Chuck Quinzio's Eckhartz Press book Life Behind the Camera is currently being used as a textbook for Journalism 1 class at Los Angeles City Colleges. A few of the students have been posting reviews, and here are a couple of them...
In Journalism 1, we read Chuck Quinzio’s Life Behind the Camera supplementary to our Mencher’s textbook for our introductory journalism class. "Life Behind the Camera," is Quinzio’s autobiography as a cameraman for a Chicago news station. Compared to the typical assigned textbooks, "Life Behind the Camera" provides real life, on the job experience to gather news along with hilarious anecdotes to accompany more drole or serious aspects of news. Quinzio was brought up as a god-fearing altar boy. His attempts to try to pursue a career as being a disc jockey failed. But by luck, his friend’s mother got him a gig for being a small town news station’s cameraman. As Quinzio gained more experience, he eventually works for a big Chicago news station. From almost dying in a house fire to seeing dead prostitutes, to chasing down public figures like Michael Jackson, to dealing with over-grown egos of diva journalists, Quinzio is able to use real life experiences from the beginning of his career to the height of it, to give journalist hopefuls an accurate portrayal of the highs and lows of the industry. This supplementary reading was very helpful into being able to see how the the basics of journalism can be applied into real life through “Life Behind the Camera.” Quinzio does a very great job into telling readers how things really are and what it takes to be a part of the media industry. Usually, I pay no mind to autobiographies. However, Quinzio’s reflection of his career is very insightful, realistic, honest, and not overly fabricated. This makes reading “Life Behind the Camera” similar to a pleasure reading book, especially for an assigned text for class.
Life Behind the Camera chronicles the musings, anecdotes, and experiences from Chuck Quinzio, which are undeniably entertaining. It takes me to the time when I set out from my hometown for the big city of Los Angeles. Chasing your journalistic dreams, going through whacky shit in unfamiliar territory, and how we process these things and continue on. He tells us these stories with such engaging prose along with an endearing sense of humor. The book is in its own way a synopsis of life as we travel through Chuck’s mildly delinquent childhood through his growth as a professional in the TV news business. Quinzio draws a sketch of Chicago that doesn’t require a lot of imagination power to enjoy vividly imagining. Chuck gives us a variety of stories in a cleanly written narrative that weaves through super funny experiences and personalities he encounters to death. In a refreshing way he doesn’t hold back any juicy detail (except for real names). The book is a genuine story of a man’s growth with a great deal of honesty. The personalities he encounters and describes that affected him were relatable to the people I and probably many people have encountered. The people who transformed him from a Catholic school kid to a grizzled veteran camera man. It was an inspiration for me. I’m going to make my kids read it and probably someone else’s kid read it. Daring moves from your home town are admirable; struggling to adapt your new environment. The endearing insight on the people who has met is great. Especially the story and picture about him and Michael Jordan. Professor ought to invite him to LACC to talk to the class.
