I’m Anthony W. Orlando, and I’m the administrator, editor, and head writer of this blog. (The “W” stopped being cool when George W. Bush’s approval rating dropped below 40%, but I’m sticking with it. It’ll come back.)
You’re wondering what qualifies me to stand on this soapbox, right? Since September 2006, I’ve been an op-ed columnist for the Hazleton Standard-Speaker, a daily newspaper in Northeast PA with a circulation of 20,000 or so. Since September 2009, I’ve also been an op-ed columnist for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, a Tribune Company daily newspaper in Fort Lauderdale with a circulation of 250,000 or so. This blog is adapted from those writings, which means it’s mostly economics, foreign policy, and history, with a smattering of political science, psychology, philosophy, sociology, and climate science.
Whether I’m worth listening to is another story entirely, but here’s a bit of background to aid your decision:
- I’m currently a script reader at Fierce Entertainment, as well as a consultant and researcher in finance and real estate economics.
- I write screenplays for film and TV. I’ve studied screenwriting at the University of Southern California and comedy sketch writing at The Second City in Chicago.
- I’m producing a feature film in the crime/thriller genre. It’s called Autumn Lights, and it’ll be directed by the great up-and-comer Angad Aulakh. We’ll be shooting it in May 2012.
- I have an MSc in Economic History with Distinction from the London School of Economics.
- In May 2009, I graduated magna cum laude from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a BS in Economics with a Concentration in Finance.
- High school was in a little place called MMI Preparatory School in Freeland, PA. And because it’s the most adorable name in the world, I have to mention that I grew up in a town named “Sugarloaf.”
- Before the column, I wrote a book, Life Is Not a Dress Rehearsal: The Spiritual Journey of a Teenage Traveler. It’s not the great American novel, but it was a fun introduction to the world of writing. And I inspired a couple people, so it was all worthwhile.
- I’m working on a second book — on economic history — but who knows when I’ll finish it…
- I’ve worked, at various times in my 23 years, as a financial consultant in retail banking, advertising copywriter, research assistant in business history, teaching assistant in macroeconomics, short-order cook, swimming instructor, and assistant to the purchasing manager of a defense contractor.
But how can you really know a guy just from his resumé? I wouldn’t want you to waste your time reading someone only to find out you can’t stand the bum. Here’s the personal stuff:
- I like to read about economics, history, foreign policy, politics, business, psychology, philosophy, sociology, evolutionary science, cosmology, and theology. Fiction is a luxury. I bury myself in a novel a few times a year, but it has to be superlative writing to steal my attention from the piles of nonfiction on my desk.
- I play basketball, golf, tennis, and the occasional backyard football.
- Extraordinary performances — be they in art, music, writing, sports, or acting — turn me on, as does a good sense of humor. Apathy and intolerance turn me off.
- I travel. I play the guitar. I treasure good meals and good wine. And if you’ve read this far, I thank you.
Thank you.
Good luck Anthony. Look forward to your bright future.
Don’t know how I stumbled on your site but I am an old lady from /weatherly who read and enjoyed every article that Anthony wrote for the (sub) Standard Speaker of Hazleton. I was so disappointed when his articles ended. Then I moved to Oh and here I am finding Anthony again! I think fate played a part and that in some other life( if you believe in that sort of thing) I must have been his grandmother.!! Glad to see you again and now there are so many more youngins I can follow. Hope life brings all of you love, joy and happiness.
kemper
Enjoyed your Q2 column immensely ! Just finished reading Paul Krugman’s “Return of Depression Economics”, which makes much the same arguments that you do about the future of America and what is wrong with the present America. It is an economic fact that the past 30 years in the US have seen a slow but accelerating plutocracy of the rich and a descent of even formerly upper middle class workers into the below average middle class, with millions of homes lost, cars lost, credit lines lost, and futures of children lost. How can the US be the last, best hope of freedom when 2 per cent of America controls 73,000 pages of IRS tqax code, over 50 per cent of US wealth, and most of Congress ? How can we be a world leader in anything with our kids in 20th place and below in math and reading compared to China and others? How can we lead the world in anything with life expectancies and medical care efficiency somewhere below 20th and falling ranking in the world?
I feel badly for my young daughters who will grow up in an America which is not any better and probably worse in terms of equal opportunity than the kids in South Korea and Japan? We will have lots of “service” jobs but few family-sustaining jobs. We will have the rich continuing to write not only the tax laws, but also the social safety net legislation as they are doing now. We will see the most powerless of our citizens (I am talking 150,000,000 people here) ground to dust, with most of them not even realizing it. I really do fear for this society, with our only hope being the demographic probability that the peoples of the minority now become the majority and foreswear greed and promote justice. There is always the “banality of evil” factor, but I look forward to our first Latino President and first Oriental Speaker of the House. God bless America, because until we break the control of the rich, no chance we will ever rise above Wal-Mart worker levels of income.