My father was like that. Felix taught me that we sell ourselves, but we're not for sale.

And he was very big on this idea that he wanted to be able to look himself in the eye and feel good about who he was, what he did, the way he treated people.

His karma, if you will, right?

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to another episode of Books Closed.

I am Andrew Stortz.

Before we start, I want to ask to make sure that you are subscribed, that you're hitting

like, thumbs up, all of that goofy stuff that I hate to even bring up.

But, you know, it helps new people

find the show. And it also helps to ensure that you don't miss future episodes yourself. And that is

particularly important today because this is part one of two episodes with the one and only

Philip Lou. This is a dream guest of mine. Philip has been on my top of my list of guests to get on the show since I started.

I never thought it would happen.

I made a video that I'll link to in the show notes,

and it's also you'll be able to click above my head here right now to go watch.

It's a 10-minute mini documentary of sorts about the way that this whole thing came to be.

So check that out.

It's a good time.

There's some cool behind the scenes footage from my trip. I need to also give a huge thanks

to Philip, Titen, Loretta. They opened their home to me, their studio. They were very generous

with their time and with sharing stories about their family, their work, their art.

And it was quite an experience that I will never forget.

And I just want to thank them a lot for just being them.

...