My WorksPrince Among Slaves: A Documentary Film Project
Some biographies help us understand the broad historical themes and issues of the period during which the subject lived. Others appeal to the universal emotions of the human experience. And some simply entertain us with vivid characters and nearly novelistic events. One compelling story that does all three is Prince Among Slaves. A 90-minute documentary aimed for broadcast on PBS, it tells the true story of an African prince who was sold into slavery in the American South in 1788. His name was Abdul Rahman Ibrahima Sori, and he remained enslaved for forty years before ultimately regaining his freedom and returning to Africa. Understanding Muhammad
It has become a familiar headline: A religious cleric rejects calls for tolerance and understanding and castigates a US president; an argument is made that peace will only come when nonbelievers convert; and American values of pluralism and religious freedom are fundamentally questioned. Yet in recent weeks, these headlines aren't being generated by distant Muslim fanatics, but by some of the most respected Christian leaders in America. A personal Saigon - of superiority - falls
I turned down a better-paying opportunity out of college in the mid-1980s for a position helping newly arrived Vietnamese refugees find jobs. My explanation to those who asked was that I came of age during the 1975 fall of Saigon, and remembered the images of all the people we left behind, the same people eventually finding their way here as refugees. It was my moral duty to do what others had failed to do, I said. Steel Towns Face Anxieties as Their Economies Diversify
During the early 1980s, journalists from news bureaus across the country came to Western Pennsylvania to report on how the decline of the U.S. steel industry was devastating small steel towns. They walked through places like Monessen, which lost 35 percent of its population when the mill closed, and the images they described of abandoned storefronts and desolate parking lots led someone to coin the phrase "the rust belt" to symbolize life, or lack thereof, in these towns. The phrase became a journalistic shorthand for towns where people were being forced by mill closures to move away and abandon unsold homes, old school buildings and bankrupt businesses. And that certainly described many localities in Western Pennsylvania during that period. But what about today? Of Fathers and Sons: Through My Own Boys, Finding the Love I Misses Out On
Joyful cries and the call "Daddy, look at this" or "Daddy, look what I found" are now as much a part of the sounds of the woods for me as the chirp of crickets or the babble of a creek. At the insistence of my two sons, ages 3 and 6, we go for hikes in the woods at least once a week. It is one of their favorite activities, and is something they like to do just with me. I pack a lunch, they take their butterfly nets and nature kits, and we spend the afternoon exploring and making up adventures. My sons are lucky. They possess something I never knew: their father's love and attention. My father was a hard-working but hard-drinking man, and my parents separated before I was old enough to start school. A few years later he remarried, and though he never lived far away, I didn't see him after that. Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet
Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet tells the story of the seventh-century prophet who changed world history in 23 years, and continues to shape the lives of more than 1.2 billion people. Three years in the making, the film takes viewers not only to ancient Middle Eastern sites where Muhammad’s story unfolds, but into the homes, mosques and workplaces of some of America’s estimated seven million Muslims to discover them many ways in which they follow Muhammad’s example. |
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