Kiyan's Got Life

Connecticut- On a sidewalk of downtown New Haven, Kaitlin Kiyan is windblown. A frigid breeze dances her long, dark brown hair behind her and exposes a small, red, beaded feather dangling from her left year. “Oh yea- this.’ Kaitlin says as she fingers the earring, “It’s part of my costume. I forgot to take it off last night.”

Katie, as she introduces herself, is twenty years old. The details of her day-to-day life are typical of an American girl her age; she drinks soy lattes and texts on a Blackberry, she skypes with friends and wants to travel the world. She owns many pairs of sunglasses and lives for her family, friends and music. She’s figuring out who she is just like the rest of us. Unlike the rest of us, Katie is a professional actor and singer: currently performing in the national tour of the 2009 Broadway revival of HAIR.

A native of Hawaii, Katie moved to New York City when she was fourteen after being accepted into the vocal program at LaGuardia High School. She and her mother began putting a life together in the city while her father and siblings remained at home in Waipahu, Hawaii. Being away from them was hard, Katie said, “To us family is everything. But I couldn’t imagine what my life would be if I hadn’t gone to LaGuardia. I certainly wouldn’t be here right now.” She gently taps the table we are sitting at in Starbucks; a gesture that could represent ’here’ meaning the current tour, the show, or possibly where she’s at and who she is as a person at this given moment.

Katie began her journey with Hair at LaGuardia, playing the character Crissy in a student production of the musical. Of the experience Katie said, “It was the first play at that school I was ever cast in. It was really exciting, I loved the show and Crissy is so fun to play. She’s a kid at heart so you get to be silly, but there’s a lot of depth to her too.”

She then auditioned and was cast in The Public Theater’s 2007 concert celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the show. The concert performances only lasted a few days but were successful enough to prompt a full-scale, summer production in 2008 at Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The show transferred to Broadway, and Katie followed, performing in eight shows per week for a year.

As part of ‘The Tribe;’ the collective group of counter-culture youth living, loving, experimenting and protesting to the Vietnam War in the New York City of 1967, Katie was the youngest cast member. “I was eighteen when we went to Broadway. But I had known most of them for two years. After knowing one another for that long age doesn’t really matter.”

Katie stood out on stage; her track in the tribe had her belting lyrics about the sexual charisma of black boys, singing effortless, birdlike harmonies between hits from a shared joint, and pleading along with the rest of the tribe to Let the Sunshine in- all while conveying the joy and frustration of being young in a bright yellow top and long, shiny pigtails decorated with daisies.

Last March the show opened in London and Katie spent six months doing her thing in the UK. She sites living in London as one of the greater experiences in her life. “It was kind of like summer camp. A few of my really close friends and I lived in the same building; our flats were all on top of each other. It was just a really happy time. “ Said Katie.

For the tour; which kicked off this week in New Haven, Katie is playing the role of Crissy, the character she started out with in high school and understudied-performing occasionally over the last couple years. After seeing several actors perform the role in front of her she said, “You can’t copy something. You just have to go with what feels right for you. If someone doesn’t like a decision I make with the character then..well ..you can’t make everyone happy all the time.” But Katie insists she’s a people-pleaser at heart and generally very easy going.

Katie finds the songs Walking in Space and 3-5-0-0 the most fun to perform each night, alluding to an intensity that may lie just below her easy smile. The former song being about where marijuana can bring you ‘in this dive we rediscover sensation’ and the later being an incredibly passionate song on the horrors of war, with each character writhing across stage in agony with some wound or another. Prisoners in Niggertown it’s a dirty little war. Three five zero zero. Take weapons up and begin to kill, watch the long, long armies drifting home.

James Rado, who co-wrote HAIR in 1964 and starred in it when it was first produced in 1967, believes that Katie is a great example of what it means to be young. “She’s incredibly talented. Yes. Of course there’s a future for her in musical theater, but she’s also doing her own thing. She’s not conforming, she’s inspiring others.” Said Rado. “She especially is helping bring the meaning of Hair to her own generation. Something that’s really exciting for me.”

Katie seems like a genuinely kind person. She believes in love and ukuleles and friends and learning. She’s kind to fans. While walking towards the theater she says hello to a man whose face began to glow in her presence. He tells her to have some of the chocolate he left backstage for the cast, she thanks him, chats a bit, then out of his ear shot tells me he’s there a lot. “Some people are really into it. Like this. And us. But it’s mostly harmless. And if I can brighten their day then of course I’m going to.”

Katie is serious yet silly. She is an incredible example of how our generation, stuck somewhere between adolescence and adulthood, is redefining the meaning of youth and that there is no such thing as normal. We say goodbye as slips into the theater’s back door. An hour later, in my nose bleeds seats, I see Katie run onto stage and wave at the packed theater, like she’s meeting every single person individually. She’s Crissy now but I can still see Katie in her laugh, her spunk and vague nativity. She can do this for the rest of her life, but I think if she were to change her mind tomorrow and do something completely different, she’d be just as successful at that. In twenty years Katie has experienced more than most of us can hope to, and to quote the show- she’s ‘got life.’ And she can do anything she sets her sights to with it.

(photos courtesy of Kiyan's facebook profile.)

Tastes Like Home

Since a foreign country feels less foreign, if you can order an item on the menu; then perhaps, a foreign culture feels less foreign, if you can recognize the taste of its food. And perhaps, like a family who dines together stays together, two cultures who appreciate the each others flavors, assimilate well. So if these things are true, then prejudice and hostility can be ended through the sharing of flavors around a dinner table –or on a street corner in your neighborhood.

“Taste my food, taste my country.” One of Freddy’s simple yet significant mantras that has enabled him to bring his home of Palestine to Queens, and have people respond well. He is a large guy, with broad shoulders and a chef’s belly, but he is so light on his feet behind the hot steel grill, at first glance, you’d think he was dancing not frying. Especially since is frequently humming an Arabic song, and occasionally turns around to face his customers, twisting his hips with the music of his country, which is faintly heard flowing out from the speakers at the top of the cart. There is a good feeling shining out in a five-foot radius of this Halal stand, so charming people sometimes stop by not to eat, but just to be near. This atmosphere is crucial for Freddy; it is his greatest accomplishment, and represents him perfectly. He knows that good food alone will not carry a business: it is the happiness to be had around this streetcar that has kept satisfied customers returning for the past decade. So Freddy is always smiling, so bright that his cheeks are permanently dimpled, and with a laugh so genuine, once heard, you cannot help but laugh along.

The King of Falafel and Schawarma, Freddy’s self proclaimed title, won this year’s Vendy Awards, a prize everyone passing by tells him he should have won years ago. Freddy appreciates the flattery and congratulations, but knows that an award is not what keeps him going, and is even hesitant about too much positive press, worried it may crowd his cart. He explains that the cheerful calm of his street corner is what it is all about, as he motions his hand around, illustrating out the scene. “It’s beautiful,” he comments under his breath. There are about seven people standing around, enjoying their lunch and chatting, a few are sitting in the fold up chairs he has placed by the fence, allowing his costumers to sit and relish the original flavors, hand crafted and shipped straight from Freddy’s home. No one is on his or her cell phone and most people don’t take their food order to go; his main goal is obviously accomplished, not one person on the corner of Broadway and 30th looks anything but pleased.

“Do you mind if I smoke?” He politely asks as he grabs a pack of cigarettes and walks away from the cart; he considers the customers in line who may not appreciate smoke in their eyes, and does not necessarily want everyone to see him smoking. Not that he minds, there is just no purpose in shoving it everyone’s face. This is Freddy: balancing the party boy inside him with his strong work ethic and knack for running a good business. He had this idea since his wild cabbie days in the eights, but didn’t put it into action until 2001. One of his largest regrets is sitting on his ideas, since he wishes he had started this sooner, but as he doesn’t care much for a secure future, he puts his plans into action with leisure.

Freddy is an honest man, with others, but more importantly, himself. He is not the type to fool himself with a lack of regrets, he is honest about his bad habits, which according to the rules of his Muslim religion, he has a few more than most. Although, Freddy is the type of man who understands balance and discretion, aware there is often a discrepancy between what he ought to do and what he wants to do. So he puts in his efforts on each end, and does many things he should- but not at the complete stake of enjoying his time. Because, as he will tell you, “you might as well, since you don’t take anything with you when you die.”

He has maintained this idea of balance through his life. Much of his life has been shaped by religion, however he refrains to follow its guidelines at the sacrifice of his daily happiness. His family back home are devote Muslims, however he, for better or worse, picks and chooses which aspects fit for him. Twenty-four years ago he married his first cousin to appease his parents and abide by their tradition; a choice he would not have made fro himself, but one he deals with well. It is the balance concept, he sees no benefit to dwelling on what he cannot fix, so he adopts the ‘life goes on’ mentality. And he flirts and he dances, but never contemplates more, not viewing this as a loveless marriage, just a union of a less ideal sort.


After questioning each Arab man that walked away from food cart why they return here so regularly -a notion implied since each one arrived and had a familiar man handshake moment with Freddy- all twelve of them responded that this street corner provided them with the sentiments of home. Asad Chema does not even live in this borough, but travels here at least twice a week, to taste the comfort of home. “I am from Israel, and most Falafel in New York City does not taste like the real thing, but Freddy’s does.” Perhaps it is Freddy’s beautiful balance in life that manifests itself in the taste of his food; the chicken is sweet, the rice has a tart, and the red sauce a definite kick. Food brought Freddy happiness when he was longing for home; it cured his homesickness and eased his feelings of segregation. He views flavor as a way to connect with the other side of the world. Freddy wanted to bring that to this neighborhood, and expose the once foreign place to some new foreign food, as a way to build bridges between two distinct cultures and mend gaps between the lands.

Creepy Cartoonist: Noella Borie

October 18th, Monday night, approximately 8:00 PM. At the School of Visual Arts, the ASIFA-East Annual Open Screening is in full swing. Students and professionals of all levels within the animation field gather to preview works-in-progresses, sample new test reels, scope out new talent, show off the latest creations, and basically see what their fellow animator peers are up to. Twenty-three-year-old Noella Borie and recent Parsons the New School of Design graduate is up next on the queue. Before her six minute animated short plays to a fairly crowded theatre, she briefly introduces herself to the audience.

She is a bit soft spoken, but there is still a resolute sense of pride in her voice—accented with a French lilt—as she presents her senior thesis to a host of professionals and peers. The theater darkens. Before the crowd, the big screen comes alive with the image of a stop motion curtain sliding open, presenting, in sharp and shaking letters, the opening titles: “Faceless Neil in THE FACE SHOP.” The six minute short follows a shy and, apparently, faceless boy and his endearing monster buddy, Manny, on their quest to find the boy’s face. It is darkly humorous and visually engaging, using an interesting and eclectic mix of stop motion and flash animation with vibrant watercolor textures—a striking contrast to the trendy CG modeled animation features fed to mainstream audiences of today. While part of The Face Shop is, indeed, digitally made, Borie’s film, with her bold watercolor backdrops and lovingly crafted stop motion puppets, still feels handmade, personal, and maintains the feeling of the human touch.

The crowd laughs at all the right moments. Borie is met with appreciative and enthusiastic applause by the short film’s conclusion. Still, she is not yet done treating the audience with her cheerfully dark brand of humor; Borie gets one more laugh out of the viewers as she credits herself at the close as “Jobless Noella.”

October 19th, Tuesday afternoon, approximately 4:30 PM. In the Parsons

building at 2 West 13th Street, Noella Borie sits in the lobby prepared, taking out a stylishly printed book brimming with whimsical character designs, concept art, and storyboards brilliantly rendered in rich watercolor—all for the world of Faceless Neil. Borie herself looks quite stylish as well. No doubt she would be easy to spot in a crowd, standing out, tall and slender, with her mane of vividly red hair. Today she is sporting a trim black coat with tights and a pair of butterfly-esque glasses frames that suggest a quirky but cool personality underneath. Noella is calm and composed, answering any question that is thrown at her in her soft and pleasant voice, accented in French. She has always been interested in cartoons. From Disney movies in her childhood (her favorites being Dumbo and The Lion King) to Japanese anime in her teenaged years (a fan of works like Escaflowne and Neon Genesis Evangelion), Noella has been a fan of animation for as long as she can remember.

“I love watching cartoons. Ever since I moved out of the dorms and got my own place with cable, all I do is switch between Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon,” she says, smiling and miming pressing the buttons of a remote control, “I know that it’s a bit strange for someone my age, but I also watch them with a professional eye and mindset, seeing what kind of things people are doing.”

As a child, she would always wonder how movies were actually animated. She would think to herself, “How did they do that?!” but it wasn’t until she came to Parsons that “all the secrets were revealed.” It was at Parsons that Noella would grow as an animator. The idea for Faceless Neil originated from an early assignment for her Illustration Concepts class. Provided with a four sentence prompt, Noella came up with what ultimately became the first piece of concept art for Faceless Neil—a meek little boy sitting on bed, surrounded by skeletal creatures.

When she finished the piece she thought to herself, “Hey this would make a cool animation!” and so she set off to work, developing an entire world and story set in the city of Morteville where it’s Halloween practically everyday, where skeleton bands can bust out jazzy, toe-tapping tunes for a crowd of cheerfully ghoulish creatures, and where no one bats an eye at anyone who has eight eyes. Eventually, with the inspiration of her original concept art and the songs of songwriter Andrew Bird, everything she created came together into a forty-eight page script in which the saga of eleven-year-old Neil and his quest to his face is fully planned out. Noella values story above everything else, so it was important for her to plan out Neil’s entire tale. “If you have a great story, you can get away with anything,” she reasons.

Right now, Noella has two scenes animated from her script, including her senior thesis The Face Shop. According to Nate Ziller, a friend, fellow animator, and the voice of Manny in her animation, Noella is very passionate about her work.

“Listening to her talk about it just made me want to see the finished version more since she was so enthusiastic about it,” he remembers fondly. “She was very determined to get the movie done.”

The conversation with Noella takes a slightly gloomier turn as the subject moves to the state of animation right now and the difficulty for a young animator to break into the industry. Ideally, Noella would love to pitch Neil to Cartoon Network, but it is not exactly easy to get in. She interned for a brief stint at World Leader Entertainment, the studio responsible for Adult Swim’s Venture Brothers, but she left, disappointed at the lack of work she was given. “I was really excited for it too. I thought, ‘this is going to be so cool!’ but I would just be sitting there doing nothing. I had to get out.” With the upwards trend of American studios outsourcing the actual job of animating to Korea, young animators are now competing with the cheaper service of overseas companies.

“You can’t really sell yourself as an animator—you have to sell yourself as a storyboard artist or character designer,” says Noella.

Currently the animation industry is quickly shifting from 2d hand drawn animation to a primarily 3d modeled vibe, but Noella still stands by the handmade quality of traditional animation, calling the look of CG films “plastic-y.” While she has tried CG modeling herself before she realized it just wasn’t for her and much preferred the feel of a pencil in her hand and favors staying as far away as possible from digital work when it comes to illustration.

Still, while she calls herself “jobless,” Noella is not standing idly by doing nothing as she waits for opportunity. She is always creating art in her spare time, working not only on a Faceless Neil children’s book but also developing designs for a sci-fi comic and assisting independent animator Signe Baumane on her film Rocks in my Pockets, a funny film about depression. She is also planning on taking a trip to California this winter to scope out the booming animation scene in Hollywood.

Right now, however, Noella is most excited to be selected as a participant in the 7th Annual Big Apple Film Festival this November, where The Face Shop will meet its largest audience yet. Festivals and screenings may very well be the livelihood for a new animator, offering exposure and allowing for networking with fellow peers talented enough to make the cut for the final screening. Noella has been submitting to several festivals, hoping to reach out to larger audiences where with a bit of luck, someone will take the “Jobless Noella” credit at the end as a hint to hire her. From this kind of exposure, Noella hopes to gain connections and come closer to achieving her dream of seeing Neil as a cartoon series. Noella remains optimistic, eyes lighting up as she proudly mentions that she’s made it through the last few rounds of cuts for a couple of festivals already. Despite everything, Noella’s passion and love for the art keeps her animating and creating, unhindered by any difficulties that come her way.

"I think you can always improve. You just have to keep drawing."

October 18th, Monday night, approximately 8:06 PM. Noella Borie’s The Face Shop concludes its screening at the ASIFA-East Open Screening at SVA. When the applause dies down, ASIFA-East president David Levy jokingly asks Noella, “When you get a job, will you change your credit at the end?”

With a coy smile, Noella responds, “No, I’ll just…probably still pretend to be jobless.”

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All artwork credited to Noella Borie. For more on Noella Borie and her creepy cartoon creation Faceless Neil, find her at www.nobiechan.com or facelessneil.wordpress.com.

Ghana's Deputy Commissioner: Anna Bossman

After waiting in front of the computer for a few minutes, quickly jotting down a few more questions to ask, I click the video-call button on Skype and wait for Anna Bossman to pick up the call. I’m greeted with a warm hello as her bright smile shines through the computer screen. It’s been about two months since I’ve last seen and spoken to her, the last time being a delicious dinner with her and her daughter, my good friend Maria Bossman-Damiba in a dim lit restaurant in the Financial District aw we enjoy the last few weeks of summer vacation. This week she has return to New York City to take part in Fordham University’s International Law Week.

As Ghana’s Deputy Commissioner of Legal and Investigative for the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHMAJ), Ms. Bossman was chosen to take part in a lecture and panel for one of the biggest university law events in the nation. Her first time taking part in such a huge event at Fordham, Ms. Bossman spent over thirty years to get to where she’s at and as she speaks about her career, the passion she has for law and human rights can be easily identified.

As a prominent human rights advocate, Ms. Bossman, 53, has only been deputy commissioner for eight years, the other twenty-two years were spent in different positions. Her resume is quite extensive. Upon graduating, she quickly began her career in the Ministry of Justice as a prosecutor for the state attorney and afterwards joined a corporate law firm as a lawyer. By the mid-1980’s Ms. Bossman moved to Gabon working in a small oil company called British Gas where she was meeting with international oil buyers. In 1997, she returned to Ghana and opened her own consulting law firm, Bossman Consultancy Limited, BCL, taking on different types of clients from business companies to entrepreneurs to solitary clients by representing and managing their legal work. It was not until 2002 when Ms. Bossman was appointed by then-President John Agyekum Kuffuor as deputy commissioner, (she had taken over as Chair Commissioner from 2004-2009 as the current chair commissioner was away in Arusha on a committee dealing with national reconciliation and reparation for Rwanda).

From the looks of it, it seems like Ms. Bossman has always had her mind set to law, but truthfully she never saw herself in law. Originally, Ms. Bossman wanted to focus on linguistics, wanting to learn Russian, German, and Spanish to add on to the languages she already has mastered (English, French, and the Ghanian dialect Ga), and possibly becoming a linguist or translator. Ms. Bossman reveals that the reason she got in law was because of human rights, “Due to [Ghana]’s poverty, women’s rights and children’s rights are not being seen as issues and I wanted to create awareness within the public.”

It did not take long for her work to get recognition. For the past four years, the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice has played host to Fordham University law students in a month-long summer internship program in Accra, Ghana. While the students take part in various works, Ms. Bossman gives about three to four lectures to the students about the work she does. As a result, the university has invited to her International Law Week. An intensive two-day event, Ms. Bossman gave a lecture entitled “Protecting Human Rights through National Commission: The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice of Ghana.” Not her first time giving a university lecture, previously doing so at the Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, John Hopkins University, and at her Alma Mater the University of Ghana, Ms. Bossman reveals that she enjoys traveling and giving lectures about human rights and administrative justice.

Her daughter Maria Bossman-Damiba knows how dedicated she is to her work. “She is making a difference and sometimes I feel like she doesn’t think she is but it’s the little things that count,” Bossman-Damiba states.

Those little things have recently gotten Ms. Bossman invited by the Governor of Ghana to take part in a panel involving her previous work, concerning the development of oil and gas in the country.

So does she see herself in law for the rest of her life? "I still see myself in human rights, possibly opening my consulting firm again in the future," Ms. Bossman said.

For now, Ms. Bossman will continue her advocacy for Ghana's human rights and administrative justice. "The work she does, especially in a country like Ghana where it's still very traditional yet in the process of westernization, there's a bit of a generation divide and she's trying to break that barriern" Bossman-Damiba said.

With so much work to do but not enough hands to do it all, "you must have a passion for €€€€€it," Ms. Bossman adds. And that passion Ms. Bossman talks about, she definitely has.

Watching movies all day is not as easy as it looks

Claudia Puig may have one of the most coveted and envied jobs out there. As a movie critic for USA Today, her job is anything but average.

Puig was born in Los Angeles, CA and grew up in the San Fernando Valley in Van Nuys. She attended high school at the all girls’ prep school, Corvallis. From there she went to college at UCLA, where she started as an English major and promptly switched to communications. From there she headed to graduate school at USC, where she also studied communications.

Claudia started as a journalist in 1986 at the Los Angeles Times, where she worked for 11 years. In 1997, she made the move to USA Today where she was writing about movies, but did not start writing reviews until 2001. “I’m 90 percent a critic and the other 10 percent is features,” Claudia said.

Claudia’s daughter Danielle has grown up tagging along (being dragged) to countless screenings and movie premiers, and cant help but admit that at this point it all can seem a little blasé- there is a story in which Danielle had to be bribed with a new pair of shoes to go see “Meet Dave” a rather unfortunate Eddie Murphy movie with Claudia. To say the least, she understands first hand the painful drawbacks of having such a “dream” job.

“Sometimes she has to see three movies back to back in a day. Her jobs more demanding than you’d think,” Danielle says. “She doesn’t sit in an office; she is always doing something. She’s driving to her work, or watching a movie, or running home to write the story, or blackberrying the story in. She works for like 12 or 14 hrs a day.”

When talking to Claudia, it is clear that she is a mom. Even though she is telling me about her career, which practically turns her into a nocturnal mammal, she stops to mention her kids and talk about how proud she is of them. Now that Danielle is older, she is less mortified of her mother trying to introduce her to famous people. “I used to say ‘MOM, that’s sooo embarrassing!,’ but now I realize how to utilize her connections. Sure, I’ll be a little fame whore, I don’t care,” Danielle says. The respect that her daughters have for her in return is immense.

“I mean I think everyone kind of wants to have her career but I don’t know, she definitely does it better than most people could. Anyone who sees that many movies would get sick and tired,” says Danielle in admiration of her mother. “She still gets excited for movies and I don’t think a lot of her colleagues do. They’re really jaded and I think she’s still excited about film.”

Claudia is admired and respected by many, in addition to her daughters. Besides her everyday reviewing job, she also does a weekly radio show on NPR and a TV show, in which she gives reviews as well as the occasional q and a- she just had the privilege of interviewing Tim Burton. Puig is also a juror at film festivals all around the world. She does quite a bit of interviews with actors and directors, 24 people in 3 days at the recent Toronto Film Festival, especially before the Oscars; which she attends every year.

Claudia has also been following the Harry Potter movies since they began, and goes to London to interview and attend the premier of each film. She happens to be the only critic they invite now. “She’s so A-list,” Danielle remarks.

Claudia has had infinite experiences regarding the film world. She is an acclaimed writer, whose opinions are highly sought and read by millions, as well as an exceedingly bright and astute speaker. She has received much praise from actors, directors, and filmmakers alike.

“Matt Damon remembers me from right after he was first nominated. He’s a smart guy, remembers where he was when he spoke to me, how many stars I gave him for the second Bourne movie. He said to a colleague of mine once to say hi to Claudia,” Puig says.

“Matt Damon is obsessed with her. He always remembers the exact star count,” Danielle adds.

Aside from all of the positivity she receives, Claudia says that there is never a shortage of “Readers who get angry and disagree in very sharp, snarky tones,” Puig says. Only one time has she actually gotten a negative response from someone involved in the business or a particular movie. Somehow a letter made it to her home address from Steve Guttenberg, “Who is a z-list actor,” Claudia says; that ranted about how she dare go after his friend Mike Binder and how great he was, after she criticized his latest film.

It would be surprising if after nearly 15 years as a reviewer, Claudia did not have any hysterical moments to share. She is painfully funny, and tells embarrassing stories about the top Hollywood stars, as if they were here eccentric next-door-neighbor.

Whenever a celebrity leaves us a message she always keeps it on the answering machine. We had Pierce Brosnan, Shia LaBeouf, Danielle Radcliffe, etc. on there until we had to get a new phone cus she thought it was so cool,” Danielle reveals.

I was on an elevator heading for a screening [my daughter] Alison was with me. There was another person in the elevator, but I didn’t know who it was. I looked at my reflection in the doors and said ‘wow look at my hair”. This woman turns and says, “You left the house like that? It turned out it was Cloris Leachman,” Claudia says.

Jason McGill Profile

Patrick Nicholas
October 24th,2010

Jason McGill. Does the name ring any bells? Probably not. Should it? Well, that is up for debate. Jason is vice president at Philanthropy New York a non-profit management group that helps operate and manage over 280 non-profit foundations in New York City. Some of the member foundations his company works with include The Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Ford Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Carnegie Mellon and the Alfred P Sloan Foundation. At first it was hard for me to grasp what exactly Jason did or even who exactly he was. As I walked into his office he jokingly said “ are you sure you can get enough out of me to write a story”. His modest attitude did a great job of disguising his work. Jason heads Philanthropy New York member services, delegating who and what these foundations spend their money on. In total he pumps 4.5 billion dollars into the New York Public specter, this allows groups such as the cities education system and the United Nations to function the way they do.

It would not be a stretch for me to say Jason is one of the most charismatic people I have ever met. Before we engaged in conversation ranging from nuclear non-proliferation to Juvenile justice system reforms, he had me tell him my life story. Never once glancing at his blackberry or having his secretary update him on member group spending. To Jason the knowledge he was transferring on to me was as important as his work its self.

Hiding behind his humble self Jason then told me his life story. The nearly 7 years he has had at Philanthropy New York has allowed him to work with the city state and federal government on a variety of levels as well as the UN and EPA. He has guided member foundations to donate billions of dollars to benefit the people of New York. Perhaps it is the lack of knowledge the public specter has about non-for profit groups that fuels Jason’s modesty about his profession because it is obvious to me at least that what he does helps the city of New York.

As the pieces began to come together I slowly began to realize how important the work Jason does actually is. The word non-profit can disguise its importance at times, yet in reality the foundations Jason works with contributes 15% of the cities spending money, whether its on the justice system, law enforcement or the education systems, a majority of there functions would be crippled if they suddenly did not receive the 4.5 billion dollars the member foundations at Philanthropy New York gave them.

After the big picture was exposed, I was curious to see how his work affected individuals that live in New York City. Jason said, after a chuckle or two. “ It affects them in every way possible, the money that our member foundations spend is all about the individual. Whether its funding projects to increase art education in the public school system or simply funding the work of the United Nations, it all in some way comes back to the men and women of New York”.

The mood of the interview then made a stark change, Jason turned off his charismatic and bubbly personality to focus on a serious issue at hand. The recession has had a major effect on the non profit field, “it essentially striped foundations of the money they had” said Jason, “ I had a handful of foundations close because they literally could not stay open, the major contributors survived by making lay offs and pay cuts but the scary thing is, is that the worst is yet to come”. I was stumped. All signs point to the economy going in the right direction, so how could the worst be yet to come?

“ The investments and stocks of each company has not had time to show what exactly the effects of the recession are” said Jason “ in time its full effects will be seen, and I think a lot of companies whether its non for profit or not will have a serious problem on their hands"

I stopped taking notes after Jason started to talk about how severe the recession affected him as well as the company. The look in his eyes was not one of sadness but rather relief. Jason was just happy to still maintain his position at Philanthropy New York. His job allowed him to be the change he wanted to see in this world.

“ What could be better then bridging the gap between the individual and government? I help maintain that each project I work on betters someone in every facet of society”

Profile

Alex Goodman

Oct 25, 2010

Life is supposed to hand you surprises when you least expect them. A Law Firm nestled in heart of New York’s financial district, which I had reluctantly resigned my summer to, was the last place I anticipated excitement. The first time I met Dara Douglas*, it was my first week on the job as a file clerk. She came up to me and introduced herself, and then peered down at my shoes. “Oh my god aren’t you hot in those? Those are winter shoes!” she exclaimed. Admittedly, I was hot. I was unaware of the summer dress code and was glad I had been provided with some lenience. Dara had no qualms about sharing her views, and was eager in helping me shape my own. As the days went on, Dara would place the arts section of The New York Times on my desk everyday before I got there, and then was sure to remind me that she did so. On my last day on Wall St, Dara bought me a veggie wrap, and sent me off, saying: “We’ll have to light one up soon.”

The crisp October air had fortunately arrived, and so did Dara as she shuffled through the side door of the East Village Ukrainian Diner Veselka equipped with, of course the appropriate fall attire. She sat down immediately, and thumbed through only one page of the extensive menu, while simultaneously taking a look at my attire. This time, we were both practical. Dara did not skip a beat, as she ordered a cup of coffee and a veggie burger, and assured the waitress that the restaurant had fantastic food.

The redheaded 53-year-old legal secretary from Long Island had no problem reciting her views, it was almost as if she could recite them in her sleep. We touched upon gay rights, outsourcing money, and the idea of true democracy. Dara’s political reservations were few and far between, especially when it came to the Republican Party. “There is no humanity out there, because you have morons like Christine O’Donnell from the Tea Bagger party.”

Her casually aggressive political opinions were interrupted by shockingly maternal ones, as she placed French fries on my plate, and repeated, “I’m so glad to see you eating” throughout the course of the meal.

Dara, who even in the middle of her life remains a size Four, does not have a very decadent appetite herself. This choice has very much to do with the removal of meat from her diet. “Being a zoologist, eating meat is just hypocritical. Plus, there are so many steroids in meat. Seeing a ten year old, look like an eighteen year old is disturbing. Roman Polanski might have not had so much trouble if the girl actually looked thirteen.”

Agaisnt the backdrop of a downtown Law Firm, Dara was my breath of fresh air. She glided from cubicle to cubicle shedding her insights with expressive vulgarity. When the office had a bed bugs scare, she was the first to identify them, and the first to tell you how much Clorox bleach to use around the perimeter of your apartment, and never failed to comment on which snack I decided to get at the vending machine. She was partial to pretzels. Though her zoology background was underworked at the Law Firm, she assured me that she lived out her passions through her love of extreme sports, and her rescue Beagle Lab Mix, Charlie.

One of Dara’s major concerns was with the rapidly changing environment. “The environment is my id, you know, my identity. I can’t ski if there is no snow.” Upon articulating Gas and Oil distributor BP’s, desire to drill in the arctic Dara places a pile of unwanted tomatoes on my plate. “I hate having things on my plate that I don’t like” engulfing her veggie burger, she states: “BP had 750 claims against them for bad pipes. BP is not so green.”

Dara responds to all of my political and environmental questions quickly, and with great ferocity. Tapping the pages of my journal, she suggests that I get a tape recorder: “If you think I’m chatty now just wait until I’m stoned.”

Upon first glance, one might not anticipate Dara’s disdain for meat, or advocacy of Marijuana. But she assures me that, “My most important subject is marijuana—I want that shit legalized.” However, Dara’s expressive nature is not exclusively for shock value. Dara cultivated her own political views by the time she was 18, inhaled her first breath of marijuana at age 12, and was immensely involved in the no-nuke movement prior to her enrollment at Cornell. To some Dara may reflect a living breathing contradiction, a legal secretary by day, and a hippy by night. But to others, she is a wiry framed rebel breaking the standards of the corporate sphere. “Ask me anything,” she says while aggressively signaling for the check “I promise I’ll be honest.”

*Dara is not her real name