Brad Newsham
Encyclopedia
Brad Newsham is a travel writer from San Francisco, US. His books include Take Me With You in which he travels across the Philippines, India, Egypt and Kenya with the intention of taking one person who he meets on his travels back to America with him, and All The Right Places.
, Newsham grew up in Alexandria, Virginia
with his parents. His father was a CIA cartographer and both parents were Christian Scientists. As a boy of limited academic aptitude he was sent to the Christian Scientist Principia Upper School in St. Louis, Missouri
before attending Principia College
in Elsah, Illinois
where he gained a degree in history and sociology in 1972.
After a brief spell as an asphalt paver and then the driver for a touring concert harpist, he spent seven months touring Morocco
, Turkey
, Iran
, and Afghanistan
in 1973. For the following eight years he worked as a dishwasher, school bus driver, construction worker, waiter, underground molybdenum
miner, and small town newspaper reporter in Colorado
, Idaho
, and Arizona
. In 1977, he built a log house in Idaho, with two friends to whom he later sold his share.
Newsham married his first wife, Beverly in 1980 and spent six months travelling around the world visiting Hong Kong
, Thailand
, India
, USSR, and Greece
in 1982. Upon their return the couple moved to San Francisco, where he became a secretary at Wells Fargo Bank. The marriage ended in 1984 and Newsham travelled to Japan
, China
, and the Trans-Siberian Railroad before spending nine months writing about the journey. In 1985 he first drove a taxicab—a job he has continued part time ever since. Random House
published All the Right Places, the story of his Trans-Siberian adventure in 1989.
In the same year he took his third trip around the world and subsequently wrote his second book, Take Me With You. The manuscript was completed in 1993 but it was rejected by a score of publishers. In 1995 Newsham married Rhonda Gillenwaters, and they had a daughter in 1996. Take Me With You was published by Travellers' Tales in 2000 and released in paperback by Ballantine (US) and Bantam (UK) in 2002.
In the summer of 2001 he received the Philippine rice farmer Tony Tocdaan, whom he had met in 1988, as a guest in his San Francisco home. They then spent a month driving across America in a borrowed taxicab. This attracted significant press attention, and Newsham was able to send Tocdaan enough money to build a guest house to accommodate some of the many people who wished to visit him. On September 11, 2002 Newsham launched "Backpack Nation": a programme in which backpacker
s would bring donated funds to help people that they met on their travels. He rapidly raised $20,000 (of which half would fund the travels of the "ambassadors" of Backpack Nation and the rest would be given to the "compelling Situations" that they found). The disbursement did not go smoothly so, in 2004, Newsham changed his process and invited backpackers to submit candidate recipients for which readers could vote. He selected twenty stories for selection and the top five each received $1000 donated by Newsham. In January 2005 he solicited more stories from which he selected a shortlist of twelve to yield four $1000 donations. On 1 June 2005 the $4000 was disbursed and in September Newsham recognised that with no progress towards a project infrastructure Backpack Nation was too dependent upon his efforts and put the project "on the back burner".
2006-07 -- "The Beach Impeach Project"
Newsham spent the entire year of 2006 taking notes for a book he intends to write. Working title: "One Free Ride -- A year behind the wheel of a San Francisco taxicab."
But in October 2006, Newsham veered away from the book project and threw himself into the movement to impeach US President George Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney. Six months before the November 2006 election (which gave the Democratic Party control of both branches of Congress), San Francisco's elected representative Nanci Pelosi, a Democrat, had famously said that "impeachment is off the table." Many Americans, including Newsham, passionately believe that the Bush administration should be held accountable for its misconduct in office, and consider Pelosi's "off the table" declaration to be an enormous—even unconstitutional—blunder.
Early on the clear, calm morning of January 6, 2007—just two days after Pelosi was sworn in as Speaker of the US House of Representatives—Newsham and a crew of volunteers outlined the message "IMPEACH!" in 100-foot letters that stretched for 400 feet across the sands of San Francisco's Ocean Beach -- "Pelosi's backyard." At the appointed hour, a crowd of 1,000 people ranging in age from elderly to infant—men, woman, kids, combat veterans, people of color and alternative lifestyles—arrived and laid their bodies down inside the lettering. Photographers in two helicopters, including one from ABC News, captured spectacular images that were within hours published worldwide (on ABC, CNN, and in numerous newspapers), giving the Impeachment Movement some oomph—and some badly needed visuals.
Later in the year Newsham organized three more Beach Impeach events at various spots around San Francisco Bay. Photos and video from these events were used by Rueters, the Associated Press, the Christian Science Monitor, the San Francisco Chronicle, and in newspapers, magazines, and websites around the globe. Imagery and more details available at http://www.beachimpeach.org
(The Beach Impeach section above was written by Brad Newsham—the rest of the page is the work of someone else.)
Life
Born the second of four children in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, Newsham grew up in Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
with his parents. His father was a CIA cartographer and both parents were Christian Scientists. As a boy of limited academic aptitude he was sent to the Christian Scientist Principia Upper School in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
before attending Principia College
Principia College
Principia College is a four-year private co-educational liberal arts college in Elsah, Illinois. The campus sits on bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River between Alton and Grafton, located about thirty miles north of St. Louis. In 1934, Principia College graduated its first class as a full...
in Elsah, Illinois
Elsah, Illinois
Elsah is a village in Jersey County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2000 U.S. census, the village had a total population of 673. Cyrus Bunting is the the village's current acting mayor.Elsah is a part of the Metro-East region and the St...
where he gained a degree in history and sociology in 1972.
After a brief spell as an asphalt paver and then the driver for a touring concert harpist, he spent seven months touring Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
in 1973. For the following eight years he worked as a dishwasher, school bus driver, construction worker, waiter, underground molybdenum
Molybdenum
Molybdenum , is a Group 6 chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42. The name is from Neo-Latin Molybdaenum, from Ancient Greek , meaning lead, itself proposed as a loanword from Anatolian Luvian and Lydian languages, since its ores were confused with lead ores...
miner, and small town newspaper reporter in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
, and Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
. In 1977, he built a log house in Idaho, with two friends to whom he later sold his share.
Newsham married his first wife, Beverly in 1980 and spent six months travelling around the world visiting Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, USSR, and Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
in 1982. Upon their return the couple moved to San Francisco, where he became a secretary at Wells Fargo Bank. The marriage ended in 1984 and Newsham travelled to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, and the Trans-Siberian Railroad before spending nine months writing about the journey. In 1985 he first drove a taxicab—a job he has continued part time ever since. Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
published All the Right Places, the story of his Trans-Siberian adventure in 1989.
In the same year he took his third trip around the world and subsequently wrote his second book, Take Me With You. The manuscript was completed in 1993 but it was rejected by a score of publishers. In 1995 Newsham married Rhonda Gillenwaters, and they had a daughter in 1996. Take Me With You was published by Travellers' Tales in 2000 and released in paperback by Ballantine (US) and Bantam (UK) in 2002.
In the summer of 2001 he received the Philippine rice farmer Tony Tocdaan, whom he had met in 1988, as a guest in his San Francisco home. They then spent a month driving across America in a borrowed taxicab. This attracted significant press attention, and Newsham was able to send Tocdaan enough money to build a guest house to accommodate some of the many people who wished to visit him. On September 11, 2002 Newsham launched "Backpack Nation": a programme in which backpacker
Backpacking (travel)
Backpacking is a term that has historically been used to denote a form of low-cost, independent international travel. Terms such as independent travel and/or budget travel are often used...
s would bring donated funds to help people that they met on their travels. He rapidly raised $20,000 (of which half would fund the travels of the "ambassadors" of Backpack Nation and the rest would be given to the "compelling Situations" that they found). The disbursement did not go smoothly so, in 2004, Newsham changed his process and invited backpackers to submit candidate recipients for which readers could vote. He selected twenty stories for selection and the top five each received $1000 donated by Newsham. In January 2005 he solicited more stories from which he selected a shortlist of twelve to yield four $1000 donations. On 1 June 2005 the $4000 was disbursed and in September Newsham recognised that with no progress towards a project infrastructure Backpack Nation was too dependent upon his efforts and put the project "on the back burner".
2006-07 -- "The Beach Impeach Project"
Newsham spent the entire year of 2006 taking notes for a book he intends to write. Working title: "One Free Ride -- A year behind the wheel of a San Francisco taxicab."
But in October 2006, Newsham veered away from the book project and threw himself into the movement to impeach US President George Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney. Six months before the November 2006 election (which gave the Democratic Party control of both branches of Congress), San Francisco's elected representative Nanci Pelosi, a Democrat, had famously said that "impeachment is off the table." Many Americans, including Newsham, passionately believe that the Bush administration should be held accountable for its misconduct in office, and consider Pelosi's "off the table" declaration to be an enormous—even unconstitutional—blunder.
Early on the clear, calm morning of January 6, 2007—just two days after Pelosi was sworn in as Speaker of the US House of Representatives—Newsham and a crew of volunteers outlined the message "IMPEACH!" in 100-foot letters that stretched for 400 feet across the sands of San Francisco's Ocean Beach -- "Pelosi's backyard." At the appointed hour, a crowd of 1,000 people ranging in age from elderly to infant—men, woman, kids, combat veterans, people of color and alternative lifestyles—arrived and laid their bodies down inside the lettering. Photographers in two helicopters, including one from ABC News, captured spectacular images that were within hours published worldwide (on ABC, CNN, and in numerous newspapers), giving the Impeachment Movement some oomph—and some badly needed visuals.
Later in the year Newsham organized three more Beach Impeach events at various spots around San Francisco Bay. Photos and video from these events were used by Rueters, the Associated Press, the Christian Science Monitor, the San Francisco Chronicle, and in newspapers, magazines, and websites around the globe. Imagery and more details available at http://www.beachimpeach.org
(The Beach Impeach section above was written by Brad Newsham—the rest of the page is the work of someone else.)