Ann

The Dalai Lama was tired and wanted to go to bed.  He’d been on a very long flight and he just wasn’t up to talking to another journalist…even if it was Ann Curry from the Today Show.  Lucky me, I was elected to tell Ann and her producer that the interview they had been waiting all day to get wasn’t going to happen until the next morning. At least she was first in line…that was the only good news I had…so I lead with it.

 Ann took the news pretty well, being the professional that she is.  For me, with the open time she now had on her hands, we could have a nice chat and get to know each other a bit. Like me, she was raised in a military family. Her career started after she graduated from the University of Oregon.  The tie to the Northwest, where she got her first job in television, seemed quite important to her and a solid connection for us.

 That conversation was the beginning of a relationship that has lasted for several years now.  It even saw us through two Olympics together…Beijing and Vancouver.  We were planning to connect in London and based on today’s news, it appears that might still happen.

 Ann is a warm and engaging person.  She is intelligent, well read and intensely focused.  Her deep-seated humanitarianism has taken her all over the world where there is conflict and strife. That is what brought her to the interview with the Dalai Lama on his trip to the US amid tensions in his home country of Tibet. It was the first of three interviews she has done with His Holiness and all of them have been very revealing about his views on politics and human behavior.

 A chance meeting on a connecting flight from Tokyo to Beijing gave Ann and me hours to catch up on our travels.  She loved hearing about the mountain and ocean projects that I have worked on because of her concern for the environment.  When we arrived in Beijing, we talked daily and then she invited Jane and me to the Today Show set.  We actually sat in two director’s chairs at the side of the stage.  We felt like royalty, thanks to Ann, and then talked with her well into the night in the shadow of the Bird’s Nest stadium.

 In Vancouver, she brought me right onto the Grouse Mountain set, standing next to her with the "gang" as they went to commercial.  We sat by the fire during the breaks and caught up on her preparations for the next Dalai Lama interview.  It was in that conversation that she first mentioned to me that there might be something new in the offing for her career. It may have been in anticipation of the impending decision for her to move into the co-host position, which happened a year later.  It was clear, however, that she had other plans in mind and they focused on her strong interest in righting the wrongs of the world and helping those truly in need.

 On my regular trips to New York, we’ve connected on the Today Show set and had long interesting talks over tea about the problems of the world that we knew we couldn’t solve.  But we cared.  She cared.  That may be one of the reasons she is leaving the co-host job at the Today Show. She has serious concerns in a business that is becoming more frivolous and celebrity-focused every day.  Ann may just be too good a journalist and human being to laugh and play games while sitting in the chair.

 In our last email exchange, she said “Just trying to do good for others, you know?” And I do know.  I think she liked being the co-host but, even when she was doing that, she was the first to volunteer to go anywhere in the world that people were suffering or in trouble.  I have great respect for her as a network news person and wish her all that is good in the world, however this turns out.  She deserves it.  I hope to see her again sometime soon and be one of the thousands who want the best for her and can say it in person. Damn the ratings!

First Saturday in March is Susan Butcher Day

I am very proud that, under a bill just approved by the Alaska Legislature, the first day of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race will honor my good friend, Susan Butcher, a four-time champion of the 1049-mile endurance race. Susan was the second woman to win the Iditarod but was and forever will be first in the hearts of Alaskans and all who knew her. She died in August 2006 of leukemia.

Alaska House Bill 37 establishes the first Saturday of every March as Susan Butcher Day. The State Senate on Monday approved the measure on a 14-2 vote. The Alaska House approved the measure unanimously in 2007, the first of the two-year session, but the bill languished in a Senate committee until recently. Gov. Sarah Palin says she will sign the bill and March 1 will officially be Susan Butcher Day in the State of Alaska.
Susan and I came together over 20 years ago, early in her career, and we saw a lot of the world together, along with some very cold days on the tundra between Anchorage and Nome. She was a remarkable woman. When she passed away, I wrote my reflections about her, which follow here. Neither man nor beast could best Susan Butcher. My life is better having known her.

Susan Butcher…one of a kind

This business of public relations occasionally presents us the opportunity to make a connection with individuals who are one of a kind. Susan Butcher was one of a kind…tough, talented, independent, focused and driven. These were just some of the adjectives that described an athlete who made an indelible mark on the world of sport in a truly unique endeavor…Alaska’s great race, the Iditarod.

When I met Susan for lunch here in Seattle just over 20 years ago, she had tongue-tied Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show the night before on national television and made him laugh hysterically. We were introduced by a mutual friend and had come together to talk about Susan’s future as a competitor in the grueling 1100-mile cross-country sled dog race from Anchorage to Nome. She told me that day that she was going to win the race many times and that she needed to make a more effective connection with the “Lower 48” as we are known to many Alaskans, in order to accomplish all that she wanted.

We forged a bond that day that led us down many trails over the past two decades. Susan won the race, just as she said she would, and she won it four times convincingly. Many times, we took her coast to coast where she fascinated major media, enamored sponsors from Purina to Allied Fibers and mesmerized numerous captains of industry with her inspiring presentations. We made a national public television documentary of her story that is still the definitive tale of that incredible race with Susan at the center of it. We went to Japan with a group of world-class adventurers including the likes of Sir Edmund Hillary, who lined up with everyone else to hear Susan’s tales of the Iditarod. She was married at her home north of Fairbanks on a beautiful sunny afternoon at this time of year in a special ceremony with her closest friends…her dogs…as ring bearers…and her native Alaskan soulmates who brought blessed salmon that they had caught the day before on the other side of the state for the evening meal.

As time progressed, she and her loving husband David decided to start a family. Even that didn’t alter their routine or the racing. They just made some alterations in roles and responsibilities and kept on mushing. However, there is no doubt that Susan’s children changed her life…for the first time there were rivals for her affection besides her dogs and those girls were the love of her life. She was a hero to her family and to everyone who met her and when she began her battle against cancer a few years ago, we all knew that the disease would never have a more worthy adversary.

On Saturday, Susan succumbed to the advances of an army of bad cells in her body that was simply too much for even her to handle but she fought with every ounce of strength she had and was a role model of determination and positive thinking every step of the way. Susan was one of those people who are truly bigger than life and when you find compassion, understanding and love there too, it’s almost hard to believe. But with Susan Butcher you got all that and more, because in a man’s world, she was every bit her own person and would stand down to no one.

She leaves a space in our hearts that cannot be filled. In the world of adventure, the term hero is often thrown around casually today but that is not the same as being one of a kind. I’m glad this business of public relations has a way of seeking out the people who are real…the people who are more than talk…more than “been there, done that”. And when you find that person who is truly one of a kind, the power of their being impacts us in an extraordinary way. Susan Butcher was one of a kind. She can never be replaced. She will live forever in those of us who knew her but, today, we send our love to her family and suffer terribly the void left from the passing of our friend. Good bye, Susan…keep on racing.

Posted by Dan McConnell on February 14, 2008 10:32 AM Permalink

Bye Bye Beijing

As the last fireworks faded into the night and athletes hugged each other at the closing ceremonies, my mind began to recount the past five months of this unbelievable adventure that has been the Beijing Olympics for me. It was a winding road but every turn has brought new horizons. The roots of this trip were in China’s most famous autonomous region, Tibet, when the Dali Lama came to Seattle for five days in April to talk about compassion. My involvement there formed the link that became a highlight of the visit to Beijing. Then we were off to Uruguay in May to celebrate with friends who were on the Olympic Committee there and who we would connect with in Beijing while they got the favored nation treatment as VIPs. And finally, my Chinese friend and colleague opened the last door in June that made the whole visit a reality.
When we flew into Beijing from our Tokyo stopover, I spotted NBC’s Ann Curry on our flight. She had not forgotten the help we had given her to get an exclusive interview with the Dali Lama in Seattle and she was still very appreciative. After chatting about the situation in Tibet, she said if we were near the Today Show set during the Games to let her know and she would love to see us again. I tucked that in the back of mind and got down to business after our arrival.
The time in Beijing literally flew by. We were up at 6am every morning and the day’s activities were non-stop until midnight. We then spent the next 6 hours trying to tell ourselves that we should be sleeping. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn’t. But sleep deprivation was something worth dealing with for the experience we were having.
The international media center was on the north side of the Bird’s Nest and very near it was the outdoor set for NBC’s Today Show. NBC was America’s official broadcast partner for the Games. Unless you were watching Canadian television, NBC was your lifeline to Beijing. Much of their reporting was live in New York but most of the competitions were taped and edited before you saw them in the evenings. New York and Beijing are exactly 12 hours apart. So 7am in New York was 7pm in Beijing and essentially, the day was over. The Today Show did its broadcast live for New York from 7 to 10pm Beijing time each day throughout the Games.
If you’ve read any of my previous reports, you know something about the two weeks we had there. Almost every minute was spoken for but we hardly noticed because it was such an incredible experience. Near the end of last week as our time was winding down, we made an afternoon trip to the Hutongs with our guide and driver. These are the “old” Beijing neighborhoods where families live in very Spartan buildings around a courtyard. They eat together in one place; sleep in another and congregate and visit in the courtyard or “living room”. The Chinese people were very gracious to allow us into their homes for this experience.
When we came out, very near the Drum Tower, we had the opportunity to take a rickshaw ride around the neighborhood. It was fun but before we completed the tour, an horrendous thunderstorm came through that completely swamped the area in 8 to 10 inches of water. We were soaked to the skin so we decided to go back to the apartment and change into dry clothing. By that time, our choice was what to do for dinner. It was then we realized that if we were ever going to try to see Ann Curry and the Today Show, this was going to be our only shot before leaving for home.
We grabbed a taxi and the adventure began. The accepted means of directions for a taxi were to go to one of the many local volunteers who would write your destination in Chinese on a small card which you would give to the driver. (Seattle sportswriter Art Thiel evidently tried to do this at the media center before leaving for a restaurant but, from his article, it seems he wanted to make it as hard as possible, and he did! We never had a problem.) The key to reaching the Today Show set was to break through the layers of security that surrounded the Olympic Green and the Bird’s Nest.
Fortunately, our driver was tenacious. The city is laid out with ring roads that emanate from the Forbidden City. The second ring road is the closest to the downtown and therefore almost always the most crowded. Our apartment was between the 3rd and 4th ring roads and therefore not quite as busy. The Bird’s Nest is just outside the 6th ring road and security begins to get real tight after the 5th. We did circles for awhile until our driver stopped to find a security guard who could help us. Without a formal credential, my only piece of related communication was the email on my iPhone that Ann Curry had sent me after we arrived. Both the driver and I kept saying “NBC” and “Today Show” but we were getting little response.
We did finally make it through the 5th ring but now getting to the International Broadcast Center was the problem. We tried the bus lane that takes journalists to the venues. We made it into a couple of the media parking lots but weren’t allowed to get out of the car. Finally, in sight of the Bird’s Nest, we encountered a volunteer who had been educated in the US and he recognized all the pieces of the puzzle. He walked us into the Media Guest Center where I promptly showed my iPhone email and was directed to a young man holding a sign that said “Today Show”. After I told him my story, the doors began to open. We were given credentials and soon two runners showed up with a golf cart to drive us to the set. This was the “internship” of a lifetime for these two young women who were just out of college. And when they found out where we were from, their faces lit up and they told us that the other person they were working with was a brand new graduate of the University of Washington. A little bit of luck goes a long way in these situations.
After getting acquainted with the backstage folks, we were left near the stage in a place where we could see the set with the Bird’s Nest and the flame burning brightly in the background. It's fascinating to watch an experienced group of professionals do what they do best when they're 7000 miles from home in a strange country. They pull it off with such elan.
We stayed there, feeling very special, until Ann Curry spotted me at the break and came over to talk to us. She said she wanted to spend more time after the show but she would like us to come up and sit on the set. Two director’s chairs appeared and we were introduced to the whole gang. Many of their interviews were conducted about 4 feet from where we were sitting. Mary Lou Retton was on the show talking about gymnastics, as well as a young man who made the swimming team and then found out he had cancer. He still came and competed. It was a very inspiring story. As the camera pulled away from his segment, if you look very closely, you can see Jane and me perched on our director’s chair in the extreme left corner of the photo. Our two seconds of fame…still pretty cool!
Ann introduced us around after the show and we were offered a couple of the bugs from the Night Market that Al had sampled on the show. We spent as much time as she had talking about Tibet which is obviously a subject very near and dear to her, and about our individual hopes for the effect of these Games on our world. She is such a gentle and genuine person. It is easy to see how comfortable she can make the people around her as she does her job. We walked her to her car and said our goodbyes. Suddenly, there we were in front of the Bird’s Nest, the flame aglow and the full moon looking down on us. It was just before midnight and we were flying high as a kite! Could anything be much better than that? Certainly nothing we could think of right then.
The memory of the Today Show now joins the other remarkable experiences that were the Beijing Olympics for us. I am too close to China now to be completely objective but I think that the 2008 Olympics were an astounding achievement. There was so much to overcome for the hosts but they did it…and they did it in style. It was safe and the Games introduced the rest of the world to a China we had no idea existed. It ultimately comes down to the people and they could not have been more welcoming or inviting. I was so deeply touched by this experience that it is hard to express. I can only say that the world is different now for me and I hope that feeling rubs off on all of us.
My hat is in the ring for London in 2012. Our reservations are already made. Couple that with Vancouver and the Winter Games in 2010 where the agency has a committed piece of the action and the future continues to hold very exciting prospects. But there will never be another Beijing 2008. You’ve now heard what this experience has meant to my life. I wish you the same kind of adventures in yours.
It's good to be home,Dan Mc
“Ten thousand miles this autumn. I will always be a traveler.” Du Fu, Tang Dynasty, 618-907 A.D.
Posted by Dan McConnell on August 25, 2008 12:23 PM Permalink