Barack Obama: Let’s do this!

Barack Obama

Since September, I’ve been getting text messages from former president Barack Obama. 

“Hey! It’s Barack. Click on the link to sign up so I can respond directly to you,” the first text read. “I won’t be able to get to everything, but I’ll be in touch to share what’s on my mind and I want to hear from you, too. Let’s do this.”

After texting in the run-up to the November elections to make sure I had a plan for voting, last week, Mr. Obama checked back. “Hi there. As 2020 comes to a close, I wanted to share my annual lists of favorites I’ll start by sharing my favorite books this year. I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I did. What are you reading?”

Then, the other day, “Hi there. As 2020 comes to a close, I wanted to share my annual list of favorites. I hope you enjoy.” And he proceeded to list his favorite music and films.

I seem to recall that the former president started to compile his cultural lists while still in office. Imagine if we had a president now who made time for reading and kept up with music and film. Instead, for Donald Trump, it’s all about keeping up with appearances and about TV ratings and wild conspiracy theories.

Somehow, I would like to think that President-elect Joe Biden, while maybe not quite as hip as his former boss, will restore a sense of curiosity and interest to books – and, perhaps, music and film, too – during his days ahead in the White House.

In the meantime, as we count down the days until President-elect Biden’s inauguration on January 20, here’s the impressive list of Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2020: 

• Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar

• Jack by Marilynne Robinson

• Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

• The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

• Luster by Raven Leilani

• How Much of These Hills is Gold by C. Pam Zhang

• Long Bright River by Liz Moore

• Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey

• Twilight of Democracy by Anne Applebaum

• Deacon King Kong by James McBride

• The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio 

• The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett

• The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

• Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker

• The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

• Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn

• Missionaries by Phil Klay

 

Storytelling: Figuring out adulthood in “The Female Gaze”

“The Female Gaze,” a web series created by Shefali Vasudevan, is a twist on the classic romantic comedy genre that has always favored a man’s point of view. Produced and written by Vasudevan, an Emerson College graduate, “The Female Gaze” is directed by women and features a female-majority cast. It is her hope and wish that this series resonates with young women who are trying to figure out adulthood. 

Shefali Vasudevan

During a recent interview with Vasudevan and series co-star Camra Godwin, I was interested to learn about what inspired the creation of “The Female Gaze” and how it grew into a web series. The first season, which aired earlier this year via YouTube in seven weekly installments, is available for streaming. A successful Indiegogo campaign recently wrapped up to help provide backing for a second season that’s already in the works.

“A lot of the film and television I saw growing up was very male-centric,” says Vasudevan. “When I went to film school and realized how heavily male the industry was, I knew I really wanted to create something of my own to combat it. 

“The term ‘The Female Gaze’ is a twist on the term ‘Male Gaze,’ where everything in art, entertainment and news has been told strictly from the male perspective up until recent years. We wanted to flip that and make the narrative about women and how they view the world.”

Vasudevan approached Godwin, her Emerson classmate with whom she shared an improv class, with her idea of telling their stories in a unique way and she was instantly on board. “I had worked with Shefali before, and have always respected and trusted her vision,” says Godwin. “I was also excited about being involved with a web series that honestly portrayed a variety of stories about men and women that I could relate to.”

Camra Godwin 

Asked if it’s easy to relate to the situations her character, Jen, has found herself in, Godwin said that while her character “is not directly based on myself, she is in a lot of situations that I’ve also found myself in.

“For example, figuring out where she stands in a relationship versus being single and navigating jobs. I feel like I’ve been able to relate to every part of Jen, even if I haven’t been in her exact scenario. I still feel the same emotions and make the same discoveries that she does.

“For me, it was pretty easy to get inside Jen’s head, as a lot of what she experiences is similar to what I’ve gone through as I navigate my 20s. It’s a release for me to be able to bring my current awareness from personal situations and go back into that situation as Jen who’s experiencing it for the first time.

“Shefali has a really great honest writing style, but she also loves when actors make the role their own. During the rehearsals she encouraged us to improvise, which we sometimes added lines from, and tweak the dialogue to sound a little more like how our character would say it. It’s such a great experience to work with Shefali, because she puts so much into her work and then opens it up for collaboration to make the best product possible. That’s the ultimate dream!”

When Vasudevan started creating “The Female Gaze,” she was writing from her own perspective and personal experiences as a 24-year-old (she just turned 25 this month) and with an 18-to-30-year-old audience in mind. She said, “I think a lot of the themes are universal. 

“The characters deal with love and find themselves, and I don’t think anyone ever stops learning about themselves!”

Godwin, 25, agrees, saying “I think a lot of people 18-30 would relate directly to what each character is going through, but the emotions that our characters feel transcend age groups.

“Everyone has an idea of what heartbreak, excitement, love and confusion (to name a few) feels like!”

In developing “The Female Gaze,” Vasudevan, who earned a BFA in Film Production from Emerson College in Boston, originally hoped to learn more about filmmaking. She also became a central character in her own web series. The first series run of seven episodes included titles such as “First Time,” “F**kboy,” “Damsel,” and “Best Friends.”

In the fourth episode, “Damsel,” Vasudevan’s character, Priya, shares an intimate on-the-mouth kiss with her friend, Silvia (played by Avery Richardson). When asked if there was any sense of awkwardness, or if it was about Priya’s empowerment, acting upon her desires – perhaps figuring out her sexuality – she expressed, “I was writing this scene based on the experience of some of my friends and myself. What a lot of people today don’t really understand is that sexuality can be a little more complicated to navigate and not all black and white. It can also be something that is repressed in a lot of us because for so long in our lives we were told we had to think a certain way. Older generations tend to think that you can only like men or you can only like women. But I think for some people the attraction is based on person to person and relationship to relationship.”

Vasudevan suggested that Priya’s character “has entertained the thought of being with a girl, but until this moment in her life she has never met a girl in real life that she was attracted to. So, in the previous episode, she was with a man she felt attracted to,” but then “she feels so strongly toward Silvia that she has to act on it! I think by the end of the series, Priya realizes she has to explore this about herself before she can be in an open and honest relationship with either a man or a woman.”

While the final product of each six-to-seven minute episode comes off as a very smooth viewing experience, there’s plenty that goes into the creation and production. “We shot everything episode to episode,” said Vasudevan. The music heard in each episode comes from a variety of Emerson alumni (GUPPY, Pool Boys, Love Under the Sun) and Vasudevan said each were kind and gracious about contributing their music to the series.

“Learning how to self-produce my own work outside of college was difficult,” Vasudevan admits, “but I started to form a community and creat a good work flow this project.”

Road trippin’ with “The Female Gaze.” 

Within this community, which includes some of her former Emerson classmates and other Emerson alumnae residing in the Los Angeles area, Vasudevan decided to use an all female production crew for “The Female Gaze.” She said that most of the crews she’s work with have been majority male. “I would hear from the crew members things like, ‘Oh well, no women came out for the job,’ or ‘We’ve worked with this guy forever so we trust him.’ I thought this was insane because I know so many female crew members in different departments (such as lighting, camera team, production design) who are constantly not getting work. So, I wanted this set to be an opportunity for some of these female crew members.”

Indeed, Vasudevan changed the dynamic, and in doing so, she confesses that having a majority female crew also brings a different energy to the set. “There is a lot less ego involved – and a lot of creativity,” she said. “I have been on some really great male-run sets, but in general, on female-run sets everyone is just there to work and do a good job.”

When she was asked if there have been an production obstacles, Vasudevan said, “PLENTY! But I love it. My background from school is directing and writing, but more recently I decided to learn more about producing and acting.

“Producing has been such a fun way to use my problem solving skills. For the cafe episode (shot in a Le Pain Quotidien in Studio City), I actually talked to a few different cafes and Le Pain Quotidien was just the most responsive, affordable and flexible to work with! Lunch was also included in our space rental fee, which was incredible. I’m still dreaming about their chocolate hazelnut spread.

“The biggest obstacle was definitely the final episode of the first season and coordinating everyone on that set. I had a lot of help from my good friend and co-director on that episode, Caroline Ullman. The main issues came with coordinating actors and making sure we got through all of the scenes we needed to film in such a short amount of time. But the team of filmmakers we worked with were so incredible and patient with us! We ended up eating everything we needed and then some.”

Asked what the reaction from friends and family has been, Vasudevan said her family has been extremely supportive of the entire process. “I told my mom about what the story was going to be about a long time ago,” she recalled, “and when I started making the project I felt so insecure about it.

“There was one day when I was on the phone with her talking about how nervous I was, and she told me, ‘This is so incredible what you’re doing. You’re creating a body of work for yourself, of what you’re like right now, of what your friends are like, of what you’re experiencing, and you’re always going to remember it because you have this series.’ And that made me really happy and more confident about the project because yeah, maybe not a lot of people will see it, but it is such a truly vulnerable expression of my life right now and I’m excited to have that.” 

Godwin added, “When we first put it out, there’s always a sense of anxiousness because you want people to be able to connect with it like you did, and all that anxiousness has melted away for me now!”

With “The Female Gaze,” Vasudevan is emphasizing storytelling from a woman’s perspective. “I want people to see that women are messy and complicated and annoying and beautiful and weird, and that’s okay!

“I also hope that the stories resonate with people. Getting responses from people telling me that they related to the characters was incredible and more than what I thought I would get out of this experience initially.”

Find “The Female Gaze” on social media:
On Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/thefemalegazeseries/
On Twitter @TFGSeries
On Instagram @thefemalegazeseries

Credits: “The Female Gaze” videos, courtesy of YouTube. Individual photos of Shefali Vasudevan and Camra Godwin by Lauren Cabanas. Cover photo and Road Trip episode photos by Zachary Shea Mills. Behind the Scenes of the final episode “This Is Not A Party” photo by Ariel Skovera.

SIFF: Fostering community through cinema

The Seattle International Film Festival / A chance to see the world
from a different perspective.

The Seattle International Film Festival's mission is a simple but meaningful one: Create experiences that bring together people to discover extraordinary films from around the world. It is through the art of cinema, it believes, that we foster a community, one that is more informed, aware and alive.

The best of Sweden / A Man Called Ove

It is said that a great film is more than entertainment. It's a chance for moviegoers to see the world from a different perspective.

While in Seattle over the long holiday weekend visiting longtime friends, my wife and I and our friends experienced four extraordinary films from four different countries – Australia, Germany, Sweden and the U.S. – that were most enjoyable.

On Friday afternoon, we began with the 2015 Australian documentary film Women He's Undressed, in which Director Gillian Armstrong pays tribute to Academy Award-winning costume designer Orry-Kelly, a little-celebrated Australian hero of Hollywood's golden age who adorned the stars in such classics as Some Like It Hot, Casablanca, and An American in Paris, and was scandalously linked to Cary Grant as his former lover.

On Friday evening, we turned to the 2014 Austrian film Therapy for a Vampire for laughs. It's a dramatic comedy in which one night Sigmund Freud discovers a new patient on his couch, a mysterious count who has entered therapy because he can no longer bear his "eternally long" relationship with his wife, in this humorous mashup of vampire legend and neurotic obsessions. It was presented in German with English subtitles.

On Sunday afternoon, we sat front and center in the balcony of venerable Egyptian Theater on Capitol Hill, a classic movie house, where we saw Sweden's biggest hit of 2015, an endearing and crowd-pleasing dramatic comedy, En Man Som Heter Ove (A Man Called Ove). Rolf Lassgård stars as Ove, a grumpy, curmudgeonly old man, who finds his caustic view of the world put to the test when a new family moves in next door. The Swedish movie with English subtitles, which was adapted from the best-selling novel by Fredrik Backman, moved me to tears, and played upon the themes of unexpected friendship and love.

An intriguing spy thriller / Our Kind of Traitor

"A Swedish film in an Egyptian theater in America," a Tunisian Facebook friend messaged me on Sunday afternoon. "I like that," she wrote. I liked that, too.

Finally, on Sunday night, we were riveted by the spy thriller Our Kind of Traitor, based on the novel by bestselling author John Le Carré, starring Ewan McGregor and Naomie Harris as a couple who wind up as international pawns in a chess game between the Russian Mafia and the British Secret Service. It also stars Stellan Skarsgård and Damian Lewis, and it is due for a summer release here in the U.S. I highly recommend it.

Each film we attended drew capacity audiences of well-informed and educated film goers – the first at Pacific Place, a modern cineplex in downtown Seattle, and the other three at the Egyptian in the city's Capitol Hill neighborhood, and tickets were reasonably priced at $13 for each film.

This year's festival, which continues through June 12, will present over 400 features, short films and documentaries gathered from more than 80 countries.

Looking back, for the duration of each film we saw, there was a fostering of community. Together, we laughed, we cried, we felt excited, we applauded. Attending the country's largest film festival – with more than 150,000 people attending over the 25-day event – was both special exciting, and I look forward to returning again.

Toy Story at Twenty: To infinity and beyond!

Toy Story / A great story with great characters.

With the release of The Good Dinosaur over Thanksgiving weekend, it's hard to believe that it's been 20 years since the debut of Toy Story, the memorable tale of a group of toys that come to life which was the first feature-length computer-animated film and the first theatrical film produced by Pixar.

At San Francisco International Airport, I recently happened upon SFO Museum's newest curated exhibition, "Toy Story at Twenty," which tells the story behind the story of this wonderful buddy-comedy adventure film through a variety of artifacts -- early sketches, toys and sculptures of the unforgettable characters Woody, a pull-string cowboy doll, and Buzz Lightyear, an astronaut figure -- as well as sharing backstories from many of the principals at Pixar such as director John Lasseter, producer Ralph Guggenheim, and story co-creator Andrew Stanton, who were involved in the production that forever changed the landscape of feature animation.

Toy Story / A buddy movie where the buddies are toys.

"It'll be a buddy movie: a banter-laden tale of a bitter alliance blossoming into a true friendship," said Toy Story director John Lasseter, as quoted in the exhibition. "It'll have a few unusual twists. First, the buddies will be toys. And second, it will be the first time an entire movie will have been created using computer animation."

According to Toy Story producer Ralph Guggenheim, "Nobody knew what skills we'd need when we started. It was a completely new series of combinations that had to add up to more than the sum of its parts." Added story supervisor Joe Ranft, "If the story isn't there, all the breakthrough computer graphics in the world piled onto it won't matter. You'll have made a piece of passing fashion."

Fortunately, the vivid, entertaining and moving story was there and it resonated with its audience. The iconic and timeless Toy Story had its theatrical debut on November 22, 1995, and went on to earn over $361 million worldwide.

Toy Story / An early sketch image of Woody.

The voices Woody and Buzz Lightyear are familiar ones belonging to actors Tom Hanks and Tim Allen.

"Getting a line reading from Tom Hanks is like getting this big, incredibly wet sponge," remembered animator Glenn McQueen. "It's overflowing with different possibilities for you to wring out." Meanwhile, as John Lasseter described it, "Casting Tim Allen to voice Buzz gave us that quality we wanted of a macho guy with a soft underbelly. Tim's perfect at doing an everyday guy."

Toy Story story co-creator Andrew Stanton said: "We never thought Woody and Buzz's repartee would hold the spotlight in and of itself. But once they were animated, suddenly the chemistry between them was the highlight of the movie."

Toy Story / A prototype of Buzz Lightyear.

The film received three Academy Award nominations, including Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song for "You've Got a Friend in Me" written and performed by Randy Newman. It won a Special Achievement Academy Award.

"Randy (Newman) turned out to be a great help to us when we needed a lot of emotion told to the audience, and accepted by the audience in a short amount of time," said Andrew Stanton.

"'You've Got a Friend in Me' speaks volumes about the love between Andy and Woody, better than we ever could tell it in dialogue. The way you feel it at the end of the song, we would have needed two more sequences without a song to get that point across."

Peter Schneider, president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, summed it up best: "At the end of the day, it's not the technique that the audience cares about; it's a great story, a visual feast, and great characters. They want to be taken on an emotional journey they've never been on before."

"Toy Story at Twenty" opened last week and it's on continuous display daily through May 22, 2016, for free, pre-security, in the SFO International Terminal main hall departures lobby. It is accessible to all airport visitors, and I highly recommend it.

To infinity and beyond!

Images: Courtesy of Pixar and Toy Story at Twenty.

This "Hamlet" needs to be seen and not just heard

National Theatre Live: Coming to a cinema near you. /
Benedict Cumberbatch in "Hamlet."

Ever wanted to experience the best of British theatre without having to trek to London? Now you can, thanks to National Theatre Live, where all the world's a stage even if the stage is on a big movie screen.

One night recently, my wife and I drove to the Century 14 cineplex in downtown Walnut Creek, Calif., about a half-hour's drive from our East Bay home, where we thrilled to an enjoyable evening of London West End theatre come alive on the big screen.

For just $20 a ticket, we were treated to the National Theatre Live's cinematic presentation of the critically-acclaimed "Hamlet," Lyndsey Turner's monumental Barbican production of the 1603 iconic William Shakespeare play about the melancholy prince of Denmark, that was broadcast to a global audience of more than 225,000 on 1,400 movie theater screens in 25 countries around the world.

I was one of those near quarter-million experiencing one of the greatest moments of theatre I had ever experienced. Yet, what I was watching was more a film than a play, but without any compromise to the live appeal of theatre.

That total represents the largest global audience for a live broadcast of any title in National Theatre Live history. Not to worry if you missed out on the excitement. Additional encores of "Hamlet" are scheduled to be shown in movie theaters later this month.

Since its debut in 2009, among the National Theatre Live presentations beamed to theaters include: "Frankenstein" with Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternating between the title role and Dr. Jekyll; "King Lear," produced by Sam Mendes; and "A Streetcar Named Desire," which starred Gillian Anderson.

Throughout, "Hamlet" had plenty of "visual swagger" and, of course, there was an infinitely touching prince, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, whom U.S. audiences have grown to love from his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in "Sherlock" on PBS's Masterpiece.

"If there's one good thing about the avalanche of hype surrounding the (Hamlet) production, it's that it made Shakespeare seem sexy. That's quite a feat," wrote Lyn Gardner in The Guardian, one of London's pre-eminent newspapers and news websites.

"The production has been accused by several critics of being overly cinematic, but its visual swagger,  with its indigo hues, comes into its own on the screen. It would be worrying if this production set a precedent for stage shows that are directed and designed with an eye to the live screening and a global audience rather than those seeing it in a theatre," added Gardner.

On the night we watched "Hamlet" -- October 15 -- the audience was comprised mostly of middle-aged suburban adults. There were the curious fans like us, who were eager to see Cumberbatch tackle the title role of Hamlet -- both as a prep-school misfit and as a toy soldier -- and to embrace and enjoy outstanding theatre. In addition to Cumberbatch, there were stellar performances given by Ciarán Hinds as Claudius and Sian Brooke as Ophelia.

The only thing missing that would have made our night more complete -- and something that makes attending West End theatre unique to an American -- was a vendor selling ice cream cups in the stalls during intermission.

Seeing National Theatre Live's "Hamlet" reinvented for a 21st Century audience reminded me of this: "Hamlet" needs to be seen and not just heard. And, seeing a larger-than-life Cumberbatch up-close and personal for three hours added up to one hell of a wonderful night of theatre on the big screen.

Photo: Courtesy of Google Images.

2014: It was a very good year to be in my pictures

A selfie / It was a very good year to be in my pictures.

As many of you who follow me through A Tuesday Night Memo or via Facebook know, I'm an avid photographer. 

Whenever I travel across the country or abroad -- or even just to go to a University of California, Berkeley sporting event or out to eat, I make it a habit to bring my camera (a Canon PowerShot A570 IS) with me. And, thanks to getting an iPhone four years ago, I now have two sources for shooting photographs. 

Taking pictures has matured considerably as photography has morphed from film to digital, and it's become an easier and more affordable hobby. Once was the time when I worried about how many rolls of film to buy -- and what speed -- for a vacation. Then, making sure I didn't misplace any rolls after I shot them.

Once I became a digital photographer about 10 years ago, it allowed me to become my own editor. So, if I'm not happy with a picture, I can delete it and re-shoot it, then edit it for clarity. No longer do I have to worry about whether the film I shot of the Eiffel Tower or Westminster Abbey is in focus or not. 

Thanks to social media sites like Facebook, uploading and sharing photos with a large group of friends has become fast and simple -- and for me, personally, it's become a daily exercise in sharing my photography with others through my timeline: "It's what's on my mind."

Each year, I take more than a thousand photographs of people, places and things. In revisiting the photo albums I've shot over the past 12 months, I've pulled together a group of photos that I'm pretty excited about. They cover a variety of things important and interesting to me: Flowers and nature, sports, music and the urban landscapes of cities I've visited like San Francisco and Seattle. 

You may recognize some of these photos from appearing on my Facebook page or in my blog. Click on each photograph to see them enlarged.

I hope you enjoy the exhibit and I welcome your thoughts.

Cheers and Happy 2015!

Brittany Boyd and the University of California, Berkeley women's basketball team
face the USC Women of Troy at Haas Pavilion last January.

Mikayla Lyles (L) and Toni Kokenis / The Cal and Stanford basketball rivals
created a pair of panel discussions on support for LGBT inclusion in sports
that took place on the Cal and Stanford campuses last February.

A clash of mascots / The Stanford Tree and Cal's Oski Bear promote
a little school spirit for their respective teams during a Cal-Stanford
women's basketball game at Haas Pavilion last February.

Early morning beauty / A mid-winter sunrise as seen from my patio deck.

At Stitches West / A beautiful yarn display from A Verb For Keeping Warm
on display at 2014 Stitches West in Santa Clara, Calif. last February.

The home office / My MacBook Pro logged in to Facebook, a cup of French roast
coffee and a WriterCoach Connection tutoring assignment.

A rainbow of colors / Sharing the beauty of one of
our roses in our backyard garden.

All rise / A truly incredible spring sunrise as viewed from our patio deck.

Fun in the sun and sand / Cal's Joan Colairo (L) and Adrienne Gehan
playing sand volleyball  at the University's Clark Kerr Courts last spring.

Easter Sunday / The altar at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral last April.

Enjoying Bumbershoot / Listening to music at the Starbucks
Stage during the 2014 Bumbershoot festival in Seattle. 

On stage / Valerie June played a distinctive blend of rural roots and country
music on the Starbucks Stage at the 2014 Bumbershoot festival in Seattle. 

The Seattle Space Needle / The iconic Emerald City
landmark as seen on a cloudy Labor Day.

A summer night of sound / Enjoying Bumbershoot after dark as Neon Trees
plays an "upbeat collection of sleek, modern alternative pop songs powered
by singer/songwriter Tyler Glenn's bright melodies, huge choruses, and
witty lyrics about the challenges of finding love in the digital age."

A clear sky / Throughout the year, our clear skies over the Bay Area afford
us an opportunity for moon gazing.

Up close and personal with the Nutcracker / Celebrating
Christmas at the Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco.

The Tree of Hope / Celebrating Christmas
at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco.

A San Francisco treat / A cable car climbs Nob Hill on Powell Street
at the intersection of California Street.

Christmas in San Francisco / A view of the Union Square
Christmas tree.

My friend Joslynn Celestine Mathis-Reed's MFA thesis choreography notes
for her performance of "Narrowed Mind" at Mills College in Oakland, Calif.

A celebration of orange / Sharing a vibrant orange rose from
our backyard garden.

Connecting community with public space / Public, a San Francisco-based
urban bicycle design and gear company is making bicycle riding more
enjoyable, practical and chic.

Looking deep into the power and beauty of nature /
A eucalyptus tree near Shakespeare Garden in
San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. 

Dreaming my future / Enjoying a Peet's caffe mocha
at the Emeryville Public Market.

All photographs by Michael Dickens © 2014.

The Roosevelts: An Intimate History

The Roosevelts: An Intimate History /
Ken Burns in conversation at San Francisco's Castro Theatre.

Why do we cry when we see a Ken Burns documentary? Perhaps, it's because the documentary filmmaker has a remarkable talent for telling stories through real people.

"History is sharing the process of discovery," said Burns, whose 1990 film The Civil War brought him to the forefront of documentary filmmaking in the United States. He is known for his style of using archival footage and photographs. "Preserving the past is one of the greatest things you can do for the future."

Burns, 60, has also directed films about other subjects familiar to Americans, including: Baseball (1994), Jazz (2001), The War (2007), The National Parks: America's Best Idea (2009), Prohibition (2011) and The Central Park Five (2012).

This fall, the Emmy Award-winning Burns returns with a new film that depicts the monumental saga of an exceptional American family whose impact is still felt across the nation.

The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, a new seven-part, 14-hour documentary directed by Burns and written by Geoffrey C. Ward, will debut nationwide on PBS on September 14. The film weaves together the stories of Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, three members of one of the most prominent and influential American political families.

Recently, I had the chance to preview The Roosevelts: An Intimate History during an evening with Ken Burns at San Francisco's Castro Theatre, which was sponsored by KQED, in partnership with Kraw Law Group and Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. Burns was in San Francisco not only to promote The Roosevelts in front of a captive and enthusiastic audience, but also to interview legendary San Francisco Giants baseball player Willie Mays for a future documentary he is currently working on about Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball in the 1947.

In The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, said Burns, for the first time we truly get to veer into the private lives of the most public of people. And, it's the first time their individuals stories have been interwoven into a single narrative.

Over 20,000 archived photos went into the making of The Roosevelts. We see Theodore, who was once a sickly boy, storm into Washington like an officer charging into battle. We learn of Franklin, struck down by illness, and how he pulls himself back up while at the same time lifting the U.S. out of the Great Depression and World War II. And, we see how Eleanor redefines the role of First Lady while inspiring millions of Americans. The documentary follows the Roosevelts for over a century, from the birth of Theodore in 1858 to Eleanor's death in 1962.

"You can't expect people like that to happen all the time," said historian David McCullough, who appears on camera throughout the documentary. Adds fellow historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, who also appears on screen in The Roosevelts: "It's an extraordinary story. The drama is unmatched in our history."

According to Burns, the story of the Roosevelts raises many questions, such as: "What is the role of government in society?" and "What is heroism?" While it may be impossible to sum up in a sentence or two what Burns learned from working on The Roosevelts, one thing he said he took away from his work is this: FDR had an extraordinary ability to communicate.

The only thing we have to fear ... is fear itself.

"History is a rising road," said Burns. "Human nature is always the same. There at times has been incivility, but what's interesting is what's the same."

To learn more: The Roosevelts: An Intimate History

Photograph: Michael Dickens ©2014.

2013 ~ My Year in Pictures

Most of you who follow A Tuesday Night Memo or are friends of mine on Facebook know this about me: I'm an avid photographer. 

I make it a habit to bring my camera (a Canon PowerShot A570 IS) with me wherever I go or travel. And, thanks to getting an iPhone three years ago, I now have two sources for shooting photographs.

As taking pictures has matured from film to digital, photography has become an easier and more affordable hobby. No longer do I have to buy and store film or worry about whether the roll of film I just shot of the Eiffel Tower or the Tower of London Bridge is in focus or not.

After becoming a digital photographer about 10 years ago, it allowed me to become my own editor.  So, if I'm not happy with a picture, I can delete it and re-shoot it, then edit it for clarity. Thanks to social media sites like Facebook, uploading and sharing photos with a large group of friends has become fast and simple -- and, for me personally, it's become a daily exercise in sharing my photography with others through my timeline: "It's what's on my mind."

Each year, I take more than a thousand photographs of people, places and things. In revisiting the photo albums I've shot over the past 12 months, I've pulled together a group of photos that I'm pretty excited about. They cover a variety of things important and interesting to me: Flowers and nature, sports, music and the urban landscapes of cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle. 

You may recognize some of these photos from appearing on my Facebook page or in my blog. Click on each photograph to see them enlarged.

I hope you enjoy the exhibit and I welcome your thoughts.

Cheers and Happy 2014!

I took this photograph inside of Haas Pavilion during a University of
California, Berkeley women's basketball against Oregon last February.
That's Eliza Pierre (No. 4 in gold) guarding an Oregon opponent.

The magnificent beauty of a California redwood tree,
which I photographed on the grounds of St. Clement's
Episcopal Church in Berkeley last May.

A giant diaper pin sculpture by Claes Oldenburg sits inside the garden
of the de Young Fine Arts Museum. I took this photograph last January.

The central fountain in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park located
near the de Young Fine Arts Museum and the California Academy of
Sciences. Much to my surprise, there was a a gull sitting atop the
fountain when I took this photograph last January.

Sharing the beauty of one of our calla lilies, taken last April.

We have a raised iris bed in our backyard garden
and each April our irises come to life, standing tall.

Sharing the beauty of a rainbow colored rose from our
backyard garden, taken during the beginning of November.

A plate of poutine -- French fries topped with mushroom gravy and
 cheese curds, enjoyed at Beauty's Bagel Shop in Oakland.

A bowl of Three Twins vanilla and dulce de leche
ice cream and shortbread cookie from Comal,
in downtown Berkeley.

A window display of Chuck Taylor All-Stars on the Third Street
Promenade in Santa Monica, Calif., taken last July.

The Central Garden at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, taken in July.
It's a wonderful experience of sights, sounds and scents.

Sharing the beauty of a Mr. Lincoln red rose,
taken in our backyard garden last May.

I met John Lewis, American civil rights leader and
U.S. congressman, at a book signing event last June
at the American Library Association conference
 in Chicago.

The Cloud Gate, a 110-ton elliptical sculpture forged of a seamless
series of stainless steel plates, created by British artist Anish Kapoor.
It reflects the Chicago skyline and the clouds above as seen from
Millennium Park. I took this photograph on the Fourth of July.

The Stars and Stripes is draped over the side of the
Wrigley Building facing the Chicago River. I took
this photograph while walking across the Wabash
Avenue Bridge heading towards the Loop in Chicago.

A view of San Francisco's Alcatraz Island as seen through a
"closed window" inside the Fort Mason Festival Pavilion.

The beauty of a tall tree on the grounds of
San Francisco's Golden Gate Park last summer.

Inside Shakespeare Garden in San Francisco's
Golden Gate Park, taken in August.

Sharing the beauty of one of our Queen Elizabeth roses
from our backyard garden, taken last September.

Our alliums bloom during the summer months in
our front yard and share a garden bed with
our Japanese maple tree.

Seattle's iconic Space Needle was built for the
1962 World's Fair. I took this photograph last
September while attending Bumbershoot, Seattle's
annual music and arts festival. 

Enjoying the eclectic blues music of Duke Robillard last September
at the Bumbershoot music and arts festival in Seattle.

My season ticket to the University of California,
Berkeley's womens' volleyball matches always
provides a great view of photographing
the action on the court.

The Rotante Dal Foro Centrale, a bronze sphere by Italian sculptor
Arnaldo Pomodoro. It sits near the western entrance of the University
of California, Berkeley campus.

Enjoying Los Lobos with guest Boz Scaggs at last October's
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival at San Francisco's
Golden Gate Park.

A view of the central spire atop San Francisco's
Grace Cathedral, taken last August. It looks like
the spire is touching the clouds above.

The beauty of an August full moon -- a "blue moon."
I took this photograph standing on on our deck.

Guardian dog sculpture inside SFO's Terminal 3,
 inspired by Japanese folk toys.

A chilly but sunny Thanksgiving Day afternoon at Lakeview Park,
Albert Lea, Minnesota.

On a November Sunday morning, I came upon three
turkeys just minding their business up the hill from
my residence.

Colorful Christmas tree inside the Fairmont Hotel,
atop San Francisco's Nob Hill.

Graced With Light, a ribbon installation project by
artist-in-residence Anne Patterson, inside
San Francisco's Grace Cathedral. I took this
photograph during Advent season.

The lovely beauty of a February sunset over San Francisco
as photographed from Memorial Stadium on the UC Berkeley campus.

All photographs by Michael Dickens, copyright 2013. All rights reserved.