David Rheins is a Jersey City, NJ-based songwriter/poet/visual artist. He blogs at http://davidrheins.blogspot.com and http://freepamphlet.wordpress.com. He has released two music CDs: 2005's Everthing That Ever Was both with Indianapolis based songwriting partner Tim Brickley: www.timbrickley.com and his band the Bleeding Hearts: www.myspace.com/timbrickleyandthebleedinghearts.

In addition to being an acclaimed artist, Rheins is the founder of social media marketing and advertising sales experts DMR Consulting. Prior to opening his own shop, Rheins was Senior Vice President of Marketing and Strategy for AOL Interactive. A senior media and marketing executive with more than 20 years traditional and new media experience, Rheins has held senior sales and marketing positions at Time Warner Cable, America Online, Rolling Stone and SPIN magazines.

Rheins was an early interactive media trailblazer, overseeing the launch of SPIN Online in 1994; the creation of seminal music network Rock.com and Rolling Stones official band web site, Stones.com. Prior to joining AOL Time Warner as the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Strategy for Time Warner Cable Advertising and the Local Partnership Group, Rheins served as Senior Vice President of Advertising for iVillage and Senior Vice President of Consumer Products and Internet Ventures at the photo giant Corbis.

My passion is ...

words and music and ideas

I know too much about ...

too few things

My parents always told me ...

the American Dream

My childhood ambition ...

write songs like Bob Dylan

My favorite memory ...

Labor Day 1995 in Tuktuyuktuk, NWT (Artic Circle)

Why I write ...

I write, therefore I am

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

Historical Romances of Mark Twain

My first job ...

Rock & Roll Receptionist at Rolling Stone Magazine

My best moment ...

servings as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Central African Republic

My inspiration ...

great literature, insightful art, and inspired music

Society & Lifestyle > African-American Issues What Martin Luther King, Jr. has meant to my life

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I was only 8 in 1968 when Dr. King was murdered, but I clearly remember watching the images flicker across the black and white set in my parents' bedroom. My family stood around open-mouthed, not fully understanding the impact of the events in Memphis.

First the shock that another voice of peace had been silenced, then the fear that America was spinning out of control, and the very real feeling that something BIG was coming down. Notions of conspiracy, and of revolution, and talk of what we would do if the violence reached us.

America burned in the days to follow. One hundred cities saw r...

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