Bill Gentile: "Stories have a way of pushing themselves out of you"

Gentile talked to Foreign Press News Associates, Dana Nickel and Kate Nakamura about the reasons he chose to write this memoir now, 40 years after his experiences took place. He described the beginnings of his career as a stringer for United Press International (UPI) and spoke about his vast collection of notes, photographs, and color slides from his time in conflict zones. “I had all this material that until now had been stashed away in footlockers.” Gentile also explained that when he was accumulating his print and visual information, he knew he’d need it to write this book in the future. “My career told me it was time to do this,” Gentile explained. He also cites the continued relevance of Central America as a reason to finally write this book -- as well as his own age. “And partly because I have way more days behind me than in front of me, it’s time to get this stuff down and pass these lessons along to others.”

Writing Wait for Me was more than therapeutic: “It was cathartic as well”

When Gentile sat down and reviewed his notes, photographs, and writing over the years he said that it was an opportunity to return to the past. “It was a chance to relive those situations; some of them very, very painful. Some of them really, really gratifying.” Gentile talked about how reviewing all this information gave him a broader view of his entire life and how that perspective gave him the chance to figure things out about himself and about the stories he covered. “It was really just an extraordinary journey of revisitation, of reflection, of figuring things out.”

Wait for Me is an Homage to those who waited for Gentile

“The book takes its title from a poem by a Russian poet during World War II,” Gentile explained. “Many observers believe that poem encouraged a lot of young men to join the fight on the front lines against the Nazis.” 

He continued, “[The poem] is about the people that waited for this man, this poet, who became a war correspondent, how they waited for him and how that guaranteed his return, alive, from the front lines.”

Over the course of his life and career, Gentile has been able to reflect on the impact his loved ones have had on him. 

“Sitting here, in Western Pennsylvania, in my older brother’s home, I learned how the love of the people here, my family, helped bring me back home,” Gentile explained. “I learned how important that is, not just for my survival, but for the survival of others whose loved ones helped bring them back home.” 

Gentile stated that his book highlights the people who helped bring him back home. The book’s main characters are all his loved ones. 

Whether it was his mother, brothers, first and second wives, and an entire extended family, Gentile had people waiting for him.

The Role of Music was Essential in Wait for Me

“For me, music is like a sense. It’s like smell,” Gentile said. “You can’t taste anything without a sense of smell. And that’s what music is to me, to this book.”

In his early days as foreign correspondent covering Central America, Gentile described his off-road vehicle, La Bestia, and the surround-sound speakers he installed in it. In his book, he recalls driving around all day, every day, looking for stories to tell and photographs to take. It was the beginning of a long journey as a foreign correspondent, and Gentile carried his music with him on every assignment, no matter how far from home his work took him. 

All of his most cherished memories as a journalist are documented in Wait for Me, and he’s added a soundtrack for readers on the book’s website. 

“I think that you can smell this book. You can feel this book,” he explained. 

He hopes young and aspiring journalists will learn a lot from Wait for Me

Gentile is a professor of journalism at American University. He is credited with establishing different courses on foreign reporting and backpack journalism. 

This fall, he will be teaching a seminar on a “complex problem” of his choosing “Why We Fight: U.S. War and Peace.”.

“[The course] allows professors like me to select a topic through which we can teach students about critical thinking, about making important decisions concerning the truth, about communication, about diversity,” Gentile explained. 

He argues that critical thinking is essential for quality reporting. 

“We’ve lost a lot of our ability to think critically, I think,” Gentile stated. “I want [students] to learn how to decipher information. You know, the basics. Why are these people telling you that this is the right thing to do? Or that we have to invade this country? Or that these people are our enemies? Who is telling you that? And why would they be telling you that? Not enough students are figuring this stuff out.” 

He continued, “I believe it’s partly up to people like me, journalists like me, to teach people to think about that.”