Dr. M.J.(Mike) Politis

MJ (Mike) Politis was born in Hoboken, NJ in 1951 and grew up in the Big (crab) Apple obtaining a B.S. in biology from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1973 under its brilliant and independently-thinking faculty in many departments. He then obtained a Ph.D. in medical physiology from the College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in 1978, specializing in neurophysiology and nerve regeneration. He spent the next four years at Albert Einstein Medical School in the Bronx as a Post-doc and Instructor, expanding his biological research in reconstructive neurology (how to put traumatized/diseased nervous systems back together again) as well as doing ground breaking work in assessing the biological basis of neurological diseases. In 1982 he obtained an MRC Scholarship award from the Medical Research Council in Canada and headed off beyond the Western Horizon to a faculty position and lab of his own at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, where he taught virtually all areas of physiology and pathology to several thousand students at the graduate and undergraduate levels, which involved a one year contact working at the Depts of Zoology and Orthopedic Surgery at University of British Columbia. By 1990, he was senior author on over 50 original research articles published in such journals as Brain Research, Experimental Neurology and Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. He pioneered 8 new ways to improve function and restore recovery to damaged nervous systems ranging from use of DC electrical current to application of specific exogenous substances to injured tissue, along with side-journeys into use of interleukin therapy to target and destroy cancerous tumors in brain tissue. After studying acupuncture, he critically tested its uses and limitations in the laboratory, expanding it to the clinical sphere. Somewhere around 1996 (three pm, on a Tuesday, as recalled and recorded somewhere) MJ earned an H.B.A.R.P. degree (human being, aspiring Rennaisance person) outside of the academic walls in the real/reel world.

In the mid 90s, Dr. P was commissioned to write the best selling Complete Idiot’s Guide to Improving Your IQ (Apple Books) in which science, humor and humanity are interwoven into an entertaining and educational read.

His bench-to-bedside approach led him to obtain a veterinary degree in 1995, which he uses part-time to bring the best of science to animals in need, and to keep in contact with the heart/soul of humanity.

MJ came to writing Works directed at treating the collective human’ Soul, rather than only the body, in the mid 80s, producing, writing and directing his first film in 1989. ‘A Viking’s Carol’ was the first Saskatchewan-based one hour drama to be aired on commercial television in the province, hitting the airways over CTV in December of that year. He has gone on to produce numerous films, most of which have been well received in the International Film Festival Circuit (please see Film section and filmography portion of catalog for details). He went on to produce, direct and write the feature length drama ‘Kefi’s Garage’, featuring Gordon Tootoosis, in 1992. Upon relocating to British Columbia in the late 90s, he wrote/directed a CBC series one hour pilot ‘The Kilburns’, featuring Donnelly Rhodes and Linda Darlow. His subsequent independent one hour to feature length dramas/comedies which were commercially aired (CBC, CTV, E!, Bravo, City-tv) included ‘Of Lions and Lambs’ (based on novel of same title), ‘Mentoring’ (serio-comedic feature-length film about two souls exchanging roles as student and teacher in various capacities, ‘Mindless Love’ (commissioned by Citytv as episode in Stories About Love Anthology) ‘Let There Be Light’ (about an aging Nicola Tesla), ‘Albert and Mileva/God Does Not Play Dice’ (young Albert and Mileva Einstein) and more recently, ‘Stalin’s Psychiatrist’ (‘Uncle Joe’ Stalin locked in a room with a shrink while having his nervous breakdown in June, 1941). The latter three, admitedly low budget films, are part of a one hour series, ‘Electrifying Encounters’ which are aimed at the educational and entertainment markets.Since that time, MJ has produced/directed/written 14 more dramas/comedies.  For details of broadcasts, distribution and film festival awards please see filmography section on catalog, links to key films on ‘film‘ section.

In the early 90s, MJ focused attention on writing novels, and since that time has written over 80 of them in various genres. He has written twice that number of screenplays as well and five plays, one of which was performed at the Fringe Festival in 1995, another which was produced in New York a year later. Though much of his work involves historical fiction and biomedical themes, MJ has actively worked in many different genres of comedy, drama and satire.

MJ took to the radio airways for three years with his own free-form two hour show which involved liteary reads, music commentaries and a series of long form (20 min to one hour) music-mocumentaries he produced, including ‘Unstrung Heroes of Classical Music’, complimenting his producing/writing/directing of film mocumentaries (e.g., ‘In Search of Graffitiman’) and the print satire ‘Surviving the Avion Flu’.

His ‘written for all ages of thinking people’ young adult/childrens’ books include ‘Swimmers’ and ‘Socratease’.

MJ is owned by several horses in Interior British Columbia, Canada and confers with them on many occasions with regard to storylines and philosophical concepts. He continues to maintain an active ‘side life’ as a biomedical researcher and veterinary clinician.

Director/Writer’s Brand

The elements present in MJ Politis’ works that define them can be best described as humanistic comedy, drama and satire with a unique cerebral edge. Along with being thought provoking, they speak to common experience of struggling people trying to make the world a better, more enlightened and Alive, big A, place. Premises are often unconventional utilizing unpredictable and intricate plotlines to tell stories about complex characters with many internal contradictions. A large portion of the works utilize historical settings which relate situations that we encounter today, as well as being authentic to descriptions of life which we don’t experience in the 21st century. A common but not always present theme in the books and films is…’revolutionary’. Rugged individualists trying to do and implement the right things in a dead, dying or corrupt world. Central characters in stories penned struggle with intensity to make the world a better place, often against ‘too cool to sweat’ and ‘cool to be cruel’ antagonists.

Due to his previous career as a highly prolific senior level research neuroscientist, lecturer and veterinary clinician, many of the story themes are biomedical or deal with issues regarding how science serves, and (when done irresponsibly) doesn’t serve us in the tradition of fellow docs who became writers such as Anton Chekov and Michael Crichton. Stories about Revolutions are heavily represented because of his dedication to initiating and maintaining positive social change that is healthy as well as sustainable. Tales about the Wild West, the Wild East (Russia) and Greece represent a substantial portion of his writing due to his ancestry as well as having lived the first portion of his 73 year old life in the Big (Crab) Apple as a masochistic workahollic and the second half in rural Western Canada owned by horses, who he continues to work for, and with.

Author, 76 novels/novellas. Dir/Writer 25 plus films. Samples, links, award/festival/distribution history on www.longriderpress.net MJ Politis, Ph.D., D.V.M., H.B.A.R.P. (human being aspiring Renaissance person) mjpolitis@yahoo.com