In Her Words

My long time friend and colleague Nancy Amons is being inducted into the Silver Circle by the Nashville (Mid-Atlantic) Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), the folks who bring you the EMMYS! 
Nancy is one of the greatest investigative reporters in the U.S. - not just the South, not just on TV, but in any medium. I admire her and I respect her and I congratulate her on a stellar career serving the people of Tennessee and our nation. Richly deserved! CONGRATS NANCY! 

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More than five years ago Nayla came to my 60th birthday party, an intimate dinner prepared by my favorite chef, my lovely wife.

I didn’t know her story. But no sooner than I pulled up a chair and began listening, I was inspired by the grit and work ethic of this lovely woman.

Not to mention her HUGE heart !

Nayla and her husband Dr. Carlos Rish own and operate Centro Medico Latino here in Charlotte, NC and along with their staff serve well over 50,000 patients, most of them immigrants.

That’s why her own story of becoming an American citizen and entrepreneur is so compelling.

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Kathleen Johnston is a world class investigative journalist who has worked for CNN and CBS. In this season of her life she acts as teacher, mentor, coach and example of what is right and noble about the calling of journalism at Indiana University. I’m proud to call her not just a colleague but a friend. 
Note this episode was recorded some five years ago in 2019 in Houston TX so before COVID and before the 2020 election and the subsequent attacks undermining democratic values in the US and around the free world. So while some of this will be dated, her commitment to democracy stands. 

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Lauren Strassner Russell is my FRICKIN HERO. She ain’t no “girl boss.” She is a BOSS WOMAN. The woman launched a US MADE Furniture company that did not just survive The Great Recession AND Covid and the ensuing economic woes. She. Has. THRIVED. Want to know her secrets? Mystical Manifesting, Synchronicity (Timing) plus a grinding work ethic that starts at 4AM and rarely takes a day off. Thank God she took time to talk to me. You will be the beneficiary. 

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As Fate (God? The Universe? Blind Luck?) would have it, I was destined to meet Lynn Murray Chavarria who just happened to hitch a ride with her old friend Mike Waterman when he picked me up at the Sanford/Orlando Airport on Saturday. 
Turns out she has quite the stories of her dad Bill Murray and how he developed an entire Christmas Tree Industry in the Deep South. 
So I hit the red RECORD button on my iPhone and YOU dear listener are the beneficiary of all the generations of lore from this amazing person! 

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My friends Nancy Haynes and Ramona Holloway have each forgotten more about media than I will ever know.

Especially radio (like podcasting with less latitude).

So we present for your listening pleasure a couple of free wheeling unedited conversations! Enjoy!

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Ethel Smith wrote her hero, back when lovers of Language put pen to paper and did such things. To this day whole generations appreciate a hand written note. Maybe it’s more real, a tactile demonstration of a love for the written word. Wonder of wonders, her hero wrote back!

Changed her life. Just listen. (Recorded in Birmingham, Alabama in December of 2020 in the midst of COVID)

RERUN OF EP. 50 NOW 180 EPISODES LATER

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Hope Aldred is no less than an angel for families in recovery from addiction of all kinds.

She gleaned her compassion from hard won experience with her own husband and having to explain to their two sons why Dad was dying.

For her and those young men, it’s been quite the journey.

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The first conversation I taped for this podcast was one of the most difficult. My friend Lucy Lustig was dying and she knew it.

She was lying in a hospital bed in her living room and reflecting on a life filled with art and rich friendships and second chances.

 I honor her courage and creativity in the face of her own imminent death.

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I’m talking ABOUT a woman this week: the woman whose car I plowed into on Friday afternoon. I would have been angry. She asked if I was OK. A study in grace and compassion - all hers.

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