Feb 2, 2026 · 37 min · 10 segments
“Sometimes, if you want something great, you have to make a lot of sacrifices.” Two women meet the same man in prison and walk away with decidedly different impressions of him. PLAYLIST! PLAYLIST!…
Heather BrownGuest
Nick van der KolkHostI don't believe very much in romance.
Romance always seems to fade and become something else.
But family, family is another thing.
Family is that unspoken blood commitment to people that you will help them no matter what.
You may not approve of them, but because they're family, you have a kind of visceral connection.
You just love them.
That's how I felt about Michael from the very first.
In fact, he felt more like family than my own family felt, like somebody who is so much like me in a kind of spiritual way, emotionally close.
I could understand him so well.
In fact, when I started to write him letters and he would write back or he'd tell me, I don't understand how you understand me so well.
I wasn't going to let fear or apprehension stop me from doing my job and from standing up for something that I believe in and for the safety of the people of California.
I said to myself, I'm going to help get him out.
The world would be a much better place with this man out of prison.
And I wouldn't say that about too many people, you know, whether they're in prison or not.
In prison, the world would not be one way or the other changed, but he is so charismatic just naturally.
It's like a light just kind of pours out of him.
And I was determined to help that light get out into the world.
I don't believe very much in romance.
Romance always seems to fade and become something else.
But family, family is another thing.
Family is that unspoken blood commitment to people that you will help them no matter what.
You may not approve of them, but because they're family, you have a kind of visceral connection.
You just love them.
That's how I felt about Michael from the very first.
In fact, he felt more like family than my own family felt, like somebody who is so much like me in a kind of spiritual way, emotionally close.
I could understand him so well.
In fact, when I started to write him letters and he would write back or he'd tell me, I don't understand how you understand me so well.
I wasn't going to let fear or apprehension stop me from doing my job and from standing up for something that I believe in and for the safety of the people of California.
I said to myself, I'm going to help get him out.
The world would be a much better place with this man out of prison.
And I wouldn't say that about too many people, you know, whether they're in prison or not.
In prison, the world would not be one way or the other changed, but he is so charismatic just naturally.
It's like a light just kind of pours out of him.
And I was determined to help that light get out into the world.
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