Over the break, Michele Norris came to town. Wait — my heart just skipped a beat.

I adore Michele Norris (and it’s pronounced MEE-shell). If you don’t know her by name, you probably know her voice. If you don’t know either, feel free to jump on the bandwagon. Michele is a news anchor for All Things Considered, NPR’s flagship program.

Her memoir, The Grace of Silence, was released last year to lots of acclaim. She dropped by The Carter Center to talk about how she came to write a book on her family, race in America and so much more. The entire audience was in love.

Michele (l), Valerie Jackson (r)

The interview was recorded as an episode of WABE 90.1′s show Between the Lines with Valerie Jackson. You can hear the full interview here (you want to listen).

People love Michele because she has come into their cars, homes and iPods everyday for years, making complex topics like terrorism and presidential elections as easy to digest as a Hollywood interview. On the radio she comes off as thoughtful, considerate and genuine, and in person it only gets better.

My mom was a radio news anchor for several years. She started out at KQED in the Bay Area, and continued at other stations when we moved to Central California. I remember when people we’d meet would discover the Angela they were talking to was THAT Angela. They’d get all giddy and excited. There’s something special about seeing the person behind the voice.

In one of my classes this quarter, we’ll be recording podcasts — interviews and essays we write and produce ourselves, based on stories we find at The Names Project Foundation. That’s the org that houses the AIDS Memorial Quilt. So, we’ll be writing pieces about people who’ve died, and the ones they left behind and who knows what else. Isn’t that amazing? Such a rare opportunity to do something that could really contribute to the world — or just a few people.

I’ve been thinking about stories to tell and people to interview, and the process has reminded me a lot of my mom being on the radio, and how in some ways, listening to Michele reminds me of listening to my mom. And the power of hearing someone’s voice on the air, even if you don’t know them — if they’re talking about something that matters to you, they could really make a difference in your life because you feel like they’re talking to you.

Maybe that’s why the The Carter Center audience was so reverent in Michele’s presence. Yes, she’s an expert in her field, a beacon for journalists everywhere, and her voice touches millions. But more importantly, you just know she doesn’t take that lightly. And the respect she has for that kind power, the kind of attention she gets — it means something to the rest of us. It means that just as much as we admire her, she’s kind of blown away by us, the listeners, too. And maybe, when you’re doing the talking, that’s the thing to keep in mind — the listeners have the most to say.