Serendipity
In the early eighties, I taught what was called at the time “at-risk kids.’ At the risk of what you might ask? Just about any social malady you could think of, from hunger, family underemployment (meaning essentials at home were in short supply), teen pregnancy, gang affiliation, gun violence, dropping out of school, or basically anything that poverty might bring to your doorstep.
One day a pied piper of a man named Ed McCabe came into my classroom. He offered a rowing experience for my students. It was in the Boston Navy Yard National park. A stone throw from Old Ironsides. Our dock was in the shadow of a WWII Destroyer the Cassin Young. I thought it would be a great one-day trip for my students. Little did I know it would become a life changing experience for me.
We went for an afternoon and the kids had a great time. While most lived a mile from the ocean, it was the first time they actually had a front seat to its riches. We rowed past astonishing condos being built along its shore and the majesty of the Boston skyline seen from the water. An insight into a different world they previously didn’t know existed.
As we left McCabe said, “see you next week” to which the kids cheered. Silently inside I wondered what had I gotten myself into. Seeing its profound positive impact on my students, I just couldn't say no to this unforeseen commitment. So I went with the flow and became a rowing coach without a portfolio.
As the weeks went on the sonnets of the sea sang to me and saltwater permeated my blood. It was no longer a great activity for my students, but one I cherished. One day McCabe handed me, what was at the time, a new-fangled video cassette camera. One that you could hold in one hand without the need for a pit crew of support people to operate. He asked me to take some video of our activities so he could use the tape as part of a grant application. I did a hasty in-camera edit. When I hit record that day my life changed.
McCabe got that grant and hired me that summer to make a documentary on a boatbuilding program for Boston youth, who were down on their luck. Over the summer they built a boat. The day it was launched the vibe in the air was like the birth of their own child. I worked with a team of kids documenting the construction.
The video documentary was made with early digital editing software but without proper video decks. We “crashed edited” meaning pressing play on the source deck and record to an edit master deck. Primitive by today’s non-linear editing programs that you now can even do on your cell phone. See our results here:
<iframe width=”1673" height=”1020" src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/JJQ1dGneKUo" frameborder=”0" allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture” allowfullscreen></iframe>(Fast forward past the 1st 30 sec of preroll)
I sought to transform the lives of the young adults I worked with that summer. In addition, it was my own life that was transformed. I had the incredible opportunity to learn by doing. I simply fell into becoming an early adopter into the disruptive field of non-linear editing. Since then, I earned my Masters Degree in Communications. Today I am an independent filmmaker and full-time Video Production Teacher. My students have gone on to work in the industry in places like Disney, CBS, and ESPN. Some are reporters in major markets and one Documentarian even earned an Emmy. Films I crafted, or helped produced, appeared in LA, WoodsHole, and Wicklow, Ireland Film Festivals. It all started by embracing serendipity and going with the flow.