My first project after graduating from film school was directing a documentary series that focused on individuals who had attended the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. shared his famous, “I Have A Dream,” speech). The country was preparing for the 50th anniversary of this historic day and our documentary series looked to explore what the event meant to these individuals, people from very different walks of life, and how it has impacted them since.
One of our first subjects was a couple based in Northern California named Matt and Jeannine Herron. Matt, a former Time Magazine photographer, traveled the country at the height of the Civil Rights Movement capturing iconic moments that introduced the world to the tired yet driven souls seeking equality in a bitterly broken country.
His wife Jeannine became involved in community organizing after the murder of Medgar Evers. A friend called from Mississippi telling them what was happening in the South and how they needed to be part of the movement. Without hesitation, the family packed up and moved to Mississippi.
I met them in their rustic Northern California home. Jeannine gave me a tour of her straw bale tomato garden while Matt offered a tour of his incredible photo archive, pulling open drawers filled with original prints of his iconic shots.
As night fell, we settled into their living room for a glass of wine where I spent hours listening as they reflected on their involvement in this seminal period of American history.
These moments were far more impactful than anything I learned in film school.
As a young white man from a small town in Minnesota, I saw myself in Matt. An eager artist with a desire to do work that mattered. And I was inspired by Jeannine’s heart and gentle spirit. I began to understand the responsibility I had in being a part of a conversation that did not impact me directly. I discovered that a curious mind often leads to empathy. I found myself energized about what my work as a filmmaker could be. Could do.
This series of films would continue to introduce me to equally compelling characters: an esteemed professor at Stanford who literally wrote the book on Martin Luther King Jr., a former sharecropper from Mississippi who relayed the parallels of sharecropping to slavery, and a woman from Ohio who was deeply involved in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and went on to start a nonprofit aimed at reducing violence in Southside Chicago.
These people invited me into their homes and treated me as family. Their kindness and patience left a lasting impression. These moments laid the foundation for my unique approach to storytelling.
In his retirement, Matt became interested in flying gliders – an engineless aircraft that relies solely on the wind. Matt compared the experience of being in a glider to that of a buzzard, catching thermals to effortlessly push through the air. Freedom.
The desire for freedom is innate. We carry in us an inherent desire for uninhibited exploration of what it means to be human. There is power there. Incredible things happen when we embrace the unknown and put ourselves in uncomfortable situations. Here we find healing. Progress. Connection.
I'm launching this blog to create a place to do just that. A place to inspire dialogue. A place to explore our curiosity in the widest possible lens. A place to discover how embracing curiosity in our everyday can transform our lives.
My hope is that these conversations push us into unfamiliar waters that help us better understand ourselves, those around us, and the value that lives in the stories we tell.
