When I recently had occasion to register my freelance business, I decided to name it after a place of symbolic spiritual significance to me.
The Diamond Shoals are a navigational hazard extending miles from Cape Hatteras, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina; a series of shifting sandbars, impossible to map since they are never the same year to year. Since I was a teenager, visiting Cape Hatteras and reading stories about the “Graveyard of the Atlantic” has been fascinating. It is the site of an early Radio Milestone, the site of R. A. Fessenden first sent music over the radio, an important moment in what became my professional specialty.
Encapsulating he convergence of the Labrador Current and the Gulf Stream, the easternmost point of the American South, the Southeast’s greatest surfing and fishing spot, the name Diamond Shoals reveals a deep truth about creative work: The most precious is often the most dangerous. The truth is, striking out on my own as a freelancer, and trusting that my hard work and creativity will be enough to make my way in this world is scary. But necessary. Great art always represents risk, and my life’s work has always been charting a safe but daring course, navigating through the risk to locate the greatest creative reward.
Diamond Shoals Productions | Jesse Dukes 