Opening Day - Hope

The Boys of Summer - Second Base, sequel to the award-winning first documentary, began principal photography on March 13, 2014. We need your help. Please visit our kickstarter page and share it with your friends and family.

For those who love the game, the excitement of a new baseball season is remarkable. It coincides, not coincidentally, with the rebirth that is spring. Temperatures warm, thoughts of summer abound and hope is renewed. Why does hope matter? Life is lost without it. Life without hope is mechanical, thoughtless drudgery. What one hopes for is entirely subjective; a day of good health, a winning lottery ticket, a call from a loved one, a base hit or a strike out. Maybe all of those things. Spring and baseball bring them forth for those who worship at the diamond. We hope.

Today we're gearing up for our road trip north to the Bay Area. We leave on Wednesday for Walnut Creek, the city where I grew up. I'm always renewed when I return. We will stay with my parents in the house where I grew up. I'll see many friends, now with families of their own, who I grew up with. A good friend's wife just gave birth to their first child. As parents in our 40's, this is at least somewhat remarkable. New life is new hope. We hope.

I will return to the spot where I shot the cover for "Boys of Summer". It's my favorite picture I've ever taken. It's one of the few times I've had something become, in reality, so clearly and accurately what I saw in my head. Dad and I will, once again, play catch. In between us, in addition to the ball, will be my son and daughter. This is second base - a hopeful base inasmuch as we've advanced. Still a long way from home, but better here than on the bench. We hope.

"Boys of Summer" is evolving. The tagline/metaphor for the project is: "Baseball is a vehicle". We will ride this beast wherever she roams. Just last week we solidified a relationship with our local APDA (American Parkinson's Disease Association) chapter. We have ongoing work with Superior Health Solutions (which is offering a progressive treatment pro-bono for my father) and the New York Stem Cell Foundation (which has taken my dad on as a volunteer to grow stem cells from his skin - we just have to make it back there). We hope baseball will be our vehicle - taking us back there for the games, giving us the opportunity to participate in an exciting study. We hope. 

I also received notification that I was wait-listed for Duke's MFA Documentary program. While this isn't the jump up and down moment I was hoping for, a la acceptance, it does give me hope. Duke's Neurology department does a great deal of work with the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Boys of Summer has a relationship with MJFF, as well. This would be a great opportunity to bring parties together via the medium of documentary in a way that serves all. We hope. 

The Boys of Summer - Second Base, sequel to the award-winning first documentary, began principal photography on March 13, 2014. We need your help. Please visit our kickstarter page and share it with your friends and family.