The Color Initiative

When I sat down with the editors of The World, the joint BBC/WGBH national radio program, my original idea was to embark on a series of stories about race relations across the globe. But the more we thought about the issue of race and all the social constructs...

The Value of Beauty in Public Spaces

Whenever I teach an art history survey (as I have for a decade in at least five Boston area institutions), I begin by asking my students for definitions of art. Invariably, someone will note that art can be defined as anything found in a museum gallery. Fair...

Storytelling as a Path to Justice

As a documentary filmmaker, naturally I am interested in telling a good story. My film subjects are often people who somehow ‘repurpose’ culture or history to address problems they face. So my curiosity was piqued when I learned that several very different...

Thoughts on Architectural Preservation 2

It is 1975. I nose my car slowly into the mouth of a winding driveway in the mountains above Salt Lake City. My companion and I are in search of the only Frank Lloyd Wright building in the state of Utah, a hunting lodge built in the 1930’s for a U.S. Steel...

Storytelling as a Path to Justice

As a documentary filmmaker, naturally I am interested in telling a good story. My film subjects are often people who somehow ‘repurpose’ culture or history to address problems they face. So my curiosity was piqued when I learned that several very different...