Jeneane Jones:  

Life Thanks to Mrs. Jackson-her love of English Writing and commitment to African American studies-I settled on a career in journalism and have been at it for 30 years. I graduated from SFSU in 1977 with a major in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in violin (my other love) I had a lot of ideas then about changing the world through telling truth with justice. I got an internship at KNBR radio (the story behind that is proof that cutting classes once in a while DOES pay!) and spent a year learning about engineering (Thank you Rosie!) and the many ways to say "there's bumper to bumper traffic on the Nimitz," -love you Cheryl!) The following year I got my first TV job as film librarian at KPIX-TV. I worked there four mind-bending years-learned that I didn't have to call my Boss "Mister"; that cursing and screaming in a newsroom could be considered an art form and worked the Saturday shift the day the wires reported death on a Guyana tarmac giving us a glimpse of how evil and cruel mind control can be. I left as a senior writer/news producer to try my skills, and my life, away from family. I landed at a Georgia news station with call letters that happily declared, 'Welcome South Brother.' Four years later, when the world's war on South Africa's Apartheid system was close to hard-fought victory, I knew it was time to leave. I gave up on a dream to work in New York's big three and traded it in to write truth to justice using my faith. I questioned that decision from a New York office overlooking the tree-lined Hudson river for about a year. Then I watched my dreams of filmmaking and seeing history for myself take root. Traveling to South Africa to meet with Bishop Tutu helped; seeing the favelahs of Rio and traveling to Nicaragua to interview Daniel Ortega and victims of the Contras showed me that God had other plans for me. I spent 11 years telling stories about justice and the search for peace from many parts of the world. Then I moved to Nashville, Tennessee to grab a dream of being managing editor of a national TV news show on faith and world news. I produced a documentary on AIDS and its impact on girls in Senegal. I looked up and realized I'd been away from home 20 years. I never thought I'd get a chance to come back but made it just two years before my father died. It gave me a chance to see the man who helped me treasure the gift of music. He found for me my violin stolen some 21 years earlier (that's a story for another day) and nudged me back to music. I still have dreams of playing jazz & gospel (If only I'd practiced like Regina Carter!!!) That takes me to about now. The six years since have been time to reconnect with family, and to keep writing and communicating about faith and justice. My latest documentary (finished in October) let me hear about truth, justice, and faith from our Native American brothers and sisters. I still have a passion for writing and producing, still love my family madly. Recuperating from recent ankle surgery has given me blessed time with my mother, who still thinks nothing of saying, "let me comb your hair." Ah, a moth...Expand for more