Director of Profit motive and the whispering wind: I am writing this from my office at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts where I teach film production and history and where, in a few hours time, all power to the building is to be shut off for some major maintenance operation. This only means that I can't further procrastinate or belabor work on this blog entry,(and, that I better not leave anything in the refrigerator over the weekend). As I try to reflect on what I might tell you, I am looking opposite my desk at a photo of Brazilian filmmaker Glauber Rocha and the words, "Sou um artista. Não me exijam coerencia" (I am an artist. Don't expect me to be coherent.).

   In a few weeks time I will be screening in Toronto my new film (& first documentary) "Profit motive and the whispering wind". Given that its focus is on traces of progressive U.S. history, much of it (sadly and tellingly) little known to many U.S. citizens, I will be curious to get a sense of what kind of resonance the film may have for those north of the border and beyond. Given obvious speculations over the just-concluded "Three Amigos" summit in Ottawa, and continued maneuvers by power elites to exclude public involvement in the shaping of our future, it behooves us to know as much about our histories as we can, and to take a close look at what incidents and which people tend to be ommitted from these histories and why. In my own modest way, it is this which my film seeks to provoke reflection upon. My approach to this topic is a rather unorthodox one as my film is an accumulation of three years of wandering, on and off, across the United States, mostly frequenting out of the way cemeteries and small town roads in search of evidence of this past. Ironically, given how much time I spent in front of gravesites, it proved an avenue for bringing this history to life for me. Despite the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words, and the fact that I am indeed proud of my work, it would make me happier if more people became acquainted with the writings of historian and activist Howard Zinn, the mystic mainspring of my film, than the film itself. That said, I leave you with a link to the wonderful opening essay from Zinn's latest book, "A Power Governments Cannot Suppress". Hope some of you check it out: http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=11585