Pod Insights The Moth Cat People: The Moth Podcast About this episode To celebrate our feline friends and the sometimes complicated bonds we have with them, we have two stories about cats and cat people. This episode was hosted by Emily Couch
Storytellers:
David Rodriguez and his wife adopt a cat to help with a painful chapter of their lives.
Gianmarco Soresi learns he isn’t a cat person.
Transcript 0:01 Speaker 00 Welcome to The Moth. I'm Emily Couch.
0:08 Speaker 00 And those absolutely adorable sounds you're hearing right now are from my cat Potato. Say hi Potato.
0:15 Speaker 00 As you might be able to guess, I am a cat person. I was born into a family of four cats and two human parents. I'll let you guess who was more important. I had no choice but to be a cat person. But that said, I have just continued to fall more and more in love with these fluffy little weirdos throughout my life. But even if you're not as enthusiastic about cats as I am, you have to admit they're interesting creatures. I mean, there's a reason cat videos dominate the internet. So to celebrate both cats and cat people, we've got two stories all about cats. I know Potato is excited.
0:50 Speaker 00 Or maybe she's just hungry.
0:55 Speaker 00 First up is David Rodriguez, who told this at a Berkeley Story Slam where the theme was "Love Hurts." Here's David, live at The Moth.
1:08 Speaker 01 For a man, a miscarriage is a particular kind of pain. And if anyone is thinking like, "For a man, really?" Well, that's kind of the point, because even as I'm going through one of the most painful experiences of my life, I'm very aware that my wife is going through more pain. Physical pain, the same loss that I'm feeling, and also just society and gender things I don't really understand, but I know how real they are. And the ticking clock, it doesn't help they call it a geriatric pregnancy either. I don't know, the medical field needs like a marketing person or something.
1:49 Speaker 01 And she didn't want to talk about it. And you know, that might serve a lot of men very well, but I'm a Berkeley beta male. Like, I talk about it. That's how I go. I'm not, this isn't Iowa where she grew up, you know? This is, and she's a stoic person, she just conquers life, and she didn't want to talk about it. So I couldn't talk about it, because I didn't want her to see me cry or anything like that. And then you go into this like post miscarriage purgatory period where you can't plan anything. You don't know what's gonna happen, you don't know if it's forever, what it means, and the doctor kind of doesn't give you good information. It's all a mystery, it's like no science, it's all...
2:27 Speaker 01 Um, painful. And, um, you know, we just kind of went back to our life and kind of pretended that being able to drink champagne again was this awesome thing, when it really wasn't. And one day, I was laying in bed, and I was thinking about my childhood, and I said to her, "I'd really like to get a fish tank." And she turned to me and said, "That is a terrible idea. You're not gonna clean it. You don't know anything about fish." And she got up and she stormed off and slammed the bathroom door behind her. And you're probably making the connection that there was a larger thing going on here, but at the time, I was just pissed off that she didn't like my awesome fish tank idea, and I didn't put it together. And then she came back, and she looked at me, and she said, "I want a cat."
3:07 Speaker 01 And we, we had had that conversation before, and it was, "I'm allergic to cats." Like, there's nothing to talk about. Like, this is one argument I should win. And she said, "Are you really allergic to cats? Is that the truth?" I was like, "I think it is, yeah." And I just couldn't say no. But I had a plan. Okay, we'll go to Cat Town. I'll play along. She'll see me have this terrible allergic reaction. She'll know that we can't do this. And then maybe we'll have that other conversation we're not having, and maybe I'll get a fish tank. Instead, we left Cat Town with two cats.
3:52 Speaker 01 And at Cat Town, they kind of counsel you, like you're a criminal. They're like, "Don't, you know, like, are you ready for this? These are feral cats that we recondition, and they're not gonna love you, and are you ready to not be loved?" And I saw she, like, was not hearing any of this. She's like, "Those are those people they don't love. They're gonna love us." But when we brought them home, one of them kind of was comfortable. The other one hid, and it's just like, you would just hear a hiss as you were walking around the house. You didn't know where it was coming from. And my wife, Ruth, she just took it on. I would come home, and there'd be piles of boxes of toys and cat trees, and I'd be like, "We already have a cat tree." She's like, "We have one."
4:26 Speaker 01 And, but mostly I would come home and her, I would go into the bedroom not even realizing she came home from work, didn't come say hi to me, and she would be half under the bed, because that's where Hemlock hid, and she would spend hours, inch by inch, building trust with this animal, until one night Hemlock jumped into the bed and snuggled with her. And she put her forehead against hers, and I've never heard her do a voice before, it was very jarring, she went, "Hey baby, hey baby." And then, we fell asleep, and I woke up to Hemlock ripping my feet to shreds.
4:59 Speaker 01 And this, every day, every night, no sleep, and when you're half awake, it is actually terrifying, like... But I couldn't bring myself to say, "Let's not have Hemlock sleep in the bedroom because of this larger thing we weren't talking about," and I guess that's chivalry, I guess. I don't know, letting Hemlock shred my feet. And then, one day at work, I was in a meeting with my manager, and he had actually had a baby recently, and he had actually named her what we were gonna name our child. He didn't know that. And he was distracted the whole time, because she was doing adorable things. And after the meeting, I went to my bedroom and I just sobbed, uncontrollably, and it was confronting that I don't know if I was ever really honest myself about how badly
5:44 Speaker 01 I wanted this. And I laid in bed, and I just sobbed deeper and harder and louder than I ever had. And Hemlock jumped on the bed, I hid my feet out of instinct, and he laid on my chest and just started rubbing his face against mine. And so now I was crying tears of joy and sadness at the same time, and petting Hemlock, and then also reaching my phone for one hand to take a video, because I know the rules. And I wanted to show the people at Cat Town that they were wrong about us. Because they would send us like these shaming pictures of Hemlock in the laps of the volunteers, be like, "Oh, it worked for us." Anyway...
6:26 Speaker 01 I recently read some research that, um, you know, my allergy, it just went away. I don't know how she does it. She's right about everything. She wins every argument. She still thinks I was lying. And I was like questioning, like, how did she win that argument? And like, what did I ever have an allergy? Like, who won the election? Like, what is truth? Like, you know, like, what's going on? So I don't know how she did it, but she wins everything. That's, wife is always right. That's the lesson. Get two cats. And I read this research that people that grow up with animals are less likely to have allergies. And that made me so happy because, um, when our son is born in a couple
7:06 Speaker 01 months, he's gonna be a cat person. Thank you.
7:18 Speaker 00 That was David Rodriguez. David lives in Oakland, California, where he is the education director for St. Vincent's Day Home, the nation's oldest nonprofit childcare center. He is husband to Rue, and father to, in order of appearance, felines Hemlock and Bergamot, and humans Gilbert and Heron. David told us that he still dislikes cats in general, but he does like their cats. And he's still mystified why his cat allergy mysteriously disappeared. If you'd like to see some photos of those cats, we'll have them on our website at themoth.org/extras. They're really cute. I named my cat Potato because, like an actual potato, she is round, typically sedentary,
7:59 Speaker 00 and therefore perfect for me. I enjoy knitting, reading, and being in a reclining position. I am an indoor person. When I moved to an apartment with a balcony, however, I was excited to offer Potato a semi-enclosed outdoor space. She was initially nervous, but quickly became obsessed with being outside. As soon as she heard the knob turn, she'd shoot like a rocket out the door, immediately flopping down and rolling around in the dirt. As any cat owner knows, what the cat wants, the cat gets. To make sure she was safe, I'd supervise her. So that meant that I too had to be outside, all the time. I mean, I didn't... Not fully anticipate the level of commitment this cat would have to the outdoors. I sit with her in 90 degree heat dripping sweat or bundled in sweatshirts in November,
8:44 Speaker 00 sometimes for hours on end. And I started loving it. Sure, it takes a little more effort than a lazy day on the couch, but it's so worth it. Making her happy makes me happy. And I also started to fully appreciate the joys of basking in the sun, being surrounded by greenery and feeling the breeze. So now Potato and I lay around together, both inside and outside. To see a photo of Potato enjoying the sunshine, you can visit our Instagram or Facebook. And I'm not the only one who loves cats here at The Moth, so I'll have even more cat pics from everyone here. Up next, another cat story from another very reluctant cat dad. Back in a moment.
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10:21 Speaker 00 Welcome back. Our next story is from Gianmarco Sorese, who told this in a New York story slam where the theme was outnumbered. Here's Gianmarco live at The Moth.
10:31 Speaker 03 Here. Hello.
10:34 Speaker 03 Thank you very much. So the way I tell this story really depends on one, one quick thing. Could I get a round of applause if you're more of a cat person?
10:46 Speaker 03 Okay. All right, could I get a round of applause if you're more of a dog person?
10:55 Speaker 03 If you're more of a bird person, sorry. No vote tonight, but great. So I feel kind of safe to say, I hate cats.
11:06 Speaker 03 I hate them. And it's not their fault. It's not their fault, per se. It's just that my first memory, and I've done a lot of therapy, but my first memory in this world is when I was three years old and my mom and I were moving into her new boyfriend's house. And he had a cat named Smokey. And I went to Pet Smokey and as cats are apt to do when you show affection, Smokey scratched my face.
11:35 Speaker 03 Eyes, nose, mouth, there was blood. It was so bad. So that's a backstory. My first memory in this world is my soon-to-be stepfather's cat wounding me, which obviously carried a lot of metaphorical weight as well.
11:53 Speaker 03 And I thought that my girlfriend knew this. I thought we were on the same page about this, that I wasn't really into having cats, until one day, we were coming home from our weekly pay-what-you-can yoga class.
12:07 Speaker 03 Or as I call it, our weekly free yoga class.
12:12 Speaker 03 And we're walking home to my apartment and we turn a corner when there was a man there, crumpled gray suit, holding a cardboard box. And in the cardboard box were five kittens.
12:27 Speaker 03 And entirely unprompted, he launches into a monologue, basically. He says that he's a funeral director and he was leaving a service that morning. He heard some meows by the steps, saw the box, no note or anything. And he thought they were adorable, but his wife was very allergic, so he simply, he could not keep them.
12:49 Speaker 03 And I could see where this was going.
12:52 Speaker 03 So I said to my girlfriend, "Let's go, we need to go home. I have a business meeting."
13:02 Speaker 03 And she said, you know, can I, can I pet them? And I said, okay, fine. So she starts petting them. Then she starts holding them. Then she starts naming them. And I'm like, alright, we gotta go. So we turned to leave, and that's when this guy says, to no one in particular, though very clearly to us, "Well, if no one adopts them by the end of the day, I'm gonna have to drown them in my pool." You know, because those are your only two options in that situation. And without saying a word, my girlfriend turns, grabs the box, and just gallops off into the sunset. Not even in the right direction,
13:44 Speaker 03 just like a mother lioness with her cubs. And when I found her somewhere in the heights, she swore to me, she swore to me that she would have them in a shelter by the end of the week. Long story short, I'm living in a litter box on the Upper West Side. And I want you to know that I tried. I tried really, because I, I love this woman. I, I love, I love the impulse that she had to take these guys. I think it's the same impulse that made her like me, because... In many ways, I think, I, maybe one of the reasons I don't like cats is maybe I'm a cat,
14:28 Speaker 03 in the sense, in the sense that I am also an asshole. But I was doing okay, because there was this one cat, there was this one cat that I really liked, that she had named Baby. Which, again, a lot of metaphorical weight with these cats. And the reason that she named Baby Baby was because he or she, I didn't check, but Baby was the runt of the litter, which meant that Baby didn't really move very much. And I find out that's the one state that I can enjoy a cat in, is when they're borderline comatose. And, and I, I used to put, I, I loved Baby. I would lie down, I would put Baby on my, on my stomach. I would just pet Baby for hours. And it was just like, I really enjoyed Baby.
15:13 Speaker 03 But of course, Baby, as babies do, grew older and started moving and, uh, running around. And, and, and one day, I went to pick up Baby.
15:26 Speaker 03 And baby scratched me. Right on my face, eyes, nose, mouth, there's blood. And so I said, I said to my girlfriend, I said, "Look, baby, I love you, but it is, it is either me or those five cats." And I really miss her.
15:52 Speaker 03 And sometimes I miss those goddamn cats. Thank you, guys.
16:09 Speaker 00 That was Gianmarco Soresi. Gianmarco is a stand-up comedian and host of The Downside Podcast. His comedy special, Thief of Joy, is now available on YouTube. Funnily enough, this story slam was the reason he pivoted to stand-up comedy full-time. We asked him about his feelings towards our feline friends these days, and he told us that he's still terrified of cats, although he did recently headline a furry convention and is considering a cat fursona for the next one he does. Please do it, Gianmarco, and send us photos. That brings us to the end of our episode. To all of the cat people out there, I hope you feel seen. And to all of the holdouts, I hope you now realize what you've been missing. Thanks so much for joining us, and big thanks to my co-host, Potato.
16:55 Speaker 00 From all of us here at The Moth, we hope you and your cats have a story-worthy week.
17:01 Speaker 04 Emily Couch is a producer on The Moth's artistic team. She loves to work behind the scenes to spread the beauty of true, personal stories to listeners around the world. Emily's co-host, Potato, is a cat. This episode of The Moth Podcast was produced by Sarah Austin Jenness, Sarah Jane Johnson, and me, Mark Sollinger. The rest of The Moth's leadership team includes Gina Duncan, Christina Norman, Marina Kluchay, Jennifer Hickson, Jordan Cardenale, Caledonia Cairns, Kate Tellers, Suzanne Rust, and Patricia Uranya. The Moth Podcast is presented by Odyssey. Special thanks to their executive producer, Leah Reese Dennis. All Moth stories are true, as remembered by their storytellers.
17:43 Speaker 04 For more about our podcast, information on pitching your own story, and everything else, go to our website, themoth.org.
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