I walked out of my hotel room this morning carrying a plastic bottle of water and by the time I was at the front desk it was empty.  I handed it to the concierge and asked if he could throw it out.  Before I could correct myself a hotel manager did it for me.  Recycle!  From what I can tell, Canada is an enlightened country.  There are as many recycle bins as trash cans.  Cops ride bicycles.  Gay people can marry.  Citizens care about the homeless and even accomodate them.  There is universal health care.  And most impressive, Canadians seem very proud of their diversity.  Vancouver is a city full of languages and color.  I ride the bus with a man from Mozambique.  A Sikh guards the gate.  The city is full of Asians and French speakers.  Foreign accents are everywhere.  I’ve always been impressed with the way Canadians embrace their diversity.  People intermarry.  Not a big deal.  My cousin from the Czech Republic married a black woman from the Caribbean.  Just like America, this is a nation of immigrants, but Canadians are not caught up in discussions of race.  That is so yesterday.  Canada is a true melting pot and it’s moving forward in an enlightened way. 

For more information on Vicky Collins visit http://teletrendstv.com

I walked out of my hotel room in Vancouver this morning to see a flock of seagulls squacking their heads off.  That’s the most noise I’ve heard since I arrived in Canada.  Toto, we’re not in Beijing anymore.  In 2008, with the Olympic Games a week and a half away, the city was buzzing with anticipation and chaotic with last minute preparations.  Thousands of people were planting flowers, cleaning up and security was fierce.  Here in Vancouver it is so calm and low key you hardly know it will soon be the center of the universe.  There are some banners, new buildings and infrastructure improvements but you don’t sense that Canada’s place in the world hangs on these games.  I’ve been asking around and people tell me that’s just how it is in British Columbia.  People are pretty relaxed and take things in stride.  Even the security is laid back.  Police greet you with friendly smiles.  Maybe it’s because there aren’t that many media, athletes or guests here yet, or maybe folks are being polite and deferential to those who felt the money could be better spent.  Or maybe it’s just that the only thing Canadians get really worked up about is sport.  As one young woman told me, “I’ll get excited for the men’s hockey.”

For more information on Vicky Collins visit http://teletrendstv.com.

This blog was born so that I could post to my friends, family and anyone else interested from the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Now on the eve of 2010 Olympics, as I prepare to board an airplane for British Columbia, I find myself blogging again and reflecting on the only other time I was in Vancouver. I was 10 years old and my great uncle Jacques, who lived in Canada, was getting married. My great grandmother, Daisy Peraya, would not fly on a plane so four generations boarded a Greyhound Bus in Long Beach, California and spent the next 36 hours heading up the coast to Vancouver.

I am certain that this is where the seeds of my wanderlust were planted. I loved looking out the windows at the rugged coast and pulling into Oregon and Washington bus stations at 3 in the morning.  I was mesmerized by the people along the way with character written on their faces and smoke coming out of their mouths.  More than anything else I loved talking to the teenage girls in the back row. They regaled me with the stories about running away, sex, boyfriends and bad behavior. I was flattered that they would tell me secrets only older kids knew.  I aspired to be free just like them. 

I don’t really remember much about the wedding. My most vivid memory of Vancouver was going with a 17 year old distant relative/hottie named Boris to the Pacific National Exhibition. The PNE was a huge provincial fair and I developed the biggest crush on Boris as we were hurtling down the largest roller coaster I had ever dared to ride   I literally “fell” in love.  I’m certain the Olympics in Vancouver will be another great adventure and I will do my best to share them on this blog.

For more information on Vicky Collins visit http://teletrendstv.com.

My 11 year old son, Blair, wants to be a movie director when he grows up and asked if he could attend Denver School of the Arts so he has a better shot at getting into a good film program someday. The audition process was as grueling as getting into college. He needed a 2:00 film, an essay, a resume, a storyboard and examples of his graphic work. Then there was the interview and test. And of course he needed to show passion and enthusiasm. A process not for the faint of heart. We are still waiting to hear if he got in but I thought you might be interested in seeing his film. He has been at this since he was 7 and even has his own company called Figure Productions. The motto is “Go Figure.” You can see more of his work and ideas at http://youtube.com/bewalt12345. He’s very talented (if I do say so myself) and I’m so proud of my little Steven Spielberg.

For more information on Vicky Collins visit http://teletrendstv.com.

In an editorial in the Minneapolis Star Tribune a very clever Lily Coyle took on Pat Robertson of CBN’s 700 Club.  You know, the guy who said the earthquake in Haiti happened because former slaves made a pact with the Devil in 1791 in order to overthrow the French.  I think she’s got the voice of Satan down, don’t you?  For what it’s worth I’ve never believed in a vengeful God either.  Earthquakes, like shit, happen.  These things are not God’s will.  Would love to hear your comments on this one. 

Dear Pat Robertson, I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I’m all over that action. But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I’m no welcher. The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished. Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth — glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle. Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake. Haven’t you seen “Crossroads”? Or “Damn Yankees”? If I had a thing going with Haiti, there’d be lots of banks, skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox — that kind of thing. An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it — I’m just saying: Not how I roll. You’re doing great work, Pat, and I don’t want to clip your wings — just, come on, you’re making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad. Keep blaming God. That’s working. But leave me out of it, please. Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract. Best, Satan

LILY COYLE, MINNEAPOLIS

For more information on Vicky Collins visit http://teletrendstv.com

 

Woman in Rubble of Haiti Earthquake

The Los Angeles Times and the New York Times are doing a great job reporting a backstory in Haiti.  Their journalists are telling how broadcast and cable news handled the incredible logistics of deploying their people to Port Au Prince to cover the story.  This is not to diminish the role of Facebook, Twitter, blogs, YouTube and cell phones, but to get people like Anderson Cooper of CNN, Brian Williams of NBC and Katie Couric of CBS, along with their entourages, to a country with no infrastructure and then see them on the air within 24 hours after the disaster is an incredible feat.  I am watching my friend Kerry Sanders, who is based in Miami for NBC News, cover this story and it looks like he is taking this disaster personally.  Through exhausted eyes and a sick heart, he is reporting about a country and people he cares about deeply.  In one poignant report he said “this city is now the saddest place on Earth.”

What strikes me about the comments following these articles is the vitriol and nastiness aimed at these first responders.  Sure these are the “celebrities” of the networks but they go because this is a story of such tremendous magnitude and their reporting is touching people who are in turn helping to open the floodgates of aid to Haiti at this most terrible time.  I am shocked that anyone would be critical of these efforts.  They are allowing all of us to bear witness and stay informed.  They are moving us to reach for our wallets when we are powerless to do anything else.  Who cares if the broadcasts are rough?  Who cares if Al Roker is doing the weather from the tarmac?  He is also interviewing the people from all over the world who are arriving to roll up their sleeves.  Why shouldn’t Ann Curry be desperately trying to get on a chopper?  Why shouldn’t she rush to the scene along with rescuers and NGOs to cover one of the greatest catastrophes ever?  They’re not getting in the way.  They’re making sure the Haitian people are not forgotten.  I wish I was there with them.  Get real, people.     

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-haiti-media14-2010jan14,0,3499947.story

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/worlds-news-media-enters-port-au-prince/

For more information on Vicky Collins visit http://teletrendstv.com.

Many of you came to this blog to see the story of Juliette’s acid attack. Former model Katie Piper recently spoke to CNN in Great Britain about the brutal attack that changed her life. She is incredibly courageous and is now working to help others through her Katie Piper Foundation (http://www.katiepiperfoundation.org.uk/.)

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/01/12/uk.katie.piper.acid.attack/index.html

For more information on Vicky Collins visit http://teletrendstv.com.

Vicky Collins and Larry Hatteberg

In the room were the legends of photojournalism.  Darrell Barton, Larry Hatteberg and the memory of Bob Brandon.  There were also hundreds of others who had been influenced and inspired by the man we gathered to remember.  I did not know Bob Brandon.  I worked with him only once.  When he died in December 2009 I was struck by the outpouring of accolades for him.  I had no idea he was so inconic and respected.  I went to his memorial service to learn more about this master storyteller.

They say a man is known by the company he keeps and among Bob Brandon’s closest friends is a man who, more than any other, has influenced the storyteller I am today.  I met Larry Hatteberg when I came to Wichita, Kansas in 1981 to be a news producer at KAKE TV.  Prior to that I was a production assistant at KRON TV in San Francisco.  Part of my job description was to make coffee.  I had never produced a show.  I was as green as could be.  At one point Larry told me I reminded him of Jane in “Broadcast News.” 

I made so many mistakes in my early days as a producer but one of the smartest moves of my career was to study how Larry Hatteberg crafted stories.  Larry taught me to write to pictures and natural sound.  He showed me how to be intimate with subjects and respect them.  Even if he was interviewing a dirt poor farmer for “Hatteberg’s People” he never condescended and always listened carefully to what they had to say.  Every person he met could inspire and teach us how to live a better life.  And when he edited he laid the pictures and sound down first then added the words to finish the piece.  Larry did this in a two minute story or a documentary.  Pictures always led.

The enduring legacy of Larry Hatteberg, Bob Brandon and Darrell Barton is they set the standard for television storytellers and continue to raise others up to be the best they can be.  They teach and inspire and the room today was full of their students.  While we all socialized, Ben McCoy, one of the finest photojournalists I know, came up to Larry to shake his hand.  We all stand on the shoulders of giants.  I’ll never know what Larry Hatteberg saw in a scrub like me.  Maybe he recognized talent that I didn’t see myself.  I will forever be grateful that he let me hover over his shoulder and watch him work.  He continues to be one of my greatest mentors and today I finally told him so.

For more information on Vicky Collins visit http://teletrendstv.com.

Balloon Boy dad, Richard Heene, and son, Falcon

This morning, NBC’s Today Show had an exclusive interview with the Balloon Boy’s dad, Richard Heene.  As he prepares for a 90 day jail sentence, Heene, had some choice words about the authorities who he believes have wronged him and his family.  NBC’s Matt Lauer grilled him during a fairly contentious interview in which Heene maintains the Balloon Boy incident was absolutely not a hoax.  This exclusive interview was the result of months of coverage by NBC News and days of work by our booking team and our coverage team.  In the end it made for some very compelling televison.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/34764393#34764393

For more information on Vicky Collins visit http://teletrendstv.com.

It took a while but I finally have 10,000 hits to this blog.  Thanks to all of you who read it.  I would love to know who you are, where you live, what you do, so feel free to introduce yourself.  Reach me at vicky@teletrendstv.com or comment below.  Looking forward to more blogging in the coming year.  Really appreciate your interest.   

For more information on Vicky Collins visit http://teletrendstv.com.

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