The Creator Studio

This is a transcript of Matthew Dicks’s story, Strip Club of My Own Making, at a Moth GrandSLAM. You can watch Matthew telling the story here:

It’s 1991. I’m 20 years old, and I’m working at a McDonald’s in Milford, Massachusetts. I’m flipping burgers, and my boss, Pam, comes, takes me by the arm, and pulls me into the walk-in cooler. She says she has to ask me a question.

Now, Pam is a 40-something mother of three who desperately wants to be 20 again. She’s the woman who buys us beer but brings the kegs to the party in hopes that we will allow her to stay at the party and party with us.

So, Pam looks at me and says, “Lisa is getting married.” Lisa’s a woman we work with, and Pam says, “I want to have a bachelorette party here in McDonald’s for her.” I nod, because I don’t actually know what a bachelorette party is, so it sounds fine. But I don’t know what she’s about to ask me.

She puts her hand on my shoulder and says, “We want you to be the stripper for the bachelorette party.” Now, I say yes for two reasons. First, I’m 20, so I can only see five minutes in front of me. I don’t really know what this means. But I’m also the guy who doesn’t get girls because of the way I look. I have no game. The only move I have is proximity. I find a girl I like, and I stand next to them for as long as possible, trying to wear them down. I’m like the romance version of erosion.

And it’s worked. I’ve had girlfriends, but for the first time in my life, someone wants to see what’s under my clothes. And yes, she’s older than my mother, and yes, she’s my boss, but it’s a start. So, I’m excited.

But I ask Pam, “I don’t want to be totally naked.” She says, “We do not want you to be totally naked either. We’ll get you a thong.” I say, “Great.”

The night of the bachelorette party comes, and I show up in my uniform because that’s what she told me to wear. As I’m going into the store, I’m still excited. Again, I can only see five minutes in front of me, and I’m excited about this opportunity. I feel that way until I walk into the store and see that all the guys are working that night because the girls are in the back getting ready.

As I walk in, the guys look at me, and they have a look that I can’t quite figure out, but it is universal, and it is disconcerting. I start to think that maybe I’ve made a mistake.

I meet Pam in the back hallway where we stack the buns—the Big Mac buns and the hamburger buns—and she hands me an orange thong. She tells me to put it on and then knock on the crew room door when I’m ready.

Now, I don’t know if you know what a thong for a man looks like, but it’s essentially a plastic sandwich bag with two strings attached. As I’m putting it on, I am NOT attempting to be grandiose about my situation in any way. But Pam has not sized the thong properly. It’s like the Happy Meal version of a thong. So, as I’m putting it on, if you’ve ever tried to put something in a container and while you’re putting it in, the other side is popping out—that is the situation I’m experiencing while trying to get this thong on.

Now, I’m really feeling like I’ve made a terrible mistake. But I manage to get it on, put my pants on, and knock on the crew room door. Pam swings it open, presses play on a boom box, and Madonna’s “Lucky Star” begins to play. I think, “Good, silence is not good—music is better.”

But when I step into the crew room, I know now that this is a terrible thing. The crew room is tiny—it’s like 10 by 10—and it has a McDonald’s booth with four girls sitting in it. Then, there’s Lisa. Lisa hears the music and sees me walk in, and she realizes what’s about to happen. A look of horror falls on her, and then I have that same look because sitting next to Lisa is Alice, a 67-year-old manager who’s been like my grandmother for the last two years. She is bopping to “Lucky Star” and leaning forward. Then, there are two women on the floor sitting there because there’s no room, so they’re right here.

And now, I have to take my clothes off. So, I start with my shoes and quickly realize you cannot remove shoes in any sexy way. I’ve opted for business casual, so there are laces and black socks that come up to the knees. It’s not a pretty sight. When I take them off, I don’t know what to do with them. In a club, I might throw them, but if I threw them here, they would just clock the girl right here. So, I put them in a little neat pile by the door, ball up my socks, and put them in.

Then, I take my shirt off, but I forget that the sleeves have buttons. So, I’m in this reverse position and can’t get it off. I have to put the shirt back on to unbutton the sleeves so I can get it off. Then it’s time to take off my pants. That’s going to be the easiest—just undo the belt, and they will fall. But it’s the hardest thing. I wait for a minute, praying that the world will end, that some apocalypse will wipe us all out, and I won’t have to go forward. But that doesn’t happen. The world spins on, and so I drop my pants. I realize right away that this thong is fine because when my pants fall, everything in my body sucks in, and there’s room for like three of me in this thong now.

And “Lucky Star” is still playing, and Pam is hooting and Alice is bopping. I realize I have to dance. I just kind of do this, and I make eye contact because I feel that’s appropriate—that I’m supposed to be doing that. For a moment, I’m so happy that I’m me and not them because they have to look at this, and I only have to look at them. Then, the song ends, and I have all my clothes neatly piled in the corner. I collect them, retreat back to the hallway, get dressed again, and I’m thinking in my head, “That probably wasn’t a good thing that just happened.”

As I’m leaving, I pass by Brian, who’s at the fryer, and he’s shaking his head. I’m like, “What?” And he says, “I can’t believe you did that. When they asked me, I said no way.” And I realize that wasn’t the first choice. Later on, I find out that I’m not the second, third, or fourth choice either.

It’s really dumb to be upset that you were not the first chosen for a striptease in a McDonald’s crew room for a bachelorette party for women 20 years older than you and more. But, like, it hurt. There’s a time when you just want to be the person who people look at and think you’re the good-looking one, or you’re a good-looking one. And that’s what I wanted that night, and I didn’t get it.

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Disclaimer: this transcript is a product of Youtube-auto-generated transcript and simple ChatGPT cleaning, and I do not own any intellectual property in any shape or form mentioned. The content on this blog is for informational purposes only and should not be considered professional advice. While every effort is made to provide accurate and up-to-date information, I make no guarantees about the completeness, accuracy, or reliability of any content. Any actions taken based on the information provided here are done solely at your own risk. I am not liable for any losses, damages, or consequences arising from your use of this blog or its content. Please consult with a qualified professional before making any significant decisions.

This is a transcript of Matthew Dicks’s story, Matty the Dog, at a Moth StorySLAM. You can watch Matthew telling the story here:

It’s the spring of 2003. I’m 32 years old, sitting in my crummy apartment at a crummy kitchen table, pouring water on a bowl of raisin bran because I am too stupid and too sad to go out and get milk. I am living on my own for the first time ever, and I have discovered that when men live on their own, they become savages. There are nights when I just forget to go to sleep. I find myself walking through my apartment in underwear and one sock, and I can’t quite figure out how it happened. I haven’t changed my sheets in the three months I’ve been here, and I don’t see it ever changing in the foreseeable future.

I hate my apartment. It is small and cruddy. There’s an Indian family that lives below me, and they’re lovely people, but everything they cook is cooked with curry. Our air conditioner has stacked one on top of the other, so as the curry blows out of one apartment, it comes into mine. I hate curry, so everything I own smells like it—my clothes, my bed, and my dog. Less than a mile away, my wife is in our kitchen, probably the kitchen I spent three days painting last summer. She’s sitting at the kitchen table that we bought a week after we bought the house, or she’s sitting on the deck enjoying dinner—it’s the deck that I put in two years ago, which really means I paid someone to put it in, but then I tell people I did it myself, so you think maybe I was the one who did the work. But I still made it happen.

And I’m not there because we’re separated. About a year ago, she told me that she needed space, and I didn’t really know what that meant, so I started sitting on the other side of the couch, and that wasn’t good enough for her. Six months ago, she told me she was getting bored in the marriage, and I didn’t know why because I am NOT boring. I’m slightly pedantic, a little organized, and slightly OCD, but I am NOT boring. I’m a wedding DJ, and my partner Benji and I met a client that we had done a wedding for a year ago. When we came up to them, I said, “How’s it going?” and they said, “We bought a dog and named it after you because you’re the funniest person we know.” Mind you, my DJ’s partner’s name is Benji. They did not name the dog after him—no, they named it after me. So, I am not boring.

But now we’re separated, and I know it’s not really separated. It’s like when you’re a kid and you discover Santa isn’t real, but you pretend for one more year—for the parents’ sake or maybe to get a couple of extra presents. That’s what we’re doing. We’re separated, but I know what’s coming, and I hate it. My parents got divorced when I was a kid, and it destroyed my childhood. I swore when I was a kid that I was never going to let this happen to me—that I was going to marry the right person and work hard at the marriage, and it would work. But now I am in this cruddy apartment, all by myself, and I see divorce coming. I’ve never been depressed in my life, but for the first time, I can feel the shadows of depression closing in as I see nothing in my future.

I go to Vermont for a weekend to DJ a wedding, and when I come back, there are two moving vans right next to my house. As I get closer, I realize the Indian family is moving out. I see the husband and wife trying to get a couch out. I’ve got new neighbors, and they’re lovely people, but I see the curry is going away, and it’s the first good thing I’ve had in a long time.

Then I see the people moving in. Their truck is right there. As I get close, I realize I know the woman who’s standing by that truck. Who is she? And when she sees me coming, she smiles like she knows exactly who I am. I’m thinking, “Crap, who is this woman?” Then I realize who it is. It’s the woman who named her dog after me. I see the dog come out from around the truck as she calls my name. It’s the dog named after me, and it’s going to be living below me. This is amazing.

Then I see her husband coming, and I look at him and think, “Wait, that’s not her husband, but I know that dude.” How do I know him? They’re both coming towards me, and they say, “Hi,” and I’m trying to figure out who he is. Then I realize who he is. He’s the best man from the wedding. I look for the husband, thinking maybe he’s helping out. As she sees me looking around, she says, “Yeah, I can’t believe it.”

So we look at each other for a minute without saying anything, and then I say, “I live upstairs. I’m going to live above the dog that’s named after me. If you need any help, call me.” Then I go up the stairs to my cruddy apartment and sit down at my cruddy kitchen table. I pour water on the raisin bran and sit there.

I think, “There’s a person in the world right now, maybe sitting in his kitchen, who has lost the wife I know he loved, lost his best friend, and lost his dog. And I am sitting in my cruddy kitchen, but I’ve got my dog. And I’m losing a wife, but if I’m honest with myself, I’m probably losing a wife I didn’t love enough to begin with.” So I think about that guy somewhere in the world who has lost so much, and I realize how much I still have and how things might turn out okay after all.

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} #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedContent ol ol ol, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-successBody .ml-form-successContent ol ol ol { list-style-type: lower-roman; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedContent p a, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-successBody .ml-form-successContent p a { color: #000000; text-decoration: underline; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-block-form .ml-field-group { text-align: left!important; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-block-form .ml-field-group label { margin-bottom: 5px; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; font-family: ‘Open Sans’, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none;; display: inline-block; line-height: 20px; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedContent p:last-child, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-successBody .ml-form-successContent p:last-child { margin: 0; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody form { margin: 0; width: 100%; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-formContent, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow { margin: 0 0 20px 0; width: 100%; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow { float: left; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm { margin: 0; padding: 0 0 20px 0; width: 100%; height: auto; float: left; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow { margin: 0 0 10px 0; width: 100%; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow.ml-last-item { margin: 0; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow.ml-formfieldHorizintal { margin: 0; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow input { background-color: #ffffff !important; color: #333333 !important; border-color: #cccccc; border-radius: 4px !important; border-style: solid !important; border-width: 1px !important; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’, ‘Lucida Grande’, sans-serif; font-size: 14px !important; height: auto; line-height: 21px !important; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; padding: 10px 10px !important; width: 100% !important; box-sizing: border-box !important; max-width: 100% !important; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow input::-webkit-input-placeholder, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow input::-webkit-input-placeholder { color: #333333; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow input::-moz-placeholder, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow input::-moz-placeholder { color: #333333; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow input:-ms-input-placeholder, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow input:-ms-input-placeholder { color: #333333; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow input:-moz-placeholder, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow input:-moz-placeholder { color: #333333; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow textarea, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow textarea { background-color: #ffffff !important; color: #333333 !important; border-color: #cccccc; border-radius: 4px !important; border-style: solid !important; border-width: 1px !important; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’, ‘Lucida Grande’, sans-serif; font-size: 14px !important; height: auto; line-height: 21px !important; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding: 10px 10px !important; width: 100% !important; box-sizing: border-box !important; max-width: 100% !important; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox .label-description::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox .label-description::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::before { border-color: #cccccc!important; background-color: #ffffff!important; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow input.custom-control-input[type=”checkbox”]{ box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0; position: absolute; z-index: -1; opacity: 0; margin-top: 5px; margin-left: -1.5rem; overflow: visible; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox .label-description::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox .label-description::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::before { border-radius: 4px!important; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow input[type=checkbox]:checked~.label-description::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox input[type=checkbox]:checked~.label-description::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-input:checked~.custom-control-label::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-input:checked~.custom-control-label::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox input[type=checkbox]:checked~.label-description::after { background-image: url(“data:image/svg+xml,%3csvg xmlns=’http://www.w3.org/2000/svg’ viewBox=’0 0 8 8’%3e%3cpath fill=’%23fff’ d=’M6.564.75l-3.59 3.612-1.538-1.55L0 4.26 2.974 7.25 8 2.193z’/%3e%3c/svg%3e”); } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-radio .custom-control-input:checked~.custom-control-label::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-radio .custom-control-input:checked~.custom-control-label::after { background-image: url(“data:image/svg+xml,%3csvg xmlns=’http://www.w3.org/2000/svg’ viewBox=’-4 -4 8 8’%3e%3ccircle r=’3′ fill=’%23fff’/%3e%3c/svg%3e”); } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-radio .custom-control-input:checked~.custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-radio .custom-control-input:checked~.custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-input:checked~.custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-input:checked~.custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox input[type=checkbox]:checked~.label-description::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox input[type=checkbox]:checked~.label-description::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow input[type=checkbox]:checked~.label-description::before { border-color: #000000!important; background-color: #000000!important; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::after { top: 2px; box-sizing: border-box; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox .label-description::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox .label-description::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::after { top: 0px!important; box-sizing: border-box!important; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::after { top: 0px!important; box-sizing: border-box!important; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox .label-description::after { top: 0px!important; box-sizing: border-box!important; position: absolute; left: -1.5rem; display: block; width: 1rem; height: 1rem; content: “”; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox .label-description::before { top: 0px!important; box-sizing: border-box!important; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .custom-control-label::before { position: absolute; top: 4px; left: -1.5rem; display: block; width: 16px; height: 16px; pointer-events: none; content: “”; background-color: #ffffff; border: #adb5bd solid 1px; border-radius: 50%; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .custom-control-label::after { position: absolute; top: 2px!important; left: -1.5rem; display: block; width: 1rem; height: 1rem; content: “”; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox .label-description::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox .label-description::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::before { position: absolute; top: 4px; left: -1.5rem; display: block; width: 16px; height: 16px; pointer-events: none; content: “”; background-color: #ffffff; border: #adb5bd solid 1px; border-radius: 50%; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox .label-description::after { position: absolute; top: 0px!important; left: -1.5rem; display: block; width: 1rem; height: 1rem; content: “”; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::after { position: absolute; top: 0px!important; left: -1.5rem; display: block; width: 1rem; height: 1rem; content: “”; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .custom-radio .custom-control-label::after { background: no-repeat 50%/50% 50%; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox .label-description::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox .label-description::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::after { background: no-repeat 50%/50% 50%; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-control, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-control { position: relative; display: block; min-height: 1.5rem; padding-left: 1.5rem; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-radio .custom-control-input, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-radio .custom-control-input, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-input, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-input { position: absolute; z-index: -1; opacity: 0; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label { color: #000000; font-size: 12px!important; font-family: ‘Open Sans’, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 0; position: relative; vertical-align: top; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-select, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-select { background-color: #ffffff !important; color: #333333 !important; border-color: #cccccc; border-radius: 4px !important; border-style: solid !important; border-width: 1px !important; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’, ‘Lucida Grande’, sans-serif; font-size: 14px !important; line-height: 20px !important; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding: 10px 28px 10px 12px !important; width: 100% !important; box-sizing: border-box !important; max-width: 100% !important; height: auto; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle; background: url(‘https://assets.mlcdn.com/ml/images/default/dropdown.svg’) no-repeat right .75rem center/8px 10px; -webkit-appearance: none; -moz-appearance: none; appearance: none; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow { height: auto; width: 100%; float: left; } .ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-form-horizontalRow .ml-input-horizontal { width: 70%; float: left; } .ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-form-horizontalRow .ml-button-horizontal { width: 30%; float: left; } .ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-form-horizontalRow .ml-button-horizontal.labelsOn { padding-top: 25px; } .ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-form-horizontalRow .horizontal-fields { box-sizing: border-box; float: left; padding-right: 10px; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow input { background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; border-color: #cccccc; border-radius: 4px; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’, ‘Lucida Grande’, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; 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This is a transcript of Matthew Dicks’s story, Two Little Jewish Dicks, at a NYC Moth GrandSLAM. You can watch Matthew telling the story here:

It’s well after midnight. I’m lying on my bed in a dark room. I’m on the phone, speaking to Alicia. It’s one of those endless phone calls you have when you’re not quite dating yet, and you can’t stand to be apart, but you’re not exactly together yet.

I’ve known Alicia for two years. We’re both schoolteachers. Our classrooms are worlds apart. When we met, I was married, and Alicia was engaged to be married. We’ve shed those former lives, and over the course of two years, we became friends, then close friends, and now we’re falling in love.

Two nights before, during one of these endless phone calls, Alicia told me that if we start dating, we’re never going to break up. We’re going to get married, and we’re going to live together forever. In basketball terms, this is known as going strong to the hoop. In dating terms, this is insanity. This is like the worst thing you can do to get a guy like me. You say words like this to me, and I run as fast as I can. But I’m in love with this girl, so when she says these words, I just want to run to her as fast as I can.

It’s getting late, and I know we have to end this phone call. We both have to be at work the next morning. When Alicia says to me, “Listen, I have a question to ask you,” I know by the tone in her voice that it’s going to be important. She says, “When we have kids someday, is it okay that they’re Jewish? That we raise them Jewish?”

Now, Alicia’s Jewish, and I am a failed Christian who believes in nothing. So, I have no religion to bring to the table at this point. So, you know, it doesn’t matter to me. Honestly, if she told me to quit my job tomorrow and deal heroin on the side of the street next to the elementary school, I would say yes. I love this girl so much.

So I say yes to her, but in my heart, I am thinking no. I don’t want my kids to be Jewish. If this is a choice—and it sounds like it is—why would we want to do that? Why would we want to subject our children to a lifetime of anti-Semitism and discrimination if we don’t have to? Why do we want to permanently place them in a minority? Why do we want to saddle them with joyless holidays with no flying reindeer and no discernible decorations of any kind? And why do we want to attach them to a country that is surrounded by people who want to destroy them? No, I don’t want my kids to be Jewish if I have a choice.

But the kids we’re talking about are theoretical, and the love I have already is real. So, I say yes.

Three days later, Alicia’s getting into her car in the parking lot when she reaches out, grabs me by the coat, pulls me to her face, and kisses me for the first time. And we are off.

Two months later, we’re living together. In December of that year, on the top of the steps in Grand Central Station, her favorite space in the world, I drop to one knee and ask her to marry me. She doesn’t say yes; she just cries. And it is a fairy tale. It is perfect and smooth and wonderful.

The only sticking point, the only struggle we have, is with Alicia’s last name. She wants to hyphenate, but her last name is Green, and my last name is Dix. Green Dix does not work. She could just keep her name Green, but she wants us to have the same name. So she decides to take Dix.

I know it’s a hard decision. It’s not an easy name to live with. It’s not as hard as Harold, who goes by Harry Dix. It’s not as hard as my grandmother, who named those two poor boys, Early Dix. But Matthew Dix was hard, you know?

But I also know that my name taught me where to punch someone in the face to hurt them the most and when to run from a fight. It taught me to make fun of myself before someone else could. I got my sense of humor that way. And when my life was at its worst—when I was homeless, when I was in jail, when I was without hope of any kind—I know that name helped give me the strength to keep going on.

So she takes my name. As hard as I know it’s going to be.

Three years later, that theoretical child is born. Her name is Clara. A little while later, Charlie comes, and they both take my name. They have no choice, so they become Dix.

One day, we’re in the car, driving through the Berkshires, going to see Alicia’s in-laws. The kids are in the back asleep. Clara’s facing forward, and Charlie’s facing back. The car is quiet. We’re listening to Simon and Garfunkel when, out of the blue, Clara says to me, “I wish I hadn’t taken your last name. I wish I was still Green.”

I ask her why, and she tells me she’s worried about the kids. She’s worried that they’re going to be bullied and teased. It’s the hardest thing she has ever said to me, and I’m not really sure why it hurts me so much. Because if she had kept her name Green when we got married, I wouldn’t have cared. But she’s taken my name, and it means something to me today.

It is something I’m proud of. It’s something I’ve made into something good in my mind. It is on college diplomas that I never thought I would earn. It is on the cover of books I never thought I would publish. And it is the thing that I share with her and my kids.

I know it’s not easy, but it is the struggle that has made me who I am today. And in that instant, suddenly everything changes. My heart fills with joy because I am right back on that phone call when she asks me to raise the kids Jewish. My heart is screaming no, and suddenly my heart is screaming yes.

I now understand that the Judaism my kids have is going to be the same thing as my last name. It’s going to be a struggle, but that struggle is a good thing. I think about her, my family, and my Jewish friends. I think about how strong they are and how they are unstoppable people because of the struggle they’ve had and the things they’ve had to face—unbearable holidays with bitter herbs, the ten plagues. They are incredible people because of what they’ve endured.

I look in the rearview mirror on this little street in the Berkshires and I see these two kids behind me. And for the first time in my life, I am ecstatic that they are Jewish. They’re going to have this struggle, but they’re going to come out in the end stronger than we can imagine—stronger than me and Alicia will ever be.

They are our kids. They are two little Jewish Dixs, and they are going to conquer the world.

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Disclaimer: this transcript is a product of Youtube-auto-generated transcript and simple ChatGPT cleaning, and I do not own any intellectual property in any shape or form mentioned. The content on this blog is for informational purposes only and should not be considered professional advice. While every effort is made to provide accurate and up-to-date information, I make no guarantees about the completeness, accuracy, or reliability of any content. Any actions taken based on the information provided here are done solely at your own risk. I am not liable for any losses, damages, or consequences arising from your use of this blog or its content. Please consult with a qualified professional before making any significant decisions.

This is a transcript of Matthew Dicks’s story, Nathan and the Pledge, at a Moth StorySLAM at Housing Works in NYC. You can watch Matthew telling the story here:

The phone rings, and when I pick it up, there’s a man on the other end. He’s angry. He’s a parent, the father of one of my fifth graders, and he’s pissed. I know this guy; I taught his daughter a couple of years ago, so he’s not the kind of man who flies off the handle. What he’s saying is real, and as I listen to what he tells me has happened to his son on this day, he doesn’t realize that he’s sort of opening up my heart and exposing a wound that I’ve been trying to bury for a very long time.

I first learned about the Pledge of Allegiance—the truth of it—back in Boy Scout camp. A counselor teaching the citizenship merit badge explained to us that the words “under God” were placed into the pledge later than it was originally formulated in 1954. The Knights of Columbus stuck “God” in, hoping to bring religion to America. As a 15-year-old boy and an atheist, I was pissed when I discovered this. I was that kind of atheist who walks around and tells religious people how stupid they are, how their magic [expletive] is just [expletive], and they should believe everything that I believe.

So it really hit me hard, and I asked the counselor, “Isn’t that a violation of my First Amendment?” He was only like 18 or 19, but he said, “Well, you don’t have to say the Pledge.” I thought, “You’re right. I’m never saying the Pledge of Allegiance again.”

And so I had a chance to take my stand that night. At the dining hall, we say the Pledge of Allegiance before dinner, and I decide I’m not going to say it. The scoutmaster comes to the front, taps on the microphone, and says, “Please rise,” and everyone rises except for me. For like two seconds, I’ll tell myself later that I rose because all the penises were eye level when they stood up, and it made me unsettled. That wasn’t really true. I stood because I was afraid not to stand.

And that was strange for me because I’m a person who tries to aggressively do what other people don’t do. I grew up just outside of Boston, and I decided as a kid to be a New York Yankees fan just to spite the people around me. You cannot imagine how hard it is to be in Boston and be a New York Yankees fan. I was a kid who, in middle school, taught himself to read books upside down just to piss off teachers. I’m the special breed of [expletive] who will spend hours and hours of effort to get 30 seconds of irritation with someone later on in life. In high school, I used to eat potatoes like apples just because I knew it made people unsettled to be around me.

So I should be able to not pledge as a Boy Scout at 15 years old, but I can’t, because I’m afraid they’re going to think I don’t love my country. And I do. I really do love where I am. But I want to say this thing that I believe, and I can’t. I go through the rest of my high school years pledging the allegiance, and every time it makes me crazy. When you graduate from high school, you tend not to have to say the Pledge anymore—until you become an elementary school teacher, which I did in 1999. And now I have to pledge every damn day.

Every time I pledge with these kids, I think about how I don’t want to pledge, but I don’t want anyone to think I’m not a patriot. So I go through 15 years of pledging every day with kids, until I meet Nathan. Nathan is a kid who was like me as a kid. He doesn’t give a [expletive] about what people think. My girls decide that Tuesdays are “Tutu Tuesdays”—they wear their tutus on Tuesdays. Three weeks in, Nathan starts wearing tutus for the rest of the year. I know he got shit for it, but he did it the whole way through.

Nathan’s the first person I’ve ever met who doesn’t pledge the flag. He sits in the way I wish I could. When I ask him on the first day why he’s sitting, he says, “I’m not allowed to vote, so until they let me vote, I’m not going to pledge allegiance to this country.” Amazing.

So I watch Nathan sit all year long until the day his father calls me, yelling at me. I was absent—I was at professional development, changing my life, I’m sure, in some significant way—and while I was gone, the substitute teacher forced Nathan to stand up and pledge. His father’s angry, Nathan’s angry, and I’m angry, because now I feel like I’ve let this kid down. I should have been sitting with him all along.

I go to school the next day, and first thing, I sit him down at my desk. I say, “Nathan, listen, I’m sorry that happened to you. I apologize to you on behalf of the teacher who’s not here, and I thank you for not creating a problem like agreeing to pledge rather than disrupting the classroom. Thank you for what you’ve done.” He listens. He’s a good kid, and he gets it.

Then the intercom comes on, and the principal says, “Please rise for the pledge.” I stand, and Nathan sits, as I expect. But as I stand, I look over Nathan’s head, and not a single kid in my class is standing for the pledge. And it’s not because they’re protesting the pledge. It’s because they’re protesting what happened to Nathan the day before—the indignity.

For the first time in my life, I sit back down, and I don’t pledge allegiance. For the rest of that school year, none of us in that class pledge allegiance, which is really awkward sometimes because a teacher or even the principal will be in the room when the pledge starts. They will stand and see the class—and me—just sitting respectfully, waiting for it to be done. I know the principal is thinking, “What the hell is going on in this classroom?” I know my colleagues are sometimes wondering, “What the hell is Matt doing to these kids? Why is he creating this band of rebels?”

But what I would tell them if they actually brought those words to me? I would say I didn’t do anything to these kids. It’s what they did to me. They gave me the courage to do something that I wanted to do as a 15-year-old boy, a 20-year-old man, and a 30-year-old man. It wasn’t until I met Nathan Usman at the age of 41 that I found the courage—through Nathan—to do the thing I wanted to do.

Nathan taught me that sometimes you can stand up for your country by sitting down.

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Disclaimer: this transcript is a product of Youtube-auto-generated transcript and simple ChatGPT cleaning, and I do not own any intellectual property in any shape or form mentioned. The content on this blog is for informational purposes only and should not be considered professional advice. While every effort is made to provide accurate and up-to-date information, I make no guarantees about the completeness, accuracy, or reliability of any content. Any actions taken based on the information provided here are done solely at your own risk. I am not liable for any losses, damages, or consequences arising from your use of this blog or its content. Please consult with a qualified professional before making any significant decisions.

This is a transcript of Matthew Dicks’s story, Cold, Hard Lessons Learned, at a Seattle Moth StorySLAM. You can watch Matthew telling the story here:

Staring at my children, Clara and Charlie, and I’m screaming at them. I am hollering at the top of my lungs. I am so angry at them. Clara is a 10-year-old militant feminist who comes down in the morning and asks me questions like, “Do you know who Madame CJ Walker is?” And if I don’t know, I catch hell. But she’s also a kid who can walk into her room and jump over a mountain of wet towels like they don’t exist. She’s a monster.

Charlie is seven, and he’s funny. He’s legitimately hilarious—10 percent of his jokes make me laugh, and that’s a good percentage for a seven-year-old comedian. But Charlie is in love with my wife, his mother, and he proposes to her daily. Just a couple weeks ago, he told my wife, “I have a girlfriend,” in an attempt to drive a wedge between us. I do not have a girlfriend, so I don’t trust Charlie anymore.

And so I’m yelling at them for this transgression they are committing, and I can’t believe it. But really, the reason I’m yelling at them in this particular way is because of forty boys at a camp, a YMCA camp, ten years earlier. It’s 2009, and I’m at a YMCA camp in Connecticut. I’m a fifth-grade teacher, and we take all of our children there every year. It’s normally a fall trip, but a hurricane that turned into some wind canceled the trip, so we had to go in the winter. There’s 12 feet of snow, and it’s negative three degrees.

I’ve been in a cabin for two days with 40 boys, and they are killing me. I spend every day saying, “Would you act like a fifth grader?” When in my head, I’m thinking, “You’re acting exactly like a fifth grader, and that is the problem.” These are boys who leap off bunks to try to break as many bones as possible. These are boys who emit fluids from every orifice in an attempt to make each other laugh, and they won’t sleep. It’s been two days, and they will not sleep. I’m with 40 boys and two men in the cabin.

On the other side of the pond, my pregnant wife, who’s also a teacher, is with 40 girls, but there are 17 women doing braiding and beating and kumbaya, and I’m stuck with one guy and 40 boys. The guy I have is named Paul. And Paul is, if someone made someone who was the opposite of me, that is Paul. He is a vegan from California, and he’s got the Grateful Dead concert just playing in his head all the time. He once asked me if my pants were made from organic cotton, and it took me two days to stop laughing at that question. All he does is chill while all these boys make me crazy.

I can’t take it anymore, so I tell them, “You’re going to have s’mores, and then you’re going to go to bed.” I try to bribe them with food, which always works, but the equation here is wrong because what you normally do is get kids to do something, and then you feed them. But I can’t get them to go to sleep and then jam s’mores into their mouths, so I have to take their word that they will sleep, which is a mistake. These fifth graders are liars.

So I feed them the s’mores, and they don’t go to bed. I get so angry, I stand up on a coffee table and I say, “Go to bed! Go into that room, close the door, and I don’t want to see you till morning.” And they do. They all run in this common room where Paul and I are sleeping, and it’s finally quiet. We go to bed.

In the morning, I wake up, and I’m so hot I think the cabin is on fire. I’m on the top bunk, so I call down to Paul, “Are you hot?” He goes, “Oh my God, man, it’s so hot.” And then I hear the knocking on the door where the boys are sleeping. I say, “What?” The door opens, and a boy pokes his head in and he starts to speak. I will never forget what I see. I see his breath, and then I notice the winter cap he has on and the mittens as he’s talking. I can see his breath, and he says something, and I can see he’s shivering.

I say, “Yes, come in. What is your problem?” And he opens the door, and a blast of frigid air hits me. I say, “Jesus, what are you doing?” I think they broke in the window. He’s dressed in all of his winter gear. I later find out he has all of his clothes on. Every single thing he has on, and a trail of boys—all wearing all of their winter gear—start coming into this common room, and they’re all shivering and white.

I’ll find out later, they didn’t sleep at all. They got out of their bunks in the middle of the night, they made a pile of boys in the middle of the room, and cuddled all night long to stay warm. I look and realize what I’ve done. The heat source for this room, which is a fall cabin, comes out of our room and goes into their room. So when I forced them to close the door, I cut them off from heat. In the middle of the night, they froze.

So I stop the fire, and I try to follow them out as quickly as I can. That morning, I meet with my colleagues, and a female teacher says, “You know, I heard what happened to the boys last night. They sure learned their lesson. They’re never gonna do that to you again.” And my thought is immediately that that’s the convenient answer. That’s the simple way of looking at it. But what really happened was, I frightened a bunch of boys who were far away from home. In the middle of the night, when they were very cold, they didn’t have anyone to turn to, and they should have been able to ask me for help.

And that’s why I’m screaming at my own children right now. Because I told them to take their bathing suits off while I packed the car, and they didn’t. They’re on the picnic table in their bathing suits. So I’m in my car with the doors closed, and I’m screaming at them because that’s how I yell at my kids. I go far away from them, and then I yell at them so they can’t hear me. Every parent has to scream at their children, but they don’t have to do it in the children’s presence.

So truthfully, I’ve never raised my voice to my kids, not because I’m a good person or I’m a great parent, but because forty boys who froze one night in a cabin in Connecticut taught me that we should discipline kids, but we should not frighten them while we’re doing it.

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} #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow input { background-color: #ffffff !important; color: #333333 !important; border-color: #cccccc; border-radius: 4px !important; border-style: solid !important; border-width: 1px !important; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’, ‘Lucida Grande’, sans-serif; font-size: 14px !important; height: auto; line-height: 21px !important; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0; padding: 10px 10px !important; width: 100% !important; box-sizing: border-box !important; max-width: 100% !important; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow input::-webkit-input-placeholder, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow input::-webkit-input-placeholder { color: #333333; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow input::-moz-placeholder, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow input::-moz-placeholder { color: #333333; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow input:-ms-input-placeholder, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow input:-ms-input-placeholder { color: #333333; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow input:-moz-placeholder, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow input:-moz-placeholder { color: #333333; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow textarea, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow textarea { background-color: #ffffff !important; color: #333333 !important; border-color: #cccccc; border-radius: 4px !important; border-style: solid !important; border-width: 1px !important; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’, ‘Lucida Grande’, sans-serif; font-size: 14px !important; height: auto; line-height: 21px !important; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding: 10px 10px !important; width: 100% !important; box-sizing: border-box !important; max-width: 100% !important; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox .label-description::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox .label-description::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::before { border-color: #cccccc!important; background-color: #ffffff!important; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow input.custom-control-input[type=”checkbox”]{ box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0; position: absolute; z-index: -1; opacity: 0; margin-top: 5px; margin-left: -1.5rem; overflow: visible; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox .label-description::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox .label-description::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::before { border-radius: 4px!important; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow input[type=checkbox]:checked~.label-description::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox input[type=checkbox]:checked~.label-description::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-input:checked~.custom-control-label::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-input:checked~.custom-control-label::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox input[type=checkbox]:checked~.label-description::after { background-image: url(“data:image/svg+xml,%3csvg xmlns=’http://www.w3.org/2000/svg’ viewBox=’0 0 8 8’%3e%3cpath fill=’%23fff’ d=’M6.564.75l-3.59 3.612-1.538-1.55L0 4.26 2.974 7.25 8 2.193z’/%3e%3c/svg%3e”); } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-radio .custom-control-input:checked~.custom-control-label::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-radio .custom-control-input:checked~.custom-control-label::after { background-image: url(“data:image/svg+xml,%3csvg xmlns=’http://www.w3.org/2000/svg’ viewBox=’-4 -4 8 8’%3e%3ccircle r=’3′ fill=’%23fff’/%3e%3c/svg%3e”); } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-radio .custom-control-input:checked~.custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-radio .custom-control-input:checked~.custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-input:checked~.custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-input:checked~.custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox input[type=checkbox]:checked~.label-description::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox input[type=checkbox]:checked~.label-description::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow input[type=checkbox]:checked~.label-description::before { border-color: #000000!important; background-color: #000000!important; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::after { top: 2px; box-sizing: border-box; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox .label-description::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox .label-description::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::after { top: 0px!important; box-sizing: border-box!important; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::after { top: 0px!important; box-sizing: border-box!important; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox .label-description::after { top: 0px!important; box-sizing: border-box!important; position: absolute; left: -1.5rem; display: block; width: 1rem; height: 1rem; content: “”; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox .label-description::before { top: 0px!important; box-sizing: border-box!important; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .custom-control-label::before { position: absolute; top: 4px; left: -1.5rem; display: block; width: 16px; height: 16px; pointer-events: none; content: “”; background-color: #ffffff; border: #adb5bd solid 1px; border-radius: 50%; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .custom-control-label::after { position: absolute; top: 2px!important; left: -1.5rem; display: block; width: 1rem; height: 1rem; content: “”; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox .label-description::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox .label-description::before, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::before { position: absolute; top: 4px; left: -1.5rem; display: block; width: 16px; height: 16px; pointer-events: none; content: “”; background-color: #ffffff; border: #adb5bd solid 1px; border-radius: 50%; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox .label-description::after { position: absolute; top: 0px!important; left: -1.5rem; display: block; width: 1rem; height: 1rem; content: “”; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::after { position: absolute; top: 0px!important; left: -1.5rem; display: block; width: 1rem; height: 1rem; content: “”; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .custom-radio .custom-control-label::after { background: no-repeat 50%/50% 50%; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox .label-description::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox .label-description::after, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::after { background: no-repeat 50%/50% 50%; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-control, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-control { position: relative; display: block; min-height: 1.5rem; padding-left: 1.5rem; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-radio .custom-control-input, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-radio .custom-control-input, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-input, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-input { position: absolute; z-index: -1; opacity: 0; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label { color: #000000; font-size: 12px!important; font-family: ‘Open Sans’, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 0; position: relative; vertical-align: top; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-select, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-select { background-color: #ffffff !important; color: #333333 !important; border-color: #cccccc; border-radius: 4px !important; border-style: solid !important; border-width: 1px !important; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’, ‘Lucida Grande’, sans-serif; font-size: 14px !important; line-height: 20px !important; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding: 10px 28px 10px 12px !important; width: 100% !important; box-sizing: border-box !important; max-width: 100% !important; height: auto; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle; background: url(‘https://assets.mlcdn.com/ml/images/default/dropdown.svg’) no-repeat right .75rem center/8px 10px; -webkit-appearance: none; -moz-appearance: none; appearance: none; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow { height: auto; width: 100%; float: left; } .ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-form-horizontalRow .ml-input-horizontal { width: 70%; float: left; } .ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-form-horizontalRow .ml-button-horizontal { width: 30%; float: left; } .ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-form-horizontalRow .ml-button-horizontal.labelsOn { padding-top: 25px; } .ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-form-horizontalRow .horizontal-fields { box-sizing: border-box; float: left; padding-right: 10px; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow input { background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; border-color: #cccccc; border-radius: 4px; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’, ‘Lucida Grande’, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding: 10px 10px; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; overflow-y: initial; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow button { background-color: #000000 !important; border-color: #000000; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; border-radius: 4px; box-shadow: none; color: #ffffff !important; cursor: pointer; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’, ‘Lucida Grande’, sans-serif; font-size: 14px !important; font-weight: 700; line-height: 20px; margin: 0 !important; padding: 10px !important; width: 100%; height: auto; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow button:hover { background-color: #1F5014 !important; border-color: #1F5014 !important; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow input[type=”checkbox”] { box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0; position: absolute; z-index: -1; opacity: 0; margin-top: 5px; margin-left: -1.5rem; overflow: visible; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description { color: #000000; display: block; font-family: ‘Open Sans’, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; margin-bottom: 0; position: relative; vertical-align: top; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow label { font-weight: normal; margin: 0; padding: 0; position: relative; display: block; min-height: 24px; padding-left: 24px; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow label a { color: #000000; text-decoration: underline; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow label p { color: #000000 !important; font-family: ‘Open Sans’, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif !important; font-size: 12px !important; font-weight: normal !important; line-height: 18px !important; padding: 0 !important; margin: 0 5px 0 0 !important; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow label p:last-child { margin: 0; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedSubmit { margin: 0 0 20px 0; float: left; width: 100%; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedSubmit button { background-color: #000000 !important; border: none !important; border-radius: 4px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: #ffffff !important; cursor: pointer; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’, ‘Lucida Grande’, sans-serif !important; font-size: 14px !important; font-weight: 700 !important; line-height: 21px !important; height: auto; padding: 10px !important; width: 100% !important; box-sizing: border-box !important; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedSubmit button.loading { display: none; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedSubmit button:hover { background-color: #1F5014 !important; } .ml-subscribe-close { width: 30px; height: 30px; background: url(‘https://assets.mlcdn.com/ml/images/default/modal_close.png’) no-repeat; background-size: 30px; cursor: pointer; margin-top: -10px; margin-right: -10px; position: absolute; top: 0; right: 0; } .ml-error input, .ml-error textarea, .ml-error select { border-color: red!important; } .ml-error .custom-checkbox-radio-list { border: 1px solid red !important; border-radius: 4px; padding: 10px; } .ml-error .label-description, .ml-error .label-description p, .ml-error .label-description p a, .ml-error label:first-child { color: #ff0000 !important; } #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow.ml-error .label-description p, #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow.ml-error .label-description p:first-letter { color: #ff0000 !important; } @media only screen and (max-width: 400px){ .ml-form-embedWrapper.embedDefault, .ml-form-embedWrapper.embedPopup { width: 100%!important; } .ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm { float: left!important; } .ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-form-horizontalRow { height: auto!important; width: 100%!important; float: left!important; } .ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-form-horizontalRow .ml-input-horizontal { width: 100%!important; } .ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-form-horizontalRow .ml-input-horizontal > div { padding-right: 0px!important; padding-bottom: 10px; } .ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-button-horizontal { width: 100%!important; } .ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-button-horizontal.labelsOn { padding-top: 0px!important; } } .ml-mobileButton-horizontal { display: none; } #mlb2-14362371 .ml-mobileButton-horizontal button { background-color: #000000 !important; border-color: #000000 !important; border-style: solid !important; border-width: 1px !important; border-radius: 4px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: #ffffff !important; cursor: pointer; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’, ‘Lucida Grande’, sans-serif !important; font-size: 14px !important; font-weight: 700 !important; line-height: 20px !important; padding: 10px !important; width: 100% !important; } @media only screen and (max-width: 400px) { #mlb2-14362371.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm { padding: 0 0 10px 0 !important; } .ml-hide-horizontal { display: none !important; } .ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-button-horizontal { display: none!important; } .ml-mobileButton-horizontal { display: inline-block !important; margin-bottom: 20px;width:100%; } .ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-form-horizontalRow .ml-input-horizontal > div { padding-bottom: 0px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 400px) { .ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-form-horizontalRow .horizontal-fields { margin-bottom: 10px !important; width: 100% !important; } }

function ml_webform_success_14362371() { var $ = ml_jQuery || jQuery; $(‘.ml-subscribe-form-14362371 .row-success’).show(); $(‘.ml-subscribe-form-14362371 .row-form’).hide(); } fetch(“https://assets.mailerlite.com/jsonp/918262/forms/119754241083442421/takel”)

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