I’m saying because it’s true.

00;15;26;09 – 00;15;56;17

And here’s why. So when I was four. Mom had just found out that I had autism, and she had absolutely no idea how to react. My brother was born three years before I was, and he does not have anything like autism or ADHD or even anything that he got later in life. like PTSD or anything like that.

00;15;56;20 – 00;16;17;10

So mom had no idea how to react. A couple weeks later, mom got me into private speech therapy in order to improve some of my speaking, reading, and writing. And mom was also told that I was not going to be able to be able. I’m sorry. I was not going to be able to read or write in my life.

00;16;17;18 – 00;16;39;25

When she first found out I had autism. So a couple of weeks later, she signs me up for private speech therapy in order to improve my speaking, reading, and writing because I was already doing it. But I sucked at it with because I was four years old.

00;16;39;27 – 00;17;08;16

So I was not happy. I did not think it was for me because I thought it was stupid. So I was not looking forward to the first day. So we first go in and we’re brought into this really small waiting room. And to the left is a hallway that leads to a bunch of other people’s offices. And then straight ahead is a hallway to the back of the building, which is like a playroom.

00;17;08;18 – 00;17;33;20

So I get in and after waiting a little bit, I get introduced to a mentor named Margaret. And she takes me and my mom over to her office down the left hallway. And then she starts asking mom a couple questions. Mom starts asking Margaret a couple questions. And then she starts asking me a couple questions. And then at some point, she had mom leave the room.

00;17;33;22 – 00;17;57;29

This was when I was extremely uncomfortable. I did not get defiant, which is good. But I was still very uncomfortable. So mom leaves the room and on the inside I’m like, help! So Margaret continues to ask a couple of questions such as spell this, pronounce this. Can you write this down? And it wasn’t that long of a trial.

00;17;58;02 – 00;18;20;10

Once we were done, I was excited that I was going to be going home because it was all over. And then mom broke the news to me and said that I had to come back. I did not want that to come. And then I found myself a couple weeks later back into the building with Margaret, with mom not in the room.

00;18;20;10 – 00;18;24;12

And I still thought it was done.

00;18;24;15 – 00;18;50;22

At this point, Margaret started doing something that she did consistently almost every time I saw her. She would show me an iPad and on it would be an animated sequence picture. You’re like picture. You’re in a classroom and you’re taking any kind of test, math test, history test, whatever. You’re taking a test and you need to sharpen your pencil because it just broke.

00;18;50;26 – 00;19;17;12

But the teacher said that you can’t get up, so you can’t get up and sharpen your pencil. Even though you just asked the teacher. So you either have the option to get up when the teacher isn’t looking and sharpen your pencil. Kindly ask again if you can sharpen your pencil, or just get up and start screaming.

00;19;17;15 – 00;19;33;12

I first had no idea what to do with these situations because they were always the same thing. It was always an animated problem. Problem comes up and then it gives me three choices and one of them’s correct. I had no idea what to do with these because I had just started kindergarten.

00;19;33;15 – 00;19;36;12

So I was.

00;19;36;15 – 00;19;50;00

So Margaret started guiding me through them. And when I started to learn what the right answers were, I started clicking the wrong answers on purpose.

00;19;50;02 – 00;19;55;09

I was always like, okay, it’s not okay to yell. I’m going to click the yellow button.

00;19;55;13 – 00;19;58;11
Karna Sundby
Boink.

00;19;58;14 – 00;20;22;20

And Margaret always had to tell me that that was wrong and always had to tell me why that was. And then she started doing a sort of reward system. Every time I got one of them right, she would give me access to this Batman set that was in the corner of the of her room. It’s like a Barbie doll house, but it’s the Batcave, basically.

00;20;22;22 – 00;20;44;08

So I would get one, right? And then let’s say she gives me, like, the Batman action figure, and then I get another one. Right? And she would give me, let’s say, one of Batman’s gadgets and so on. And I started to enjoy it, and I actually started to learn. And mom started to find me speaking, reading and writing.

00;20;44;08 – 00;21;13;11

Over time. Eventually I started seeing someone else named Ed, and he worked a little differently. So something that he did most of the time was he would turn on his computer and he would open a Google doc, and then he would turn on the text to speech setting. And then what we would do is that we would have a normal conversation with each other, and then he would see how much I was talking and how well I was talking.

00;21;13;13 – 00;21;26;19

My little kid brain exploded. When I found out that it was operated by my voice, he turned it on and I was immediately like, hi, my name is Aaron.

00;21;26;22 – 00;21;27;04

How are.

00;21;27;04 – 00;21;51;23

You? So we did that a couple times, and I started to have fun at speech therapy because I saw people like Ed where we had fun on the computer, we saw people, or I saw people like Margaret, where I got to play with her Batman set and go through her iPad and stuff with those animated things, whatever you want to call them.

00;21;51;25 – 00;22;15;17

And I also saw someone else named Alana, but the problem is that I saw her the least, so I don’t remember what she did, but she’s going to be important later. So keep her in mind. I’m not joking when I say that. So about six years later, I took a break from private speech therapy, and at this point I had moved across town.

00;22;15;17 – 00;22;46;06

My family had just met another family, and then we moved in. And now we’re just one big happy family, as they call it in the Disney things. So we move in together. But in the process of moving, I had to switch schools. I went from Lolo to the other side of Missoula near the airport, so I had to go from Lolo School to Hellgate Elementary and things got a little rough from there.

00;22;46;08 – 00;23;10;17

Fifth grade was my first year there, and kids would immediately start going up to me and they would find out very quickly that I had autism. And when they did, they would avoid me. They avoided me. They would lie to get away from me and I would even get home. Sometimes crying because I always thought I had no friends or anything.

00;23;10;19 – 00;23;42;17

So but over time, I actually managed to find friends, and those friends even doubted me at first. So I still found friends and everything was going okay. And then Covid came. Yeah, Covid sucked. So Covid came for all of sixth and seventh grade. I did not see my friends as often as I could, and I was always stuck in classes with kids who always made fun of me.

00;23;42;20 – 00;24;07;17

And the worst part was that that’s the key thing, is that they made fun of me. They did not just tease me. They would say they wish that I got Covid first and that I would. Maybe there were some kids who said that they wish I would even die from Covid. And it was not good. Again, I would get home crying.

00;24;07;20 – 00;24;20;00

Thank you. I would get home crying. And the problem was that mom could not do much because of the Covid policies. So I had to sit through this.

00;24;20;03 – 00;24;47;18

But through it all, I never gave up. When I first moved across town, I started writing about my dreams and practice, and I was self-taught writing. I did homework. I did research. I’ve written like essays and everything like that at school, and I’ve proved that I’m really capable.

00;24;47;21 – 00;25;10;09

Sorry. My train of thought derailed. I proved that I’m really capable. I have passed with straight A’s since seventh grade, and I’m now in my junior year of high school.

00;25;10;12 – 00;25;34;24

So ever since I got into high school, no one has doubted me. I first joined the theater department after hearing what my brother and sister always said, because they did theater before me. So I did it, and everyone else was very similar. They had autism, ADHD, dyslexia, all of this stuff. So I fit in pretty well and I was given a chance.

00;25;34;24 – 00;25;47;12

I’ve had people come up to me and say, hey, do you want to be in this piece that I’m doing? So I have passed with straight A’s and I’ve proved that I’m capable.

00;25;47;15 – 00;26;02;02

And now I am the house and facility manager at big Sky High School for the drama department, which is really important.

00;26;02;05 – 00;26;39;01

So through all of this. It was a rough ride. I will say, now ask yourself this is one’s disability a chance to improve? Yes. If very much is. I have gone through so much. But never again will I let my disability change me in any way again.

00;26;39;03 – 00;26;59;15
Marc Moss
Thanks, Aaron. Aaron wanted me to add that Ed and Alana were in the audience that night, and he ran out of time while telling his story. He wants to acknowledge them and again pass along his gratitude to them. was born and raised in Missoula and currently goes to big Sky High School. He loves dogs, performs being outside, and making close friends.

00;26;59;17 – 00;27;19;14

Aaron tries his best with work, people and even himself. In the summer, he works as a camp counselor for Missoula Parks and Recreation. Aaron has had four family members before him participate in other Tell Us Something events and is proud to join the ranks of Tell Us Something storytellers. Coming up after the break and it’s a party. Everyone’s dancing.

00;27;19;14 – 00;27;26;13
Marc Moss
Everyone singing along. Strangers are kissing each other. Hugging. Everyone’s just, hey, it’s a celebration.

00;27;26;16 – 00;27;43;24
Karna Sundby
I realized that I was in the middle of this horrific storm. Suspended from a few sheets of ripstop nylon. It’s funny how there’s not fear, how logic kicks in when you’re making decisions that may possibly save your life.

00;27;43;26 – 00;28;04;23
Marc Moss
Remember that the next Tell Us Something event is January 13th. You can learn about how to pitch your story and get tickets at Tell Us something.org. Thank you to our story sponsors who help us to pay our storytellers. The Good Food Store. For more than 50 years, the Good Food Store has been Missoula’s homegrown independent source for natural, organic and locally sourced food.

00;28;04;25 – 00;28;39;14

Learn more at Good Food store.com. And thanks to story sponsor Parkside Credit Union, whose mission it is to be the best place for people of western Montana to get a loan. Learn more at Parkside fcu.org. Thanks to our accessibility sponsor SBS solar, allowing us to provide American Sign Language interpretation at the live event. SBF solar stands at the forefront of the solar energy revolution, with over 30 years of industry experience specializing in custom solar design and installation for both residential and commercial applications.

00;28;39;21 – 00;29;06;17

SBS solar is committed to promoting energy independence and environmental sustainability. Learn more at SBS linc.com. And thanks to our workshop sponsor, Wide Tide Designs, helping us to feed our storytellers at the group workshop. White Tie Designs is a woman led art and design studio that produces colorful spaces and stunning artwork that fosters positivity and empowers individuals to be their best selves.

00;29;06;19 – 00;29;30;27

Learn more at Wide Tide designs.com. Thanks to our media sponsors, Missoula Events dot net, where you find all the good things that are happening all over Missoula and Missoula Broadcasting Company. Learn more about them and listen online at Missoula Broadcasting company.com. Thanks to our in-kind sponsors. Float Missoula. Learn more at float msl.com and choice of tile. Learn about Joyce at Joyce of tile.com.

00;29;30;28 – 00;29;56;28

All right, let’s get back to the stories. You are listening to the Tell Us Something podcast. I’m Marc Moss. Our next storyteller believes in the power of storytelling so much he founded Tell Us Something in 2011. That’s right. Our next storyteller is me. I call my story. Is anybody alive out there tonight? Thanks for listening.

00;29;57;01 – 00;30;28;16
Marc Moss
Go to your room. So I did. My 14 year old self is stomping up the stairs, silently cursing my dad. Some perceived transgression of mine. Maybe I put the dishes in the dishwasher incorrectly. Maybe I forgot to put the vacuum cleaner away after I vacuum the living room. I don’t know anything could have set him off. I walked into my room and I punched play on the tape deck and.

00;30;28;18 – 00;30;53;06

Lights out tonight. Trouble in the heartland. Got a head on collision. Smashing in my guts, man. Caught in the crossfire. That I don’t understand. But there’s one thing I know for sure I don’t give a damn for the same old played out scenes. Man I don’t give a damn for just the in-betweens. Honey, I want the heart, I want the soul, I want control right now.

00;30;53;08 – 00;31;10;15

You better listen to me, darlin. Talk about a dream. Try to make it real. The end up in the night with a fear so real. You spend your life waiting for a moment. That just don’t come.

00;31;10;17 – 00;31;15;07

Bruce Springsteen.

00;31;15;09 – 00;31;31;14

And Bruce Springsteen got me through that moment. He got me through lots of moments in my life. He got me through my first love. The only lover I’m ever going to need is your soul. Sweet little girl. Time.

00;31;31;17 – 00;31;57;14

He got me through loneliness. Like a river that don’t know where it’s flowing. Took a wrong turn. And I just kept going. And so loving somebody like that so much. Somebody. Music. You want to see him perform? And Bruce is a poet. He’s a dreamer. But really, he’s a storyteller. And he puts on 3 to 4 hour shows.

00;31;57;16 – 00;32;04;08

And I saw him from every tour from 1988 to 2005.

00;32;04;10 – 00;32;29;20

Not every show, but I grew up in Cleveland, so it was easier than here. And in 2005. Well, first of all, the shows were amazing, and I loved them so much that, in Gardiner, when I lived in Gardiner, Montana, I drove 11 hours. I didn’t have a car. And so I was in the back of a pickup truck 11 hours to Fargo, North Dakota to go see him.

00;32;29;23 – 00;32;36;11

You can listen to that story on the Tell Us Something website. I taught it a long time ago.

00;32;36;13 – 00;33;02;07
I even got to see him at Giants Stadium in New York City. I didn’t know I was going to be in New York this like 2003 ish in that neighborhood. And I called my Aunt Tina, who introduced me to Bruce, and she was like, hey, don’t buy a ticket. I was like, what are these scalpers? Okay, so I get on the train from Manhattan and I go to Giants Stadium, and I walk into the parking lot kicking rocks.

00;33;02;07 – 00;33;18;05

I got 20 bucks in my pocket hoping for the best. And this guy walks up, he’s like, do you need tickets? And I’m like, yeah. He goes, I know how much you’re out there. He goes, 30 bucks. I go, here’s ten. And he’s because you need their money. So he’s like, I can’t do it. I was like, okay.

00;33;18;05 – 00;33;32;26
Marc MossAnd I’m like turned to start walking away. And he’s like, wait a minute, I can do it. So I gave him ten bucks. This reporter walks over to me, hey, I’m from the New York Times. I’m doing a story on scalpers.

00;33;32;28 – 00;33;59;14

No lie. You can go to the New York Times website and read. photographer from Missoula, Montana, Marc Moss, had this to say. That’s true. But I didn’t get to see the Seeger Sessions tour. So in 2005, Bruce put together this 18 piece band brass band, and did a cover of, an album of Pete Seeger songs. And Joyce got to see the show.

00;33;59;18 – 00;34;24;13

Way before I knew Joyce, she was living in New Orleans right after Hurricane Katrina, and she was working at this restaurant right near the track where Jazz Fest happens. She got out of work, and she just walked right in. So 2012, now we’re married. She calls me at work. Mark, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are headlining Jazz Fest this year.

00;34;24;15 – 00;34;50;16

The Wrecking Ball album had just come out. I’m like, buy some plane tickets, we’re going to New Orleans. So we go to New Orleans. We’ve got friends there. We’re sitting at Louise’s by the track eating red beans and rice. I ask her, did you buy tickets? She goes, no, it’s Jazz Fest. Don’t worry about it. I’m like, look, if we’re going to do this show, we might get divorced.

00;34;50;18 – 00;35;15;27

I mean, it’s important. Yeah, I was exaggerating, but I mean, it’s really I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me that, like, I couldn’t just go buy the tickets myself, but I wasn’t thinking about that. And so she sort of breaks down later like minutes later, I don’t know, an hour later, goes down, buys tickets. 20 minutes later, for the first time in history, Jazz Fest sells out.

00;35;16;00 – 00;35;37;06

So eventually, you know, Jazz Fest comes around, we go to the show, it’s hot, it’s New Orleans, it’s June, it’s sweaty, it’s there’s no shade anywhere except for this one tree. And we’re sitting under this tree, and it’s 3:00 in the afternoon. And Bruce goes on at four, and doctor John’s playing, and I’m like, let’s go. We should start walking over to the stage.

00;35;37;08 – 00;36;01;03

Enjoys this like it’s Jazz Fest. Don’t worry about it. I’ve never been to Jazz Fest. I’m worried about it. I’m like, it’s like quarter after three. Can we just. I want to go see Doctor John. I’ve seen Doctor John, she says, but I haven’t. I say I want to see him. So it’s like 3:45. I start walking over there without all my people.

00;36;01;03 – 00;36;19;23

I don’t know, whatever. They’re just going to do what they’re going to do. They start to follow me. We get to the closest we can get, which is nowhere close. We’re going to have to watch the show on Jumbotrons, like from here to across the street outside the dentist. And that’s how far away we are. And I’m pissed.

00;36;19;25 – 00;36;41;03

I’m grumpy. I’m frustrated. I’m trying not to let it wreck my afternoon. I’m trying to be present and get ready for the show. But it’s hot outside and my hand is swelling up and my ring and my wedding ring is stuck on my finger. And I. It’s not like I want to take it off because. But my hand is hurt, my finger is hurting, it’s swelling and I’m starting to freak out.

00;36;41;03 – 00;37;02;06

And people are offering me ice. And this woman comes running over. Don’t put ice on it, she says. It’s going to make it worse. She pulls lotion out of her purse and she starts putting it on my finger, and she’s rubbing my finger, and she pulls my ring off and Bruce Springsteen walks out onto the stage. Thank God she gives me my ring back.

00;37;02;07 – 00;37;35;16

I put it in my pocket and it’s a party. Everyone’s dancing, everyone singing along. Strangers are kissing each other. Hugging. Everyone’s just. It’s a celebration and brings us through pain and heartache and sex and rock and roll and party and just so that you’re Clarence Clemons, the saxophone player and Bruce Springsteen’s best friend had died and Jake Clemons clearance his nephew had to fill in.

00;37;35;16 – 00;37;52;15

And during Born to Run, there’s a line. The change was made uptown and the big man joined the band. And at that moment, the show stops and a big slide show shows up selling vibrating clearances. Life.

00;37;52;17 – 00;38;12;23

He finishes the song and then he sings another song about the dead. If you’re here, they are here. If you’re here, they’re here. If you’re here, they’re here. We’re here together. It’s like a gospel revival.

00;38;12;25 – 00;38;40;28

So we walk out of the show and Joyce goes, I get it, I get it now. So we drive to Portland and see him there, and we get into the show. We’re close this time. We’re right up near the stage. And at that moment where the change was made up time and the big man joins the band like he stops the show again.

00;38;41;04 – 00;39;06;21

Except this time he has this long catwalk out into the audience, and he’s out on the catwalk and he turns around and he’s watching the show, you know, with us, the the slide show. And then this magical thing happens. He falls backwards off the stage into the crowd. The crowd catches him and he’s crowd surfing. I knew you were going to do that.

00;39;06;24 – 00;39;17;23

Crowd surfing across all of us. I got to grab his ass.

00;39;17;25 – 00;39;37;17

He gets up, back up onto the stage, and he’s, like, patting himself down like I did somebody steal my wallet? Ha ha. And he pulls out a phone out of his pocket and he’s surprised by it. Someone had shoved their phone into his pocket, and he takes a selfie and you’re like, throws it to the roadie. Roadie catches it and he goes, hey, if that was your phone.

00;39;37;18 – 00;40;01;06

Go get it after the show. Like, you don’t get that on a CD. You don’t get that streaming. You don’t get that on an album. You don’t get that you’ve been watching a video. That’s real connection. And I’m never going to get to see it again. Because his ticket prices are out of reach to readers. And then. And the plane fare because he’s not coming here.

00;40;01;08 – 00;40;34;16

So what I’m left with is gratitude that I got to see him so many times and experience that level of connection. So many times. And one of the things that he says during the show is, is anybody alive out there tonight? You tell me.

00;40;34;18 – 00;40;56;04

Thanks. Me! I am the founder and director of Tell Us Something and live with my wife Joyce, and our kitten Ziggy on Missoula’s North Side. Rounding out this episode at the Tell Us Something podcast. Can’t somebody get swept up in a windstorm while skydiving? Peer pressure in borrowed gear led to a harrowing experience in a story that she calls my Last Jump.

00;40;56;06 – 00;41;04;07

Thanks for listening.

00;41;04;09 – 00;41;33;15
Karna Sundby
There I was, hanging 1200 feet above the earth in gale force winds. And this is no shit. And that, my friends, is how a good skydiving story begins. It’s true. I was dangling from a parachute in the middle of a storm, being swept up the valley toward Snowbowl ski area. The next day’s Missoula in front page would read 59 mile an hour, winds wallop.

00;41;33;16 – 00;42;07;20

Western Montana skydiver lost up Grant Creek. It was August 15th, 1988. And what a great day it had been. It was a reunion of the silver Chip skydivers, which was a club at the University of Montana in the 60s and 70s. The party was happening at Grant Creek, in a meadow equipped with barbecues, kegs and a Cessna 180 that was taking off and landing all day to give these old skydivers the chance for another free fall together.

00;42;07;22 – 00;42;32;22

Although I had made well over 300 jumps with this club, I had no intention of making a skydive today. It had been ten years and I had never flown one of these fancy square parachutes that everyone was now using. And the ripcord wasn’t here anymore. It was down here someplace. And the parachute. Did you, just in case of a malfunction, wasn’t here where you could see it was behind you someplace.

00;42;32;24 – 00;42;58;15

So, no, everything was so different, and I was not going to jump. And then my friends started saying, come on, it’s going to be so much fun. Come on. The sunset is going to be so pretty from up there. So with that little bit of peer pressure, I changed my mind and was soon donning borrowed gear. I was wearing somebody else’s jumpsuit that was too big, somebody else’s rig that wasn’t comfortable.

00;42;58;18 – 00;43;22;07

Somebody else’s soft leather helmet. Unlike the hard motorcyle type helmet that I was accustomed to my own gear I had given away ten years earlier, and I loved it. Every time I looked up at that and saw that beautiful white and blue parachute, I felt like I was with an old friend who had safely landed me in so many different drop zones.

00;43;22;09 – 00;43;50;14
Karna Sundby
We had jumped into the oval at the University, into fireworks stands over the 4th of July, into weddings and rodeos and football games. I loved it. But this gear was so unfamiliar, and it had been so long that I said to the three guys I was with and this jump today, I’m going to dump high, which meant I’m going to pull my ripcord earlier than you pull yours.

00;43;50;16 – 00;44;15;09

Maybe 1000ft earlier so that I have a longer parachute. Right? So that in the unlikely event that I have a malfunction, I have more time to deal with it. So we were climbing into the plane, and my buddy Andy ran up with a hard helmet and said, wear this instead. It’ll be safer. So I swapped the soft leather one off my head for the harder, safer pair helmet.

00;44;15;12 – 00;44;37;29

And little did I know how grateful I would later be for this kind gesture. We took off and the plan was to go up to 8000ft for a 32nd freefall, but at 5000ft, the tower from the Missoula airport called us and said, if you’re going to go, you better go right now, there’s a big storm rolling in. So we looked out the open door, the airplane.

00;44;38;00 – 00;44;49;18

We could see these huge black clouds on the horizon. So we jumped.

00;44;49;20 – 00;45;14;19

It was incredible to be in freefall again. I had forgotten how much I loved this, and we were doing relative work, which meant we were flying together, holding hands, making a circle that was falling through the sky. Epic. Our parachutes all opened successfully and I was having so much fun flying this smaller, faster chute called a pair a plane.

00;45;14;21 – 00;45;33;01

I took the goggles off my eyes and clipped them on top of my helmet so I could feel the breeze in my face. I looked down and I could see the other three guys lower than me, getting ready to make perfect landings in the meadow. And my approach was all set up. I was going to have a great landing as well.

00;45;33;03 – 00;45;58;05

When suddenly I was moving backwards. Now this parachute had 32 miles an hour forward speed and I was being blown backwards. And then suddenly I was being buffeted around by this heavy, heavy winds. I looked down at the ground. I looked at my altimeter and saw I had gone up a couple hundred feet, which just doesn’t happen with this kind of parachute.

00;45;58;08 – 00;46;20;08

I realized that I was in the middle of this horrific storm, suspended from a few sheets of ripstop nylon. It’s funny how there’s not fear, how logic kicks in when you’re making decisions that may possibly save your life.

00;46;20;10 – 00;46;46;15

My first thought was maybe I’m caught in winds aloft. So I cranked a toggle, a steering line hard to make the parachute spiral down fast to get out of such winds. But no, I was still being blown backwards. So my second thought was, where can I possibly land? In those days, at the base of Grant Creek, there were just a few neighborhoods, and then it was forest all the way up to Snowbowl.

00;46;46;17 – 00;47;13;00

So I looked over my shoulder and in the forest I could see three homes with pretty big yards. And I thought, well, maybe I’ll land in one of those yards. And then I thought, no, they’re probably surrounded by electrical wires. I’ve never flown this parachute. It’s just too dangerous. So way up there. I had seen a clearing closer to Snowbowl, and I decided to turn and run with the wind and see if I could make it to the clearing.

00;47;13;02 – 00;47;31;10

Now you know that my parachute had 32 miles an hour forward speed. And you know that the winds had been clocked at 59 miles an hour. So you can do the math. I was screaming up that valley.

00;47;31;12 – 00;47;55;17

I didn’t make it to the clearing about 25ft above treetop level. I turned back into the wind because it would be better to land going 30 miles an hour backwards than to downwind it forward at 90 miles an hour. Fortunately, I remembered the tree landing protocol I had learned when I trained with the Silverton skydivers back in 1970.

00;47;55;20 – 00;48;20;19

You cross your legs like this and your arms like this, because one of the many bad outcomes of this situation was that I could land on top of a dead lodgepole pine. Skewered through some vulnerable body part and bleed to death.

00;48;20;22 – 00;48;36;26

But no. I was crashing through the lodgepole pines, branches, debris, twigs going everywhere. And I remember thinking, damn, I wish I was still wearing my goggles.

00;48;36;28 – 00;49;10;01

I thundered in and landed hard on the ground feet, but head hard enough to crack my pelvis. And without that helmet, I wonder if I would have cracked my skull. The wind was so intense that my parachute was still inflated and it was dragging me through the trees. And I reached up and started pulling the harness down. And then the harness is connected to the parachute by shroud lines, and I’m pulling the shroud lines down, trying, trying and trying to collapse the parachute.

00;49;10;03 – 00;49;36;25

Finally I got it deflated and I scooted back and laid on top of it so it wouldn’t re inflate. Eventually the wind subsided. I tried to stand up and that’s when I knew my leg was broken. So there’s nothing I could do but wait. As dusk approached, I try not to think of lions and wolves and bears on my.

00;49;36;27 – 00;49;48;00

And with a little prayer in my heart that went something like. What if you get me out of this one, I promise never again.

00;49;48;03 – 00;50;13;23

Meanwhile, back at the party, that storm hit hard and fast and was being blown all over the place. And my friends are me being blown away. So they jumped into their vehicles and raced up the road to rescue me. Now, in one of those three homes I had seen from the air, a family was was gathered out on their front porch watching this spectacular storm.

00;50;13;25 – 00;50;19;24

And they saw me fly by.

00;50;19;27 – 00;50;49;05

And then a little bit later, they saw my friends drive by. So they started shouting. He went that way. Lucky me. At least they would be looking on the correct side of the road. It was probably over an hour before they found me. And all I can say is thank God for shark. And when they did phone me, they showed me this big branch that I had apparently broken off a tree which had apparently broken my leg.

00;50;49;08 – 00;50;57;28

I call it a limb for a limb situation.

00;50;58;00 – 00;51;24;17

They firemen carried me out of the forest and drove me to the emergency room at Saint Pat’s Hospital. And, I didn’t know if the medical insurance I had at my job would cover a skydiving injury. So I told them that I’d been playing Frisbee.

00;51;24;20 – 00;51;29;29

And ran into a bench.

00;51;30;02 – 00;51;56;10

I also didn’t know that search and rescue had been called out to locate me. So you can imagine my surprise when this burly sheriff’s deputy comes walking into the exam room. So broke your leg, she said. I nodded. And you were up Grand Creek, were you? I said and you were playing Frisbee were you? And you ran into a bench did you.

00;51;56;13 – 00;52;01;13

Low flying bench. She asked.

00;52;01;15 – 00;52;09;23

And that’s no shit.

00;52;09;25 – 00;52;32;23
Marc Moss
Thanks. Karna. Karna Sundby has always been on her own unique uncharted past. Her curiosity and spiritual quest has taken her to places that most people would find bizarre, wondrous or enlightening, depending on their personal life experience. The one word they would never use to describe Kanha is boring. Karna’s gift and curse is being fearless. Thanks for listening to the Tell Us Something podcast.

00;52;32;25 – 00;52;47;01
Marc Moss
Remember that the next Tell Us Something event is January 13th. The theme is hold my beer. Learn how to pitch your story and get tickets at Tell Us something.org. Tune in next week to hear the concluding stories from the Never Again live storytelling event.

00;52;47;03 – 00;53;14;06
Jesse Ballard
I distinctly thought about the doll house in the corner, the horse mural on the wall. And so when I started to wake up from that nighttime nap, I was really surprised to look around and see thorn branches instead of that childhood bedroom wall. The meadows are there. They’re up to our knees in color and riotous glory. It’s a misty day, so we aren’t hurt.

00;53;14;14 – 00;53;42;10
Betsy Funk
It’s cool. And the mist has made the flowers scream at us. It’s glorious. And I’m hiking with my dog. Thank goodness for the open mouth piece. Right? Yeah. So I’m throwing up everywhere, and all of a sudden, the crowd of kids just falls completely silent.

00;53;42;12 – 00;53;48;17
Sydney Lang
And a kid goes, hey, that’s my grandma’s costume that you’re throwing up in.

00;53;48;19 – 00;53;59;28
Marc Moss
Listen, for those stories at tell us something Short or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to the Tell Us Something podcast, I’m Marc Moss.

This week on the podcast, we check in with Anna Haslund, the first Deaf storyteller to share a story at Tell Us Something. We sat down in July of 2020 during the midst of the pandemic. And she shared with us what it was like to share a story at Tell Us Something, her excitement

to participate in the Miss America Pageant representing her state of Montana, as well as some of the unique challenges that Deaf people face during the pandemic.

All this, coming up. Big thanks to our Title Sponsor, The Good Food Store, and thanks to our Enduring Sponsors, cabinetparts.com and Blackfoot Communications.

Special thanks to our Champion Sponsor True Food Missoula. Each year across Missoula, nonprofits raise money during Missoula Gives for expanded programming, special projects or, sometimes, just to keep the lights on.

Tell Us Something looks forward to your support during Missoula Gives May sixth and seventh. Learn more at missoulagives.org. So, Anna,

[Marc] You’ve been coming to Tell Us Something for how long?

[Anna] Wow, I think it’s been about five years.

[Marc] So, how did you come to decide, that you wanted to tell a story?

[Anna] Good question. Let me see.

So, my interpreter Bonnie actually told me that there was an event called Tell Us Something, and I hadn’t heard about it.

And so I went and was in the audience. And then I felt that I could probably get up there too. And I know that there weren’t any Deaf people that had done it before, so I feel that would be really empowering for me to get up there and just tell a story.

And then the audience, oh my gosh, they were so supportive and so excited! And when I finished the story they were all applauding for me in sign language, and it was just such an honor and I, I like being representative for the community.

So, I felt inspired.

[Marc] And when you told your story.

What was it like afterwards?

[Anna] So, it just felt like a really big change for me.

I’ve always been a very, like, closed and personal person, but getting up there and telling the story, I felt, y’know, just some new emotions and I was able to get out of my shell some more and make some new friends.

And we all supported each other. It was great.

It feels like I’m part of a big family now [Marc] You are!

[Anna] Exactly.

[Marc] So you’ve done this twice. You’ve told a story twice.

Is there one that you enjoyed telling more than the other one?

[Anna] It’s hard to choose but I think the one that I told about the, the two horses, you know, Joe, and then the other horse. So, Yeah, I think those, that was my favorite one to tell. [Marc] Yeah. Everyone loves horse stores.

[Anna] Yeah.

And they know that when I was trying to make that sound, you know, for the kissing the horse? That the audience, looked like they really enjoyed that too. [laughter]

[Marc] Yeah. You told a story about heartbreak too

Did that guy,

did he get to listen to it?

[Anna] So yeah actually he did, and he contacted me, and you know he apologized for the whole experience. And so you know we’re friends, you know, once in a while we’ll see each other but just friends. [Marc] His loss

[Anna] Actually yeah! [laughter]

[Marc] So what have you been up to since then? I heard you have some news.

[Anna] So I am so excited to let you know that just last month,

I was in a competition for Miss Montana for the Americas, and I won!. Oh my gosh, it was my first time! And the first time that there’s been a Deaf woman, representing the state!

And so I think the first time going to be doing some kind of appearance is going to be in November of this year. And hoping that I can give speeches like in schools and different communities, and and really inspire people and empower — yeah so yeah. Montana’s

just my home and I am excited to represent it.

[Marc] That’s awesome.

So when is the pageant itself?

[Anna] So in October, sometime I’m going to be competing on the national level.

And I think next month I’ll get more information. But I’ll keep you updated! It’s on my Facebook page!

[Marc] Anna won the Miss Congeniality award during the Miss America Pageant. Ultimately, the crown went to Miss Virginia,

Camille Schrier.

[Anna] I know when I was in the pageant previously, I was given the award for Miss Congeniality.

You know we could always have more people around it, just everybody go together.

And I want to say, just thank you so much to my, my two directors they have been so nice and respectful, and professional and working with me and we all work together, so it’s been such a great support system.

[Marc] So, so proud of you. That’s amazing. Thank you so much for

letting us know about that.

[Anna] Thank you. You’re welcome.

[Marc] And so the next time you tell a story at Tell Us Something you’ll be Miss America, is that right?

[Anna] [laughter] Maybe! Is there anything else that you want listeners to know before we play their story, your story for them.

[Marc] Is there anything else that you want listeners to know before we play your story for them?

[Anna] So I think it’s important for people know, I wanted to share–

You know, with this coronavirus that’s happening, It’s been really hard for Deaf and Hard of Hearing to be able to communicate because of the mask requirement.

It covers most of your face.

So what’s been really cool is that there’s these masks with a clear window, that the Deaf and Hard of Hearing people use, I have a friend that actually makes them.

Emily, she’s from Washington State.

And there’s also a place of Darby here in Montana. And they worked really hard to provide the community with a way to be able to provide access for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community.

I know it’s hard like if you’re trying to communicate someone needs to read your lips, you have to remove your mask so for just for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing people also it’s hard to communicate.

If they rely on reading lips. So, these masks are incredibly helpful. So that’s that’s a good idea.

[Marc] And, can you provide us a link to where we can order those masks?

[Anna] Oh absolutely, I’d be happy to give you that information for the contact.

[Marc] Great. Thank you so much.

[Anna] You’re welcome.

[Marc] And I don’t have any other questions. Is there anything else that you want to talk about?

[Anna] Oh, wow.

I don’t know! Let me see.

I could ask you about your experiences with your business. Maybe what do you think about inviting more Deaf people to tell stories?

[Marc] I mean, I’ve always wanted to do that, I don’t know how to encourage them. Do you have any advice on how I can be more inclusive?

[Anna] Good question.

So there’s a Deaf school in Montana that we could contact, and see if there’s anyone who will come and tell stories.

And they have interpreters there that we could put on video if we do do it remotely.

There’s always different access ways. And there’s —

I’d be happy to also myself just contact my Deaf and hard of Hearing friends and try to get them up here on stage to tell a story. I mean if I can do it, I think anyone can.

And I want to thank Bonnie, my interpreter and also Denise for interpreting. I know it’s hard to get interpreters for all the stories and all of your events and I know it can be frustrating and captioning is really frustrating and hard to get to look

just right. But the interpreting and the captioning is really important for people who aren’t completely Deaf but also hard of Hearing, and they can’t catch all the words.

So part of what I want to do is just help bridge communication gaps, and, um–

People, I know, are always fascinated with sign language, and they’re always watching the interpreter, which is great!

Like my best friend Erica, she got fascinated with sign language. And now she’s going into an interpreter program in Oregon to become an interpreter. So I’m so excited to see how she develops and I know when she’s done I’ll definitely be hiring her too!l

[Marc] Well, I can tell you this, that, I have a friend you this that I have a friend that knows ASL but she’s not an interpreter.

And, even before I started bringing Bonnie and Denise on to help interpret,

I didn’t know that I needed to bring on certified interpreters.

And so, I was asking other people to do it, and they kept telling me “no”. But they didn’t tell me why.

And so I’d been working on getting interpreters, interpret the stories for a couple years, before

I finally talked to Bonni–er, Denise, excuse me. And I asked her, like, what why aren’t, why isn’t anybody saying “yes” to this? And she explained

The requirement for certification.

And so then, finally,

We developed this relationship. And, here we are.

[Anna] And it’s great that you’re more comfortable, you know, having the interpreters there, and just having them be a part of the whole thing, and….

I know, communication is so important. And I know people don’t always understand that sign language is a foriegn language.

[Marc] Right.

[Anna] And that writing back and forth with people is ok,

But because it’s foreign language, that can be difficult. So using a certified interpreter, who knows ASL, it’s just so important to match communication styles.

With this pandemic. It’s changed so much. There’s so many emotions that people are experiencing, having to realize, you know, what can happen with the pandemic. It’s really difficult.

I know that we’re not alone with our struggles in communication and everything else and–you know, I know eventually, maybe, COVID will be gone. It could be years, it could be five minutes, I don’t know.

You can only try your best, you know, and like I always tease my friends, my family.

You know, like right now we’re sitting six feet away.

And sometimes, you know, I sign larger, and then, say, we’re not six feet away [laughter] and I say, “Oh, excuse me! That’s too close!” So.[laughter]

Yeah.

[Marc] Well, thank you so much, Anna, for being here today. And… uh oh….

[Anna] You’re welcome. And thank you for allowing me, you know, giving me the honor to do this little interview.

[Marc] Yeah,

[Anna] It makes me

[Marc] I appreciate you being here.

[Anna] proud.

[Marc] Thank you.

[Anna] You’re welcome. Thanks.

[Marc] After the break, watch and share her story, live on stage, and she shared it in front of a sold out crowd at the Wilma in Missoula, Montana. In September of 2019.

Thanks again to our Title Sponsor The Good Food Store, learn more at goodfoodstore.com.

Thanks to our Enduring Sponsors, cabinteparts.com, and Blackfoot Communications. Learn more at blackfoot.com.

Special thanks to True Food Missoula. You can find them at truefoodcsa.com. And Joyce of Tile, you can find Joyce at joyceof tile.com.

Anna Haslund loves the community with her kindness. Loves to help the community with her kindness.

She is the one who breaks the barrier and and can do the impossible.

Watch out for her crazy skill with yaassss kicks!

Her nickname is Anna Banana.

Note, that Anna is Deaf, and her story will be voiced by Bonnie Kurian.

The way to clap for Deaf people is to wave your hands like this. [clapping in ASL]

So, after her story is finished, the house lights will come up, and we can all show our love for Anna together.

Please welcome Anna Haslund.

[clapping]

[laughter]

>>About four years ago.

Me and my best friend Erica were in Frenchtown at an organization called Heart, which is an equine recreation and therapy organization.

We were volunteering with those horses.

Erica asked me if I wanted to go up to Flathead to pick up four new horses for this therapy ranch. And I was so excited, I said, “Of course I do”.

So it was me and Erica, and her half sister, Selena.

We met the owner up there at this other ranch.

And he said, “Go ahead and pick your horse.” So I looked at all the horses, and I saw this beautiful perfect horse. He was huge. Brown and flowing mane.

And I felt a little nervous though. I knew it was important that we had to be able to trust each other.

So I offered him my hand and he sniffed my hand and let me pet his nose. And I asked the owner, I said, “What is this horse’s name?” He said, “Oh the horse’s name is Joe.”

And I said, “Well, that’s really funny. My mom’s name is Joe [laughter] so, apparently this is meant to be. This is a good connection.”

So I got on the horse. We’re riding along. And the way most people communicate with a horse is they make a clicking sound, well I can’t click, so I decided to make a kissing sound instead. [laughter] it worked great.

It worked great. He liked it.

[laughter]

So a few months later, Erica and I decided that we wanted to take these horses out on a trail ride.

And there were four of us. Again, it was Erica.

Selena, she was about seven at the time,

And the ex-wife of the owner. I’m not sure how she got in the group but.

[laughter]

So we’re riding along. We keep going.

We’re on this forest service road. Was a nice big road. Perfect for four people, four horses.

So we’re all riding along. We go on up a few miles, we were just going to go up and turn around and come back.

Everything was going on great.

And of course I was on the lead horse, which is ridiculous, because I’m Deaf!

[laughter]

But, here I go. About 10-15 minutes, I started feeling in my gut like, “Something’s not quite right.” I turned around and oh my gosh, Erica is waiting frantically!

And I knew quickly, that something had to be wrong. So I’m trying to kiss at my horse again to get him to stop.

I turn, we turn around and we see that the ex-wife was on one of the meanest horses. She yanked on the reins and he kicked her right off. And she actually broke her leg.

So I look over at Erica.

And we see Selena. It’s her first time on a horse. Now she is scared to death. She’s screaming hysterically. And we knew that we needed to calm her down so that her horse didn’t get scared and buck her off.

So trying to keep her calm. We don’t want her to scare the horse.

And now we are trying to figure out, “What are we going to do now?”

How are we going to get four horses down?

And oddly enough, these two men come walking up the forest service road. We thought, “Well this is perfect timing.” And they asked if they could help. We said, “Uh, yeah, that’d be great!”

[laughter]

So we said, “How are you going to help?” “So we have a truck right over here.” So they were able to pick up the ex-wife and put her in the truck. Helped her out.

We said, “Bye.”

[laughter]

So then Erica takes me to the other horse, and she brings me the reins to guide the other horse down the trail and the reins slipped out of my hand. And the horse.

He just kept trotting along like nothing was going on. And I thought, “Oh great! Now we have a runaway horse!” So I have to get next to this horse. I’m riding my horse. I’m trying to use my horse to guide the other horse, so that I could grab the reins.

And while we were going down the Forest Service road, it was really curvy. We finally get to a flat spot.

I look at my horse, I look at the other horse, and I have this incredible plan. I know it’s a little crazy, but it’s a great plan.

So I’m talking to Joe, and I’m saying, “Stay here. I have faith in you. Do not take off on me. Just stay with me.” So I go over sidesaddle, and Erica is looking at me. She knows exactly what I’m going to do. [screaming] She tries to tell me not to.

I jump off a Joe. I scream, I land. I kind of felt like, Zorro, actually. [laughter] I jump over.

I land on this horse, this mean one. His name is Balthazar.

[laughter]

And I feel, “This is incredible! I really should be in a movie! This was amazing! I should be a stunt person.”

So I grabbed the reins. I pull him back.

Everybody’s absolutely shocked. Erica says, “You are insane! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

I said, “Well, I actually can’t believe I did that myself! [laughter] But, look, everything’s everything’s great now there’s no more problems.”

[small laughter]

So the ex-wife was taken to the hospital. Yes, she broke her leg.

Selena got over her fear of the horses, and she’s fine.

And Erica and I are still best friends, thank God. Now we have a story we can tell our grandchildren for years to come. What crazy risk takers we are.

[laughter]

[large applause and clapping]

For a video of Anna and her friend Erica, visit tellsssomething.org. If you want to support what we do, recommend the Tell Us Something podcast, to just two people who have never heard it before, and rate us on your favorite podcasting app, it really helps get the word out.

Please, plan on donating to Tell Us Something during Misosula Gives May 6th and 7th. Learn more at missoulagives.org.

If you ever want to drop me a line, you can find me ar [email protected], that Marc, M-A-R-C @tellussomething.org.

Thanks to our in-kind sponsors, Logjam Presents. Learn more about them out at logjampresents.com

Thanks to Missoula Broadcasting Company. Learn more at missoulabroadcasting.com

Float Missoula. Learn more at floatmsla.com.

GeckoDesigns.com

Missoulaevents.net, makers of Cheddarboard.

Podcast production by me, Marc Moss.

To learn more about Tell Us Something, visit tellussomething.org.

Stay safe, take care of yourselves, take care of each other, get vaccinated, and have a story-worthy day.