- A New Novel
Writer
Self-employed
Oct 2013 – 2018
Host/Producer
ThoughtCast
Nov 2004 – Oct 2013
Boston, MA
ThoughtCast is an ideaspace for authors, academics and intellectuals, hosted by Jenny Attiyeh. We partner with The Forum Network, a PBS/NPR site devoted to academic content, and Harvard University Extension School. These institutions share with ThoughtCast the goal of providing stimulating intellectual content for people eager to pursue the life of the mind.
Freelance Reporter
The Boston Globe
2001 – 2004
Boston Massachusetts
A Brush with Slurpees
By Jenny Attiyeh
July 7, 2002
There wasn’t much to be had on the streets that night. Bill O’Keefe was searching for wood. He’d already looked over Commonwealth Avenue, but there were only cardboard boxes, big black garbage bags, the odd discarded computer.
What he needed was some pine, freshly cut and smooth enough to fashion into a sturdy picture frame. Usually on a Friday night or a Saturday at dawn, before the trash trucks came, he had better luck. But not this night. Anyway, it was cold out, and his thoughts were in a different place.
A large canvas beckoned him, and he was worried he wouldn’t get back to it before the paint dried. So Bill turned around and headed for the 7-Eleven at the corner of River and Charles streets, on Beacon Hill.
Bill sleeps there, on the floor of the basement that he has turned into an artist’s studio. Although he has permission to stay, he never knows when he might be asked to move on. He could afford a low-rent apartment, but prefers to save his money for art supplies and an uncertain future. When not below ground, he’s at the 7-Eleven, where he works the register for $9 an hour, about 30 hours a week. He usually works the night shift, from 4 p.m. until 2 a.m. But tonight he was on his own. “I am under a spell,” he had said earlier. “I must paint.”
Bill locked the studio door and walked down a small flight of steps. It was now almost 10:30 p.m. On a makeshift machine, he brewed espresso strong enough to keep him going for the next seven hours. Bill turned on his music, high, and picked up a brush…
Dressed in black leggings and T-shirt, his bright hair a halo around his head, Bill can be startling at first. Although far from the typical 7-Eleven clerk, he’s become a popular fixture there. On the job, he is in constant motion, courting customers, cracking jokes, counting money, stocking milk. As the evening crawls on, the store turns into a watering hole, a gathering of loners, with Bill presiding.
Reporter/Producer
New Hampshire Public Television
1999 – 2000
Correspondent/Producer for New Hampshire Roundtable. Covered the Presidential Primary and state politics. Interviewed candidates and participated in nationally televised presidential debates.
Host/Producer
WNYC-TV
1995 – 1998
Host/Producer of the WNYC Cultural Minute, covering the arts and culture throughout the city. Produced mini-documentary on the making of a Philip Glass opera. Reporter for News City, focusing on City Hall and local news.
Resident reporter, Freelance reporter
National Public Radio
1989 – 1994
Washington, D.C., Boston, Los Angeles, New York City
Resident reporter for Performance Today during summer of 1989. Worked at NPR in Washington D.C., then sent to WBUR Radio in Boston to do more arts reporting.
Back in Los Angeles, I did freelance reporting for Performance Today, Morning Edition and Weekend All Things Considered, and continued to do reporting for various NPR programs on occasion over the next several years.
Reporter
WNYC Radio
1993
Part-time reporter covering mayoral campaign, breaking news, politics and the arts.
Reporter
KCRW, NPR
Jul 1988 – Aug 1989
Santa Monica CA
Hosted and produced “What Do We Owe?” a national award-winning documentary on the plight of Japanese Americans interned in camps during World War II.
Covered the arts for “Arts LA” weekly radio program on a freelance basis.
.
Reporter
BBC World Service
1987 – 1988
Freelance reporter for BBC World Service Radio. Covered events in Kenya, London and Los Angeles.
