Hey, folks, this is Kevin, and I want to share with you one of our Patreon patrons named Satu sent me a note saying, Hi, Kevin, I wanted to let you know that I upped my Patreon membership from five euros to ten euros per month. My finances are tight, but the podcast means so much to me. She goes on to say, I'd like to make a shout out to all the listeners that feel like they can do so little that it doesn't count, but it really does. We can keep risk going, says Satu, if we want to, and we do.
That's why the continuous support is so important. She says, I challenge you to chip in with what you can. If you wouldn't think twice about buying a latte, perhaps you can up your membership with five dollars or five euros. Let's do this.
She says, thank you so much, Kevin, and I say thank you so much. Satu, that was wonderfully said, and I should also thank Richard Weinstein and Ivy Alley for their donations at patreon.com slash risk this week. We truly do need it right now, and we deeply appreciate it. Now then, on this week's episode of Risk, you'll hear Jonathan Bradley Welch.
I was living. I was cracking myself up. I couldn't swallow at one point, and I was just snorting, laughing, not swallowing, kind of having a panic attack, but really just enjoying the moment. As I added more, but first, the next two risk live shows in LA are at the Lyric Hyperion.
On August 15th and September 19th, we've got great cast, great stories, and David Krab is a great host out there. So come on out, tickets are always at risk-show.com slash live. We'll be right back. Folks, I cannot recommend Thrive Market, highly enough.
And there's a little bit of selfishness in why I'm so enthusiastic, because they keep sending me coupons because I speak so highly of them in the ads. So please sign up for Thrive Market, because I'm loving it. Once I go over the amount that my coupon covers, I mean their prices are incredible anyway. I save over 30% every time I shop there.
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Hello folks, this is Risk, the show where people tell true stories they never thought they'd dare to share. I'm Kevin Allison and this is Kate Tranada by me now, or something like that, and we're calling this week's episode Confessions, one of the Uber themes of the entire series, really. I was pretty shocked. We've never used that title before.
And I'll tell you something we've never done before, but we are so excited to be doing for the first time on August 19th. The brand new facilitated social event we created, called What's Your Story, debuts at caveat on August 19th at 1 p.m. tickets are at risk-show.com slash live, I'll be hosting, you'll be meeting new people, I'll be guiding people with lots of story prompts, lots to choose from, you'll have opportunities to share in pairs, in small groups, or even with the whole group if you like. You'll learn a few things about storytelling, you'll learn great questions to ask people to get stories out of them, you'll get to socialize with me and go beyond small talk with lots of new people you're meeting.
It's What's Your Story? On August 19th at 1 p.m. tickets are at risk-show.com slash live. Now, in a little bit, we're going to hear from Lindsey Lang of Bramowitz, who has the illustrious distinction of being permanently banned from Elon Musk's Twitter, for writing a pro-choice article for The Huffington Post.
But before that, here's Jonathan Bradley Welch, who is the vice president of communications for the Stonewall Democrats, working on getting more LGBTQ dems elected throughout the whole country. And here he is at the Risk Live Show in LA, with a story we call, Good Interference. So I'm going to get us started, and, you know, I am about to celebrate my 10th anniversary in LA, like I've lived here for 10 years. And once I met a woman, like, when I first moved here, and it was terrible when I first moved here, I was crying all the time.
And well, I mean, everybody does, so it's like, kind of normal, like, you just see people crying on the sidewalk here, and you're just like, oh, it's a Tuesday, you know? And I was, I would cry all the time, and I met this woman who called herself the ukulele, because she played a ukulele, and that was like her thing. And she was like, it takes 10 years for you to, like, actually get it here. And I was like, I don't think I'm going to live that long, but I have, almost, I'm almost there.
And I was like, well, like, time in LA, it really was, like, set out long before that, because I was in a relationship when I was in my 20s, and I was in one of those nauseating relationships. Like, we were, like, one step short of a joint Facebook account, you know, like, like, it's just too much, and everybody would be like, are you either brothers, or are you together? And it was like, we're not brothers, but we just, like, are Twinks who look alike? Which is basis for a good gay relationship.
And we were together for a while, and we were, like, to the point of discussing, possibly getting married, to the point where we were looking at places where we would do that. We hadn't gotten engaged or anything like that. I was about to ask him, and he was just like, I think I'm going to break up with you and move back home. I, you know, and I was like, oh, that's devastating.
And somehow there's, like, a record scratch in my brain, and I was like, well, you know, I grew up watching a lot of Mary Tyler Moore, so I was like, well, if I'm getting dumped before getting married, then I, I'm going to move to a new city, I'm going to change everything about myself. And so I moved to New York City, and I had this very specific plan in mind. I was like, I'm going to move to New York City for two to five years, and then Los Angeles, and then I'm going to win an Emmy, and everything has kind of followed that plan, like, except for the Emmy, because that's like a bigger mountain to climb, and just like, I'm going to move. So I have been, so in that whole experience, like, of getting ready to move here, and living in New York, I thought of New York as like a transitionary period where I would just like change my personality a little bit and just like say yes to everything.
Like if I was too buttoned up, or if I was too rigid, or if things didn't work out in my old life, I was just going to, you know, live in New York and just say, yes, like, do I want to be in an off-off-Broadway show that's like really questionable? Yes. Yes I do. Do I want to go to a leather bar, and like, at 2 AM, leave the leather bar and eat whatever sausage is being cooked outside the leather bar on the street, and then get on the subway, and like, just crapshoot whether I make it home or not, like before that hits me?
Yes, yes I do. And in that spirit of saying yes, I got the news when I was about a year into my New York adventure, that my ex-boyfriend, I'm going to call him Richard, that's not his name, obviously, you know, I don't want to tell it and have somebody be like, I know him, I'm going to tell him that you said this story. Richard was moving to New York, thank you, it was perfect, I think I did vomit, I appreciate that. He was moving to New York, he wasn't just moving to New York City, he was moving to my neighborhood of a story of Queens, and if you know a story, it's not that big, you know, if you share the same subway station, you're going to share the same supermarket, same coffee shop, same jam, like, you're going to see each other, so in the spirit of yes, I just reached out to him and said, you know, let's have a drink, let me welcome you to the neighborhood, let's bury that hatchet, possibly in your body, but let's bury that hatchet.
And he said yes, and then, like, what happened after that was just like this reconnection, and then this, like, war of the roses, Sam and Diane, will they, won't they, and if they do, we're all going to die, like, dynamic between us, and I was definitely harboring feelings for him. Like, this was the only man I really loved ever in my life, and, you know, and I really still felt something for him. So I decided I was going to move to Los Angeles, I didn't do a big dramatic fashion, I announced it to everybody, and I was like, in three months, I'm moving to Los Angeles, and I just expected everybody to be like, no, but people were like, okay, cool. And Richard and I, like, we were still talking all the time, like, we were like 14 year old, like, kids in love, like, on the phone, and just like, no, you hang up, you know, like, we just kept talking about that, but we never did anything.
I never kissed him, he never kissed me, we never touched each other, we just like spent a lot of time together, it was very lesbianic of us, and I, like, really felt a super connection with him, and it was building up, and it was like, I really do have feelings, and I don't know how to express it, or if I ever will express those feelings. But I know I'm leaving, and I know I'm going to California, I know I'm going to start this new life, I'm going to win an Emmy, and then maybe he'll come out there and visit me, maybe something will happen, I don't know, but the time is not now. So I was getting ready to go, and I don't know if, how many of you guys have ever lived in New York? We've got quite a few, okay.
So like, you may know, like, there's this, like, there are waves of exodus that happen, like, you know, you're, like, I'm going to move, and then 20 of your friends are like, I am too, like, I've had it, the city smells like shit, and I just stepped in a mystery puddle for the fourth time today, like, I need to leave, I'm going to go to LA, and my friend John Flynn was moving to LA right around the same time, I was moving to LA, and I use his full name because he's been on the show, and John Flynn is known for baking weed treats. Like he wrote a book about it, it's called Baked, you should pick it up, it's really good, he's really good at it, and he is having his going away party, and it was about a month before I was moving, and he was walking around and he was like, would you like a cookie? And of course I was like, spirit is saying yes, yes, something like a cookie, something had the cookie, and it's good, like, you can't tell there's weed in it, it was really, really tasty, ate the cookie, like, three minutes later, he's like, you know, around the party and comes back, and he's like, did you eat that whole cookie? And I was like, yeah, yeah, no cookie, and he was just like, let me know if you need anything.
And I was like, okay, I think I'm going to pass away, and I need to leave immediately, so I left the party and walked to the subway, and as I was like walking down the subway stairs, it all just like happened, and I got on the magic carpet ride that was the A train, and I was like, I was on that train for seven and a half hours from, you know, like 24th street to like 160th where I lived, like it was just like, and it's an express, so I really wasn't there for that long, but I was living. I was cracking myself up, I couldn't swallow at one point, and I was just like snorting, laughing, not swallowing, kind of having a panic attack, but like really just enjoying the moment, and like to the point where people were not sitting near me if given the choice, because I was really loud and laughing, and at one point I took out my notebook, and I started to write, and I was like, oh my God, I'm writing my half hour comedy special, I'm writing, like I'm brilliant right now, I'm on fire, and I was just like killing myself, like just going to, and I was like, this is so fucking good, wow, it was just the ideas, the ideas, the ideas, the ideas, and I got off the subway, and I was like, I need, I'm very high on a substance, I need to call somebody, I need to call Richard, because I'm feeling it, and like, you know, we as a rollercoaster, you're like, oh, this is so funny, oh my God, I'm a burden to everyone, like it's just like, it goes up and down, and I was definitely just like, I feel this for you, we're supposed to be together, and I need to tell you this, I'm like into a voicemail, like I need to tell you everything I feel, I love you so much, never stop loving you, I think that you need to come to California with me, I'm not going to be able to live with that, like let's just fucking like cut the bullshit, and let's get together, and let's get married, let's go to city hall, let's do it, and I left a long voicemail, and I went home and went to bed, and as I was like in bed, I like laid down and I like shivered, and then I like sat up and started laughing hysterically, and I was like, I'm fine, and then I laid back down and I shivered again, and I did that for about an hour, and like just rinse and repeat, and then went to bed, and the next day I woke up, and I was like, oh, I think I've made a mistake, I think that I left my ex-boyfriend a voicemail, and we're supposed to go to dinner tonight, you know, the next night after my weed adventure, you know, we're supposed to get a dinner and say goodbye, and I left him with a voicemail, that's a lot, you know, so I called him and I was like, hey, you know, still on for dinner, right, and he was like, yeah, and I said, okay, great, so I think I left you a voicemail last night, and I think I may have said some stuff that was a little deep within my, the recesses of my brain, and I just like, I want to clear that with you, he's like, oh yeah, no, I, listen, I got your voicemail, and I was like, okay, and he's like, yeah, your voicemail was just, hi, um, what was that, that was the whole voicemail, and you know, that was, I think maybe I hit my cheek, maybe I never said anything, and I just sat there, and that was it, and that was, that was all he got, and I was like, oh thank God, thank God, the moment is saved, and then I was like, but you know what, I have a half hour special, and I know something good came out of this experience to go in my bag, and I pull out my notebook, and I open it up, and I read it, and I wrote Lou Gehrig's disease, how awful, and that's it, and I drew a picture of a woman's face from the Victorian era looking off to the side, and that was my half hour special, I knew that I needed to get myself away from myself, and from that situation, from New York, and that whole life, and from Richard, and, and certainly I needed to like refine my comedy writing skills, like I didn't have what I thought I had, and I needed to learn how to do weed, like I, there's so much for me to learn, and I definitely could not be with like jump into telling this person I was in love with him, so we had dinner, and I never told him that, and we were on the subway after, and he kissed me, and he said I miss you already, and LA has no idea what it's getting, and I was like you must have read the comedy special, and I never saw him again, and that's okay, because I wouldn't be here, I guess, right, with all of you fine people, I'm really happy to be here, and it's just like the place I belong, so it all works out in the end everybody, and men are pigs for love, they say listen to your gut, when you know you should leave, New York City got a half hour special inside, got to let it out, you want to stay alive, say yes to calling your ex, when you're high on a cookie, that was meant for ten friends, say yes to calling your ex, and leaving a voicemail proposing marriage, and kiss me and say it's okay, half hour comedy special's on its way, be a less, say yes, a yes, none of them rally well I'm Josh Ehr, and I'm Nicole and I eat it, and we're the cooks responsible for all the strange dishes on the internet's most watched daily show, Good Mythical Morning of Threat and Link, and our own YouTube channel, Mythical Kitchen. Between the two of us, we've worked almost every weird job the food industry has to offer, and we've developed some pretty strong opinions, the strongest opinions and opinions so strong they need to be heard on, easily consumable, auditory medium. Does pineapple belong on pizza?
Are boneless wings just poser nuggets? Is cereal soup? Follow and listen to a hotdog is a sandwich free on the Odyssey app, and everywhere you get your podcasts. Folks, if you listen to Risk on Stitcher, now is the time to switch to a different platform.
Stitcher is going away, but Risk is not. We know a lot of our listeners get the show through Stitcher, but when they end their run very soon, you'll want to make sure you are subscribed to Risk on any other podcast app, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify. Our personal favorite, the place where we listen to the show, is the Odyssey app that's A-U-D-A-C-Y, or of course, there's our website at risk-show.com, but one place you won't find Risk anymore is Stitcher, because Stitcher is going away, so make sure to subscribe to Risk anywhere else now. So it's September 2008, about 15 years ago, and I packed my bags, and I moved to the dark and rainy city of Grand Ferret, France.
So I'm moving to Grand Ferret with my boyfriend, Olivier, to teach English at a local elementary school, and Olivier, he's from France, but he's not from Grand Ferret, and we know pretty much nobody where we're moving. So I happened to move to Grand Ferret right before the holiday of Yunkport, and so as someone who is mildly Jewish, I kind of, on a whim, I decide I'm gonna go to services, so I look up the synagogue, I throw in a skirt, and I head down the street to the little synagogue, and as I'm walking up, it's this beautiful 1800s building with this huge wooden door, and as I'm opening this giant wooden door and I step in, and I look around, and it's like my people, the Jewish people, on the holiest day of the year, and in this beautiful old building, and I look around, and I think to myself, fuck, this is not what I had bargained for, there are men everywhere just wrapped in these like fringed prayer shawls, and I'm directed to the women's section, which is off to the side, and I look around and I'm not sure what to do, and as I'm trying to like maybe plan my exit, this man with his long white beard, and he's wearing this button down white shirt and black pants, he walks over, and he hands me this prayer book, and I kind of just see the doors closing behind me, and I'm not sure what to do, because it seems rude at that point to just walk out, so I take the prayer book, and I walk over to the women's section, and I sit down, and I look down at the prayer book in my hand, and it's all in Hebrew, and I try to like flip through the pages to kind of figure out where we are, but also make it look like I know where we are without knowing where we are, and god, and I peek out like the curtain to the men's section, and they're just these men just like swaying in prayer, and I look like around me in the women's section, and I just pull up these women with these long skirts and long sleeves, and most of them have hats, or like something, I think it's a wig, and as I'm looking around, I kind of, I try to like button up my shirt a little bit, like just screely, and this is, I mean, the synagogue I grew up in, I'm pretty sure my rabbi like ate ham sandwiches, so this is like new territory for me, and I'm looking around, and as I'm looking out at everybody, I sort of start to get the feeling that everyone's also looking at me, because word has spread that there is a new human being in town, there's a foreigner, an American, and a Jew, and that's a pretty big deal in Gromferage, so after services are over, everyone from the synagogue, all the Jews at Gromferage, all like 40 of them, like swarm around me, and they ask me their questions, like, who can they do? What can they do? Just where are you from?
I'm New Jersey, and fusabite, who are Gromferage? What is she? How long have you been? How long have you been in Citi, how long have you been in Citi, how long have you been?
What's your last name? Now, this is the Jew last name pass, and my last name is Bromowitz, so I pass that pass with flying colors, and then they ask me, who'sabite do Gromferage? Where are you living in this town? And the big question that everyone wants to know is, who is that D.C., a Gromferage, which is why are you here in Grand Forre?
Like, what are you doing here? No one could seem to really understand how I ended up in this tiny little city. As I looked around at, like, all these people who were so excited to have me there, I didn't have the nerve to tell them that I was there because I was living with a man, not Jewish man, and I'm not Jewish man before marriage. So I look around and I kind of just smile and I tell them that I'm there to teach English at which was true, but it wasn't the whole truth.
So after they're done with other questions, they all fight over who gets to have me over their house for dinner. And in the middle of this, this woman marches over and she says, excuse him, and the chatter just stops. And she says, I believe our visitor will be coming to our house tonight. And she kind of just smiles at everyone and everyone trying to parts away and she takes me by the elbow and not knowing what else to do.
I follow her towards the door. And we leave and we're walking down this cobblestone street at the old town of Grand Forre. And this woman Isabelle, she tells me that she's originally from Morocco, that she is married to this man whose family has been in Grand Forre for generations. She's about in her 40s and she's wearing this really cute skirt that goes just below her knees.
And she has this beautifully quaffed black hair with this cute little hat on top and this single strand of pearls. And everything about Isabelle is just like understated and perfect. So we get to Isabelle's house and it's this beautiful house in the middle of town and we go inside into her dining room with these soaring windows which are framed by like intricate molding. And in the middle of the room there's this huge mahogany table and Isabelle sitting at one end of the table and her husband is sitting at the other and her four kids are around the table and the boys all have their kipas and the girls are all in their skirts.
And her two teenagers, they try to tell me jokes and they're like high school English. And I'm trying to follow the conversation and it's in English and it's in French and we have this beautiful meal and it's all these French and Moroccan sweets for Yum Kippur which is a fasting holiday. You don't eat Yum Kippur. So now the table is just covered with food from Morocco and from France and Isabelle pours me this cup of steaming mint tea.
And before I know it it's midnight and I realize I need to go home. And so I walk home and our house is just a few blocks away from Isabelle's but I live in a studio apartment next to the train station. And so I get home and it had been about six hours since I had told Olivier that I would be back in two hours. So I'm home late, Olivier is sleeping, I kind of try to quietly rush my teeth and I like slip into bed next to him.
The next morning we wake up and I tell him about this this night that I had at the synagogue and and then going back to this house and and I'm so proud of myself because everyone was speaking French and I had this incredible night and I tell him that I'm not trying to like butt in my shirt and he laughs and it's funny and and I also tell him that like I really want to go back. I want to go back to that synagogue. I also I don't say it but that first week in gonfoure had been really hard. We didn't know anyone there.
I was lonely. We were living in this little studio apartment and I stumbled across all these people who were so excited to have me there when I was really far away from home. So I know I know I want to go back but I also know that if I'm gonna pass for someone committed to their faith beyond like I don't know Seinfeld episodes and bagels I had some work to do. So in need of religious guidance I turn to YouTube and it turns out that the YouTube is it's more than just cat videos and makeup tutorials.
It's full of people who want to teach you how to be religious and I'm just interested in learning how to pretend to be religious but that's close enough and so I study those prayers on YouTube. Like I'm studying for the bar exam. It's intense. The prayer over bread.
I learned the prayer over hand washing, the prayer over wine, the anidah, the nishibirak, the kazikadesh, check check and check. I learned all of my prayers and I am ready. So the next week I go back for Shabbat services. After services Claude, he's the guy with the long white beer who had handed me the prayer book that first time at synagogue.
He invites me back to his house with his wife Justine and Claude is an English teacher. It turns out and he is so excited to practice every single English phrase he knows and his wife is pouring this worn soup into my bowl and he's saying what's up Lindsey? Weather is nice today yeah and we have such a nice meal and the next few days after that it's a holiday called Sukkot. So for Sukkot the main thing is you build this giant outdoor hut and so I come together with everyone at the synagogue and we're building this hut and when the hut's done one of the young people, Samuel, he asks if I want to go for a walk with a group of them around this old lake that's in town and it's a beautiful fall afternoon and there's nothing that sounds like more fun than going on a walk around the lake with these people that I just met and I know that Olivier would be also really excited on this beautiful day to go for a walk around the lake but I don't have the nerve to ask them if he can come to.
I know it's already getting late so I make up some excuse. I tell them that I need to do lesson plans and I go home. I go back to our apartment but I keep going back to the synagogue every week after that for services and before I know it the people at the synagogue they become my community and so far away from home it's it's really nice to have them and for four months everything is great. Justine, one of the women at the synagogue, she invites me over and she teaches me how to make holla.
She yells at me, it's a roll my my rolls out thinner, wood less bumpy, Sandrine has me over her house for couscous and Samuel by the young people at the synagogue he has me over to his house when Shabbat and his mom makes dafina which is this Shabbat stew. Everyone at the synagogue they give me this nickname, the Petito American, the little American and everything is wonderful. A few months into my stay in Grand Foray, it's just before the holiday of Hanukkah and I'm going into the lobby of my apartment and I run into Claude who's the guy with the white beard who I had met the first day and who invited me to his house for Shabbat and I see right away that just something is off. He seems flustered like something's going on and he tells me that he's stopped by to drop a Hanukkah invitation off of my mailbox and that seems normal enough and he kind of makes an excuse how he has to run and he kind of leaves pretty quickly.
Something about it just seems weird and I can't put my finger on it so I kind of shrug it off. I go over to my mailbox to open it up to take out you know the Hanukk invitation and the rest of my mail and when I go to open it up I notice that on my mailbox there are two names, Lindsey Abramowitz, which isn't me, and Olivier Giorda, who is my boyfriend and I sort of just pause in front of the mailbox and I wonder did he notice the two names on my mailbox? Did he like put two and two together? Is that why he was acting so weird?
Is that he realized that I was living with this person who I had never mentioned even though I've been coming to the synagogue for four months. I tell myself that I'm just being paranoid that he probably was just in a rudge like whatever it's fine and then a week later it's Hanukkah and I'm at the Hanukkah party. I'm eating like jelly donuts and like of course the young people are all practicing their English with me and all of a sudden I see out of the corner of my eye the rabbi just kind of marching in my direction it's never a good sign when you see the rabbi like marching in your direction and he comes over he's holding this flyer and he puts the flyer out in front of me and it says krayunyan the community there it's a community meeting on December 19th at 3 p.m. with the topic the joys of not touching before marriage and he likes that man he says he's a flimsy we would love for you to attend and I he says it in French so it's hard to know but I swear the word you was really I would love for you to attend and I look down at that flyer and my mind is just racing I'm like what and I can only imagine what happened um I imagined that Claude went home and told his wife Justine and and Justine tells Samuel and Samuel tells Sun Dream and Sun Dream tells everyone including the rabbi who is now personally inviting me to a meeting about abstinence my face is like on fire I just feel humiliated and so the next day I hear three sharp knocks on my door and when I look through the people I see Isabelle and I think to myself shit this is not good first the rabbi is inviting me to a meeting on abstinence now Isabelle is showing up at my door unannounced so I don't know what to do so I kind of just like I looked at it like a skippy tank top and I see my hair as a mess and I'm like what am I gonna do at this point so I open the door and Isabelle says to me Lindsay if we'll absolutely move to Préndezan she needs to set the pregnancy she's inviting me for tea that afternoon she tells me that I need to come right away that she wants me to come with her now and I try to make up an excuse that I'm barking papers I'm in the middle of doing some things and there's no stopping Isabelle Isabelle does not take no for an answer so next thing I know I'm walking down the street with Isabelle and my mind is racing I'm like okay here comes my lecture about how not only am I a bad Jew but I'm hiding it from them that I'm a bad Jew and perfect Isabelle with her perfect house and a perfect family in our perfect life is gonna tell me everything that I'm doing wrong and so we get to her house and we're sitting in her parlor and Isabelle forced me some bit tea and she leans in and she says Lindsay do you know the story of my Philippe?
Philippe is her oldest son and then she goes on she says um he was born just seven months after I married my husband he was two months premature and weighed eight pounds and then she she looks me in the eye for a really long time like kind of like do you you get what I'm saying and I'm not sure I do I feel like maybe I missed something in French or like there's no way there's no way that perfect Isabelle is telling me that she shacked up with her husband before she got married but then she she kind of winks and she says it was a miracle and she kind of shrugs she does one of those like French shrugs that are like French people are really good at that mean I don't give a shit and she tells me that the people of Grand Forre they talked and that's what people and small communities do but you know what she didn't care after that afternoon with Isabelle something funny it started happening all those like really religious Jews I had met in Grand Forre it turns out that many of them really were religious but not all of them sundry I found out that she eats seafood and Samuel he sleeps with dozens of women and Justine she drinks beer on Passover yeah it's crazy so once all the the Jews of Grand Forre knew my secret they started coming to me with theirs and it turns out that the Jews of Grand Forre and I we've kind of been like in this wild game of chicken they wanted to impress me and I wanted to impress them and we were all pretending to be these god-fearing Jews and a lot of them were god-fearing Jews but some of us were actually heathens and the religious Jews they kept inviting me to their house for dinner so after that I started bringing Olivier to events with my friends from the synagogue because having a community who fights over who gets to have you over for shabbat dinner is really great but having a community who knows exactly who you are and still fights over getting to have you over for dinner is even better this is Raskin this is Gollum behind me now and we just heard from Lindsey Lang Abramowitz or you can find at Lindsey Lang Abramowitz dot com and her story was edited by our own John Before that Alec grows with a song called say yes a song all about Jonathan Bradley Welch's story Alec is to send us customized little songs to play back in 2010 or so and he recently reached out to ask if we're still into that sort of thing well we certainly are we love when musicians make original music for the show or do covers of the risk theme song or make sound collages as interstitials go to risk-stacheau.com slash submissions slash music to learn more and before that Jonathan Bradley Welch who is at Jonathan B. Welch on Instagram and his story was edited by our own Hope Rush now we have something super special on Patreon this week I know I say that all the time but this story is unique Daris Gorns comes from a family that included one of the legends of rock and roll history and she shared her story about it in the most charming way in this conversation with our story coaches Cindy Freeman and Brad Lawrence and our editor John Lassala and Jeff Barr edited it together and added the music my uncle told me Jimmy Merchant said to him do you sing and my uncle who was a great basketball player said do you play basketball and his really deep voice and it was a match made in heaven from then on you will find that and so much more at patreon.com slash risk and I want to thank Corinne Wilschka, Jeff Grell and Aaron Swain for their donations over there this week remember if you want to make a one-time donation you can do that at paypal.me slash risk and if you have an idea for a good or a service for goods or services it sounded weird to say a good that you'd like to auction off to the risk community on behalf of risk like for example a voice coach just donated voice lessons a therapist donated therapy sessions artists and crafts people have donated paintings customized leather kink gear pickled beats an interior design consultation for your house customized recorded songs this is gonna be one heck of an auction and if you have ideas of your own or suggestions of things I myself could offer in the auction just write to me at kevin at risk-show.com now playing the true story adventure of a perilous journey into a vast dangerous ocean it was the most just gut-pinching sight I've ever seen in my life when I turn the light on and shine it across the ocean all you see is you know huge 25 plus foot mountains of water that are moving and collapsing and there's white water and spray everywhere and you know some of these waves look bigger than the boat in february of 1999 26-year-old us naval submarine officer Cameron Thurman set out from Pearl Harbor Hawaii to Yoko suka Japan aboard a 32-foot sailboat that also doubled as his home accompanied by a crew of two complete strangers japanese free spirit and surfer Hiroki and Polish family man Charlie a former naval officer and the only one of the trio with any significant sailing experience it was pitch black middle of the night thousands of miles from land and it crashes into the cockpit and I realized oh my god like Charlie's gone he he's been watched over that realization that like I brought these people here and at that moment I realized that there might actually be something worse than dying and that is surviving when other people around you have died especially if they've died because of you are they dying for you if you enjoyed the perfect storm or 13 lives stories of ordinary people banding together in the face of nature's fury from voyage media surviving the little is a new docu-series podcast that brings you on to the boat to face the storm available on apple podcasts Spotify and anywhere you listen to podcasts that's about it folks please keep those donations coming and we've been loving these messages people have been sending along with their donations like this fella segan who wrote risk means the most to me of literally any podcast I've legit had my life and brain changed by multiple different stories and I look forward to continuing to do so for many years to come oh my gosh thank you so much segan we're right there with you and folks today's the day take a risk so after services are over everyone from the synagogue all the Jews of grandfather I all like 40 of them like swam around me and they ask me their questions like el vyashim what's this well for the nation oh no shit I feel like I'm like I feel like that was um like you're gonna be stressed sorry