Welcome to The Moth.
I'm Christina Norman.
What's your story?
It's the question you're asked on every date, around the dinner table, at a job interview.
How would you get to be you?
Our stories define us and shape us.
Their beloved treasures pass down our secrets that we hide.
Stories can be personal legend or family legacy.
In this episode,
a little bit of both about the memories we leave behind and some of the lessons learned.
First up, Maxwell Pierce,
who told his story at a New York City main stage where the theme was Ode to Joy.
Here's Maxwell, live at the Moff.
In the third grade, I fell in love with art.
And that passion was compounded once my parents put me on a basketball team.
It's very true.
I found so much freedom to be creative within both of these spaces.
I will put a mini trampoline right under my hoop in a backyard and try to imitate my favorite dunks from the college dunk contest and the NBA dunk contest.
Then I'm gonna go back inside the house and draw for another two or three hours,
but once it was time for me to learn more than how to play sports in recess or draw figures in art class,