I’ve been involved with community journalism since 1968 when I wrote for my junior school paper, the "Tumbleweed," through high school and college and then wrote for the "Wyoming State Journal." I put aside my newspaper pen and began Boulder Community Media in 2005. There wasn’t much community journalism opportunity, so I resurrected my writing career as a screenwriter. My first short screenplay, “Stardust”, won an award in the 2005 Denver Screenwriting Center contest. I've made a number of movies over the years. Filmmaking is time-consuming, labor and equipment intensive. I recently changed my workflow to first write a book and make a movie based on that content.
- Electric Vehicle Anxiety and Advice - This is a memoir travelogue of three trips covering 2,600 EV miles around Wyoming (2022)
- Beyond Heart Mountain - Winter Goose Publishers released my memoir in February (2022)
- The Zen of Writing with Confidence and Imperfection - This is a book recounting how luck planed into my signing a book deal after a 15-minute pitch meeting. (2020)
- True Stories of an Aging Baby Boomer - War stories about living in a cohousing and lessons others can learn when starting their communities (2021)
- Beyond Sand Creek - About Arapaho tribal efforts to repatriate land in Colorado (PBS - TBA)
- Beyond Heart Mountain - Based on my memoir about my childhood in Cheyenne facing overt and subtle racism toward the Japanese following World War II (PBS - 2021)
- New Deal Artist Public Art Legacy - About artists who created work in Wyoming during the Great Depression (PBS - 2018)
- Mahjong and the West - SAG indie feature which premiered at the semi-important Woodstock Film Festival (2014)
Over the years, I’ve produced directed, filmed and/or edited several short movies, “Running Horses” (Runner Up – Wyoming Short Film Contest), “On the Trail: Jack Kerouac in Cheyenne” (Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Festival, Top 10 Wyoming Short Film Contest), “Gold Digger” (Boulder Asian Film Festival), “Adobo” (Boulder International Film Festival), “A Little Bit of Discipline” (Rosebud Film Series), and two feature length documentaries “Your Neighbor’s Child” (Wyoming PBS and Rocky Mountain PBS), and “Serotonin Rising” (American Film Market, Vail Film Festival). He also directed and produced the award winning stage play “Webster Street Blues” by my childhood friend Warren Kubota.
Boulder Community Media is a non-profit production company dedicated to democratzing media in all their forms - large and small screens, printed page and stage by providing sustainable and community-based content.
I mostly work with community-based media producers, organizations, and socially-responsible businesses to develop their content via – the written word, electronic and new media, the visual and performing arts in a culturally competent manner – I’m what’s commonly called a niche TV and movie producer.
Along with all this is plying my forte’ – fund development through grant writing, sponsorship nurturing and event planning.
Cerveza Modelo is the most popular beer in the United States, primarily consumed by Caucasians. Are we becoming a “mass society” considering that by 2045, the U.S. is likely to be a “majority-minority”? We’ll discuss how personal and cultural narratives shape our perceptions of others, recognizing the biases in the stories we tell and hear about different groups.
Tagline: Bridging Social Divides, One beer at a Time
Overview: Black & Tan is a podcast that explores a new story about beer and the intricacies of cultural understanding in today’s rapidly changing world. Hosted by Pedro Silva, an African American advocate for social equity, and Alan O’Hashi, a Japanese American from Wyoming with a passion for cross-cultural engagement, the show offers insightful discussions designed to inspire personal change.
Each episode tackles ways to bridge cultural divides by making intentional, individual adjustments to foster acceptance and empathy.
With engaging conversations, Black & Tan provides listeners with both practical advice and eye-opening perspectives about our evolving world.
Why Listen? Black & Tan is for anyone who wants to:
Learn ways to bridge gaps and create connections across different backgrounds.
Gain practical tools to make positive, impactful changes within your communities.
Enjoy lively and thoughtful discussions.
Learn simple, actionable steps to encourage understanding and respect.
It took me 75 minutes to figure out how to change the login email address on audible.
Have you ever tried to change an email address on a website? It’s a little thing, but so far, I’ve spent 45 minutes trying to change my audible.com login email address. Audible sells voiced-over books. I’m not much of a reader, but I listen to them.
I thought about my dad, who never opened up a computer nor used a cellphone. Using a battery-powered calculator was as tech-savvy as he would become.
Dad retired from his job shortly before technology displaced analog workers like him.
Seems that audible was purchased by Amazon many years ago. My “current” audible account has been fallow for quite some time, based on the expired credit cards on file.
I wanted to use the email address associated with my audible account to set up Amazon Pay on my revamped websites. Since Amazon and audible are associated, Amazon Pay wouldn’t allow me to use an email address twice.
It was getting to be very frustrating, and I contacted the Chat Help Line. I was connected to a nice person named Shyam. I could tell he wasn’t from the United States because of his sentence structure and word choice.
I thought I had two memberships and asked to delete one of them. After a few chat exchanges, he finally understood, but the reason for the confusion is that my audible account was being managed by Amazon, but I was a member of audible.
The steps Shyam provided were the same straightforward ones I initially followed. I reached the box where I typed the updated email address, and was asked to provide my old password.
Great.
I could have guessed, but likely the Amazon Artificial Intelligence squad would have protected me from myself and locked me out. As unorganized as I am, I did find the password and eventually changed the email address after 75 minutes.
I’m the same age as my dad was when he retired. For an old guy, I’m pretty good with computers and technology. I’ve been simplifying my cyber-life and consolidating accounts, canceling and deleting memberships. There will be a time when these small things will become huge encumbrances.