Have I ever told you that I work with a real live rock star?
I do. And he isn’t just any rock star. He’s the co-writer of one of the anthems of the late-’60s/early-’70s counterculture. (For you younger readers, you might have heard this tune on the soundtrack of that Johnny Depp vehicle, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.)
I’m referring to Tom Shipley — he of Brewer and Shipley, “One Toke Over the Line” fame.
Tom works in our communications department as a one-man video production unit. Tom makes videos for our campus. Not those hokey, scripted videos for which universities are renowned, but mini-documentaries about campus life, research and, yes, the occasional promo video (which Tom insists must be minimally scripted).
His latest video chronicles members of the UMR chapter of Engineers Without Borders as they traveled to Bolivia last August to assist two communities — one in the Amazon, where a school is in need of a safe and sustainable water supply, and another high in the Andes, where EWB students helped build a sanitary latrine system a year ago. Tom tagged along with the group and captured many of the activities on video. He’s posted one version of the pod on Current TV, where it’s getting good reviews and is currently ranked second among user-generated flicks. (It was No. 1 until recently. It should never have been bounced off of there.)
Watch “Beneath the Southern Cross,” Tom Shipley’s latest video.
Andrew Careaga 
What a fantastic video. I hope to someday be able to produce something of this quality despite my limited equipment and experience. Now to convince the college to let you go on some of the abroad trips…
I mean “me” not “you.” Now if only WordPress had an edit feature (or my brain had a working proofread feature).