danmurano.com

Photography, literature, pop culture and creature comforts

Dan Murano

Dan Murano

Welcome to danmurano.com, a site to showcase my photgraphy and work from these incredibly talented friends.

This is a big jump from the static and difficult to update sites I have had in the past, so please bookmark us and come back often for new content in photography, poetry, culture, cats, theater, movie, book and art show reviews, or whatever else you might discover here.

Kathy Blumenstock

Kathy Blumenstock

Kathy has been owned by cats most of her life. She is a career journalist who’s covered news, sports and features for television, print and the Web. She now writes about animals, humans, books, knitting, and everything in between. Kathy believes true high fashion is enhanced by a hint of pet hair.

Grace Cavalieri

Grace Cavalieri

Grace Cavalieri has written several books of poems and 26 produced plays. Her newest publication is a chapbook of poems, "I Gotta Go Now" (Goss::183,2012). Another recent work is "Millie’s Sunshine Tiki Villas" (2011, Casa Menendez). She is the author of 16 books and chapbooks of poetry and 28 produced plays. Grace has founded, and still produces “The Poet and the Poem” on public radio, celebrating 35 years on-air in 2012. It is recorded at the Library of Congress and transmitted via NPR.

Grace's play, “Anna Nicole: Blonde Glory,” opened in NYC, 2011. Her play, “Quilting the Sun,” opened in Beaufort, S.C. 2011. Grace holds the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award, A Paterson Poetry Prize, a Pen Fiction Award, the Bordighera Award for Poetry, The CPB Silver Metal plus others. She lives in Annapolis, Maryland, and is married to metal sculptor, Kenneth C. Flynn. They have four children and four grandchildren. 

Rocci Fisch

Rocci Fisch longbio

Rocci's "Random Thoughts” column evolved from a daily operations sheet that he wrote when he was senior operations producer at ABC News for “This Week with David Brinkley” and the weekend “World News” broadcasts.  He peppered the logistics and editorial advisory with comments on pop culture, along with humorous anecdotes about people  and things in the world outside of the TV studio. During his 25+ years at the network he was also a music and entertainment reporter for  radio and TV and hosted a weekly program called “Sound Bites,” “a look at what’s new and interesting in the world of pop music,” which was provided to all of the ABC-TV affiliated stations across the country.

In 2000 he joined washingtonpost.com and became senior producer and deputy editor of “Live Online,” a daily series of live chats with a roster that included Washington Post reporters, columnists, writers and  personalities plus featured  discussions with outside newsmakers and experts on breaking news stories as they happened and were developing in real time.
 
Rocci has followed popular music since the age of nine when he received his first two 45 r.p.m. records:  “De De Dinah” by Frankie Avalon and “Get a Job” by The Silhouettes.  He has worked in the media since his high school days when he interviewed foreign exchange students and played the latest hits of the day at his hometown radio station on Saturday mornings.  During college he began work in the television business at industry conventions and public TV.  He later moved to ABC where he worked as a member of the production and editorial staffs of “Good Morning America,” “World News,” “Nightline,” “This Week,” the weekend news programs and numerous special events productions over a decades-long career.

Karla McDuffie

Karla McDuffie

Karla is a native of Washington, D.C. and derives a love of diverse cultures from the exciting international flavor of her hometown. Pursuing her interest in African art, she left the country in to travel in sub-Saharan Africa. Returning to Washington, she worked for the Washington Free Press during its inaugural years.

Karla designed and installed the country's first multi-media laboratory for President Johnson's "Upward Mobility Program" at the IRS. Her expertise in this burgeoning new field led her to pursue work in advertising design and public relations, eventually starting her own company.

She has considerable teaching experience with students aged eight to eighty, having developed expressive arts programs for the Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind, the Duke Ellington, East of the River Summer Arts Program and Bolling Air Force Base Arts and Crafts Center. She also taught art for seven years in Arlington Virginia's Public Schools at the Career Development Center and Extended Day, Middle Schools Programs.

Karla joined the Photo/Multi-media team at Washington Post-Newsweek Interactive during the historic transition from film to digital in both still photography and video production. She managed the T.V. Studio, producing some of the country's first live, streaming web video programs and providing a venue for Washington Post columnists' live feeds to the local ABC affiliate.
 
Karla is a contributor to Diversity Interactive World Wide, creating tool kits designed to direct executives, managers and employees to identify opportunities to make diversity-savvy decisions.
 
Community Initiatives:
 
Karla is passionate about her community. As a Buddhist she is focused on encouraging individuals to develop their innate potential and build confidence through Buddhist practice. Determined to build a culture of peace through the performing and visual arts, she is currently the SGI-USA Mid Atlantic Zone Arts Department Director. She has served as the performance and stage director for many SGI cultural events.
 
A long-time supporter of the cooperative movement, Karla has been a member and/or Director of three local co-ops. She is currently President Emeritus of the Board of Directors of MCC, a non-profit founded to build a sustainable future by disseminating information on the benefits of co-operative living.
 
As a Board Member of Imagine Peace Network (IPN) Karla’s involvement began in February of 2001 with the gathering of two thousand women for a peace forum at the World Bank. Karla directed the Opening Ceremonies and a two-hour show with over 100 performing artists from many countries.
 
Music Matters!
 
A huge fan of great music, Karla has been involved with managing or promoting bands since about 1972. She promoted a popular D.C. based 14-piece horn band, "Barely White." She handled promotions for "Union Street Band," a DC-based Afro-beat jazz ensemble whose musicians hail from many nations. Karla served as video producer for two years at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music festival and played a key roll for the first live web-stream of the festival’s Studio SX interviews.