Conversations with Laurel

Laurel turns around on the road for a homeless woman and ultimately realizes she is the one who's been given more than one gift.

Are you listening? Am I listening? Do we even know how to listen anymore? Laurel's visit with Buddhist practice teacher Ken McLeod, a peaceable man in a turbulent world, will provide you with glimpses of different ways to live your lives. Now retired, but still publishing books on Eastern philosophies for Western minds, Ken talks about his own journey and offers suggestions for listeners.

Sherry Ficklin, best-selling author of the Stolen Empire Series, visits with Laurel McHargue in this episode of Alligator Preserves! She explains how she has become "a toucher of things," and shares amazing stories of her own life and how her experiences have influenced her writing.

Laurel recounts a time she nearly instigated an international incident in a public restroom in South Korea. She was an Army Captain at the time, deployed to support the Team Spirit Exercise in 1989.

Stephanie R. Sorensen, author of "Toru: Wayfarer Returns," discussing her writing inspiration, challenges and routines, and her personal history with Japan. Her highly acclaimed novel takes readers on an alternate history journey to Japan in the 1800s, and includes action-packed steampunk elements.

Laurel shares an embarrassing moment when she misreads a warning sign in a campground bathroom.

Laurel talks about her family's relationship with house pets from early in her life through the adoption of her most recent pet Ranger, a German Shepherd dog. She shares her piece "Don't Get A Dog."

Laurel finally embraces her "pixie" hair style after countless attempts at growing it long. She talks about vanity and how she envied girls with long hair. After her butchering at the hands of an Army barber, she learned how to cut her own hair, and is grateful for the money she has saved over the years.

When her mother gives her a shoe box full of her father's letters home during World War II, Laurel realizes she never really knew the man who eventually became her father. She shares her thoughts about what her father was like as a very young man by reading one of his first letters.

Laurel makes an important discovery when she takes her baoding balls on a morning run and drops one. Her brainstorming about balls takes her back to childhood memories.