Alice Huttunen, sister of Steve Davis, a roommate of Shahab John Sharify from his Princeton days, came to hear Sharify speak and say hello to him. Photo courtesy of Alice Huttunen
As I chose my seat, a woman sitting in front of me called out to a man in a gray suit standing in front of the stage. The man walked over and she introduced herself. She was Alice, sister of his roommate Steve from Princeton. They spoke of Steve for a few moments and took some pictures together. I got out of my seat to avoid photobombing them.
I realized that I missed what would have been a great photograph of the man I would learn was the storyteller of all storytellers, someone that some members of the audience had traveled a long way to see. The man in the gray suit was the man I had come to hear: Shahab “John” Sharify.
Sharify won the duPont Columbia Award in 2021 – what presenter and UAA professor Paola Banchero described as “the broadcaster equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize” – and has received 79 Emmy Awards, among many other prizes of professional recognition. Sharify has been a broadcast journalist for over 40 years, working in New York City and Seattle and has traveled all over the world covering stories, presenting workshops and mentoring journalists.
Banchero’s voice softened, “He is also, if you know him, a wonderful human being – and I think that comes across in his storytelling. Students love him and he is so thoughtful, such a good listener and just a pleasure to have as a colleague.”
With that glowing introduction, the audience was taken into the multifaceted world of John Sharify. Sharify told the audience that he was going to speak of his “journey as a journalist” and his approach to storytelling. He said that “journalists have a front row seat to history, a passport into people’s lives.”
Sharify is still winning awards, but at this stage in his career, he said he is “influencing the next generation of journalists.” There was a sense that he was passing the baton to the next journalists – encouraging them to tell the stories of what is happening.
Sharify said many times – both on and offstage – “I want my passion for journalism and storytelling to rub off on my students.”
His advice to writers was simple: write what you know and say why it matters.
“It’s not enough to give us the facts. Shine a light, get at the truth, hold our government leaders and the powerful accountable, raise awareness, make a difference, shift perspective on the stories you share. Do all of that but give me more: report with heart, take viewers places they’ve never been. Don’t just tell us, show us. Prove it.”
And prove it he did. Throughout his presentation, he shared several examples of his own work with the audience. First was “Storybook” – a documentary about two writers who write stories about kids with cancer, and one little girl who was featured in a book.
Next was “Bob’s Choice.” It explores the last days of a man – Bob Fuller – diagnosed with cancer who ended his life on his terms.
Another story – “Climb of a Lifetime” – was about former homeless men and drug users who took on the challenge of climbing Mt. Rainier.
What makes a good storyteller great? Most people have heard of “blank screen syndrome,” where the writer has a hard time starting to write. Sharify isn’t like that. “I love the blank screen.”
However, it wasn’t always that way for Sharify. Only with experience, did he see the blank screen as a fresh start with “possibilities, new chapters, new beginnings, a story to tell!” He emphasized the importance of telling the truth, not being boring, doing no harm and getting the facts right.
He spoke about the emotional impact on journalists from being on “the front lines of people’s lives,” and being given an assignment and having to go – even when you know the subject is hurting. Such as one where a young man had been murdered and [Sharify] was told to go talk to his grieving mother. “We try to not let it get to us,” he said, “we try, but it does.”
The videos Sharify shared were sad, but one could observe the good in telling a news story. These pieces were great because they were not just about “homeless drug addicts living in Seattle,” or “a child with cancer tries to cheer people up.” Sharify’s stories and documentaries are not just about the news or the people making the news – they are about connections between people, and commonalities with the viewers.
Throughout the film, Sharify was able to share the many facets of people’s lives and show them as more than statistics, illnesses, addictions or afflictions. Flowing under the surface of his stories there was resilience, healing and strength.
Sharify ended his lecture with a quote by Joseph Campbell:
“If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living.”
Sharify said that he is following his bliss and that – as the Atwood Chair in Journalism and Public Communications at UAA – he is teaching and sharing his “experience, expertise and stories with the next generation of journalists and filmmakers, tapping into the human experience and the human spirit and hopefully telling those meaningful stories powerfully and beautifully.”
A person reading this article might ask, “All this is great, but why is this story in the paper for all of UAA when there are only a small number of journalism students?”
Every student at UAA will need to be a storyteller at some point. Be it with writing or multimedia. What college student or professor hasn’t looked at a blank screen with dread? What if we could remind ourselves to look at it with the same excitement that Sharify has, and have it become a habit? Your audience doesn’t have to be millions of national news viewers – it might just be your class or even a lone professor. Maybe you are not in the league of getting prizes for your writing and you just need a decent grade. You have a right to be excited about your story, and your story deserves your enthusiasm. Don’t worry about whether or not you are up to the task or if you are ‘good’. Your audience wants you to succeed. Storytelling is a skill for everyone. Your ideas, research and ability to share what you know can be part of a larger conversation that will add to the knowledge base and inspire others.
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