“I love being a writer. I love that the words I’ve chosen to express myself (aided by my editor and several other folks along the way) may have a positive impact on the lives of a few readers. I love the freedom it offers me to be alone with my thoughts, to work in my pajamas, and to set my own schedule.
There is one other job I have loved this much in my life. It was when I was a projectionist at a movie theater. I was the connector between the creators (writers, actors, directors, etc) and their audience. Through those creators I was able to have a positive impact on the lives of a few movie goers. I loved the freedom it offered me to be alone in the projection booth with my thoughts, or a good book, or to watch the film, to dress, well, not in my pajamas, but certainly casually, and to have a schedule that I loved (play all day and work in the evenings).
The job of projectionist has changed a lot in the last 30 years and I suspect that with all the technological advances we’re seeing it will go the way of typewriter repair people before too long. Thanks to my friend Gary for sending me a link to this short video “Facts About Projection” that took me right back to those wonderful nights and will allow you to peek inside the world behind the movies.
Enjoy.”
Repost with permission from my friend Thomas Norman DeWolf, author of the book “Inheriting the Trade” (published by Beacon Press, January 2008). DeWolf’s blog discusses issues related to the legacy of slavery that are raised in his book, Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History and in the film of his family’s journey, Katrina Browne’s Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North.