So the second story – it was from Moth. Here’s the link: http://themoth.org/posts/stories/who-can-you-trust I was hoping they’d have a transcript, and I need to rehear the story to make sure I got it right. But that’s sort of defeating the purpose, no? I wanted to write about what stayed with me and so this is what remains. This fantastic scientist woman, a prof at Berkeley in the 70s or maybe early 80s, gets dumped by her husband for his student. Husband and student are going off to Costa Rica, and the woman is left to figure out how she’s going to manage her 5 year old. The next day her house gets burgled. She has to get to Washington DC for a meeting. Her mother had planned to come and help out husband with child during this time. Woman picks up mother at airport, tells her about the husband and the burgle – mother freaks out. You were too busy with your career and pushed him away – that is mother’s response. Mother is too distraught and wants to go back to Chicago. Woman says fine and calls her mentor to tell him she can’t make it to conference. Guy says, No way, bring the kid, I’ll watch her. Next day, she gets everyone to the airport, mother says she needs to be taken all the way to her gate. Woman tells kid to stay at the ticket counter (too far to walk up and down). Mother screams, No way. And then a voice – Emily and I will be just fine. Woman turns around to see who it is. Mother screams even more louder – No way you are leaving Emily with a stranger. Woman tells mother – If you can’t trust Joe DiMaggio, who can you trust? (!!! The audience, incl yours truly, goes nuts here). Woman gets to DC, attends meeting, this meeting happens to be with NIH for funding for research that would lead to the discovery of BRCA1 (!!! And we go nuts the second time). What an amazing story – the sense of universe aligning to get this woman to DC to move on the cancer cure is so palpable. Very similar to that RadioLab story about the snow geese dying in the toxic pond and the toxicity being removed by a fungus being found in their rectum. Humans make a mess, Universe musters resources and works to clean it up. And once in a rare while, the veil is lifted and you get to see it.
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