Look and Listen

Biography

Inspiration

The Conception and the Oprah Connection Once I was set free from my job, I decided that I deserved to take some time off to regroup before looking for work. I wanted to experience what life would be like free from the control of a watch or an alarm clock. I also deserved to take advantage of my severance package, thank you very much. It didn’t take long to realize that relaxing at home during the day was far more fun than working. It was no contest: fighting the freeways of Southern California versus reading a good book in the comfort of my own home. Heck, even watching daytime TV was more fun than working. In fact, every day at 3:00 PM I stopped everything to watch one particular program: Oprah! One episode in particular really caught my attention. The day was November 5, 2002, a day I will never forget. The episode was called “What Does the World Think of Us?” In it, Oprah joined forces with CNN reporters around the world to ask people on the street one question: what do you think of Americans? The answers that people gave were very interesting, and I’m sure that episode provided a wake-up call to American viewers as to how we’re perceived outside of our borders. The more I thought about the Oprah/CNN episode, the more excited I became about doing something similar. The only thing I had to do was come up with my own question. I didn’t think that I’d have a problem with this because I’m always asking people thought-provoking questions. One thing you must understand about me is that I’m not one to favor small talk. I can only chitchat with someone for about five minutes, and then I have to take the conversation to deeper levels. So, as I saw it, my biggest dilemma was narrowing the field down to one question. But what question would I take to the streets? After wrestling with a number of possible scenarios for a few minutes, I quickly gave up, put the entire project out of my mind, and went about my day. As always, the answer came at the perfect time (in God’s time) and was delivered to me on a perfect night . . . my birthday.