Who we are….

MEET ME AT THE CORNER, Virtual Field Trips for Kids, is a dynamic, interactive site, which encourages individual expression and participation through video submissions from children worldwide, featuring their special corner of the world.  Through these video pod casts we hope to create a community of children, who learn the art of self-expression and storytelling through video.

In the beginning, the video pod casts will focus on the people, events and history of New York City.  Each program will highlight the talent, diversity and accomplishments of the people of New York through explorations of New York City block by block. As the site grows through children’s submissions, we hope to highlight the people and events of other towns, cities and nations.

MEET ME AT THE CORNER, Virtual Field Trips for Kids, was founded in 2006 by Donna W. Guthrie, the author of more than twenty award-winning books for children. Donna has taught kindergarten through fifth grade in both public and private schools in Pennsylvania and Colorado and is a visiting professor at Colorado College where she teaches children’s writing.

Her picture book, The Witch Who Lives Down the Hall (Harcourt Brace, 1985) was a Literary Guild and Book of the Month Club selection and was included in the School Library Journal’s Best Books for Children. Nobiah’s Well (Ideals Publishing, 1990) was also a Book of the Month Club selection and received the Parents Prize from Parents Magazine for the Very Best for the Very Young. Her middle grade fiction novel, Frankie Murphy’s Kiss List (Simon and Schuster, 1995), earned enthusiastic reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal.

She founded Kids Corner, Ltd., an independent audiovisual company producing films to educate children about medical, health and family issues. She established the firm in 1980; ten years later she sold the company to Myers Broadcasting Company.

In January 2006, she received her Masters in Fine Arts degree in Children’s and Young Adult Writing at Vermont College in Montpelier, Vermont.  She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and The Dramatists Guild. Donna is co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival and The Six Women Playwriting Festival, both of which are held each year in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Nancy Bentley (writer) is the author of picture books, board books, and a series of non-fiction books on genre writing, journalism, playwriting, and video production for children. I’ve Got Your Nose, her picture book, was a Junior Library Guild Selection in 1992. Her early reader mystery series: Nick Anderson, N.I. Nature Investigator, The Case of the Sneaky Stinger, The Case of the Garden Monster, winner of the 2004 Colorado Author’s League Booklength Children’s Fiction,and The Case of the Missing Bluebirds) are available through Scholastic Book Club. Plagiarism Free-Reports, her latest book with Enslow Publishing, is forthcoming. Nancy is a former teacher, library media specialist and coordinator of information and technology. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, the Author’s Guild, the Colorado Authors’ League, the Colorado Association of Libraries, and the National League of American Pen Women.  Her video, The Making of a Storybook: Mary Calhoun, Storyteller was presented at the 1992 Chicago International Children’s Film Festival.

Christy Hawes Zatkin (writer) is a 2006 graduate of the Vermont College Writing Program for Children and Young Adults. She is the co-author of COLLECT THIS! A Cool Guide to Collecting for Kids, published by Price
Stern Sloan. Her short stories and articles have appeared in Highlights, Guideposts for Kids, Pockets, W!TH and in local and national newspapers.

David Simpson (videographer) was born in New York. He was greatly influenced by growing up in Park Slope, the neighborhood that was his home, which provided him the opportunity to make deep friendships with people with very different cultural backgrounds. Throughout his life, David has worked with children. After earning a B.A. degree in Psychology at Bard College, he worked as a social worker at a home for teenage mothers, and as a day camp counselor for children with autism.  In 1997, while earning an MBA at Boston University, he volunteered to help tutor inner city kids for a program at Boston College called "Kids on Campus".

In 2000, David took a course at NYU on streaming media.  David recognized early on how video distribution over the Internet would grow into a major distribution method for education and entertainment.  Later that same year, he founded Mindful Media Incorporated.

Jon Silver (videographer and editor)
Jon Silver was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. As a student at New York University Tisch, Jon studied the many facets of film including cinema's history, production, and producing. He is an independent filmmaker and writer working in both documentaries and narratives. His current documentary project, “My Grandfather the Freemason,” tells the story of his grandfather's membership to the brotherhood during WWII. Jon is also the founder and president of Jon Silver Productions, a small videography and editing company. www.jonsilverproductions.com

Trish Dalton (videographer and editor) has produced over 60 commercial videos for web-based companies and commercial clients, dozens of videos for not-for-profit organizations, a series of sports instructional videos for women, as well as short narratives, EPK's, and music videos.   Her most recent documentary short, Farm Sanctuary, was made with the grade five boys at St. Ignatius School in Hunts Point, Bronx, about their adventurous trip to a farm for rescued animals. It premiered at the Media that Matters film festival this spring. Her documentary short, Tiffany's Story, made in collaboration with the Harlem-based organization, Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS), tells the story of a youth survivor of commercial sexual exploitation and premiered at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival.   She is currently in the final stages of post-production on Bordering on Treason, which chronicles the Iraq war from the time of the invasion to present day through the eyes of two New Yorkers, an independent female photojournalist and a young marine.

M.J. Watkins (videographer and editor) began a digital production company, to combine her creative skills in digital video, web and print design. Fly-Up Media has produced short documentaries, instructional videos, personal event videos and corporate videos. Watkins has received the Spontaneous Combustion award for the music video Red Riding Hood, a PBS Honorable Mention for her short Goosebumps and the 2007 Media That Matters Good Food Award for The Farm Sanctuary. www.flyupmedia.com

Colin Guthrie (sound engineer), age 29, is from Colorado Springs and a graduate of Grinnell College, Iowa. He moved to California in 2000 and worked in the music and talent field before getting his second bachelors Degree in Sound Design.  He is a picture and sound editor and technical director at ZAP, Zoetrope Aubry Productions in San Francisco, CA. He lives in Oakland, California.

Ethan Klein (web page designer) graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Environmental Science. Ethan’s interests in travel, surfing and music brought him to San Francisco where he worked as the Web Developer for Sierra Club International. He is currently employed as the Senior Web Developer for Rhapsody Online Music Jukebox.

Oleksiy Synechenko (web master) is originally from Kyiv, Ukraine. He received his BA from Saint Basil College, Stamford, CT and completed his graduate studies at the Patterson School of Diplomacy, Lexington, KY. Since 2001, he has developed, launched and maintained over sixty websites for various organizations that work in education, entertainment, government, and global business. His portfolio is www.artdriver.com.