Several years ago I worked with producer Arlene Wilkinson, who was producing a show for the John Walsh show, “Prescription for Addiction,” that would feature one of my clients (her team won a PRISM award for the piece).

Even on my end the show was no easy feat, but I clearly remember calling Arlene at what would be midnight her time to leave a message, and she answered the phone.  I would have expected her to be annoyed and exhausted, and she may have been a little bit of both, but she was very clear when I expressed my surprise that she was in the office at midnight that these hours were the nature of her job and she was excited about the show they were creating. We’ve stayed in touch ever since.

Arlene has an incredible wealth of experience on the talk show circuit. She began her 10 year television career as an intern and production assistant for the “Ricki Lake” show. In 2000, she was part of the production team that launched Oscar nominated actress Queen Latifah’s foray into daytime television the “Queen Latifah” show. Arlene has been a valued member in many start-ups and pilots such as NBC Universal’s “John Walsh” show and “Jane Pauley” show, Emmy-nominated “Dr. Phil” and Emmy winning “Tyra Banks” show.

Arlene has worked on pilots for comedian Paul Mooney and Lisa Nichols of “The Secret” fame.  In 2007, Arlene produced for two seasons at the NAACP nominated “Judge Mathis” court show. Recently, she jumped in to the word of casting working on the BBC Worldwide Production/SOAPNET ’s new reality series “Bank of Mom and Dad” which premiered in Fall 2009. Her experience has enabled her her to work with celebrities, newsmakers, and everyday people to bring compelling stories to television.

In the fall of 2009, Arlene launched her own production company – Funny Chick Productions! – in which she will produce and create her own original television projects, which currently include a game show, a web-site, and a reality project.

RK: You’ve had an exciting career in broadcast journalism. What drove you to work behind the camera as opposed to print?

AW: I’d like to say there was some master plan but my career in television was a compete fluke. I have a degree in corporate communications and I would have probably gone into PR but I needed an internship to graduate. I applied everywhere and received an offer to intern at a the one and only Ricki Lake show (Go Ricki!, Go Ricki!). I loved it. This combined my love of television, dealing with people and making things happen. Working in television production is a tough gig but it’s in my blood! I can’t really see myself doing anything else.

Working for talk shows that delve into some very serious topics, I imagine (and know from working with you) that being sensitive to emotional situations can be draining. How do manage the challenge of developing a great show while being sensitive to vulnerable guests?

I’ve worked with many hosts (Jane Pauley, John Walsh, and Dr. Phil) that deal with topics ranging from physical abuse, drug addiction, infidelity, murder, rape, etc.  I try to be upfront and honest with the guests. I’m very clear about the topic of the show. It’s a tough juggling act! With sensitive issues I treat the guests with respect and hand hold them through the process.  I’m clear about what a potential guests role or place is in the show.

If we speak with someone on the phone about the show and they aren’t comfortable with everything involved – I won’t book them.  I see the guests as a peer expert to the audience.  The guest’s life experiences (good or bad) will help someone watching them at home.  As hard as it can be I’ve also learned to leave the job at the office. It hard but I learned to compartmentalize and never take the office home with me.  That can be hard to do…there are guests whose stories and faces I will never forget.

Do you have any favorite stories that you worked on that you’d like to share?

There are too many to share for many different reasons.  However, during my time at Tyra working on her “So what” size acceptance show was not only challenging but empowering.  It was a simple phrase and concept but it helped a lot of women deal with their self esteem and learn to love themselves.  However, there have been so many faces and stories that have either made me laugh or cry depending on the day.  I always hope that bringing that particular guest or story to the general audience helps people in some way.

Have social media tools like Twitter and Facebook impacted television production for you?

It’s a great aid in doing my job.  If I need an additional guest I can put the word out on these sites and friends and family can help me get booked.  I’ve searched for and booked guests off of Facebook, Twitter and Myspace (the granddaddy of social networking sites).  Recently while working in casting for a reality show my co-workers were able to start trending topics on the subject of the show we are working on.  Even just tweeting a link to our casting email or Web page is great! Facebook I’ve been using since it was just for college kids. Now, my friends grandmother’s have Facebook pages. It’s amazing, can you believe that Oprah and Barbara Walters are now tweeting!

What qualities/traits do you value when working with a publicist? What attributes have deterred you from working with a PR practitioner?

I love it when a PR person is understanding and can compromise! I love when the publicist understands that I’m trying to help them promote their client or product. Sometimes I’ll have to call multiple times with different requests that my bosses might have to make them happy. Trust me if I can get a product or person that you are pitching onto the show I’m working on it makes my job easier.  What deters me from working with someone if they are too pushy.  You may have a great client and/or product but if it doesn’t work for the format of my show – it doesn’t work!  Nothing will turn me off more if you consistently call and push the same client on me when I’ve told you why it won’t work!

What can a PR person do to help producers obtain the information they need for a good story?

A PR person should know the format and type of show I’m working on.  Do your homework!!!! Research whether the person and/or product you are pitching me would fit the demographic of my show.  It always amazed me when I produced for  Dr. Phil who 99% of the time deals with serious issues.  I would get pitched a beauty product!  When I worked with the great Rachel Kay J.  You did your research! A good PR professional has to think like a television producer! Come to the table with some thoughts about how your client can be a viable part of my show.  Lay out what guests, video, pictures and/or audio would be available to me.

What should PR people know about you before sending you a pitch? If I called you on the phone with a story idea, what would you tell me?

Many times, when I receive a call from a PR professional I’m in a time crunch for completing another show and /or segment.  I always appreciate a PR professional ability to understand that.  I would tell you that I’m on deadline and would like an email from you with the press release attached.  In the email let me know how you see your client fitting in with my show.  So, that during our next conversation we can cut to the chase and kick around ideas both of us may have about whether or not I can use your client in the show.

Rachel Kay

Joshua Davis has one of the most diverse backgrounds of any journalist I’ve met, and personifies the true essence of classic investigative journalism.  We spent several days in a hospital as he chronicled the treatment of a patient dependent on heroin for a multi-page story in Wired magazine.

My job was three-fold – ensure my client, the developer and practitioner of the exclusive treatment, was appropriately portrayed, help Joshua and his photographers get a compelling story and ensure that the patient, in such a vulnerable time, was treated with dignity and respect.

I’ll never forget watching Joshua sitting on the hospital room floor.  It was very easy to see he was becoming engrossed in the scene, taking copious notes, and mentally constructing a story which fairly portrayed the challenges, stereotypes and emotion behind drug dependency.

That was years ago, and I’m thrilled that he agreed to be interviewed here. To give you some background, Joshua is a contributing editor for Wired, and has also written for GQ, Maxim, Men’s Health, Outside and others.  One of his most memorable pieces was sneaking into Iraq to cover the war for Wired.  Josh also completed a documentary called “The Beast Within,” which documented his attempt to become the lightweight armwrestling champion of the world.

You can learn much more about his prolific journalism career, which spans television, film and print, at his Web site.

RK: You’ve covered a diverse and eclectic mix of stories during the course of your career.  How do you decide on your subject matter? Is it important to you that you actually take something away from each story you immerse yourself in?
JD: I follow my curiosity. Sometimes I look at a globe and put my finger on a place I want to go. Then I’ll think of subjects that are associated with the place and begin to do some research to see if there is a story there. Sometime I will just sit in my office and type random thoughts into Google to see where they lead.

My aim with my articles is to tell a gripping story that draws the reader in. My goal is to have the reader remember the experience.

RK: Which projects that you’ve worked on do you consider to have been most exciting?
JD: I’ve done a number of stories that have gotten my heart racing. I covered the war in Iraq, spent time in Southern Colombia during a rebel uprising, and followed a group of maritime salvage experts into the Dominican Republic in the wake of a hurricane. I’ve also written about advances in cream cheese technology and found that pretty exciting too. If the story is good, it doesn’t really matter what the setting is – the subject matter can get my adrenaline going.

RK: In addition to magazine writing, you work with a number of other types of media as an author and television and film producer, and stories of yours are even being adapted to film. Did you set out to be a jack-of-all-trades or did your career evolve over time? What interests you about journalism in all its forms?
JD: My career evolved. I never intended to be a journalist; I just kind of stumbled onto it. I was making documentaries at the time about unusual contests. At first, I just filmed them but then I started to compete. I entered the U.S. National Armwrestling Championship and surprisingly ended up 4th in U.S. in the lightweight division. That made me an alternate for the U.S. National team and when the 2nd and 3rd guys couldn’t make it; I was invited to compete at the World Championship in Poland. I ended up 17th in the world and made a doc about that experience. That film got me signed by an agency in LA and led me into the TV realm.

At the same time, I wrote an article for Maxim about my journey to Poland and that was my first long-form magazine article. I also ended up writing a book about the contests for Random House (the book is titled “The Underdog“). So it’s all been a bit of evolution starting with armwrestling!

RK: Have you incorporated any social media elements into your reporting? Do you use social networking professionally or personally?  How do you feel that tools like blogs and Twitter impact the way news is consumed as opposed to traditional vehicles?
JD: I have Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter accounts but I don’t use them that much. I feel like I spend most of my time working and don’t want to get too distracted. There’s only one occasion that I can recall where I came across some interesting info on a social networking site. It was actually a Russian site dedicated to introducing Western men to Russian women. I was writing a piece about a man who had built a pirated DVD empire in Shanghai and he was using the site to meet women. He listed a bunch of personal info on it and I quoted that in the story. The moral, I guess, is be careful what you post.

RK: What qualities/traits do you value when working with a publicist? What attributes have deterred you from working with a PR practitioner?
JD:  For me, I appreciated a publicist who will point me towards good interview subjects. Plus, I like PR people who understand what I need to make a story work. That means understanding the nature of the publication and understanding what makes a great story.

RK: What can a PR person do to help you to obtain the information you need for a good story?
JD: Arrange uncoached interviews. There’s nothing worse than a canned presentation.

RK: Do you receive PR pitches?  Do you ever use pitches for story fodder? If so, what kind of pitch catches your eye?

JD: I receive PR pitches every day. I have only written one story based on a pitch in 8 years and it was a short 200 word piece about an Italian sewage agency that was testing their sewage to determine the amount of drugs the population was doing. What appealed to me was how unusual and strange it was.

RK: What’s next on the horizon for you?

JD:  Finding a wild, wonderful and surprising story!

Rachel Kay

As PR people we can help each other, but let’s face it, it’s much more effective to learn best practices straight from the horse’s mouth, which is why we’ll be featuring interviews with talented journalists asked to give their candid opinions on the PR people they work with everyday. Hold your breath – this might hurt a little!

We are very fortunate to kick off this series with an interview with Ken Wheaton, an assistant managing editor for Advertising Age.  I wanted to chat with Ken because I enjoy his sarcastic wit and frank commentary.  Ken describes himself as a crank, grouch and contrarian (I bet he’s really a softie) who starts every day at The Daily Puppy and I Can Haz Cheezburger (see I told you). An aspiring marine biologist from Opelousas, Louisiana, he switched majors to English and took only a single journalism class.

In addition to his role at Ad Age, the newlywed (one year!) has also completed his first novel, “The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival”, which will be out in December from Kensington Books. Set in South Louisiana, it’s a comedy about a priest (from my dialogue with him a comedy makes a lot of sense – he is very funny). Ken is also wrapping up a second novel (all I know is it talks about advertising, Twitter, Gawker and some other fun stuff!).

I want to preface this interview by saying that it is well worth the read – Ken has provided us with some fantastic insight woven together with his incredibly biting humor.  Enjoy!

RK: You are an assistant managing editor for Advertising Age.  Can you tell me a little more about your role?

KW: We have a few a.m.e’s at Ad Age and each of our roles is a little different. Each, however, is primarily an editing role and not a writing role. In other words, we’re not the ones on the front lines doing the reporting. While we as editors try to think up compelling stories for our readers, the reporters — who quickly become experts in their specific beats — come up with the bulk of story ideas. They pitch to us and we give thumbs up or thumbs down.

And while I do a good bit more writing than the other a.m.e.’s because of the Adages column and the blogs, I’m typically NOT out there hustling for stories. People, listen to me, figure out what reporters cover what beat and call them! Besides, if the reporter is convinced it’s a story, I’m more likely to be convinced.

Here’s what I do. I write/edit Adages the Blog. I write/edit Adages the column in the print book. I edit Small Agency Diary. I edit Big Tent, our diversity blog (and sometimes write for that, too.) During political cycles I write/edit Campaign Trail. I also edit the Columns page and the Viewpoint page. And, yes, I edit stories for the rest of the book as well. It’s a whole lot of cat wrangling.

Things that should be pitched in my general direction are guest columns, guest blogs, and potential bloggers for Small Agency Diary or Big Tent. You CAN pitch straight news my way, but I’m not always the best person for that.

You are charged with selecting stories for both online and print.  How do you determine where a story is most appropriate? Are the approaches to reporting and writing style different depending on the medium?

There was a time when we thought there were huge differences between Web and print. For a while we fell into that thinking of “Let’s save the important stuff for the book and we’ll run everything else on the Web.” Those days, thank God, are over. If it’s a big story, and it’s finished, it goes on the Web. We will hold an analytical piece for publication in print–but it’s still going to end up on the Web come Monday. And there isn’t any longer such a thing as a big breaking exclusive that we can hold through the week and over the weekend, hoping that no one else will get it.

I’d say in terms of writing stories, there isn’t much difference between the two. Of course, when it comes to blogging, there’s a difference in tone and pacing. And when it comes to headline writing, you do things in print a certain way (due to space restrictions and reading habits) and things on the Web another way (due to reading habits and the bane of my existence, SEO).

Now if you could kindly tell your CLIENTS that one isn’t better than the other! It gets pretty frustrating to have a PR person call up and say, “Hey, we’ll give you a great story. But it has to run in print.” I like to think that MOST PR people understand why we hang up on them at that point.

Firstly, we get very huffy when you call up trying to dictate how we’re going to cover something and where it’s going to run. Secondly … well, there is no secondly. I believe most PR people get it and I feel bad for those who have clients who think that if it doesn’t run in print it doesn’t count. And, yes, I’ve had that discussion: “God, I know. Don’t hate me, but my client wants it to run in print. He doesn’t read the Web.” Listen, I understand.

And I also understand why a particular client wants it to run in print. Because your client is likely an old white guy who still writes longhand and uses the fax machine. He has an assistant he might still refer to as a secretary and she brings him the print version of newspapers every morning. He thinks the interwebs machine is a series of tubes and you damn hippies better stay off his lawn. And his friends in the business all do the same thing. So, for them, it’s true: if it’s not in print, it doesn’t count.

And, for the time being, we have a bit of print crowd and online crowd that don’t overlap at all. From my own little realm, I can have a post on Adages that gets heavy readership all week long and I’ll run it in the book feeling guilty for recycling and suddenly I’ll hear from people I haven’t heard from in awhile. Same thing with our bloggers. They’ll get feedback of one kind on the site and on those occasions when I run an entire post in the book, they’ll get a completely different type of feedback.

Sooner or later that will end. I hope. Tell your clients you get a) more room on the Web and b) more readers on the Web.

I’ve seen some pretty passionate viewpoints from you in regards to Twitter.  What do you love about the tool and what about it drives you crazy?

I think Twitter is fun. I think it can be useful for some things — like meeting people of similar interests, starting fights, customer service, finding new sources, really small-scale fundraising or marketing, those sorts of things.

To be honest, I got into Twittering for, wait for it, marketing myself. SHOCK! HORROR! Why, just last year I was making fun of Twitterers. And then I figured, I have a novel coming out, maybe I should try it. I wasn’t so stupid that I thought I’d be able to hop on two weeks before the book came out and say, “HEY GUYS, GO BUY MY BOOK. K, THNX, BAI!”

So I jumped in and, as I sort of suspected I would, became addicted immediately and now my wife laughs at ME for Twittering and then I’m like, “Shut up! You don’t understand. You NEVER understand!” (Or maybe I’m getting mixed up with the time my mom wouldn’t buy me that Michael Jackson pleather jacket with all the zippers.)

What drives me crazy about Twitter is the Twitterers. And you know who you are, the ones who think Twitter will free Iran and cure cancer and break the back of the mainstream media. You’re probably the same people who jumped my case when I said Second Life was a big stinking loser and businesses shouldn’t waste time or money in the space! HA! I’ve taken some pretty nasty shots at these groups in the past.

Indeed, I think that this piece — Web 2.0 Cured My Cancer and Made Me Taller — is one of my favorite pieces I’ve written. Ironically enough, a week after writing that, I found out I had a minor form of skin cancer. That’s what happened when you mess with Web 2.0!  But keep in mind that I USE all of these tools and I like all of these tools — except Second Life, which I think was put on the earth for the sole purpose of allowing me to call someone else a nerd for a change.

Twitter gurus and social-media experts who claim that this space can do it all bug me as well–especially when they’re trying to separate people from their money with their tips and promises. I swear if I hear one more person claim that Obama won the election because of social media I’m going to scream.

The two biggest keys to Barack Obama’s win? TV and e-mail. How do I know this? His own campaign SAID SO. DO YOU HEAR ME PEOPLE? OBAMA’S CAMPAIGN SAID SO.

Call up Joe Rospars (or search our story about him on AdAge.com). E-mail was the unheralded star of the digital effort. The other things were useful, to be sure. But don’t underestimate e-mail. Indeed, he said for politicians there’s not much point on getting in on the ground floor of every new digital thing precisely because there are no people there yet. And digital was used to do two things, build word of mouth and — just as important — rake in loads of money to spend on, guess what, TV!

The Iran thing really pissed me off for two reasons. One was that I felt like I was surrounded by a bunch of 17-year-olds who, just because THEY noticed something for the first time, think it’s happening for the first time. These sorts of things have happened in Iran in the late 1990s and again in 2002-2003. This isn’t the first time. And Iranians were NOT using Twitter to orchestrate rallies — not the ones who didn’t want to be caught, imprisoned, tortured and killed. There’s no evidence that any of them did.

Which brings me to the sourcing side of Twitter, the trust factor. There was a lot of garbage floating around on Twitter–some of which might have been written by the Iranian government–and it was just being passed along as fact.

(Not that the MSM is always better at it. Despite their whitewashing after the fact, the MSM peformed abysmally during Hurricane Katrina, hysterically reporting rapes, cannibalism, sniper fire and Godzilla attacks in the Superdome when, in fact, none of that happened. It was Bigfoot, not Godzilla.)

And then there are those who were saying how awesome Twitter was for a year, but now that all these other people are on it, they’re like, so, totally over it, you know? OMG. These were the kids in high school and college who would get pissed off and quit listening to their favorite band when that band ended up on the cover of Rolling Stone.

Finally, as has been pointed out to me by more than a few people, we just sound stupid when talking about Twitter. Grown men and women shouldn’t twalk about tweeting in the twitterverse in public. That sort of crap makes you look like a, well, a twit. (Bet you thought I was going to use another vowel in that one, didn’t you?)

How has social media changed the way you deliver news?

Overall, it hasn’t. It’s just given us another tool to use and, shhhhhh, don’t tell anyone, it’s making journalists think a little more about PR and marketing, because suddenly they realize the value of marketing their own stories, to drive more traffic, in hopes that they’ll get paid at the end of the week. Every little bit counts!

But here’s the thing about social media. It’s labor intensive. Some of our reporters got slapped around for being Twitter snobs and not following enough people. But the fact is, they’re busy reporting–making phone calls, running down facts, doing their jobs. And building up followers on Twitter and keeping up relationships on Twitter takes work. You have to have time for it — and the inclination. Or, like me, you have to be both a multitasker and a complete whore for attention.

Does the fact that you write about advertising and marketing impact the way you feel about the PR profession, either positively or negatively?

While you people — yes, I said YOU PEOPLE — routinely drive me up the wall and I’m continually amazed at how BAD some people can be at the job, I’m also now inclined to have more sympathy for the sort of crap you have to put up with every day, caught between demanding clients and hard-to-impress, overworked, underpaid journalists who may or may not be looking for someone on whom to take out their frustration. I don’t think I could do it. And I am impressed with PR practitioners who do the job, do it well and nail it.

What qualities/traits do you value when working with a publicist? What attributes have deterred you from working with a PR practitioner?

As in all things in life, have a sense of humor.

If you’ve ever sent me an email that says, “Dear Kevin, We think Adweek would love this story,” I’m likely not going to work with you. And if you’re sending e-mails with a subject line that says “Press Release Attached” or “Announcement from Company X,” rest assured those are going straight into the garbage and you’re going on the blocked sender list.

There are also those shops that engage in repeated cheap stunts for their clients, trying to drum up scandal or something similar. I don’t care if you’re Mother Teresa or someone who buys me drinks everyday and comes over to my house to play X-box (and lets me win): Don’t pitch me, because I’m not listening.

Don’t waste my time. If you’re in a field that’s going to have you in repeated contact with Ad Age, get the print magazine and study the masthead. It’s broken down by beat and everything, so you should know which reporter to call. And if we’re talking about me –me, me, me — remember, I’m not a reporter and I’m tied to a desk most of the day, editing or dealing with bloggers and such. So chances are, even if we’re like, totally best Twitter buds, I won’t have time to meet with your CEO when he’s in town.

It’s not because I’m a jerk — well, not only because I’m a jerk — it’s because a) I’m busy and b) since I’m not a reporter, it doesn’t do me much good to meet with him or her.

There’s another reason for this. As editors, we handle so much stuff we end up being generalists. I mean, the only thing I’d consider myself even remotely above average in would be politics. So we really rely on the reporters to be the filters. They live and breathe their beats, so they are more likely to know if something is new and exciting or worth pursuing.

There are times when someone pitches me and I’m like, “Hey, that’s so cool” and when I tell the reporter, the reporter is like, “Dude, there were still only 48 states when that news first broke.” And then I feel stupid and then I blame whoever pitched me. It’s a horrible, vicious cycle.

Don’t call me! E-mail me. And follow up via e-mail. In general, I’m not a phone person. But know that journalists–editors in particular–are called all day long by stalkers and nutjobs and conspiracy theorists. (I get occasional calls from a weirdo at a payphone promising an exclusive very important story, but he doesn’t say what it is on voicemail and doesn’t email.) I start to feel harried and paranoid myself after a while.

I — and most journalists — am sort of like that pain-in-the-ass significant other and our demands boil down to this: read our minds! Don’t kiss up to us — unless we’re in a mood to be kissed up to. Don’t call us — unless you have something we really want. Don’t be overly friendly–unless we’re in the mood to be friendly. Etc.

When it comes to pitching, it will also help if you think beyond your client and to the bigger market place. We tell this even to our reporters when they pitch us: “Why should our readers in categories beyond your specific beat care?” There’s so much information out there that readers fill overwhelmed, so it’s our job to synthesize and offer smart analysis. Otherwise, we’re just a news aggregator or wire service – which are fine things to be, but not what we strive for. We’re trying to educate, offer service as well as news.

So the job of reporters when they pitch us is to convince us that the 30 people beyond the company who pitched them will want to read such a story. Obviously, that’s not always an easy thing to do, but that’s not to say you shouldn’t try. Who knows where a pitch will lead.

One more helpful tip regarding pitching editors at Ad Age. We’re trying to run the Web and get the print book out on Thursdays and Fridays, so unless it’s breaking or important news, those are typically the days we’re most likely to get annoyed.

And, for all PR folks out there, read The Bad Pitch Blog!

As an experienced editor, how important is it to you to adhere to AP style guidelines?  Many people say that a shift to citizen journalism through blogs and sites like Twitter makes AP style irrelevant – would you disagree? How do you feel when a publicist sends you a press release that doesn’t follow AP style?

Everything — well, every serious thing — on Ad Age is supposed to adhere to AP Style, even the blogs. We’re going to slip on that, of course, because while our output grows every day, our copy desk doesn’t. And while I was once a copy editor here, I lost about 20 IQ points and forgot half the rules the minute I stepped away from the copy desk.

As far as press releases, I wasn’t even aware that some strive to write them in AP style. It’s a nice gesture, but as long as your grammar and spelling is solid — and please spell the name of your client right! — that’s about all I ask. But keep it short and jargon-free. Say what you have to say in one graf and stick the release at the bottom.

I don’t think Twitter makes grammar/usage irrelevant at all. In fact, I’d say that you’d best keep your Twitter speak out of your e-mail pitches. You wouldn’t use IM language — well, I hope you wouldn’t — in a pitch. Don’t use twanglage (or however you’d say it).

What would you say to someone pitching you over Twitter?

Twitter’s still very touch and go for me. Putting aside the fact that I’m usually NOT the first person you should be pitching at Ad Age. The first few times people started pitching me on Twitter, I was offended. I felt as if I was just hanging out at a party or a bar and a new friend was like, “Hey, by the way, my boss has this totally cool idea.”

I’m trying to remember my place in life — and also the main reason I got on Twitter in the first place was to sell my own book!

Rachel Kay

Photo of Ken Wheaton © Lisa Fain.