I began writing stories in elementary school for a neighborhood rag called "The Cabin News." By high school, I was writing for school newspapers and the weekly in my hometown of Newington, Connecticut.
In college, I continued writing for newspapers and magazines as I pursued a degree in ethology (the study of animal behavior in the natural setting). I conducted research at a gull breeding colony off the Connecticut coast and wrote my senior thesis at Yale University on the behavior of squirrels in a city park. After graduation, an Israeli biologist hired me to work on his research project about the Arabian babbler, a bird that lives in the Negev desert. I awoke each day before dawn and followed a family of babblers from their roosting tree through their day's activities. Hours of boredom were interrupted by occasional drama, such as seeing a babbler get its head lopped off by a plunging falcon.
Writing articles about those experiences made me realize that I enjoyed writing more than scientific research. So, I returned to the United States to seek a journalism job in Washington, D.C. Over a few years, I climbed my way up from the worst daily newspaper in the United States (fortunately, it went out of business years ago) to one of the largest, "The Minneapolis Star Tribune."
But 14 months after moving halfway across the country for my dream job, a recession left me laid off. That early tremor in the newspaper business' decline convinced me to start learning about video production. Although I eventually resumed my newspaper career, I look back now on that time as a crucial turning point that spurred me to learn how to tell stories in a new medium.
Hauling incredibly heavy gear, I made my first video about friends and strangers trying to make my then-infant daughter laugh. Over the years, I moved on to producing music videos, short documentaries and then full-length documentaries.
One of the great experiences in my life was telling the story of the first African-American church in Maine. As co-producer of "Anchor of the Soul," I collected photographs, stories and information from hundreds of individuals as well as libraries, museums and historical societies all over the country. Narrated by the late civil rights leader Barbara Jordan, the film helped launch the creation of the University of Southern Maine's African-American history archives and the ongoing effort to preserve and repair the Abyssinian Church in Portland, now a National Historic Landmark. More than 15 years after its premiere, "Anchor of the Soul" continues to be used in schools and colleges to teach about African-American history in the least diverse state in the country.
Another one of my films, "There Ought to Be A Law," tells how a self-described "everyday Mom" coped with her 18-year-old son's suicide - committed just two days after he purchased a gun at a discount store. Cathy Crowley had never been involved in politics or even voted before her son's death. But she felt that she had to do something to spare others what she had suffered - so she championed a bill that would require a waiting period before young people could purchase guns. The documentary follows her attempt, and gives viewers an inside look at how a state legislature really works.
As a feature writer for Maine's largest newspaper, I traveled throughout the state interviewing people about the most intimate aspects of their lives. As the manager of the educational access television station in Portland, Maine, I made a documentary following a Sudanese child from her arrival in the U.S. through her completion of English as a Second Language classes. As the lead writer and editor of "Maine Cyclist," a quarterly publication, I have recounted some amazing bicycle stories.
Life is far more interesting than anyone could invent - and we all have the stories to prove it.
