Profiles
David Rachleff ¹91
Harriet Baskas '77
Eve Birge '93
Stanley Klein MA '60, Ph.D. '63
Movie producer demystifies Hollywood
On a month-long volunteer assignment in the foothills of the Himalayas, David Seth Rachleff '91 gained some measure of enlightenment.
"Wherever you go in this world, there is a language we all speak: the language of understanding, the language of love," Rachleff says of his experience in India, where he was an HIV/AIDS educator for high school students.
Rachleff, who earned his master's degree in social work at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., in May 2000, traveled to India over the summer with Cross Cultural Solutions. This non-profit organization sends volunteers abroad to provide human services. Rachleff, a trained therapist and counselor, worked with HIV/AIDS patients while earning his master's degree, counseling individuals and running support groups. He was also a volunteer for the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League, a drop-in center for gay and lesbian teenagers who have family difficulties. The work in India, he says, was a perfect fit with his experience and interests.
Rachleff started in New Delhi, India's capital, and then moved north to Himachal Pradesh. He lived in the remote village of Rajgarh, located in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains. He has vivid memories of the area's scenery, the sweet scent from mango and peach orchards hovering over rolling hills and farmland. But the people, he says, were even more beautiful.
"The people were very warm and very open, and so curious about my life. They taught me more than I taught them, especially about breaking down barriers between people." Rachleff says.
It's a lesson he uses in his current work as a social worker at the Golden Gate Regional Center in San Francisco, where he helps developmentally disabled people of all ages and backgrounds cope with every aspect of their lives, from school and work to living situations, finances and health care. Rachleff says his experience in India has helped him develop a deeper level of understanding and open-mindedness when interacting with others. But his journey to India and his career in social service really began at Clark, Rachleff adds.
"It all began at Clark," he says. "My years at Clark laid the foundation for who I am today and where I am going in the future. It was a wonderful experience."
When Harriet Baskas '77 signed up to help start the community radio station WCUW in her first year at Clark, she also signed up for a career in radio.
Since graduating, Baskas has built and helped strengthen several community radio stations in Oregon and Washington and produces radio programs, many heard on National Public Radio, through her business Reel Women Productions. The government and international relations major credits WCUW with providing valuable training in all aspects of radio production.
"I was able to get involved from the ground up," she says. "I learned about music and also started doing public affairs programming."
Baskas worked at the station, which was located in a converted fall-out shelter in the basement of the first-year men's residence hall, during all of her four years at Clark. After graduation, Baskas and 20 others used a federally-funded training grant to start a radio training school at WCUW.
When the grant ended, Baskas and her husband, Ross Reynolds '75 who also works in public radio, moved to Oregon, where Reynolds had taken a job at a Portland radio station. Baskas worked as a freelance reporter and was later sent to the Oregon coast to help a community group in Astoria start another station. For the last 12 years, she has worked to rebuild the community radio station KBCS at Bellevue Community College near Seattle. As the station's first professional manager, Baskas increased KBCS' wattage twice, helped its membership grow from 100 to 3,000 and increased its budget from $10,000 to more than $150,000.
This year, Baskas returned to freelance radio production full time. Many of her programs are award-winning documentaries about women's history, including a series about women in radio called "Women of the Wireless." She also produces a series called "Henrietta's Holiday," about unusual museums throughout the country. And Public Radio fans might have heard her series of reports called "A Boomer's Guide to Aging" on the financial news program, Marketplace.
Baskas also writes the "Stuck at the Airport" column for Expedia.com about how to make the most of time spent at the airport, and a book on the same subject will be published in June of next year. "Stuck at the Airport," Baskas' third book, offers information such as the best airport restaurants and where to find public art in airports.
While she did not take communications courses in college, Baskas says it was at Clark that a career in radio became a possibility. A Clark professor, she remembers, first suggested she write a grant to continue her radio work.
"That made the link for me‹that I could find funding to do more radio documentaries and pursue this work," she says, and have fun.
Eve Birge '93 moved to Hollywood to work in the movies, but now she is finding a balance between enjoying the glitz and glitter and doing work that has a social impact.
Birge worked in costume design for film and music videos for about a year, shopping for the wardrobe of a particular character or working closely with the actors on the set to ensure continuity in the final cut. She worked mostly on independent films, but did get to dress celebrities, such as Luke Perry of "Beverly Hills 90210" fame, Robert England (also known as Freddy Kreuger), Maureen McCormick (known and loved as Marsha Brady) and Richard Thomas of "The Waltons."
But eventually, the sociology major says she felt the tug of her academic roots and sought more meaningful work‹and a more steady, albeit smaller, paycheck. She left the movie sets to become a social worker at a group home for severely emotionally disturbed teenage girls.
"It was really challenging, and I learned a lot about myself. But it was a very stressful job," Birge says. Having experienced a little of the celebrity and hard realities of Los Angeles, she decided to strike a balance, applying her interest in nonprofit organizations and her creativity to a career in event planning.
In her current position as a marketing and production associate at Bartsch Trotter and Associates in Los Angeles, Birge helped plan the media reception event for the Democratic National Convention (DNC) held in Los Angeles in mid-August 2000. The project involved introducing the media to Los Angeles, she explains, and revolved around the theme "The Faces of Los Angeles." To illustrate the theme, Birge says, Los Angeles elementary and high school students were asked to take photographs of meaningful people in their lives. These pictures, used as huge banners, photo snakes and video projections, were the central design element for the event, she says.
"The focus was to show the real L.A., not the glitz," says Birge, who adds that her firm is investigating ways to continue the life of the "Faces of Los Angeles" project, such as producing a book of the photographs or holding a public exhibit.
Bartsch Trotter and Associates works mainly with corporations, but Birge hopes to apply her skills in the nonprofit sector in the future. And while her work doesn't seem connected to her studies at Clark, Birge says she continues to see the world in sociological terms.
"I see the big picture, the community. Everything, for me, is connected," she says. Clark, she adds, was also where she grew up and learned to take risks‹like moving to Hollywood.
"Clark was probably one of the best choices I ever made," Birge says.
Working during the summers of his college years at a camp for children with physical disabilities, Stanley Klein MA '60, Ph.D. '63 learned a lesson that has influenced the rest of his life.
"It taught me what it's like to care for a child with a disability," Klein says. "We learned first hand what it's about, and it is hard work."
Klein has dedicated his career to helping parents raise children with disabilities. As a clinical psychologist, he has helped parents with the care and education of their children and trained doctors in how to tell parents that their child has a disability. He also co-founded a magazine, Exceptional Parent, and is the education director for Abilities Expo and series editor for People with Disabilities Press.
Now, Klein is taking his expertise to the Internet as content editor for CanDo.com, a Web site offering resources and inspiration for people with disabilities and their families. The site includes news related to treatment and research, profiles of people with disabilities, resources, special products and professional advice. Klein answers questions from parents through the site, a service he had also provided for the Parents magazine Web site.
"CanDo.com is about bringing information to parents, and always using the expertise of parents," Klein says. The Internet, he adds, allows parents to access help and information instantly, right from their home. More importantly, the site provides parents with a community. Through bulletin boards and forums, Klein says, parents can support each other.
This is the focus of Klein's new book, "You Will Dream New Dreams," a compilation of essays written by veteran parents of children with disabilities who were asked what they would tell parents who just learned that their child has a disability.
"I have always been concerned with what happens when parents find out about a child with a disability and the impact that has," Klein says. "I also know that the best people to help parents are other parents."
The essays included in the book are by parents from throughout the country who have children with a wide range of disabilities. Fred Rogers, creator and host of "Mr. Rogers Neighborhood," is among those who have endorsed the book. He writes, "The greatest gift any one of us can give is the gift of our honest self. How generously these parents have shared their feelings‹crowned with hope‹in the pages of this exceedingly helpful book."
"You Will Dream New Dreams" will be published in April by Kensington Publishing, N.Y.
Lloyd A. Silverman, executive producer of the film "Snow Falling on Cedars," isn't what you'd expect in a Hollywood producer. Dressed in jeans, a plain white T-shirt and a fleece jacket, Silverman blended in with students and faculty during his visit to campus in October. And for someone with an impressive resume in Hollywood and as a Broadway producer, he seemed quite comfortable sitting on the floor of the Little Center video editing room, where he offered students some insights about Hollywood's film industry.
Silverman, previously president of Lloyd Silverman Productions, spent six years at Universal Pictures with a production deal before co-founding the Artists' Colony, one of Hollywood's premiere independent film production companies. While on campus, Silverman spoke to video production, advanced directing and film theory classes and attended a public screening of "Snow Falling on Cedars."
In his discussions with students, Silverman stressed the importance of storytelling in film and capturing the audience's emotions. But he also warned that Hollywood studios are not always interested in producing movies that tell good stories.
"Hollywood is not in the business of making movies, it's in the business of selling movies," he said, adding that it could take years before he sees his efforts on the big screen.
Silverman used "Snow Falling on Cedars" to illustrate his point. He started to pitch the story to movie studios before the novel had even been published, knowing that it would make a good film. But it was several years later, with the novel a world-wide bestseller, that he was finally able to convince studio executives to make the film. Silverman also used the story to emphasize the amount of personal commitment it takes to make a movie in Hollywood. It's not a business for the faint of heart, he said.
"If you choose a career in filmmaking, there's only one thing you need to know: It's not a job, it's not a business, it's a lifestyle," Silverman added. "This is a matter of determination, perseverance and commitment."
In addition to describing the seemingly endless responsibilities of movie producers and the daunting process of financing and completing a film, Silverman also offered students some hope about pursuing careers in film. You don't need to be a major movie star to get your movie made, he said, but you do need to believe in the project and yourself.
"You have to follow your heart. It sounds silly and it sounds corny, but it's the only thing you have if you are pursuing a career in the arts," Silverman said.
Marcia Butzel, director of Clark's screen studies program, said Silverman demystified Hollywood for the students and helped them merge what they are learning about the history of film with the real world of filmmaking. Tim Shary, a professor in the screen studies program, agreed, adding that Silverman also offered the valuable perspective of working with particularly artistic films.
"He has the practical knowledge and a personal stake in the production of very artistic but marketable films," Shary said.
While there is no roadmap for a successful career in film, Silverman said he hopes his talks will help students find their way in the film industry.
"That's why these visits are so important to me," he said. "Students are given the skills to make a movie, but they also need to know how to maneuver through the system
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Clarknews Winter 2001
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