About me

I write. Along the way, I have done many things to earn my keep, from kicking a foot press at a metals fabrication plant, to guiding a well-worn hand truck on the loading docks. I ran a cash register before they told you how to make change. I swung a scythe on a small family farm in Norway for a month, followed by a month house-sitting for a family in a Paris suburb. I have cleared tables, waited on tables, and carried tables into and out of moving vans. I have played bass guitar and sung in four-part harmonies for a folk and roots band. I played a court clerk in Spielberg’s Amistad, and from time to time I show up in the background in movies shot in Massachusetts. I enjoy splitting wood and feeling its heat from our stove.

I delivered The Evening Bulletin for four years as a youngster to pay for drum lessons. As an adult, I joined the writing staff of The Providence Journal and would go on to win the newspaper’s top award for reporting, while managing the news bureau in Newport (now shuttered, alas). I have written news stories, marketing copy, and you-name-it for newspapers, newsletters, online blogs, and professional journals, including Studies in Scottish Literature and The Journal of Popular Culture. I am devoted to Shakespeare. I admire the films of William Wellman, Akira Kurosawa, and Bela Tarr, and I will go to the mat with anyone to argue that Mr. Majestyk, written by Elmore Leonard and directed by Richard Fleischer, is one of the greatest motion pictures ever made. I also toss a mean Frisbee, handle a stunt kite, do yoga, ride my road bike (I’m a steel-frame guy), play badminton, cook vegetarian, and walk the beach at East Matunuck with my wife. Bottom line: Family comes first.

 

3 Responses to About me

  1. Susan Knox says:

    I read your blog about Marion Simon. I worked at Trinity from 1969 – 1971 and I’m in this picture — on the ladder. It was the start of my professional theater career and Marion gave me my first professional job. She was a wonderful woman and you captured her perfectly in your piece about her.

    Thank you for sharing.

  2. Ruth Benson says:

    On Throwback Thursday I posted a production photo from “Troilus and Cressida” on my Facebook page: Jobeth Williams was Cressida, and I played Cassandra. I was Googling information about that production when I came across your piece on Marion Simon. It took me back to those early days at Trinity. Yes, she was terrifying and also very kind and generous. I was in local community theatre, understudying the ladies in “Exiles”, when she hired me for the ’69-’70 Trinity season as a local jobber. After that season, she advised me to go to New York to take some classes at HB Studio. I came back in the fall to play Essie in “You Can’t Take It With You.” — In the 1970 company photo I am standing behind Jim Gallery and George Martin (seated on the floor). Those were the days!

  3. Я хотел бы поблагодарить автора этой статьи за его основательное исследование и глубокий анализ. Он представил информацию с обширной перспективой и помог мне увидеть рассматриваемую тему с новой стороны. Очень впечатляюще!

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