John is the publisher and editor of The Waterbury Observer, an independent newspaper in Waterbury, Connecticut. John began his journalism career photographing commercial fishing boats in southeast Alaska. He spent nine seasons working as deckhand on salmon fishing boats based out of Ketchikan, Alaska, and had his 35 mm camera at his side at all times. Photographs from the boat were published in local papers throughout Alaska.

Hitchhiking 40,000 miles around North America - going to and from Alaska - gave John the opportunity to engage farmers, ex-cons, clowns, drug dealers, country doctors, prostitutes and murderers in long conversations. Life on the road is where John became a journalist.

Settling down in northwest Connecticut in 1987, John worked for two years at the Litchfield Enquirer, where his writing and photography won numerous awards from the New England Press Association. In 1988 John went to work at the Register-Citizen newspaper in Torrington, CT, where the Associated Press honored his photography work, and a story he wrote about the only homeless man in Torrington won top honors in New England. John's work has appeared in the New York Times, the Boston Globe and Sports Illustrated.

In 1993 John left the Register-Citizen to launch The Waterbury Observer with Martin Begnal. The Observer is published once a month and focuses on people and issues often overlooked by the local mainstream media - AIDS, homelessness, battered women, Hispanics, missing persons and sexual assault.

John currently serves on the advisory board for Jane Doe No More, Inc.

> Read John's Expert View

> Visit the Waterbury Observer website