In Her Words

Stuart takes the NYC subway to 116th Street in Harlem to meet April Dinwoodie, interrupting her afternoon run in Central Park. Stuart and April are very different people except in one life-defining event: both were separated from their mothers on the day of their birth. Oh yeah. And both of their mothers were named Helen.

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Stuart’s friend “T Mack” was engaged to a big time NFL football star. Then it all blew up. Stu was always curious why. So she agreed to talk him through the whole thing. Often women who date men who are star athletes become totally overshadowed by them - always seen only in relation to the man - as someone’s girlfriend or finance or wife. So Stuart made the choice not to use the real names of “T Mack” or the football star to focus on her story.

Stuart listens to a long-time friend and colleague, veteran investigative reporter Nancy Amons of WSMV-TV, the NBC station in Nashville, Tennessee.

Nancy tells the story of her broadcast beginnings as a teenaged radio DJ and of falling in love while taking dance lessons.

Stuart hijacks the conversation to ask Nancy about her photo as a young woman in Playboy magazine.

The conversation was recorded at the Mariott Marquis Houston during the annual conference of IRE - Investigative Reporters and Editors.

Betty was a teacher who made a difference. She influenced a generation of school kids in Nashville. She met her husband late in life and never had kids of her own. Then one evening when they sat in her classroom doing paperwork, gunshots were fired outside her window. 

WARNING: THIS EPISODE DISCUSSES SUICIDE AND GUN VIOLENCE IN SCHOOLS. IT MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL LISTENERS.

“Tina” lost custody of a son and two daughters to a wicked crack addiction. Her husband died in a Walmart bathroom huffing from a can. Now she’s three years clean and sober with a diploma, a job, a car and a place of her own. Stuart talks to “Tina” as an adoptee talking to a birth mother, ex-addict to ex-addict about life and death and new life, as one recovering person to another.

What happens when one man stops talking and starts listening? A fresh podcast featuring the stories of strong women who bounce back. Because everyone deserves to be heard. From broadcaster Stuart Watson.

Find us on instagram, facebook and twitter at @manlistening

Hosted by Stuart Watson https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartwatson/

Produced by Jeni Wren Stottrup http://www.grittybirds.com