Five Things You Don’t Know About Me
Five Things You Don’t Know About Me
A Guest Post by Bruce Van Dusen
I type with two fingers. And way too hard. I’ve had to replace the keyboard on my Mac three times because the vowels are no longer readable. I think it’s the result of starting out pounding away on a Remington desktop manual. My dad bought me one when I was in second grade. I started writing little stories. A teacher read one and told me that the material was not “appropriate.” That kind of put me off the whole writing thing for a while.
I was born in Detroit. When I tell people that they always ask “Downtown?” Like the city’s reputation for toughness is so enormous you assume that all the hospitals closed. Anyway, I was born right downtown. Harper Hospital. A lot of my family still lives in and around Detroit. Downtown now seems to be climbing back. Lots of young people moving downtown. It’s been a long road. Twenty years ago, when I told people where I was from, they shook their heads. Now they smile because Detroit’s cool.
I’m pretty deaf. I was diagnosed with Meniere’s disease in my 40’s. Technology has been my friend because modern hearing aids are pretty great. Phone calls can be hard. And I can’t really listen to music anymore. COVID has been a blessing and a curse. Peoples’ mouths are covered so I can’t hear anything clearly BUT everyone can’t hear so I feel like I have company.
In college, I wanted to be a preschool teacher. I worked in Headstart programs, summer camps, and after school programs with very young kids. My interest in this didn’t last but I really enjoyed being with that age group. Especially managing groups of kids that most people thought were incorrigible. I think it connects perfectly with what I grew up to do. Being a director of commercials and movies requires the same skills as riding herd on a bunch of 4-year-olds.
I have a side hustle as a voice-over performer. Commercials. Banks, airlines, automobile companies think I sound smart and believable. My wife and kids do not agree.
I do not like the beach. I like the water. I like swimming. It’s the view. It’s so boring. I look out at the horizon and think that’s what you’re going to see if things don’t work out after you die and you go to “the other place.” I love being in the mountains. I love seeing height. I love having the foreground, midground and distant shapes that create perspective. It makes my brain come alive.
Five Things You Don’t Know About Me
A Guest Post by Bruce Van Dusen
Bruce Van Dusen, author of 60 Stories About 30 Seconds: How I Got Away With Becoming a Pretty Big Commercial Director Without Losing My Soul (Or Maybe Just Part of It), Post Hill Press, September 15, 2020
Five Things You Don’t Know About Me
A Guest Post by Bruce Van Dusen
