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Hey folks, this is Mack raised from the StoryCorps Podcast. Just want to remind you that you can tell us your personal stories by calling our voicemail at 702 -706 -talk.
This week we want you to tell us, what's a special tradition you have with a parent?
That's 702 -706 -TALK.
How has being a parent changed you?
Oh, it changes everything.
It's the StoryCorps podcast from NPR, where we bring you into our archive, the largest collection of human voices ever recorded, to find the big moments hidden in ordinary lives.
What's the hardest thing about being a dad?
What kind of father do you think you were?
I felt that I was blessed to have an amazing man in my life.
As a father, I don't think there's a higher calling that a man could have than to be a dad.
I'm Jasmine Morris, and on this episode, stories about that higher calling of fatherhood.
First up, Tremayne Crawley and her dad, Joseph Bond.
What was I like as a dad?
A little militant, but you was hard because you cared.
So in my eyes, you was the perfect father because you gave us tough love, but you also gave us love at the same time.
Some of that toughness may have come from the Marines, as a teenager Joseph fought in the Vietnam war.
After his service ended — he raised a family, spent 35 years working for the city of Philly — he always put his family's needs first. But after retiring, he decided there was something he wanted to do for himself.
He decided to finish high school at 72 years old.
I remember you told me you was back in school, and I just bust out laughing because I didn't believe you until the next day when you came to the house with your laptop and your book bag.
— They told me about supplies too.
I was the oldest person in the building.
I was older than my teachers.
They leave me the maintenance people.
I'm saying to myself, what the hell am I doing here?
I'm retired, I don't need this.
But education is a beautiful thing.
It's like a flower.
You plant a seed, you give it a little water, you give it the sunshine and it grows.
— To see you finally putting yourself first for once, it meant everything to me.
I knew that I had to answer to you.
You were like a little voice in my head saying you know what, we ain't gonna settle for C's.
You're like a second mother.
You told me that you'd always be there for me no matter what.
So I have to ask you this.
When I dropped out of high school at a young age, what was your first reaction?
Want my honest opinion on that?
Yes, please be honest. I wanted to kick you dead in your ass.
And I knew you was going to say that.
But, you know, in my twenties, I went back to school and that piece of paper made me feel like I was on top of the world.
I'm proud of myself.
I'm proud of you, too.
I think that's why I went back.
When you graduated, how did it feel to walk across the stage?
I was just nervous walking up the steps without fall or how I would react when I get the diploma in my hand.
I couldn't even get my camera together when he was coming down the aisle.
My heart was pounding.
I kind of lost my voice screaming your name.
I'm like, and he got his cool walk going on and his sunglasses, so I'm like, I hope he can see the steps while he going up.
I hope he see him while he coming down.
It's a long time coming.
I look at my diploma every day.
My mother, she only went as far as the 11th grade.
But all of her children, they finished high school.
On her dying bed, I promise her that I will go back and get my diploma.
I go to my mother's grave site and visit her for time and time.
The other day, I took my hospital diploma with me and I sat down and I finally did it.
She's looking down at you and she's smiling from ear to ear because you kept that promise.
That's Tremaine Crawley with her dad Joseph Bond in Philadelphia.
Not only did Joseph earn his diploma, he also finally got to go to prom.
His night school held one.
And he was crowned prom king.
And he didn't stop there.
Joseph's now enrolled in college, studying electrical engineering.
Tremaine hopes to follow her dad and pursue a degree herself one day.
Our next story comes from a dad and daughter who lead and follow one another, on the dance floor.
Carl Levine and his daughter, Chloe, came to StoryCorps in New York City in 2023.
They're both contra dancers, which is kind of like square dancing.
But when Carl first discovered Contra, he was at a low point in his life.
After my first wife left me, I was alone and miserable and looking for some place to go.
I felt shy and socially awkward, but once I went to a Contra dance, I was actually dancing six nights a week.
There's probably nowhere where I'm less shy than at a dance, and I met your mom through the dance world.
I remember Chloe, when you were two years old, and you lined up your stuffed animals so they'd be ready to dance.
Is that true? At home, I remember this distinctly.
And I remember your going to your first ball when you were eight or nine.
There is a picture of us, and you and Mom are like posing so beautifully in your finery and I would not stop moving.
You did half the dance and then went to sleep on a blanket in the back of the room.
You know, when I was in school, I didn't go to dances.
But this fall, I had just graduated college.
I'd just gotten out of a pretty serious relationship.
I did not have a job, but this dance that happens twice a month, I was like, you know what, this is a thing that I can put on my calendar.
It felt like that was the important first step in being able to figure everything else out.
I'm most concerned that you be happy and fulfilled, but I'm also happy that I was able to give you something that helped do those things.
I love dancing with you, Chloe, maybe especially because you're my daughter, but also because you're such a marvelous and beautiful dancer.
I have such a sense memory of what dancing with you is.
It feels like if I were to ask you, what are your memories of drinking a morning coffee?
It's just like a thing that you do so many times.
It just sort of is.
You are one of my favorite partners.
You are also one of my favorite partners.
Chloe E. W. Levine and her dad Carl Levine.
They now live in different states, but they still get together often, and they always make time to dance.
After the break, a father and son whose relationship was forged in metal. Stay with us.
Good bye. is proud to be the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's largest automotive donor.
Learn more at soobrew .com slash care.
In 2015, single dad Stuart Billy decided to move his two teenage sons from the city back to where his family's from, tribal lands of the Navajo Nation.
At first, Stuart's sons found the lack of noise in the rural Southwest unnerving until their dad replaced the peace and quiet with heavy metal. That's their family band, Narbona.
Here's Stuart at StoryCorps with his eldest son, Lestat Standing Bear.
When did you first find out that you'd be a parent?
How did you feel? I was very scared.
I was your age when I had you.
I was 21 years old.
So it was very difficult.
I heard you first. You let out a scream.
It was so loud and even the doctors and nurses were freaked out.
Just like a banshee.
Yeah and when you were a little child I was traveling across the country selling Navajo jewelry.
I used to come off the road and I used to get home about three or four o 'clock in the morning when everybody is asleep.
But you would wake up and you would sit there with me.
Nobody else, it was you.
And it was moments like that that reminded me that I need you as much as you need me.
Did you think that metal was going to be a big factor in our life?
No, until you and your brother became teenagers.
That's when I saw you getting into my type of music.
And during the pandemic, on the reservation was this fear of all the deaths that were happening.
I had to find a way to take your focus away from that.
So we started to band in Arbona, trying to find peace in our family through this chaotic type of music.
and we sing about our people, you know.
I grew up in a time when it wasn't really a good thing to be Navajo.
But I wanted you to be proud of who you are and seeing you come from this very shy individual to become this leader of our band.
It's the greatest feeling in the world, watching your son going onstage, singing our songs so powerfully.
I'm in awe. I really appreciate that.
And being on stage with you, it made me respect you more than I already did.
Because you showed me that if you put your mind to something that you really believe in it can be done.
That's the whole point.
You know, you and your brother, I brought you into this world.
And shame on me if I'm not going to see you through this and guide you to be strong then.
You're my firstborn.
We grew together. I have a tattoo of your name over my heart because that's how much you mean to me.
I'm so proud to be your father.
That's Stewart Billy and Lestat Standing Bear of the band Narbona, named for a They recorded their StoryCorps interview on the Navajo nation in Crownpoint, New Mexico.
Our last story comes from another dad in tune with his kids.
Ed Cage has been part of St. Louis hip hop since the 1980s.
His specialty is beatboxing.
He passed on his skills to his daughter, Nicole Paris.
In the StoryCorps, they broke down their special connection beat by beat.
When mom was pregnant with you, I would get right up on her stomach and beatbox to mom's belly.
And you would feel the vibration.
And when I did that, you was just shaking.
And one of the greatest joys of my life was actually seeing you being born.
Were you prepared at all to be a father?
No. No. I wasn't prepared.
I was 16 when we had your brother.
So when I said, okay, I'm gonna do this, I threw everything into it.
You had, like, two, three...
No, I had four jobs.
I had so many jobs at one time, Nikkole.
I was going to the wrong job.
You know, you being away so much growing up...
that was hard. Yeah.
I didn't want to be the dude that came in and left, so I had to figure out how I was as a father going to connect.
And you were always liked to hear me beat box.
So you used to sit up on my lap and you would just bang your head trying to keep that beat going.
I remember one time you was making a whole bunch of crazy sounds, and I told you, I don't know what that is.
But then I had to check myself and say, well, whatever you want to do, Nicole, that's what you do, OK?
And now you go to sleep beatboxing.
When you wake up, we'll beatboxing.
When we cooking when we driving, so when you and I communicate with each other, we can do it by beats.
Let's say, if I don't agree with something that you're doing and I feel angry.
Why you just throw your ass at me?
Because you make me mad.
I'll do more of a bass beat, kind of like — Yeah.
I can tell when you're not feeling good, because your beats are — Real down.
But when you are feeling like, oh, I'm ready to take on the world, you — Right.
Pops, I love the bond that me and you share.
You know, baby, it's something, Nicki.
To see you go out into the world, continually trying to be the best that you can be.
I just absolutely love that about you.
And as a father, that's all I can ask for.
Ed Cage speaking and beatboxing with his daughter Nicole Paris in St. Louis.
That's all for this episode.
We love to hear from listeners like you, so give us a call on our wondering, what's a special tradition you have with a parent?
Give us your answer in a voicemail.
It's 702 -706 -talk. The number again is 702 -706 -TALK.
The stories you just heard were produced by Esther Honig, Alan Jinich, Halle Hewitt, Joe Corona, and Lina Anwar.
They were edited by Sofia Balin, Annie Russell, and Von Diaz.
Special thanks to our Brightness in Black Initiative, a project celebrating the richness and complexity of Black life in America.
Thank you also to Gallup Journey and the Philadelphia Inquirer as well as StoryCorps Facilitator Julia Christianbaum.
This podcast is produced by Max Youngreis.
Our senior producer is Jadesti Kendall.
Amy Drozdowska is our executive producer and our technical director is Jared Floyd.
The artwork for our podcast is created by Liz McCarty.
I'm Jasmine Morris.
Thanks for listening.
