User:Middleground1

About Middleground1

Narrative

Born in Illinois and raised in Massachusetts. A high school internship in my sophomore year for a post as a constituent correspondent for then-Senator Joe Biden turned into full employment in the Senate. A year into that, another Biden staffer and I were offered positions as special assistants in the EEOC for the newly-appointed Chair, Clarence Thomas. I served as one of two speechwriters while I was attending high school as a 1980s version of a "virtual student" -- so that I could earn credits to graduate. In 1983, I left the EEOC to attend Columbia University, where I majored in anthropology. In my senior year, I started a side business with a few friends, and it turned into an unexpectedly large corporation with 80 employees in the legal and medical staffing industry. Remaining at Columbia would mean defaulting on the company's weekly payroll and probably facing a class action. Ten years later, I sold my interest in the company and didn't look back, although I do take some pride in knowing that it is still operating almost 40 years later.

After a brief hiatus, I returned to writing via an opportunity to work on advertising and industrial films. It taught me all phases of film/video production. That led to a position at The Shooting Gallery, an independent film production house known best for producing Sling Blade. That, in turn, led to various opportunities in development of film and television projects at Focus Features, NBC/Universal, New Line and gig work at others.

Throughout the 2000s, I worked as a business coach and assisted several hundred entrepreneurs in organization, strategy, growth and capital funding. Simultaneously, and with a co-writer, I assisted in the development of television and film for Crossroads Films, New Line Cinema, NBC Universal, CAA and others. Also, with a co-writer, I wrote a weekly satire article for Huffington Post for more than ten years and was an invited opinion piece author for CNN. I have been a featured guest on various radio and television segments.

I also survived numerous health conditions, hence an interest in hospital systems, medical science and diseases. Currently, I serve on the board of several nonprofits that focus on health, environmental sustainability, and food insecurity in low-income areas of New York City.

Former everything, including:

Speechwriter
Film and Television exec.
Serial Entrepreneur
Caretaker
Cancer Survivor
Nonprofit board member
NYC housing and development planning
Liaison between Ukrainian refugees and support organizations, and helped raise $250,000 in aid for Ukraine in the summer of 2022

With longstanding interest in:

Page creations

Affordable Home Ownership Development Program - homeownership program
Alfred R. Stern -- Philanthropist and early proponent of cable television
Allen Roskoff -- gay rights pioneer
Assistance for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children in Developing Countries Act of 2005 - Part of the Foreign Assistance Act 1961 as ammended
Bronx Psychiatric Center - part of the New York State Office of Mental Health
Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy - part of Department of State
Deepak L. Bhatt -- Interventional Cardiologist
Eimear Kenny -- computational genomics
Filip Swirski -- scientist
Finco Services Inc -- NYC-based fintech / virtual bank
Grigory Morozov - jurist and son-in-law of Joseph Stalin
Hackensack-based cancer center
Henry Brem -- neurologist
Homeless Housing and Assistance Corporation - NYS housing agency
Isaac II Thuret -- craftsperson, inventor
John Puskas -- Surgeon and inventor
John Theurer Cancer Center - New Jersey hospital
Kiros Berhane - biostatiscian
Local Law 51 of 2008 - term limits in NYC
McGurk's Suicide Hall - notorious NYC saloon, 1890s-1900s
New York State Affordable Housing Corporation
Office of Regional Security and Arms Transfers - State Department Agency
Private Housing Finance Law - NYS housing law
State of New York Mortgage Agency - homeownership program
Valery Martinov -- Soviet double agent for United States
Welfare Reform Act of 1997 -- NYS public assistance element
New York City Campaign Finance Act - transparency in elections
New York City Department of Veterans' Services - local vets agency
New York State Community Land Trust Support Program - nonprofit land ownership program
New York State Department of Veterans' Services - cabinet-level department, NYS Gov't
New York State Housing Trust Fund Corporation - just like it sounds
ZanaAfrica foundation (R.I.P.)

Semi-significant page edits

(Partial list, I often forget to add them.)