Sam McNeil is a Man on a Mission

Wednesday, 01 February 2012 19:45

Not many people can say that their journalistic passion led them to embark on a two-year journey through the Middle East. Sam McNeil, however, is an exception. McNeil was born in Austin, Texas, but spent most of his life in Seattle. In 2004, he enrolled at Western Washington State University in Bellingham, Wash.

Rachel Corrie was an American killed in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli Defense Force as she tried to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian's home. Her parents gave a speech at Fairhaven College, where Sam McNeil studied as an undergraduate student. Sam was intrigued by the information Rachel's parents had shared, and quickly developed an interest in the Middle East. At the same time, Rachel's story bothered him. "She was essentially killed by the Israeli government. Her parents have repeatedly asked for a full investigation and she never got it," McNeil explained, "This nagged me like a thorn in the side, and also made me learn more about the region." Rachel's story also prompted McNeil to create his own major, Environmental Convergence Journalism, which allowed him to study journalism with a global perspective.

There, McNeil began working for The Planet Magazine with Bill Dietrich, a Pulitzer-prize winning science reporter who still mentors McNeil.  A fan of Dietrich, McNeil approached him when he visited the university. "I wanted to know how someone could be a journalist and novelist. He was very nice and very open," McNeil said.  Dietrich also encouraged McNeil to continue looking into the Middle East.

Upon graduation in Dec. 2007, McNeil was eager to leave the small town of Bellingham. However, he wouldn't be able to start exploring the world until he could afford it. While completing post-grad work in the Arabic program recently added to Western, McNeil filled several different positions in the workforce: a web editor, a reporter at a small newspaper, a dishwasher, and a security guard.  "I earned as much money as I could as quickly as possible," McNeil said.

McNeil started his journey in Tunisia, the northernmost country in Africa, or "about where italy would kick Africa," as he said.  "One of my teachers told me, 'Sam, I know you. You like rock and roll, go to Tunisia." McNeil explained, "It was a hell of a lot of fun. I immediately met people who were into heavy metal, for example, and partying all night." McNeil said that the most interesting part of Tunisia was the people's mixed cultural heritage and love of languages. He began blogging about the country's mix of several different cultures and religions in one place. "Tunisia is French, Arab, secular, Berber, and African - but it's Muslim.  To me, that destroyed all stereotypes that might have been lingering in my mind about the Middle East."

After nine months, McNeil was burnt out. He left Tunisia with great memories and new friends, but with hesitation about his journalistic possibilities. McNeil explained that at the time, a dictator ruled Tunisia. "While a lot of my friends were organizing against the dictator, it still felt hopeless to become a journalist.  Look how wrong I was."

With the encouragement of his brother, who was living in South Africa at the time and had just purchased an old truck, the two decided a road trip was in order. McNeil flew to South Africa, where he and his brother worked for a month at a bed and breakfast in Knysna called Bamboo Guest House. Four months, 14,000 miles and seven countries later, their journey ended in Johannesburg, where they attended the FIFA World Cup.  The soccer game stirred McNeil's journalistic desire: "FIFA is an example of global capitalism that fucks up society. That unsettled me a little, and made me want to help the world even more."

Although the brothers certainly had fun, McNeil also left South Africa with a different mentality.  Being there gave him a sense of mission. "When I saw how they beat and overcame apartheid, and their freedom struggle, I wanted to be a part of that," McNeil said.

Zimbabwe, as McNeil explained, was one of the most awesome places he visited along the way. There, he received a lesson in hospitality. "Pretty much anybody would adopt you off the street," McNeil explained. He and his brother knocked on a stranger's door to inquire about a place where they could camp. "Most people think Africa is hot," he said, "But it was freezing cold outside in the Bvumba Hills.  We had on tons of clothes, and it still wasn't enough." The woman who resided on the property offered the boys a sleeping arrangement in the garage for three days, and provided them with blankets.

At the end of four months, McNeil was offered a position as a journalist in the West Bank in Palestine. He said that it was a huge lifestyle change, from living out of a backpack to living in an apartment. He eventually became editor of The Palestine Monitor, one of three English websites out of the West Bank, according to McNeil. He worked alongside his co-editor, Charlotte Silver, and with a team of internationals.

McNeil is a strong believer in journalism as a means to social justice, and referenced Edward R. Murrow's example: "Afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted," is often forgotten in our daily grind of the 24/7 news cycle, and that we should continue to help the helpless by giving them a voice. "That's what I tried to do in Palestine," McNeil explained, "That's what I hope to do by bridging the world of the U.S.A. and the Middle East, by showing us all the links, not the divides, between us."

Egypt was McNeil's last stop, before returning to Tunisia. He explored the east side of Egypt, onto Cairo, and after a tedious process, finally made it into the Gaza Strip. McNeil explained that Gaza was one of the hardest places on earth to get into. His timing, however, proved to be perfect, as he arrived right after the revolution in Egypt. "The government had just been overthrown and they were looking to promote ideals of democracy, like journalism," McNeil said, "And the Egyptian people demanded an end to the government's politics on the border." 

McNeil described his return to Tunisia as a "heart-warming experience." The country was no longer under a dictatorship, as it had been when he first arrived. "It was so nice to see the change in people's everyday lives, to see how much hope people had in possibility," McNeil said. He spent the last 10 days of his journey with some friends, reminiscing at their favorite local bars. He remembered one specific night that his friend threw around the "F bomb" in McNeil's face. His friend remarked, "It's a free country, I can say whatever I want now!" That, to McNeil, meant everything.

During McNeil's time abroad, Margaret Zanger, professor of practice at the University of Arizona School of Journalism, contacted him in early 2011, about joining the school's dual master's program with the School of Middle Eastern & North African Studies (MENAS) upon his return to America. While McNeil had applied and been accepted to several graduate programs in Palestine, there was something about Zanger, and another prominent person, that made Tucson too hard to pass up.

Dr. Michael Bonine, founding director of MENAS, passed away on Dec. 21, 2011. As McNeil explained, Bonine effectively championed funding for graduate level students, so people like himself are able to come to UA and be supported through Teaching Assistantships. "I'd really like to stress the fact that as a starving journalist, I wouldn't have been able to go to graduate school, anywhere, without the institutional support set up by Dr. Michael Bonine," McNeil said.

McNeil is in the second of the six semesters of the dual master's program, combining Middle Eastern water conflicts with multimedia, or convergence, storytelling.  "Arizona was the only place that treated me like they wanted me in the community," McNeil explained. Zanger and Bonine were the people responsible for bringing him to the Sonoran desert, but he had also been a fan of UA journalism professor Mort Rosenblum, a foreign correspondent of wide expereince.  "I read his book, Little Bunch of Madmen, and I was like, 'wow, If I can work with this guy, I'll be gold."

Written by Jamie Turow