The Moth When the World Shifts: The Moth Radio Hour
Mar 31, 2026
Kim Sykes, writer, actress and painter, recalls New Orleans memories around Hurricane Betsy and a fraught father. Tricia Rose Burt, artist and storyteller, navigates divorce, depression and reclaiming life through art school. Hannah Brennan, sociologist and author, describes trusting her body during a long home birth. Marlon James, acclaimed Jamaican novelist, shares a comic and eerie story of acting as a junior exorcist.
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Demons As Influence Not Possession
- Marlon distinguishes demons as influences, not mind-readers, explaining many urges felt like internal thoughts rather than external possession.
- His realization reframed sexual confusion and intrusive thoughts as possible chemical, identity, or social issues rather than purely demonic forces.
Life Built To Avoid Disappointing Mother
- Marlon reveals his life had been organized around not disappointing his mother, and that confession during deliverance unlocked intense emotional release.
- That recognition shifted his aim from forcing normality to accepting he might be "not here to do a normal thing."
Birth Reframes Body From Liability To Wisdom
- Hannah links lifelong shame about her body to a strategy of over-relying on intellect and control, which childbirth reversed by restoring bodily trust.
- After birthing, she reframed her body from liability to a source of wisdom and strength.