In Her Words

Joanna Lima grew up as a kind of motherless child, knowing little of her Filipino roots. So when she was asked to conjure up the image of an ancestor, she kind of lost it. Joanna is studying to be a therapist who can apply her own life experiences to the people she helps to heal. She speaks vulnerably about her evolving experience as a woman of color and a transracial adoptee. This episode was recorded outdoors, masked, at a safe distance at the University of San Diego.

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Janet Nordine knows the deep seated sense of abandonment felt by kids who were abandoned by their parents. She knows because she was one. Now she uses years of training as a therapist to get down on the floor and play with those foster and adopted kids. She connects with them in a way that’s really spiritual. Janet talks with Stuart on her back patio in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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Marina Zenovich films documentaries in a way that celebrates the full complexity and nuance and humanity of superstars we thought we knew. Lance Armstrong, Roman Polanski, Robin Williams. Stuart drives to Santa Monica to meet the two-time Emmy winner. She starts by pointing to a scar on her neck. Just listen.

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Kenya Templeton performs! We sat masked in Adirondack chairs on her front walkway and she’d occasionally break into song. She talked about meeting her idol Al Jarreau and bursting into tears. Then I asked her what song she would sing for her own funeral and the hairs on my arms stood up. Wow. What a moment.

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Jade Kurian is a rich woman. I don’t mean she’s sitting on a golden throne draped in jewels - although I can completely see her dressed as a rich goddess! Ha! That makes me kinda laugh. Jade began life anything but rich, living in a house by a river in southern India that had no indoor toilet and teamed with snakes when it flooded. Now she lives in a luxury high rise overlooking Austin, Texas. What. A. Rich. STORY!

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Ethel Smith, scholar and professor of literature, schools Stuart on what it was like to go to school without textbooks, teach kids great literature with the N-word, and why she thinks her son’s students are way too pampered. This podcast drops the week the New York Times treats her son’s school pretty harshly.

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“Dixie" got revenge. Her crime was brutal. But it made perfect sense. The dude beat her friend so badly she miscarried. Then he threw her out. Dixie was outraged for her. So she recruited her boyfriend to beat the man senseless. Then her boyfriend cut him. The street justice got her seven years in prison. The charges: attempted murder and armed robbery. She had just graduated high school. A story of misplaced loyalty with a surprise ending.

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This week’s ManListening episode is a special sneak peek (or early free listen) to Stuart’s audiobook version of his memoir: WHAT SHE SAID & WHAT I HEARD: HOW ONE MAN SHUT UP AND STARTED LISTENING ! Can you take a wild guess who narrates? No! Not Matthew McConaughey! Audiobook available everywhere later this month (and may we say the PERFECT last minute holiday gift because it makes you look like you put a lot of thought into it )!

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Sarah Faircloth started going to therapy as a girl. Now she herself is a licensed therapist. In between was a world of hurt, most of which she has rebounded from in heroic fashion. She shares so much wisdom that we just let it run longer than usual. It was just too good to leave on the cutting room floor!

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Juli Ghazi was drinking - again. She was driving - again. She was drinking AND driving - again. Her daughter spoke up. Juli pulled the car over. She never drank again. Of course there’s a lot more to it than that. Just listen.

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