Here From There: Conversations with Burroughs Alums

John's final conversation of "The LA Season" is with his friend and former JBS advisee Joe Leonard from the Burroughs class of 1998. Joe works primarily as a television editor with credits  including Glee, American Horror Story, Star, Gaslit, and The Man in the High Castle. His latest project is the show Dark Matter, starring Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly and currently streaming on Apple TV+.

From his time at Burroughs, Joe t...

Stephanie Sanditz graduated from Burroughs in 1995 and then attended NYU's Tisch School of the Arts to study acting. After making a hilarious television debut alongside Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert in the now cult classic show Strangers With Candy, Stephanie made her way up the well established ladder rungs of a NYC working actor: soap opera work, episodes of Law and Order, and plenty of experimental theater. Now living in Los A...

Happy Labor Day. It's the day that reminds us that summer has come to a close, and even though Summer Reading was due for current Burroughs students a week and a half ago, today is the due date for Here From There listeners.

At the end of John's conversation with novelist Elizabeth Little in Episode 6, (go check it out, if you haven't already!) John assigned her latest novel, Pretty as a Picture, for summer reading. If you don't ha...

Laura Hess graduated from Burroughs in 1995 and set a course to become an actor in New York, but when it did't work out, she began a journey that eventually found her working as an experience design strategist in Los Angeles. The story Laura has to tell about that journey gets right to the heart of what Here From There is all about: there is never one set path that leads to the future, and learning to embrace failure and grow from ...

June in Hollywood kicked off with the hugely successful theatrical release of Bad Boys: Ride or Die and now July at Here From There gets started with John's conversation with one of its writers, Chris Bremner from the JBS class of 2002.

Current students take note: this is a must-listen for anyone interested in writing for film, and Chris makes the offer to be a resource for anyone who might want to talk with him. To connect with hi...

Elizabeth Little '99 is a novelist and non-fiction author living in Los Angeles. John and EB (as she was known at Burroughs) cover all sorts of topics, like: writing, reading, gardening, the CIA, and just how frightening and disorienting groups of middle school girls can be...even for adults.

Burroughs wasn't always the easiest place for EB, but this conversation gets right to the heart of what Here From The...

Board game designer and entrepeneur Johnny O'Neal '98 talks with John about how film school was not the start of his career in the film industry, but instead marked the beginning of a journey that took him through the toy industry, business school, the joys of community theater, and the profound importance of family. All of which has led to becoming a board game designer and the president and co-founder of Brotherwise Games.

And Jo...

Singer/Songwriter and session vocalist Leslie Stevens '95 sits down with John mere hours after finishing an exhausting and exciting shoot of a video for the song "Blue Roses" from her just-released self titled album. The conversation ranges from Leslie first learning she could sing at her Baltimore elementary school, through learning the importance of irreverance at Burroughs, to harmonizing with Jackson Brown while singing backup ...

It's Here From There's first homework assignment!

Step 1. If you haven't already done so, listen to John's conversation with Bhi in Episode 1.

Step 2. Listen to Bhi's music. (Yeah, come on go to Bhi's website and buy some!)

Step 3. Find Bhi's podcast PEACE OF MIND on your favorite podcast platform.

And now that you've finished the homework...

Step 4. Check out this bonus bit of conversation between Bhi and John, which includes port...

For the second episode of the Los Angeles Season, John talks with filmmaker, screenwriter, and comic book author Bryan Edward Hill from the Burroughs class of 1995.

For any current Burroughs students interested in writing for the screen, Bryan has plenty of words of wisdom to share!

Among his many credits, Bryan has written fo...

Singer-songwriter and music producer Bhi Bhiman sits down with John for the very first Here From There chat. The conversation covers a lot of ground, from how Bhi's favorite Burroughs teachers were "all a little wild" to how Bhi felt when asked by childhood idol Chris Cornell to join him on tour. Bhi's journey from a rough ending at Burroughs to performing years later at Carnegie Hall alongside Booker T. Jones, Elvis Costello, and ...

To kick off Here From There, John Pierson travelled to Los Angeles to sit down with some of the many alums who live in the area.

Give a listen to this short preview to find out who will be featured in Season 1.

(And to all of you grads in LA who John didn't talk to, don't worry: he'll be back!)

Theme music for the podcast is by The Bottlesnakes and Aves, and is used courtesy of Artlist (license # 9U...

Since 1923, graduates of John Burroughs School have left the St. Louis campus and found their way to fascinating lives and livelihoods all over the world. Longtime Burroughs teacher John Pierson loves a good story. And when he sits down with alums of the school, there are always good stories to be had. Some are about their days at 755 South Price Road. Some are about their careers. And some are about their personal journeys. 

For...