Manuse Media Hub is the personal Web site for Andrew J. Manuse , founder, publisher and editor. He is also this writer:

The site is my "Media Hub": a place for me to post my commentary; archive the articles I write in publications; archive my art, literature, music and other creative projects; post my resume; and offer a list of the Web sites I find useful or noteworthy.

The tag line, "An Eye on the World," illustrates my deepest held belief that life experience is a combination of the spiritual and the physical worlds. While one eye focuses on the world and its happenings, the other looks to the Spirit. The balance of both is perceived through the "third eye," or soul.

The underlying techical structure of Manuse.com was developed by Wayne E. Seguin, director of information technology and software operations, who also administers site updates. Wayne is a Sr. Systems Architect based in Lewiston, N.Y., who also teaches mathematics and computer programming. Please contact Wayne for more information.

Wayne and I have begun a new Web project, which will be located at OpenSourceViews.com. This site will be the first contribution to the network. I invite you to find out more about Open-Source Views here: About Open-Source Views. Those interested in contributing are welcome to contact us

I was born in Cheektowaga, N.Y. on April 17, 1979 and lived in Niagara Falls, N.Y. from birth to the age of seven. Then, my family moved to Youngstown, N.Y. where I started second grade at Lewiston-Porter Central School. I graduated from Lew-Port High School in June 1997 and moved on to Niagara University for a major in English and minors in biology and business.

Subsequently, I moved to Boston to earn my M.S. in journalism from Boston University. That education also introduced me to Web site design, and this early Manuse.com version was the result. I later interned at Mass High Tech as a business technology writer, then advanced to an editorial assistant position at the Boston Herald's business news desk. I spent a year and a half at the Herald, building my clip base. It was also during my time at the Herald, I started to work on the second version of Manuse.com with Wayne Seguin. It was also during this time that the idea for Open-Source Views came to me in my sleep. Wayne and I began advancing the idea from that point. From the Herald, I was promoted to a business reporting position at the MetroWest Daily News, in Framingham, a subsidiary of the Boston Herald. Since January 2005, I've been writing business articles about the expanding MetroWest high-tech economy, as well as stories about the boundaries to its full explosion as the next bastion of U.S. innovation. In my free time from MetroWest, Wayne and I have advanced Open-Source Views into a viable business concept.

I was fortunate to spend most of my life in a small community, called Collingwood Estates, located one-half mile from a majestic outlook of the Niagara River in Youngstown, New York. It was here that I spent countless hours of my youth swinging from a 50-foot rope into the river, sitting around a park-like bon-fire pit in the forest 200 yards behind my parent's house discussing politics and the philosophical questions of life, and hiking along the Niagara Gorge with views of one of the world's most renowned cascades and the river's impressive class-six rapids.

Living near the Canadian border made it easy to communicate with an array of people in the tourism Mecca of Niagara Falls and the cultural center of Toronto. Being 35 miles from Buffalo enabled me to attend a show at Shea's Performing Art's Center, visit the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, or socialize at various coffee houses and restaurants with friends. Finally, a family vacation across the country and a late high-school trip to Australia opened my eyes to cultures that were entirely different from what I had known.

I was raised to embrace a strong work ethic through the example of a mother who spent many years as an RN at Mount St. Mary's Hospital and currently serves Lewiston-Porter Elementary School as a school nurse and a father who owns his own successful remodeling business, called Manuse Contracting and Design, while conducting two church choirs on the side. My mother promoted a tenacious study habit and voracious reading, which moved me towards excellence in every one of my endeavors. My father encouraged me to cultivate my love of writing, both to excel in school and for personal enlightenment.

After an early prompting by a young uncle to start writing lyrics for a band, the stage was set for my writing career.

While writing always remained a top priority during high school and the first years of college at Niagara University, I was pursuing a very different life as a Biology major. It took the discovery of a latent hypochondria while studying Microbiology for me to realize that medicine was not the path that lay ahead. It was at this point that I experimented with a business major for the pursuit of law and an English major for the possibilities of teaching. I credit a much-loved freshman “Dystopian Fiction” class, in which I learned about “double speak,” “control of information,” “empty thought,” and other Orwellian themes, as a major stimulus for my decision to write and become a journalist. These same lessons may have also moved me away from a career in law, which I saw as the embodiment of these concepts.

As a student, I found it important to study a wide range of topics through various unrelated courses. Finding an interest in the workings of life, both scientifically and culturally, led to my study of Biology and religion. Wanting to learn how to interact with people when dealing with the economy directed my choice for a business minor. Finally, the study of William Blake in a Romantic Poetry class inspired me to dig deeper into his philosophy and prepare a 65-page honors thesis on his religious and spiritual pursuits. The thesis was an extremely large undertaking that contributed to my ability to conduct serious research over an extended period of time and collaborate my findings into a comprehensive study. The preparation of this thesis also largely contributed to my own spiritual path and enabled me to develop a more personal relationship with God.

One of the most influential events in my life took place after watching Peter Weir's “Dead Poet's Society,” starring Robin Williams. After viewing the movie, my casual lyric writing exploded into a passion for poetry that has not ceased. Before one Introduction to Philosophy class, I discussed my desire to start a club of similar nature with a friend. The next day, my friend returned with a typed constitution relating many of the ideas I had discussed with him. Although my friend left the university soon after, his spontaneous response was the catalyst I needed to bring the idea into reality.

At the beginning of the next semester, I presented a revised constitution to the student government, received approval to organize a club, advertised the first meeting around campus, presented the ideals of its founding to the original participants, and became the first president. The club was very successful with over 20 members and became both my main social and creative outlet for the next three years. Many of the club members who graduated with me related that their involvement in the poetry society expanded their minds and heightened their college experience more than anything else. As a club leader, I served as general editor of a 50-page poetry anthology that the club produced, called “Mental Mosaic” © 1999; helped organize three poetry slams in the Castellani Art Museum; poetry readings at a local bookstore called the Book Corner; and various meeting exercises and activities.

One of the highlights of the poetry society, was a trip to the “People's Poetry Gathering” last February to New York City. The interaction with people from around the world, including poets and their copious forms of poetry; the observation of a dynamic lifestyle complete with subway travel, convenient shopping, and dining; and the glow of opportunity exuding from every corner was enough to energize and convince me that I would one day find my home and career in a city of similar stature. It was also during this trip that I enhanced my ability to discuss any given topic with willing strangers, which would later add to my interest in journalism.

I have always been one to draw opinions by asking provocative questions in casual conversation. The intellectual conversations that stemmed from these questions were what occupied most of my free time. Both with friends and acquaintances, I have enjoyed entertaining the philosophical concerns that are common to human experience.

As an enthusiastic participant in the world of poetry, the prospect of journalism came like a thief in the night to rob attention and talent from my muse and direct it towards the purpose of informing the masses as a journalist. This was not an unwelcome pilferage, however, for the change brought promise and excitement that will have far more utility in the end. My major attraction to journalism was the idea that I could write for a large number of people and serve as the medium between these individuals and their understanding of important issues. I discovered this idea through happenstance: a spontaneous decision during my senior year at Niagara University to grasp an opportunity presented by a very active English professor. The decision was to pursue an internship position at a local weekly newspaper called the Metro Community News.

It was during the internship that I discovered my love for writing news articles and a job opening at the same time. Nearing graduation, I seized the opportunity and was selected to fill the position of staff reporter starting the week after my last final exam. The real-world experience at Metro helped me to realize that news writing is not poetry but that it still allows for a certain level of creativity while unveiling important public issues. To this date, the undertaking has enhanced my desire to pursue journalism as a career and for further education in the field.

My main interest in the pursuit of a degree in journalism is to prepare myself for a career in which I can cover more complex issues on a larger scale. In my career, I hope to enlighten individuals through my writing by examining the cultures of people and the range of dynamic influences that result in change. I have often times played “devil's advocate” in discussions to invoke critical thinking and create opportunities to expand perceptions. It is my fundamental belief that a journalist's position in society is to create this same objectivity in his or her writing to promote awareness and sensibility in the minds of readers. It seems as though the magazine or newspaper mediums are ideal to explicate the various ideas that I wish to promulgate in my career.

I hope to begin my career after graduate school at a major publication, either a magazine or a newspaper, while maintaining residence in a sizable city on the northeastern coast of the United States. I am mostly interested in writing feature stories on how culture affects the interaction of people in the United States and around the world. Instead of simply reporting on the facts of certain events, I want to be able to research the underlying social causes for these events and illuminate them for the readers of my work. I believe it is very important to write without preventable bias and from all sides of each respective issue. In this way, the readers can decide what conclusions to draw from my writing and interpret the situation in question using their own intuition. I feel that it will also be necessary to list sources or cross-references for my readers, so that they can research each matter further with ease and become truly informed.

In my career, I expect the freedom to pursue any issue that catches my attention and has potential to attract readers. In my current position at Metro Community News, a large percentage of the leads that I have uncovered have not made it past the editor because of their political content or because deadlines and other issues prohibited their completion. I understand that I must always expect some limitations while working under an editor; however, I am looking for a position that would allow me greater latitude to make decisions regarding the topics that I pursue. I realize that new journalists do not start off with their own column in newspapers, but I would like to quickly work up to a position where this would be possible. Eventually, it is my goal to become a syndicated columnist and move into a more rural area of the northeastern United States. I know that the freedom to write about the issues important to me will be more obtainable when I have my own column.

Later in life, or when free-time emerges, I would like to concentrate on writing in-depth analytical essays on various issues, including the affects of religion, ethnicity, national origin, and economic status on the lifestyles and overall happiness of certain groups of people. At some point, I may also be interested in writing major fiction and non-fiction volumes. However, for the time being my concentration and effort will be dedicated to completing my Masters degree in Journalism and gaining as much knowledge and experience as possible.

My favorite author without question is William Blake, the poet, artist, and engraver who lived from Nov. 28, 1757 to Aug. 12, 1827 in England. Considered a Romantic poet by literary authorities, Blake exposed the dangers and corruption of government and institutional religion while proposing a spiritual lifestyle focused on cultivating imagination. To Blake, the study of art was the only religion, and he espoused that only an imaginative and honest connoisseur of artwork could truly know God. His poetry and essays are provocative and boldly criticize those who wish to limit God and Christ to any specific doctrine. Instead, he suggests that each individual has the power to uncover God within his or her own heart. I personally had the wonderful opportunity to study Blake's non-canonical works for an entire year and prepare a 65-page honors thesis on his spiritual views. The undertaking was more rewarding than I could have ever expected and led me into a whole new faith in God and open-minded approach to spirituality.

Although it is difficult for me to pinpoint a specific book that I would prefer over all the rest, I must say that I was extremely impressed by The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X with Alex Haley. The book showcased one of my favorite themes in any kind of art and did so to the tune of a real-life story. Specifically, I enjoy a character's rise from the depths to what might have originally seemed to be an insurmountable height. Malcolm X was born into an African-American family and had every obstacle to overcome for him to reach success. At first, he fell victim to cultural influences and turned to drug dealing and debauchery. He rose from this subdued lifestyle to become one of the most powerful African Americans in the Twentieth Century as a leader in the Nation of Islam. He was elevated even further when he risked his life to openly oppose the tarnished Nation of Islam and pursue his spirituality as a Sunni Muslim. It is Malcolm's continual process of change, his persistent manner of awakening, and his repeated rise from corruption that makes the story one of the best I've ever read.