It’s also good to see something positive come from something so negative as teen suicide:

The site was born out of a need of mine, certainly, and perhaps some other folks as well for the middle point of view of this country to have a voice. Politically I have always considered myself a moderate – someone who wants to understand as many sides of an issue as possible and believes in collaboration. It is from this spirit that I’ve launched The Middle Nation.

The weekend of October 30th my wife and I attended the Rally to Restore Sanity (and/or fear) and were moved by the crowd and of course by Jon Stewart’s call to civility and reason. I did some iReporting for CNN – those reports are all up on The Middle Nation or you can find them over at CNN.com.

I take off my headphones and look up from my computer and over my shoulder towards the cubicle wall behind me. Listening for the sound…

Clck, clck, clck.clck,clck!!

I stand up. And look up and around the maze of cubicles trying to locate the sound. I turn just in time to see arching up and over the cubicles nerf arrows flying, piercing the silence as their plastic machine gun hosts clack and click away.

CLACKCLACKCLACKCLACK

It must be 6 o’clock. Time to go home for the day.

Thus was my re-introduction into the work force this past April.

I got a job with a major company working as a contractor on a project – a thirty day job that has turned into nearly six months of steady employment.

I was worried, having been unemployed since January of 2009, that I would have trouble rejoining the working world…the daily nerf war kinda helped ease that concern.

- There were two tribes in the great room -

What a relief. And how wonderful, how brilliantly wonderful!

For the last several weeks my wife and I have been on the edge of our seats every Sunday night as we waited with baited breathe to see if our friend’s wife would make it through each round. And week after week we nearly exploded from anxiety. The show was so much easier to watch when we didn’t have a connection to any of the contestants. If she won it meant my friend and her would have a great opportunity that would change their lives for ever and in so doing – they prove that anything is possible.

When I first met her husband, Brendan McNamara, it was on the set of our web series “and Boris” (he plays a recurring character on the show) and as I got to know Brendan not only was I blown away by his genuine warmth and generosity but was thrilled to find that he was also part of a husband and wife producing team. Aarti and Brendan have been shooting her web series “Aarti Paarti” since 2009 and their perseverance and faith has paid off. For those of us who are chasing our own dreams, it’s inspiring to see success is possible.

Wonderful!

That was school. For me and I assume a lot of other people. Every year I would secretly be excited that school was starting again, eager to learn new things, to absorb, to grow. Eager to grow up I was. And yet at some point in the first semester I would start dreading the work, the home work, the pop quizzes, the tests, the lectures, the over head projectors, the smell of chalk and dry erase markers. Nauseating after a short spell.

Why? Why the change? I came in excited and found myself bored looing to May with eager anticipation and until then 3PM would do just fine when I could go home and play with my GI Joes or build model rockets or ride my bike.

And it wasn’t just school. I remember my first day on a sitcom set as an extra, excited to be on a show that I was watching as a child just a few short years before but, like school, after about 6 weeks it turned into work – even after getting speaking part.

It’s happened to us all. Excited to start a new job and “a step forward in our career” quickly turns into our “daily grind.”

I think that may be what’s happening with some people’s view of the phrase a “teachable moment” and the man who often says it.

When Barack Obama was campaigning in 2008 his supporters, and heck even his rivals, were impressed with his demeanor. He was calm when others were sweating, he turned attacks into a lesson, he took the high road even when his opponents were throwing kitchen sinks. And people were impressed. People were eager to sit and listen to this young candidate speak of high ideals and deliver stirring speeches about personal responsibility and change.

He won the election.

And he didn’t change. Sure he stopped giving the big speeches all the time, but his idealism remained consistent. And it really peeved off the left and right of the country.

Locked on the idea of bi-partisanship, even as he lectured the stoic right, he pushed forward progressive legislation with what may be called conservative ideals mixed in. He admitted to our dependence on oil and repeatedly called for energy reform, even though he opened up some areas to drilling and had to deal with an oil spill by an irresponsible company and government agency. He would use the spill to remind people of how our addiction to oil has led us to be so desperate that we’re now searching for the black death in dangerous places with dangerous consequences.

And these are only two areas where his balanced approach, often self-called “teachable moments” – displeased some on the left and many on the right. And even those who were impressed with his balance a year before started getting restless, their eyes dropping down to their papers to doodle a bit more why the teacher droned on and on about health care or Afghanistan – wherever the heck that was – occasionally they peak up at the clock – looking for that 3 and the time they could go out and play with their friends.

But then they and we perk up – don’t we? The class bully throws a spit ball of “You Lie” and a reporter asks a question about a man named Gates (RaceGate?) and we perk up. Who cares about that Health Care stuff or that country with the funny name where we’ve been fighting for ten years and only have two years of news coverage – if it’s not on the television then it’s not important right? We want to know what was said by whom and to whom and did someone say race?

And so goes our nation. Bored with teachable moments, tired of being lectured to, behaving like children the moment a fun distraction comes along.

But unlike children our impatience comes with despair and we shut down. Even though if we listened to the man we might hear something a bit familiar buried amid his professorial style – something similar to something we vaguely remember reading about in history class – something about not asking what your country can do but what you can do. But screw it – we go back to doodling and watching the school clock – waiting for the bell.

Four months ago I was unemployed. Four months ago I was close to giving up.

Now I have a job.

At first I was scared I had forgotten how to be around people – being home for a year does funny things to your head. My last job experience had been so bleak, so depressing – such a deep disappointment.

I don’t know if people understand that the worker has as much invested in a company as the owner. Seeing the company I worked for fail, and drop to it’s knees, hurt. It didn’t have to happen.

As my first day arrived on the new job I was surprised – I was actually excited, filled with energy. Thirsting to be back in the world again. Thirsting to feel useful. Thirsting to provide for my family.

It breaks my heart to hear people disparage the unemployed. It troubles me that some of my closest relatives and friends align themselves with a party that seems so callous to the victims of the crisis – the unemployed, the forgotten. It’s hard to look them in the eye anymore. Those of us who have been through it understand the pain and the shame that comes with saying “I am unemployed”. After a while it feels as if it is an accusation – that I am unemployable, rather than just one of millions who were tossed aside for the sake of greed and slow thinking.

I sat in the lobby and leafed through the company news bulletin. To be working for a studio again, even as a contractor, filled me with hope – I could hardly contain my smile. During the last few years of I had been working for small companies and I have to be honest – it was an unpleasant experience. Working without a safety net. Being told things are better than they are. Putting your trust in people over their heads. To know that you have a foundation beneath you, the support of not only a company with a proud legacy, but with the coffers to hold itself up – it was deeply reassuring.

The job was supposed to last only a month – I’m entering my fourth. I’ve worked hard. It’s felt good. I feel my limbs stretch again to everything that is possible. I feel proud of being able to provide for my wife and our growing family of animals. My heart beats louder, my resolve firmer, my direction clear.

This past Sunday morning I laid in bed with my wife, our two cats and our dog – a perfect pile of family. The air was calm. The wind could be heard passing through the trees out of our window. We talked and held each other. The cats fought for attention and the dog, Pan, snuggled up beside us. A perfect morning. A perfect pile.
The last year hurt. Yes. There were moments of terror and hopelessness. But through that fire, through that test, we have come out stronger and closer. And suddenly things are happening for us – my wife is having success – I am making great strides forward. And our cats and dog are coexisting peacefully.

All is right in the world and all is grand.

And all I see are the possibilities before us.

Michael Winship wrote a blog over at the Huffington Post about Miley Cyrus’ recent appearance in the headlines. At one point he recounted a second hand account of a young actor “misbehaving” on set and had this to say about this young man and Miley Cyrus:

“like Cyrus, he was a star at 17 and it had ruined him as a human being.’”

No one is ruined. And a second hand account of what an actor did on set is not fair. I take it from what Winship wrote that he has little idea as to what it is to be an actor, what the job actually feels like, looks like, smells like. As a Director I’ve had actors yell at me, get silent, cry – and I do not take it personally – you see to the audience it’s all make believe – to the actor it has to be reality (at some level) and sometimes that means they’re a little raw in between takes. Not to mention it’s not nearly as easy a job as many, especially writers, think.

I would hardly call any of the actors I’ve worked with, no matter their age or behavior, “ruined”.

Ruined implies that they can be thrown away. And even young people have bad days.

I tend not to write about my child actor friends – I believe in protecting their privacy. But yes, some have struggled with coming of age after having great success, but they mostly work themselves out. Not every child actor has a bad stage parent and not every child actor has the bad luck of the “Different Strokes” cast. In fact most are okay. The few that do have hard struggles did not have good support around them when they were younger – and thanks to the tabloid mentality of some in our press they get shamed every time they slip. It’s hard to feel good about yourself when no one seems to like you anymore – that rejection burns deep into the soul and sparks a fire that can lead to depression, drug use or even death.

Who doesn’t have a hard time going from a child to an adult? The only reason we think child actors are any different from other kids is that we hear about them on a massive media scale. The problem is our perception of them – not them.

As to Miley Cyrus: I’ve heard a lot of grumbling from the older generations that she is being too risqué in her newest video and music. I’ve seen her video and her appearances on various shows to promote her new album and I see nothing risqué. She’s wearing a one piece dance costume with feathers dancing more tame than most high school dance teams. If she was at the beach in a bikini I’m sure Winship wouldn’t be nearly as upset. Yes she’s pushing limits, she’s a teenager. Yes she’s trying to find herself – she’s finally not tied solely to Hannah Montana. Miley might just have something to say for herself now and she’s finding her true voice.

Now why people find what she’s doing to be too sexual – that makes me more concerned with them than her.

I do wish there was better support for child actors. I think some feel abandoned as shows end and what had become their on set family moves on.

But the real pressures that do come from working as a child actor often have nothing to do with the work environment or content of the show – but rather at how badly other kids and adults treat them when they go out into the wider world, outside of the security and comfort of the studio walls. I’ve known more than one that took up martial arts simply to defend themselves from bullies.

As for adults – take the amateur video of Miley with Adam Shankman where she was dancing with him suggestively – first off – he’s gay – secondly why is no one concerned with who took the video? What kind of person would record an underage girl at a party and then sell it to the tabloids? If not for this person’s hunger to catch some cash, Miley would never have had to defend herself and maybe people would be listening to her music rather than her dance moves with a gay friend.

And Are there some stage parents that treat their children like trained animals? Yes. But don’t blame the kid and don’t assume this applies to all child actors. I knew one stage mom that came to an audition for a short I was casting back in film school who bribed her son with an apple. After he did one part of his audition he ran over to his mom as she handed him an apple to eat – acting like it was a treat (I’m not exaggerating). It was weird. But that was just one stage mom – I’ve met many who were fantastic.

So maybe can we support our child actors instead of looking for reasons to embarrass them or put undue pressure on them to be just so perfect? Instead let’s be supportive, and appreciative of the entertainment they bring us and the stories they are a part of that move us; and let’s keep a kind eye towards them so that if they should stumble as they grow, we can encourage them and help build them back up, rather than tear them down with our cynicism.

Here’s the problem – it wasn’t Kennedy’s speech that got us on the moon. Words by themselves do nothing – they can only stir the soul to action but they alone do nothing. It was the hard work of NASA scientists, engineers and brave test pilots and astronauts that got us to the moon. And it happened surprisingly under Nixon.

Words do not cause great events to unfold – great action propels great events.

President Obama has repeatedly outlined what he would like both from Congress and the Private Sector in terms of cleaner and renewable sources of energy – yet both have decided not to listen.

This is not the Moon Mission.

Our space program first started under the military’s direction until NASA was formed to run our space exploration efforts.

There is no such body like NASA for energy. Yes we have an Energy Secretary but we do not have, as a government, our very own institution that could create and distribute large scale renewable energy. In order to do that we would have to form such a body and given this country’s other addiction – to profiteering – it’s not likely to happen fast that way.

If people would like this to change very quickly it will take great sacrifice by all of us. It will take you and I closing the caps to our gas tanks permanently and it will take you and I putting an end to purchasing any products made by or with oil.

The reality is, as Obama said in his Oval Office address – this leak has tested the capability of human technology and we will be dealing with the consequences of this leak for months to years.

What we have to ask ourselves is simply – do we take the risk of continued drilling or do we make the tough decision to put the oil can down? Someone’s got to take the first step. Is it you?

Recently a devastating storm slammed into Guatemala, causing some fatalities and extensive damage – including a rather impressive sink hole. When pictures surfaced of the sink hole folks left comments both at the Huffington Post and CNN.com calling the photo a fake and decrying it as a “photoshop” job. Never mind that the sink hole is in fact real but it’s 2010 and a picture is no longer worth a thousand words nor proof of anything. The first casualty of this new era of media technology is belief.

When Brittany Murphy died people refused to believe that her death wasn’t caused by drugs but rather a bad case of pneumonia. Heck the Huffington Post turned their entertainment page that day into an all out assault on Murphy’s credibility, confirming that they are at times nothing more than a tabloid extension of TMZ. Never mind that the investigation was still under way and never mind that her family and fans were no doubt still mourning.

And the list goes on. When Brett Michaels was hospitalized after his brain hemorrhage some chose to not believe it and insisted that he was just doing a PR stunt. When the Apollo mission landed on the moon rumors of a sound stage cover up flourished. Heck some even thought 9/11 was staged and the planes fake – despite that many saw it happen before their very eyes.

And for some Elvis is still alive.

It’s happened to me. I was covering some LaRouche volunteers as they were hanging out on a street corner in Toluca Lake, CA denouncing President Obama when a woman came by and tore down their anti-Obama sign and took their cell phone/camera. The ensuing verbal altercation and short bit of action as the lady expressed how angry she was with their depiction of Obama as Hitler was caught on my camera. After editing the piece just to clean it up and putting it up on CNN.com – some viewers posted that I had staged the entire event. I didn’t of course but that didn’t ease their suspicions.

And of course then there’s the case of President Obama – not only do some people not believe he was born in the U.S. (despite ample proof), they also think he’s a Muslim and that Acorn stole the election – even though none of that is true.

Mind you those same people believe James O’Keefe when he staged meetings with Acorn by editing the footage to make it seem like they were taking him seriously in his attempts to get help for his “prostitution business”.

So what does it take to tell the truth and have it believed? Here at the AVJ we’re all about finding the truth through understanding but what happens when people just simply don’t want to believe truth – how do you ever find understanding ?

Is there any hope anymore for the truth?