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On Nov. 1, 2006, my spouse was brutally murdered.
On Nov. 8, 2016, nearly 10 years later to the day, Donald J. Trump turned president.
These two tragic occasions profoundly modified how I seen the world and redefined the remainder of my life. Writing, running a blog, tweeting, filmmaking, and podcasting is the manifestation of that transformation.
My spouse was Adrienne Shelly, the attractive, gifted actor and filmmaker who starred in Hal Hartley’s first two indie classics The Unbelievable Fact and Belief, in addition to over twenty different movies, and who finally went on to put in writing, direct, and star within the 2007 movie Waitress. She was killed by a 19-year-old undocumented immigrant building employee who broke into her West Village workplace to rob her. He staged her demise as a suicide. Our daughter was not even 3 years outdated on the time.
I used to be the one who discovered Adrienne lifeless. I insisted she didn't take her personal life. I knew it all the way down to my core. I used no matter energy and sources I might muster to shout it from the proverbial mountaintops. It took 5 days and a few good old style detective work to search out and arrest her killer.
Adrienne’s stunning demise, layered with Trump’s stunning ascent to unchecked energy, set me off on a journey as a grieving widower, mum or dad, and passionate patriot to struggle nonetheless I might for the reality, in opposition to injustice, and to defend and defend our beloved democracy.
Adrienne was type, beneficiant, and had a lot to maintain providing this world.
Trump stays a sadistic, self-serving, evil sociopath who threatens our lives and our democracy.
Like each American, I've a vote and a voice. I’ve chosen to make my life an open e book within the hope that maybe my experiences will help even one different particular person.
When Trump ran for president in 2015, one among his most profitable culture-war weapons was “unlawful” immigration. I watched and listened as he incessantly vilified a whole section of society, warning that caravans stuffed with “criminals, drug sellers, rapists, and many others.” had been headed to America (they by no means got here).
I grew much more pissed off and indignant as he additional ignited this powder keg by exploiting “Angel Mothers”—mother and father and relations of these killed by undocumented immigrants—to assist unfold his incendiary rhetoric that their family members would nonetheless be alive if solely we removed the dangerous Black and brown immigrants—as if our prisons aren’t stuffed with white murderers.
That injustice prompted my Oct. 24, 2016, New York Occasionsop-ed, “My Spouse’s Killer Was Not an ‘Unlawful Immigrant.’”I wrote:
She fell sufferer to a wicked killer who merely occurred to be an undocumented immigrant. It's an apparent distinction, nearly too apparent, but it surely’s an vital one to think about because the nation goes additional down the harmful path of demonizing these not born right here.
In 2017, I made a decision to direct a documentary about Adrienne (Adrienne, out there on HBO Max). The movie solutions three vital questions: Who was Adrienne Shelly, what actually occurred that horrible day, and the way does a household navigate the unthinkable? It contains my interview together with her killer in jail.
I imagine with out documentaries, books, blogs, options, podcasts, and many others. we might by no means totally perceive vital moments in historical past or within the day-to-day lives of bizarre individuals. However not everyone seems to be a storyteller. Not everybody desires to inform their story—particularly when tragedy strikes. I get that. I perceive the necessity to place these experiences in a protected, personal place and transfer on. However with Adrienne’s demise I felt there was a better function to be served.
To that finish, my mission since Adrienne’s demise has been to by some means flip our tragedy into one thing optimistic. One thing that may encourage and be a supply of hope. It started by creating the Adrienne Shelly Basis which, since 2007, has awarded over 100 manufacturing grants to ladies filmmakers, together with, in 2012, for Chloe Zhao, who gained final yr’s Finest Director Oscar for Nomadland.
And now, after a few years of writing and running a blog and greater than a decade of righteously indignant tweeting, I’ve determined to launch a podcast.
The Again Room with Andy Ostroy is an unscripted, humorous, no-holds-barred tackle politics and popular culture. And it’s the subsequent chapter in my quest to talk up, communicate out, and maybe assist my listeners make some sense out of the sheer craziness on the earth.
Like my life, the podcast is “pleased/unhappy.” We’re tackling very severe topics however we’re additionally having some enjoyable and a few laughs. Our first episode’s visitor was actor Paul Rudd. This week’s episode options California congressman, 2020 presidential candidate, and Trump impeachment supervisor Eric Swalwell.
America is on the precipice of autocracy. Trump continues to unfold his Huge Lie. The Republican Celebration has misplaced no matter ethical compass it would’ve had and has remodeled right into a harmful cult indifferent from actuality. America is a toxically divided panorama. The November midterms at the moment are crucial election in historical past. Our future is unsure. Am I pissed off and indignant? You wager your ass I'm. The Again Room is the place I get to vent, proceed the struggle, and provides voice to those that want it.