About Me

One thing I would tell you about me is that, frankly, I’d almost always rather hear about you.  Maybe that’s why I got into journalism and why I’m back to telling stories now.

Your life.  Your story.  On a plane.  On the street.   Tell me what’s happening with you and there’s a pretty good chance you and I will be talking for while.  I’ll want to know more about this detail or that.  And “Why do you think that is?” are words you’ll likely hear more than once.

Not long ago in New York,  a woman stopped me in the middle of Fifth Avenue and started telling me her story.  The light changed, traffic started to move, she kept talking and I kept listening.  My wife had to pull us both to the sidewalk.  Hyper-focus disorder, my wife calls it.  I’m not sure there is such a thing, but if there is, I guess I’m afflicted.  Once I get focused on a story, it just feels natural to dig in.

One other thing to share about myself.

People who know me well say I’m a positive-minded guy.  I hope that’s true and that it’s been reflected in the stories and interviews I’ve done over the years.  Why do I think that is?  I think I know the answer:  It comes from my mother.

A retired kindergarten teacher, she always told her students “Bloom where you’re planted.”  If my brother, sister and I heard it once, we heard it a million times.

Stone Phillips and Mom

My mother & me

Well, I’m planted. Or, in this case, transplanted from tv to the web.

And if the stories I post here move you, help you, inform you, or do even an ounce of good, then I’ll be blooming.

 

 
 
 
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