Memoir-ies

I've been reading biographies and memoirs since I was a kid in South Jersey. I used to think my life was so boring (it really was), and I was dying to know how others lived theirs.

In high school when I was a shy but budding performer I devoured Love, Janice, Gilda Radner's It's Always Something, and Kurt Loder's Bat Chain Puller. 


In college I veered off towards radio and film and was first introduced to the business of Hollywood from They Can Kill You But...They Can't Eat You by Dawn Steel, the first female head of a movie studio. Also, Quivers: A Life by Howard Stern's sidekick Robin, and even Kelsey Grammer's So Far...  

Now after several year's experience as a professional interviewer I've had plenty of people say to me: "I'm boring. I wouldn't make a good story." But I never believe that.

As Peter Osnos, senior fellow for media at The Century Foundation, wrote recently in his weekly column: "Everybody has a tale to tell."

Every life has struggles and history and demons and light, but it's the average people, not the celebrities, who usually have the most original untold stories.

I've finally reached the point where I want to write about my own life as much as I want to help others share their life stories.

So Tampa Do-Gooder has taken more of a personal turn lately because of this, but the theme hasn't changed. I'll keep on writing about the folks I see and hear about around Tampa Bay, but I'd also like to keep opening up about how I got to where I am today.