Featured Member

 

Our winter Featured Member is John Loo. John joined OWAC in 2006 and spends his days worrying about the Internet, social networking, and what it means to outdoor journalism.

He conquers writer's block by

  1. Typing out spontaneous thoughts on the topic
  2. Doing something else for a while (could be writing about something else, but usually involves something visual)
  3. Coming back, reviewing/reorganizing (1), then trying again
  4. Repeating 1-3 as needed.

John's favorite words? arcane, visceral

"I often fish offshore by myself in my 18’ skiff, usually launching at night. When people tell me I’m foolish, I tell them this story:

When I was 8, my Dad took a year’s leave of absence from corporate America to work with the UN. We were stationed in Iraq, in a little agricultural town call Abu Ghraib. There was no prison back in 1963, but we did manage to witness the coup d’etat that put the Baath party in power. Who knew they had so many guns at a US Embassy?

At the end of the year, Dad decided it would be fun to drive from Baghdad to Paris before we came home. Dad packed Mom, my sister (11), me (8), and my brother (6) into our ’62 Corvair (see Ralph Nader’s book “Unsafe at Any Speed”), and we took off for the City of Lights.

We passed through Jordan (where Dad was nearly shot for taking pictures of the Israeli side of the Jerusalem Wall), Lebanon, Turkey (where border guards took Mom and Dad away at gunpoint for questioning), and Greece (where the car broke down in the backcountry). We took a ferry from Athens to Rome (where we nearly had a head-on collision near the Forum); then made our way up the Italian peninsula through Switzerland and into France.

Foolish? Maybe, but it’s not my fault - I get it from my Dad."


You can find his work at: 

Beyond The Breakwater

Ocean Skiff Journal

About OWAC

OWAC is a non-profit association of media professionals who communicate the vast array of outdoor recreational opportunities and related issues in California and the surrounding western region. The membership includes newspaper and magazine staffers, freelance writers, book authors, radio broadcasters, video producers, editors, photographers, artists, lecturers and information officers.

OWAC was founded in 1986 to expand public information on outdoor recreation and conservation, provide professional craft improvement, and increase recognition of outdoor writing as a specialized field among media and educational institutions.

Supporting Memberships are available to individuals, organizations and firms with an interest in the outdoors field and in supporting OWAC's programs. In 2008, the roster included recreational equipment manufacturers, visitors and convention bureaus, tour operators, public relations agencies, conservation organizations and publishers.

OWAC’s spring and fall conferences, held in some of California’s most beautiful outdoor settings, showcase the organization’s principal programs. Those are the annual Craft Contest, where the finest work in the outdoor communications field is applauded; the Californian of the Year award, recognizing an individual who has profoundly improved the outdoor experience via conservation work or other good deeds; and the Outdoor Outreach grants, awarded to non-profit organizations that promote enjoyment of outdoor recreation.

Fishing and hunting communicators comprise the majority of the membership, although those who cover boating, camping, hiking, wildlife watching, adventure sports and other related active outdoor activities are warmly welcomed. With annual dues of only $35 for members, OWAC membership is a valuable investment.