It starts with a spark.

A small thing, barely there. Just a flicker of heat, of energy, but it’s enough. Enough to ignite the mix of air and fuel waiting in the chamber. Enough to turn that tiny explosion into movement. Moving, moving, always moving, progress has a price.

stopGOstop presents The Ones That Pay, a monologue series delving into labor, industry, and history. A mechanic contemplates machines (Ep. 192), a bank teller follows the journey of money (Ep. 191), a bartender observes the night unfold (Ep. 190), a waitress moves through her routine (Ep. 189), and a driver drifts along endless highways (Ep. 188)—each navigating the rhythms of work, motion, and time.

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The work moves through my hands, at the end of the day they are empty. Who leaves here feeling insecure, the push and pull of deposits and debts, paycheck by paycheck, the machine hums, a life behind glass, counting, always counting.

stopGOstop present The Ones That Pay, a series of monologues exploring labor, industry, and history. A mechanic reflects on machines (ep. 192), a bank teller traces the life of money(ep. 191), a bartender watches the night unfold (ep 190), a waitress moves through routine(ep 189), and a driver drifts through highways (ep. 188)—each navigating the rhythms of work, motion, and time.

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When your past is too painful, you do what you can to carry it without letting it drown you. A life behind the counter, a life full of listening to others.

stopGOstop present The Ones That Pay, a series of monologues exploring labor, industry, and history. A mechanic reflects on machines (ep. 192), a bank teller traces the life of money(ep. 191), a bartender watches the night unfold (ep 190), a waitress moves through routine(ep 189), and a driver drifts through highways (ep. 188)—each navigating the rhythms of work, motion, and time.

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You pour a cup of coffee, you hand it to them and then its there’s. The neon hums, the coffee drips, a women turns a sugar packet in her hands. On a piece of paper in a court house somewhere the world shifts. You can’t just ignore things forever, but isn’t that what we do.

stopGOstop present The Ones That Pay, a series of monologues exploring labor, industry, and history. A mechanic reflects on machines (ep. 192), a bank teller traces the life of money(ep. 191), a bartender watches the night unfold (ep 190), a waitress moves through routine(ep 189), and a driver drifts through highways (ep. 188)—each navigating the rhythms of work, motion, and time.

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A voice in the dark, a man on a drive, the static of the radio… a diner at the edge of a highway, a cup of coffee. Driving, driving, always driving. When the moment becomes just another memory. The road hums.

stopGOstop present The Ones That Pay, a series of monologues exploring labor, industry, and history. A mechanic reflects on machines (ep. 192), a bank teller traces the life of money(ep. 191), a bartender watches the night unfold (ep 190), a waitress moves through routine(ep 189), and a driver drifts through highways (ep. 188)—each navigating the rhythms of work, motion, and time.

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Tonight’s tale begins in the quiet hum of a clockmaker’s shop. A place where broken gears and forgotten hours find their second chance. But as you’ll soon discover, not all clocks are made to tell time. Some are built to trap it, twist it, or—if you’re not careful—bring it to a stop altogether.

So, take a deep breath and listen closely. The gears are turning, and the seconds are slipping away. Welcome to episode 187 of the stopGOstop podcast: “A Thousand Promises.”

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And then, there was the light. The fleeting, fragile light. A flicker at the edge of a memory, a dying sun at the end of a long shift. Ah, yes, the light—so stubborn, so fleeting, and yet it lingers in the cracks, doesn’t it? It reminds us that even in the moments we feel most lost, there’s a glow waiting for us. Not to save us, no—salvation is a luxury for another story—but to guide us. Just far enough to see what lies ahead and no farther.

This week on the podcast, a conversation on a bus that leads into the flickering edge.

The stopGOstop podcast is produced by John Wanzel.

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beyond the known, beyond the realms of Earth and its tethered horizons, maybe even beyond your comfort zone, to the silent reaches of the cosmos, stopGOstop is proud to present YOU WILL NEVER SEE THE END OF THE ROAD.

This is a story of two brothers, twins, bound by more than blood and who have chosen to be divided by the vastness of the galaxy—a tale of explorers, like of old. A tale of dreamers being sent out into the night without the security of home, without knowing if they would ever return. and with this journey and the weight of human fragility squarely on their shoulders. Kellan and Jonas, they are builders of light, architects of hope, sent to opposite ends of creation to build and maintain space ports to anchor humanity’s presence in the darkest of voids.

Hey now hey now, don’t dream its over. 

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