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Hometown

Los Angeles (by way of the trailer parks of North Carolina)

Joie de VIVre

Writer, director, producer, amateur belly dancer (way-amateur, like, they don't even let me wear the really pretty skirts yet, because they know I'll fall down and rip them!). I've just been named the president of The Gondobay Manga Foundation, founded by Isaiah Washington for his efforts in the Bo Region of Sierra Leone, West Africa. I've worked with a number of nonprofits but have never been in on laying the first bricks. It is an exciting process ... with a mind-boggling amount of paperwork.

VIV Moment

I’m reasonably sure that every moment of my life has been spectacular either in its ability to show me the awesome view from on high or the troubling view from down below.

As a writer the most amazing moments are those when I sit down at the keyboard to think about what to write. And then I “awake” hours later to find stories that flowed out of me with minimal effort (effective, creative channeling). As a director my most amazing moment was the first time I did it (directed, I mean) and realized that it was innate (and not just because I’m bossy).

Several months ago, I was on day 13 of a 14-day shoot in Sierra Leone. It was my first trip to Africa and I had with me a crew of nine and several escorts. I was the white girl running the show — doing a damn fine job of it. We had been upcountry and were finally back in Freetown. On this night I had the opportunity to get more than three hours of sleep for the first time since we had arrived.

Packed, showered and nursing a bottle of whiskey, I decided to go to sleep. But the balcony of my hotel room overlooked the ocean. And the most startling, beautiful storm I had seen in years was rolling the seas, blasting thunder across the heavens and moving the furniture around the pool below with long fingers of lightning.

Like any crazy white lady from the States I took my chair and my whiskey out onto the balcony to watch and let the turbulent atmosphere wrap around me like a blanket. It was one of those moments of purity and contentment in which I didn’t wish to be braver or thinner or different in any way. I was just glad to be me.

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