Driving through East Orange, N.J., late one night, questions kept popping up in Jeffrey Musillo's head about the underprivileged city. He wondered about the city's poverty, vulnerability, aggression and past. He found himself thinking about the city's residents and their family lives, occupations and aspirations. Finding no answers to his questions in conventional form, Musillo knew what he had to do: go to East Orange and get the answers himself. Writing under the name MuZ, Musillo offers a firsthand look at the information he gathered and the optimistic wishes of a stricken city in "America's Forgotten Children, Vol 1: East Orange, NJ" (published by AuthorHouse - http://www.authorhouse.com/).


The first of a three-volume series, "America's Forgotten Children" delves into the heart of East Orange and does not leave without capturing the real words and thoughts of citizens often forgotten, engulfed by a world of drugs, alcohol and debauchery. Through the process of discovering the truths behind a community, Musillo also begins to discover a positive change in himself. "I began as an interested outsider and left with astute, eye-opening revelations," he writes.


While he found himself faced with a few menacing situations during his time of exploration, Musillo knew that it was crucial to "get through those to get the story, to get voices of the people, and, most significantly, to attain value for the dreams of America's children."


Musillo, a resident of Monmouth County, N.J., was born in New Brunswick, N.J. By the age of 9, Musillo had already been through his parents' divorce and the death of his father, and he recoiled socially. Musillo turned to poetry and music, compiling overflowing notebooks and cutting many tracks during high school. His stepfather passed away just after his high school graduation, but not before instilling in him a diligent and reverential mentality. Musillo is grateful for the many opportunities given to him by his hard-working parents, including the ability to study at the Institute of Audio Research. Subsequently, Musillo became a production assistant for Nickelodeon's U-Pick Live. He went on to work at Fuse TV and later came back to Nickelodeon to work on a new show called ME: TV. "America's Forgotten Children, Vol 1" is his first book