The black vote

So for the last couple of weeks I’ve been working on voting stories. Tis the season and a very special season it is. I really enjoyed doing this slideshow. The story was basically about how Obama’s presence in the election has mobilize black voters. I went door knocking and to a concert it was fun but I still didn’t have a voice to carry the piece until pastor Alika Galloway. Man I’m happy I stopped by her church again. You know the days where everything falls into place. This was one of those days. She said all the things I needed her to say with no poking or prodding. And told me something new. She said that the folks living on the margins, thug folk, were voting. It was surprising to hear so I went out on the street and found that she was right. Folks who never thought of voting before were. They wanted change. It was amazing to see and hear these people you would cross the street to avoid talking bout the debate the other night. Crazy. Well I’ve babbled enough. Check it out.

Hip hop dads

So I was looking through my posts and I totally forgot one. Father’s day comes every year and when you work at a newspaper you try and find interesting twists on the standard dad story. Well I knew that Rhymsayers Brother Ali’s son Faheem was very important in his life. After talking to friends/co workers Tom Horgen and David Joles I found out that about five or six performers on the Rhymsayers label were young fathers with sons.

Now I had elaborate plans for this piece. Stills mixed with video with the dad and sons reciting their own spoken word piece to each other. Didn’t happen. I had to punt. There were so many times when this was going to fail or I had given up but in the end everything worked out. It was great hanging out with these guys and their kids. Good people, good music. Here’s the slideshow.

Rebuild, rebirth

Thursday the 35W bridge opened again. It was some thing to see. Even though I had get up at 3:15am that morning it was fun and almost electric driving across the bridge with the first group of riders. Check out the video.

I also thought about those folks on the bridge last August 1st. This little girl was still in her mother’s tummy during the collapse. She mother (not pictured) was on the school bus. The folks on the bus along with others celebrated the making of two murals.

The great thing about being is that you get to experience things with people. Where it’s being a part of the big drive across a new bridge or hanging with folks that are forever bonded by a tragic event but find joy and comfort in each other.

Zawadi walks

My little 5 year-old charmer from Tanzania is now six and walking. The surgery to slowly turn her clubbed feet to the right position worked. She’ll have to wear plastic braces until she stops growing but now she gets to wears shoes. She’s running and swimming as best she can and having a great time. By now Zawadi and her mother Sophia are back in Tanzania with the rest of their family in a brand new house. They left during the RNC. No time to say goodbye. All I’ve got are some great memories and a couple or slide shows. Here’s the last one I did. Enjoy.

And just in case you didn’t see the first installment, here it is.

MLK to Obama

So my fellow staffer, Jerry Holt, put together this audio slideshow together that I really liked. Josie Johnson was able to be a part of the March on Washington and be in Denver and witness Barack Obama accept the Democratic nomination for President. She’s an amazing woman.

It’s catching up time

I’m hoping over the next few weeks I can put together a few entries and catch you guys up on the last 6 months. We’ll start with last week. The RNC came to town and left us all tired, some of us cold and some full of tear gas/pepper spray. I got to have some fun asking crazy Republicans questions. It was very entertaining. We called the segments Question of the Day. Here’s the first one on what being a Republican means to them.

MK Smith, our summer intern was able to put together a pretty cool multimedia wrap up of the convention. Please check it out. She needs to be employed. That’s all I got for this entry. I’m on to the next.

A musical institution

Twenty-four hours at First Ave. Well not exactly but pretty close. I had the morning hours and Jerry Holt had the evening. Since M.I.A. was playing that night you would think I had drawn the short straw. Nah. It was so cool to have full access to this historic venue. I got a chance to go into the basement and see the random bikes, huge boiler, the lost video tapes, and the sandstone foundation. Very cool.

The folks who work there. Also cool. Having an opportunity to talk to them about their favorite shows was a treat. A lot of these folks have worked for First Ave for a long time. A part of the brick and mortar. Conrad Sverkerson comes to mind as one of those people. He’s the one pushing the equipment through the door.

Every time I have mentioned this story to people someone brings up Conrad’s name. He’s a straight-talking, bike riding, hard working son of a gun. Once the owner of dreadlocks down to his ankles he now sports a nice fro that barely fits under his cap. Conrad was fun to chat with.

Check out the slide show. Jerry and I had a good time with this one.

On the good foot

I have to tell you. Working on this story on Zawadi, a girl from Tanzania with clubfeet, has been one of the highlights of my year. She’s smart, strong, fearless and fun-loving. It was pleasure to shoot her story.

Here’s the link to the slide show.

http://www.startribune.com/slideshows/12898351.html

Breakdancing in the Twin Cities

You were probably wondering why there hasn’t been many work-related pictures up on my site. Well I have been struggling, wrestling with my first video project. Here’s the link. I hope you guys enjoy it.

http://www.startribune.com/static/breakdance

Old friend, new principal

This slide show was a team effort. David Joles took the pictures for the project and collected most of the sound and put the piece together. It was fun being responsible for making the project work and to be able to unburden David so he could concentrate on shooting. The subject was also fun. Ms. Hebert believes in tough love. Enough love so that when she needs to be tough the students understand she cares. She’s good people and deserves this piece.

http://www.startribune.com/slideshows/rich_media/1408908.html