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America is a patchwork quilt... and stories are its stitching.
Christian D'Andrea
America is a patchwork quilt, and stories are its stitching.
In a divided age, we need those unifying stories more than ever. In order to find them, I practice the lost art of Shunpiking — knowing when to “shun” the turnpike and get onto the back roads, where the good stories are tucked away, the ones that remind us of our best selves.
- Christian D'Andrea
Inspecting the hurricane we're about to descend into
I'll go to any length to discover and showcase Americans doing their best for each other.
Hurricane Hunters
In Gulfport, Mississippi, I discovered the home of the Air Force's extreme weather squadron—the men and women who fly into hurricanes. They do it in order to gather the key pieces of weather data (from inside the eye) that allow meteorologists to predict landfall location and warn threatened communities. I decided to make a documentary TV series about this group of selfless stalwarts who risk their lives to keep others safe. So I spent two years flying into hurricanes with them, as creator/producer/director of a multi-season show on The Weather Channel.
In Gautier, Mississippi, I came across a biker conclave where black and white clubs do something unexpected to each other… they embrace. It's an exhibition of American brotherhood that's surprising to some, but normal for these folks in MS. So I shined a light on it with a short film, which went on to win some awards and air on PBS.
Touching the Dragon
I wrote this book about war, hell, and surviving trauma with Jimmy Hatch. Our objective: tell a story that can help save lives—by proving to people who've suffered trauma that there is no stigma in opening up about their pain.
Published by Knopf and Vintage.
Survivor Cadres
A new way to disrupt suicide and save lives.
We noticed that Touching the Dragon—which shares the story of a suicide survivor—was saving lives. So I'm amplifying that effect with a 501(c)3 that lifts the voices of Survivors and gathers them together in cadres, where they can talk candidly about their struggles and what worked. These Survivor Cadres become trusted lifelines, drawing sufferers out of isolation and giving them the confidence to admit their pain—an admission that saves lives.
The Porch
and the art of
Listening to America
®
WE GET TOGETHER
ON PORCHES
Fostering young voices
At the Boys and Girls Club of Palm Springs, I put together a filmmaking team that helped a young woman confront her bullies.
I also do a bit of shunpiking when it comes to academic appointments, finding ways to foster talent in lesser-known zones. As a professor of journalism and film at Oklahoma Baptist University, in Shawnee, Oklahoma, I shepherded the documentary projects of rising filmmakers.
Prof Dandrea and students at 2019 OAB Awards
Oklahoma Baptist University number two nationally in student engagement WSJ
Prof Dandrea and students at 2019 OAB Awards
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Embedding, to get the unfiltered story
In Hammond, Louisiana, and Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, I came across the CBP Air and Marine Interdiction teams who use boats and planes to disrupt the drug trade. Now I'm creating a documentary TV series in order to A) shine a light on these selfless people who risk themselves for others, and B) smash stereotypes. The people doing drug interdiction work are not the caricatures we're often sold. In many instances, some of the most committed federal agents patrolling our southern seas are first-generation Americans from Mexico, working side by side with old-line Texans and Floridians. Point being: there's unity when the mission is worthwhile, like fighting cocaine traffickers.
Grabbing some footage during an embed
with federal drug interdiction agents
Finding hidden harmonies
Finding new ways to honor WW2 vets
...and connect upcoming generations to that great one.
In northern California, I met a colorful band of adventurers who find lost WW2 aircraft and resurrect them. Sometimes, they even find the actual pilot who was shot down in the plane they’re salvaging and invite him up for a spin. One such veteran WW2 aviator said that the reunion flight with his old plane was “the last chapter in my story... the circle is complete... this is the last thing I had to do in my life."
On a road trip through Arizona, I veered off the freeway and visited the Army's Military Freefall School in Yuma, where special operators learn to fly their bodies and insert themselves behind enemy lines, undetected. At the time, I was a producer at a film company, and I was working on a screenplay which had key scenes set at Military Freefall School. So I called, got the commander, and asked if we could meet and have him vet the screenplay, in order to make sure the portrayals were accurate. He agreed. While on base, he gave me the tour, and it dawned on me that the real school was more interesting than the fictional screenplay. (Their pedagogy is unique: they throw candidates out of planes and teach them how to fly as they fall at 120 mph.) So I got permission from the Army to make a documentary, and secured a TV deal with Discovery Channel.
Fighting for the ones who fight for us
While at Yuma Proving Ground making HALO FREEFALL WARRIORS, I noticed that troops were being fed unhealthy foods laden with trans fat. Trans fat causes coronary heart disease. Because deployed troops are busy with other things (like combat), they aren't able to lobby the government to improve the nutritional quality and safety of what they eat. So I took up the cause on their behalf. I created a venture with my brothers, became the Army’s formal Research and Development partner in performance nutrition, and pioneered the movement to end trans fat in troop feeding. As part of that effort, we created the first zero-trans-fat energy bar for the military: Soldier Fuel. It was quickly featured in the U.S. Special Operations Forces Nutrition Guide and is now used by other top allied militaries, like the Israel Defense Forces, the Canadian Armed Forces, and the Philippines Special Forces.
IDF Technology and Logistics Soldier Fuel
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ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Having started a family business of my own, I also started advocating for family businesses, in general, because they play such an important role (they account for half of the nation's employment, for example).
Championing family businesses
Cultural projects that inspire, and
connect us to something
The Celebrated Fish House Punch
One shunpiking jaunt landed me in a rare books archive, where I stumbled across the secret recipe to America’s oldest original cocktail, Fish House Punch. I'm now invited to host Fish House Punch tastings and lectures, where I share the lively story of the fabled punch — and my lucky discovery of its recipe — as a dynamic way for people to engage with the past. At the heart of the talks are two ideas:
1) The best foods and the best drinks all share a special ingredient. Story. Without a good story, food and drink are just sustenance.
2) Fish House Punch—created in Pennsylvania in 1732 by a hardy bunch of colonials who combined good ingredients from different parts of the globe—echoes that other cocktail created in Pennsylvania in the 1700s by colonials who combined good political ingredients from different parts of the globe. The Constitution.
Christian D'Andrea at Harvard discussing FishHouse Punch
Christian D'Andrea Philadelphia Fish House Punch talk
Christian D'Andrea Oxford Fish House Punch talk
Christian D'Andrea at Harvard discussing FishHouse Punch
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God's Tweets
When you shunpike as much as I do, you notice the church signs. They're everywhere. And they typically have something witty (and wise) to say. So I started "collecting" them. Over the years, I’ve shunpiked through 46 states, and I’ve taken photos of over 1,000 church signs. In the process, I noticed something. Church signs are always 280 characters or fewer. They're God's Tweets. And they lift people's spirits. So I share them—in a book, and online.
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