Blog [with]tv

Meet Columnist Mark Siegel

Mark Siegel is an attorney who works as a policy consultant for the State of Minnesota, where he specializes in the areas of disability and employment. Mark lives in Minneapolis and when he's not working, Mark enjoys film, live music, writing, and all things geek. He is a graduate of St. Norbert College and the University of Minnesota Law School.

For the past five years, Mark has been blogging  at The 19th Floor . He is also  currently guest-blogging for  the BBC 

Photo description: Mark is sitting in a chair with his hands in his lap.  He's got dark hair, is wearing glasses, and is dressed in a shirt & tie.  We can see a blue ventilator tube running parallel with his tie.  Bookshelves/books in background.

TV Nation

Written by: Mark Siegel

I love television. For a long time, a statement like that was likely to earn you sneers from the intelligentsia. After all, television was supposed to be a wasteland that that catered to the lowest common denominator. Cheap laughs, shallow characters, simplistic plots: television was supposed to have none of the qualities of great art or literature. Television belonged to the great unwashed masses and it would never transcend its pedestrian limitations. At least, that was the conventional wisdom.

In truth, television has never been quite as mind-numbing as its critics proclaimed. For every dozen wretched sitcoms, there's at least one MASH. For every hackneyed drama, there's at least one The Sopranos. But now, television writers are finally beginning to realize that television is capable of telling layered stories with complex characters. Lost, Battlestar Galactica, The Office, The Wire: these shows rival and sometimes surpass anything that can be seen at the multiplex. There are so many good stories being told on television that I was compelled to add extra storage space to my TiVo.

And that's why I'm so excited about [with]tv. It's an opportunity to tell some great stories--our stories. As people with disabilities, we have perspectives and experiences that don't get much play in the media, except for the occasional human interest story on the local news. When [with]tv becomes a reality, it will give us the means to tell our stories on our terms. But I don't want [with]tv to simply be "the disabled channel". I want to see shows that aren't just about people with disabilities; I want to see shows that feature characters who happen to have disabilities. Sometimes the disability will be a part of the story and sometimes it won't even be mentioned. Because isn't that how it is for most of us with a disability? There are those occasions when our disabilities are front and center and can't be ignored, but much of the time it's background noise.

Over the coming weeks and months, I'll be posting here about various topics related to disability, pop culture, and whatever my current television obsession is. I'll do my best to keep it interesting. I'm really excited to be part of the [with]tv community