Where We Belong - Vin Shambry

“When I was a kid I never cried. I never had time to.”

Photo by Christan Leonard

Where We Belong

--- This episode is available on your local radio station, on PRX and below via The Moth Player. It will be published on iTunes | Spotify | RadioPublic | RSS on 1/11/2021

In this hour, stories about looking for home. A homeless child lives under a tree; a woman finds her birth mother; an activist fights against home foreclosures; a science project goes haywire; and finding peace at a silent retreat. Hosted by The Moth's Senior Producer, Jenifer Hixson. The Moth Radio Hour is produced by The Moth and Jay Allison of Atlantic Public Media.

Vin Shambry goes to outdoor school and feels like a kid again.

Lauren Weedman meets her biological mother.

Michele Oberholtzer sets up a fund to help families fight home foreclosure.

Flora Diaz becomes attached to the subjects of a middle school science project.

Jon Jay Read gets news from home while at a 30-day silent retreat.

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Stories in this Episode

09:22
Outdoor Camp

by Vin Shambry

Vin Shambry goes to outdoor school and feels like a kid again.

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13:51
Bubs

by Lauren Weedman

Lauren Weedman meets her biological mother.

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06:15
Drosophila Melanogaster

by Flora Diaz

Flora Diaz becomes attached to the subjects of a middle school science project.

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07:15
Frenchie’s Silent Retreat

by Jon Jay Read

Jon Jay Read get news from home while at a 30 Day silent retreat.

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06:54
Radicalization by Tricycle

by Michele Oberholtzer

Michelle Oberholtzer sets up a fund to help families fight home foreclosure.

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Extras From This Episode

Where We Belong Extras

Vin Shambry

Vin Shambry Radio Extra 1719

Vin’s family’s tree which still stands in Grant Park in downtown Portland.

Lauren Weedman

Lauren Weedman Web Extra 1719 3

Lauren and her birth mother, Diane.

Lauren Weedman Web Extra 1719 1

Lauren, her son Leo and Bubs.

Michele Oberholtzer

Michelle Oberholtzer Web Extra 1719 9

Michelle Oberholtzer canvassing in 2014.

Since 2008, more than 100,000 residential structures have gone into tax foreclosure. This year, 17,000 occupied homes are still subject to foreclosure, and may be sold to the highest bidder in an online auction. To see the map full of red dots that Michele mentioned in the story, visit loveland.com. To learn more about the work of The Tricycle Collective, hear more testimonials of survivors of the foreclosure crisis, and to donate at any time, visit www.thetricyclecollective.com.

Michelle Oberholtzer Web Extra 1719 5

The current 2017 map of tax foreclosures courtesy of Loveland. The red areas are occupied homes.

Testimonial pictures from Tricycle Collective's 2014 families.

Flora Diaz

Flora Diaz Web Extra 1719 1

Flora, circa the year of the fruit fly incident.

Flora Diaz Web Extra 1719 2

Years later, Flora as a grown up with her "soulmate animal".

Jon Jay Read

Jon Jay Read Web Extra 1719

Jon Jay Read enjoying the great outdoors.

The music in this story

  • The Drift - Uncanny Valley
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  • Ben Harper - The Three of Us
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  • Paul Simon - Mother and Child Reunion
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  • RJD2 - Ghostwriter
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  • Pokey LaFarge + South City Three - Feels So Good
    Find it on: Spotify
  • Tom McDermott - Opulence
    Find it on: Spotify