Ever since Annette Simmons turned me on to The Moth, I have been in love with this nonprofit that is dedicated to “promoting the art of storytelling” and “celebrat[ing] the ability of stories to honor the diversity and commonality of human experience, and to satisfy a vital human need for connection … by helping our storytellers to shape their stories and to share them with the community at large.”

I have acquired a couple of “Audience Favorites” CDs and exulted in their powerful, moving, poignant, and sometimes hilarious stories. I have vowed since then that the next time I go to New York City, one of the first things I’ll do is attend a Moth performance. In the meantime, I delighted in living the Moth experience vicariously through the words of Jim O’Grady in the New York Times, who tells of his enthralling journey from would-be storyteller too scared to enter The Moth’s main stomping grounds, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe on the Lower East Side, to dipping his toes into competitive storytelling to … well, I won’t spoil the story, but here’s a bit of scene-setting:

Like a lot of people, I came to New York in the first place to tell stories. That is what has forever driven the migration of expressive folk to this place, where the nerves cross and tangle, a place that, with luck, will amplify your talent. It doesn’t matter if you dance, act or sing. People pay attention to what emanates from New York. Have something to say or sell? Then insinuate yourself into the giant, pulsing, signal-sending brain that is the city.

O’Grady’s words remind me of my son John, who sees New York as the Holy Grail, the place he most wants to be. He took his first solo trip there not long after O’Grady’s article appeared last fall. John has already told some of New York’s stories with his photographs and would like to tell more with his painting. When I texted him to ask how his trip to the Big Apple was going, he told me there were “no words.”

O’Grady notes that storytelling exploded in New York between 2007 and 2008, largely attributable to The Moth’s highly successful free podcast, available by subscription from iTunes. O’Grady points to a “new hunger for live storytelling.”