Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Answers to questions you didn't know you wanted to ask


This is the day after the 48th anniversary of my 21st birthday.

You do the math.

People often ask me why am I still so busy hosting "Black Nouveau" a show on MilwaukeePBS, doing stories for another program "10ThirtySix"... serving on boards, MC'ing events, and producing my first independent movie. The answer: connections and purpose.

I miss the connections I made over the years covering news in Milwaukee. Talking to people and hearing their stories is inspirational. Since my platform to tell their stories has changed, I try to make the most of it whenever I can. Maya Angelou said it best: "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

My hope is that those connections will make people feel better about themselves and become open to connections with people they don't know... yet.

And, while retirement gives you time to do all those things you put off while you were working, it's hard to focus on one project or another because there is so much to do.

But, when I embarked on the documentary film "Kaukauna & King: 50 Years Later" I found my purpose.

Telling this story has put me in contact, in one way or another, with more than 200 people since I naively set out on this journey 2016!  I am getting an unofficial, O.T.J. education in filmmaking and running a business.

This film has become my passion project. It is what I think about before falling asleep on the couch every night and waking up with my cat, Homer staring me in the face, every morning.

The emotions that go along with this journey have been surprising. Being able to bring together people who have not seen each other in 50 years brought me to tears. Helping open the eyes of people who don't know the story or the play that started it all, "In White America" is powerful. As I told producer, Debbie Paschke, the day when I see the poster for the film standing in the lobby of the Oriental Theatre in Milwaukee and when they call the crew of the film on stage to discuss it, she will have to walk out there.  I won't be able to say much of anything. It will be like holding your baby for the first time and the nurse says "he's beautiful".  

All I will be able to say is "Thank you" and cry.


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