Specialization is for insects. Who I Am
It's not often that a person is required to look at themselves and attempt to put down in words who they are and what they stand for. This section took me longer to write than any other part of this site. Who am I? It's a question people throughout the ages have asked themselves. I've discovered who I am is directly linked to what I believe. Who "you" are is a decision many will be happy to make for you, but ultimately the only opinion that counts is your own. So, here is what I believe, how I feel and how I see myself. How you see me may differ quite a lot. However, in the final analysis I am the one that must live with who I am. After all, you can walk away. I was raised all over the Eastern U.S. My Dad worked on a construction crew that made most of I-75. As the highway crawled across the U.S. so did my parents and I. In the winter however, we always went home, back to Florida. We lived in Orlando. I graduated from Evans High School in Orlando. That's where I call home. I do have 3 older brothers but they were out of the house before I was old enough to know they were there. We have not talked for over 25 years.
The work with Eugenia is what got me into the TV stations. I booked her on morning shows for PR, first at channel 9, WFTV working with the "Jimmy Harper Morning Show" and later on channel 6, WDBO TV's "Open House". I later hired on as staff at WDBO, TV 6 (now WKMG). I lost interest in the booking gig but the broadcast TV work stuck with me. I'm still in it today. Eugenia “Jeanie” Sisinni Fitchen (Cocoa) winner of the 2001 Florida Folk Heritage Award is a singer and songwriter. The other thing I loved to do back in the day was hang out at WLOF Channel 95 radio. Here is a shot of Bill Vermillion, one of the two men that started me on a career in TV/Radio/Production. Bill's the guy sitting down. I learned more about relating to an audience, keeping it snappy and real on the air from him in a few short months than I ever learned in college level media training. Thanks, Bill. We lost Bill not long ago. It was a sad day. You got to love Top 40 radio in the late 60's, Look at the carts and cart players in the background. Two turn tables and audio pots the size of oranges. I have 100 times more on my iPod than is seen in the rack behind Bill. The station was out in a swamp in Pine Hills.
Another guy at WDBO that I consider one of my early teachers was Gary Bakeman. Gary was one of the guys that taught me to direct. It was him and Joe Myron. Gary was the big dog, when I started he had the prime shift and got the best shows to direct. In the picture you can see the main production switcher in the control room at WDBO, circa 1970. You can also see the film chain through the window on the left. We had a cart machine in the switcher. When I started working as a director I worked the weekends. I'd come in, get the log, record all VO's from my shift and then move over to the switcher to do my shift. Later I became the big dog. I was the director of the 6 and 11 p.m. news casts. Over three-years I had directed every show in the station including Romper Room. When I left the station, Nancy Stillwell, Orlando's Miss. Nancy gave me a Romper Room diploma. I have been married twice. For the past 30-years I have been married to my second and last wife, Sandi. We have two kids from my first wife, that we both love very much. I love dogs, tolerate cats and like most animals more than most humans. It's a nasty bunch we humans are. As of this writing, I am a man of around 63 almost 64-years of age. In spite of this I am always willing to learn or try something new. I find that many men of my age are afraid to look the fool, to try something on the edge. I have had too much experience looking and being the fool, for it to bother me. I have always been and shall always be interested in, and unafraid of, the new and unusual. Don't get me wrong. When the shooting starts I am the first one to duck. I did not live this long by taking foolish risks. I have however, trained to do stunt work, received my Black Belt in Moo Duk Kwan Tang Soo Do, martial arts, regularly ride my Harley in city traffic and was just a few years ago the oldest member of a Goth group in Detroit. As I said, I'm a Black Belt martial artist in Moo Duk Kwan Tang Soo Do. Although I studied at several studios I will never forget the first instructors I had, Sensei's Steven and Joanie Horger. They are the one's that guided me along through my green belt and gave me a love for the sport.
PeopleI do not categorize people in the ways many of my generation usually do. What you are on the outside, be it body conformation, color, nationality, adornment, gender, whatever, is not how I evaluate you for acceptance into my inner circle. What you think and feel, how you treat me and others, is far more important to me. I try to see as many sides of an issue as I can. At this point in my life I have come to the conclusion that good and evil, if in fact they even exist, are just different points of view. I love the new and different. So many people my age hate and fear change, difference and anything or anyone that doesn't conform with the way they do things. Come on people, don't you remember your own youth. It's everyone's job and duty,especially the young to rebel. It's part of the process of growing up. It is this rebellion that advances our culture. It doesn't matter if it is a young person protesting a senseless war, a Chinese student standing in front of a tank protesting for freedom, or a young goth who dresses different to protest being labeled and pounded into societies mold. (See my Goth page) Without this rebellion our culture and society would stagnate and die, we would live in a police state without basic freedoms. Art and creativity would not exist, and I for one would be bored stiff. Over the years I have done and been involved in many things. I was part of the hippie movement in the 60's. I have been involved in the world of folk music Religion
Everybody has their favorite definition of the word "Pagan." Most people are convinced that their meaning is the correct one. But no consensus exists, even within a single faith tradition or religion as to the "correct" definition of "Pagan." The same problem happens with the definition of "Christianity," and probably with many other religions. There is general agreement that the word "Pagan" comes from the Latin word "paganus." Most sources interpret the word to have meant "rustic," "hick," or "country bumpkin",a pejorative term. The implication was that Christians used the term to ridicule country folk who tenaciously held on to what the Christians considered old-fashioned, outmoded Pagan beliefs. Those in the country were much slower in adopting the new religion of Christianity than were the city folks. They still followed the Greek state religion, Roman state religion, Mithraism, various mystery religions, etc., long after those in urban areas had converted. By the third century CE, its meaning evolved to include all non-Christians. Eventually, it became an evil term that implied the possibility of Satan worship. The latter two meanings are still in widespread use today by Christians. As a Omnitheist I believe that God is in all things. My religion is nature based and teaches us that we should have respect for all living creatures. Over the years I have searched long and hard for a belief system I can truly support and this is the path I have chosen. Omnitheism is a spiritual path that seeks to recognize the similarity between all spiritual paths. We do not believe there is one right spiritual path. Instead, every path is valuable and worthwhile. All religions and spiritual paths share common values: appreciation (praise) for our time alive, compassion towards our fellow travelers and the ethic of reciprocity, commonly known as the Golden Rule. Omnitheism holds high the shared beliefs of all religions and ways of life that unify. "Every religion emphasizes human improvement, love, respect for others, sharing other people's suffering. On these lines every religion had more or less the same viewpoint and the same goal." - The Dalai Lama MilitaryI am also an old Navy man, Petty Officer Third Class. I joined the Navy in 1968, during the Viet Nam conflict. After I enlisted I expected to ship out to Great Lakes for boot but instead of taking the bus to the airport we took a short drive to the all new Orlando Naval Training Center. I was barracked in the first building to be occupied by recruits on the base, in Company Four. Our company commander was Chief Toland. However, I did not go overseas. After boot camp in Orlando, I was assigned as military entertainment liaison to the Helm Club at Great Naval Training Center. It was my job to work with entertainment facilities on the base. I did booking for the Helm Club on base. (Helm Club now called Club Nitro, Pier 525 is the dining and entertainment hot spot for enlisted personnel E1-E6. Club Nitro features a 5000-watt sound system with lighting and a video wall. Entertainment is offered nightly including a variety of music formats, hosted by a D.J. Plus, live bands, comedians, theme nights and more are featured throughout the year It's funny, the Orlando base has since been closed and torn down. Great Lakes is still going. Here is the graduation photo for Company 4:
More on the Orlando Naval Training CenterAfter I got out of the military I returned to WDBO TV in Orlando. After another 5 years there I headed to Michigan for the big bucks in TV. I worked at WKBD TV and then became the Media Coordinator for Mercy Health Services. For the next 15 years I wrote, produced, shot and edited educational, management and medical content. Economically it seemed like a good time to make a change and quite frankly I was bored, so in 1994 I went to Comcast Cable and was a commercial specialist. I wrote, shot and edited for all sorts of companies all over southeast Michigan, the 5th market at the time. In 2000 I decided it was time to retire. Sandi and I moved to Florida and purchased a beach front condo in Cocoa Beach. Well, it took me about six months to go out of my skull with boredom. Again I reached out to cable. I took a job with Time Warner doing the same thing I did in Detroit, making commercials. I worked there until just after September 11. It was then that I felt I needed to do more than sell things. I contacted Central Florida News 13. Shortly there after I went to work at Central Florida News 13, as Operations manager. If you want the know current history check out my Resume.
If any of this has interested or angered you send me an E-Mail, we will talk about it. E-mail us at - jimsawyereditor@gmail.com
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A human being should be able to
. . . 
That's me, to the left, at the tender age of 17. It's my graduation pic from Maynard Evans High School in Orlando.
The pic on the right is closer to my age now.
As my Scottish mother before me, I am a follower of the ancient Celtic/Scottish faith. I feel it necessary here to explain that any religion that does not hold Christ as a Messiah or Prophet is labeled with the word "pagan." That labels Hinduism, the world's oldest organized and third largest religion, as pagan. It also labels Buddhism as pagan along with Shinto, an ancient Japanese religion, starting about 500 BCE (or earlier), Taoism, Scientology, all Native American religions and many more The three religions that hold this Christ belief are Christian, Jewish and Islamic. 
