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Jim Shasky might be the ideal poster child for those who have mounted a long list of accomplishments while facing some serious odds.
Chances are, though, that your issues are nothing compared to those Shasky has faced all his life.
The 65-year-old Shasky suffers from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, but that’s not all that has challenged him over his lifetime. He’s been in and out of mental hospitals, faced the reality of shock treatment and he didn’t even finish high school.
And yet, the resident of Cedar City has won about 20 Emmys working as one of the producers for such widely-renowned television shows such as CBS Sunday Morning; PM Magazine; various newsmagazines, the David Suskind Show along with variety shows.
Perhaps topping off his list of accomplishments is the fact that he directed the news for the Nixon impeachment hearings for a pool of news stations in the 1970s and he has been the go-to guy for stars such as Frank Sinatra, Jerry Lewis and Liza Minnelli.
In the world of television producers and directors, he ranks among the best in the business and while he probably doesn’t realize it, he’s undoubtedly one of the best news stories in the country. His disability actually worked to his benefit in many cases considering that he has a Bachelors from Arizona State (1968) and Masters from Syracuse University (1969).
“I didn’t realize that I had ADD until it was diagnosed when I was 44,” says the native of Minneapolis. “I didn’t know what was going on and had been going to psychiatrists. I found that the more complicated the show and the more cameras that were involved, the better I did. If a show was too slow, I always screwed up.
“I became bored easily and found that I always did better with new challenges. I now have Parkinson’s Disease and I have never understood why a god would tweak people like this.”
Doctors prescribed the drug Ritalin. Once he began taking his medication, his talents blossomed and his horizons widened. Shasky found that he had patience when taking the drug.
“The day I took the Ritalin, I pulled over the road and cried for a half hour. I will never ever forget how things changed. My business partner and all the people in my company could tell when I was off the drug.”
The drug enabled Shasky to recognize a problem with ADD when in fact, he didn’t even know he had a problem before.
“The Ritalin really helped me,” Shasky explained adding that he even tried cocaine to settle his unstable nature.
“The Ritalin brought me down. It is the poor-man’s cocaine; it is the paradoxical drug and makes people with ADD calm down.”
Now that the man is done chasing news stories and making others look good with his talent as a producer, Cedar City is the perfect retreat for Shasky, his wife, Lee, and the couple’s two foster children.
‘With our foster kids, we found that they just needed a break,” he says.
No more of the glitz and glamour of Chicago, New York or Los Angeles. Mrs. Shasky designed a beautiful home for the couple in Cedar Highlands and the scenery, the beauty and the charm of the city has proven to be a natural medication.
“I love Cedar City,” says Mr. Shasky, who moved to Cedar two years ago. “We wanted a place where there was a small university with the mix of Zion. Lee loves to go camping and this offers the perfect combination.”
Considering Mr. Shasky’s background as a professor at Ball State University and UCLA, he’d love to return to Southern Utah University to share his experiences with students studying television production. In fact, he is so intent on the idea that he is willing to teach for nothing – a huge offer since a world-wide recession has certainly affected SUU big-time.
“I was a guest in Jon Smith’s advance production class and loved it,” he says. “I really feel proud of myself when I’m able to guide a student and especially when I get feedback from them.
“I learn more from my students than they learn from me. You always learn from your student and that’s thrilling.
Shasky’s background as a teacher is hailed by his students including Laura Huffman, who took an advanced video class from Shasky at Ball State in 2005.
“I was diagnosed with ADD when I was in college,” she said. “My grades were struggling and didn’t have a sense of direction. You are not treated normally and you don’t fit in when you have ADD. Because I also had ADD, he gave me a shot and we communicated really well. The whole mental thing wasn’t an issue because he knew where I was coming from. He made me comfortable and I fit in where I didn’t fit in at other times. He is not judgmental at all and he becomes a student’s friend. He told me I could be successful no matter what the rest of the world says and he treats other students the exact same way. His class was the most influential and invaluable class I ever have ever taken at Ball State.”
Huffman said that Shasky always had faith in his students.
“He treated us like professionals in the industry,” she explained. “He wouldn’t let us get away with falling back onto the student thing. He expected us to excel.”
In the meantime, Mr. Shasky spends his time as a house husband cleaning the house, doing dishes and cooking the meals. He and Lee are active with Big Brothers Big Sisters and seem to be proof that giving is more important than getting during very troubling times.
“I love it,” he says of his current role. “But I’d really like to teach again, if the opportunity presented itself.”
Mike Henle is a Las Vegas-based freelance writer and author of “Through the Darkness: One Man’s Fight to Overcome Epilepsy.” He can be contacted via email at mhenle@aol.com or through his website www.mikehenle.com.
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