Thanks for joining us tonight.
We have a special look behind the lens of our photojournalists here at care 11.
You may see them out in shoots or at schools or events or maybe just on the streets.
And I can tell you that people in the community
letting us into their lives in this very personable
way is not something we take for granted.
In the next half hour,
we're gonna look back at some of their stories this past year that impacted us
and you
and we'll hear from our visual storytellers and the
hope is that we all learn a little bit more
about each other.
Care has one of the best, if not the best photojournalist team in the country.
I wasn't
given the privilege of
getting into an Ivy League school
because I got the privilege of,
you know, working for Ivy League TV Station,
visually stunning stories.
How we turn a simple story into something people can remember,
they can learn from, get emotion from. We all love and support each other
and it just breaks my heart when something like this happens. That is what K
means to me and it is the standard that,
that a lot of news stations across the country try to achieve
super passionate, very driven.
I want to make communities better.
What do we do from here?
Many people I see are still fighting.
I think our team does a really good job at seeing the world
um
from a lens of compassion.
You know, I think accountability is, is called for,
but that's part of compassion too.
It's so important to
provide hope
you have that feature story, that memorable story
that's more than the nuts and bolts facts, but gets into the emotion of it.
That's
where it becomes meaningful, at
least for myself as the journalist and hopefully the community
and we're trying our best to
not talk at you, not shove something down your throat. We
want you to look, listen,
put a face to the problem that people in the community are facing
and making people who live miles away from where
this problem is happening and care about it.
If the winter's cold doesn't get to you, it's a little chilly. The darkness might.
We want to be a part of something that's, you know,
in our minds special and we don't want to miss that.
911 caller stated that they were driving by and they saw
smoke and flames coming from the main floor of this building.
I get to work with some of the best journalists in the country.
Race. Officials disqualified Joe giving the win to the second place finisher
today, hundreds gathered here at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis,
Eli was tragically killed earlier this year. Car is like completely smashed.
It's a very talented team and I'm blessed to be a part of it.
Being here at care has just been,
it's been truly life changing and
career changing for me and
just solidify us
that I really love what I do.
I actually really like working on the stories when
we're talking about maybe a hardship. Maybe it's a triumph and
letting
neighbors know what other people in their community are going through.
I remember this one opportunity where I was able to go to
a library um where there was a group of women who gathered,
they were all deaf and they all quilted.
Uh And it was just a really cool way to talk about
how these folks come together and find community within their community.
And I love stories like that where you just get to talk with people,
hang out with people um and show good people doing
good work. Um And those are the kinds of things that I like to report on.
You don't have to go far.
Let's go check
out
our
books
to find a good story. I like non fiction.
This one is sci fi fantasy
at the Inver Glen Public Library in Dakota County.
People might think a library has books and
C DS and
movies, but it's also spaces and areas where people can come together.
A library is also a place
to spin a yarn,
not just read about stories,
but tell them yourself.
Well, we're deaf.
We experience isolation and we love to quilt.
Most of us are mothers
and now we're all becoming grandmothers, an interpreter is here to translate.
I have the fabric over there. I got three as the crafty beads
get
busy sewing quilts
and
creating
friendships.
Once a month, the group meets up and shares without any troubles with.
When we communicate with just each other. It's so easy and fluid.
They've been meeting here almost two
years, Cindy Willenberg
and Marcia posse. It's
like, I'm not just the being in a group,
I'm just being at home,
saw a need for creators to share. It does
have a story to tell.
You know, like if somebody's a biking band,
you might see somebody making a Viking fab
are
they have uh their own meaning
and it just feels good to make something for somebody to give them to them and
means a lot to them.
We got people coming from the north or from
the cities like all the way from Rochester.
It's about 85 miles. I come here once a month. This is my favorite day of the month.
Sean Whitting says hearing about everyone's lives is special.
It reduces isolation.
It's very common in the deaf community. Very common. This time around.
She brought her best friend Edna Quinby.
I love her
uh, she's my, everything.
My rider die
for over 30 years. Yes. Yep.
I drive you nuts. Yes, you do.
I was not so certain about it, you know,
because I thought quilting was for older people.
So I was like, no, this is not my thing.
It turns out
it is, it is just a meditative thing. Every quilt has
good
that
Joyce Hoffman
opens a story
on her 70th birthday
co
authored by everyone in the group.
I made that
one
nice.
So each person here made a square. It's a bond as if they're cut from the same cloth.
It's amazing.
It's beautiful.
Sammy
Solina.
This
is amazing
news.
The arts are important to me and I wanna highlight others
especially since the pandemic and everyone was not performing and wanna
help others through that.
Like just be a platform because I know especially with hip hop
in the twin cities, we don't have very many platforms.
And actually I do love covering any story with kids because they,
I just love their delivery, their confidence.
I was covering this
young dance troupe from
North Minneapolis and
they were on their way to compete
and they had this fundraiser and they did very well.
And basically the girls were cute. Ok? They were awesome.
They had all their moves. So compact.
Anytime I interview some successful kids, I'm like,
I kinda, it kinda makes me think back to my own life as a little girl
turn out
these moves earned Dance City
first place in hip hop and first place overall
at the Star Power National Talent Competition in Vegas.
It was fun because I got to have fun while I'm dancing.
But I also get, get to sometimes when you have to be on point,
you had to have energy faces and
be yourself.
A lot of my moms are single moms director Sierra Bena
says it was community generosity that sent the girls there. We did a gofundme
so that the moms didn't have to spend a dime on flights or
hotels and we were able to raise that 25,000 in six days.
Now,
Sierra is asking for support in sending her national champs to
train with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York.
MS
has talked about New York a few times and the Debbie Allen Dance Academy in L A.
So these girls can see
African American Dance Studios that have a lot of history
and a lot of longevity and they can see where they can be.
Sierra founded her own competitive studio eight years ago,
but Dance City doesn't have its own space.
So Sierra's Alma Mater North High School helps when it can North is phenomenal,
but of course school is out.
So now we can't have practice there when it's winter break, you know.
So we have to work around their schedule right now, for example,
they're rehearsing at Zenon Dance downtown.
So while their immediate ask is to travel. They wouldn't say no to a permanent home.
It would be a miracle to get me out of north because I love them so much.
But if someone were to hand me a set of keys and say this is your dance space,
it would be amazing for the girls.
A home for what already feels like family.
I don't have any sisters here but they call our friends here.
We call them dad sisters. I love you guys.
Kaya Edwards, Carol of the news.
I would say comeback features are some of my favorites.
Uh People that have overcome something large or, or
something.
They weren't expected to come back from David Porter and I did a story with the
Machaca wrestling coach and his son
and his son is one of the best wrestlers to come out of
Maxa. They have such a unique relationship
out of the wrestling community because they're really goofy guys and we got to show
that side of them but also show the love that they have for each other.
You could say the rose family is competitive. Go down. I hate losing.
But that would be an understatement. It doesn't even have to be a sport.
It could be school or just like walking up the stairs in class. I want to be the first.
It's just in my mind all the time. Yes,
that spirit good work.
Something Davin learned from his father,
Ma
Hawker wrestling coach Kyle Rose.
I always try and teach every one of my kids to win.
Here you go.
You gotta try and set goals succeed. You can't just settle, you gotta win.
You gotta be the best. And so you gotta be competitive to be the best
in early December. Davin broke Ma
Haka's pin record
previously held by none other than his father
who had 99 career pins
in wrestling.
We say cut him like if you wanna take them down and let him go and tech follow him.
So I'm screaming out, cut him,
cut him and he looked over at me and just smiled and shook his head and I'm like, no, no,
cut him, let him go and he didn't listen to his coach
and one, the pins record, 100 career pins. Why was the pin record so important to you?
Just because it was my dad's record
of all people. I mean, anybody could be your coach but to be your dad, how cool is that?
It's awesome. Like almost, it shouldn't be awesome. It's pretty awesome.
Like three times
a week,
three times a week, at least I'd say I rub it in his face at home or
I just, I just gotta let him know who's the man of the house now.
No,
but it's all in good fun for him to hold the record is pretty awesome.
Ready to wrestle tonight.
I gotta say I was pretty happy for you. Even though
like you rub it in a little more now, I'm not so happy for him now.
I wish he would have got injured. Week one in the season.
Short
time. Let's go.
Coach Rose says his son's success comes from something he didn't teach him
off
your own.
I'd say his best attribute is his
mental capacity.
Any sport and I actually say wrestling more, but any sport is 90% mental.
And if you are not beat before you get on that mat, you get a chance to win.
As for the future, Davin hopes to make his fifth state tournament appearance,
which would be the most
by any wrestler in school history. I just want one more step up on him.
Then there's no debating
who's the best. Should he win state this year?
He would also be his dad's first wrestler to take
a title home as his coach and as his father,
what would that mean if he did win a state title?
No, I would guarantee, I'd cry on that.
Yeah, that would be amazing
as their time as coach and wrestler nears the end.
They're cherishing every moment they have left. I'm having an
amazing time.
I'm loving it. I don't want it to end, but I know it will.
It's definitely more fun being with
your father as your coach
win or lose at state.
Davin has the rest of the season to add to the records he's already broken
in fact, he just earned his patch for 200 career wins
in Morse
Julia Daniels, Ka
Levin
crisp quiet air greets Saint Paul Winter carnival guests
across the street inside the landmark center,
the opposite,
warm and welcoming vendors.
I have been serving the community for more
than 15 years ready to share their stories.
That's my dad up there teaching the kids, but he's actually pointing to himself
and celebrate community.
I like to cover stories around diversity education.
And pretty much any time someone is doing something good for the community.
I choose to be in my hometown because I see the potential for growth
and I see what it has already allowed me to do, which is tell stories that matter,
all of it helps.
You know, I learned a lot more about becoming a lawyer today.
I'm very, I'm looking forward to learning a lot more about it.
Knowing that you, first of all made a difference in your community.
You got to connect with someone,
but you also got to put together this
story. Come on in everybody besides clothes. Welcome.
Welcome, teens and young adults.
This is cute why you didn't get these leave with something else from Auntie Becks.
When you walk in, she's gonna greet you with a smile. Every time, it's the feeling.
Every time of being welcomed.
It's nice when people give us a chance because every day people give us chances
and
we don't take that lightly. Then we could just get started on this one right here.
Surprising fact about professional Baker, Doctor Alt
Tria Foster. I asked myself if I were that person,
would I have been happy about what I saw on television today?
Like, did that reporter do me any justice?
I think it's just those small interactions that
prove that we're people too and we're here to listen.
I think that's really important
over the past few years, Minnesota has gone through a lot and of course,
we have to cover this evolution that's happening within our community.
And it's not always pretty.
Um Some of these stories are really tough to cover at the same time.
What care is so great at is also covering the wonderful things that people are doing.
They have Karen,
the wonderful things that people are going through.
There's always kindness out there.
Um You go to any catastrophe
and if you point your lens one way it's all hardship.
But if you point it the other way,
it's a lot of uplifting people trying to
do things that are making our community better.
Only thing that's required of you is to have
a heart of gratitude and probably some good food.
I think it's
important highlighting the work of others,
lifting others voices or them lifting their own
voices and we're helping them amplify that voice.
I think it's incredible.
75% of our scholars are graduates are either currently in a
four year program or have already graduated with their bachelor's degree,
highlighting communities.
I think those are my favorite stories because
I feel like I'm actually making a difference,
being let in
to lives like that
on a daily basis.
It's just,
it's truly just incredible.
I think a lot of people, you know, they're from the Midwest or they're from here.
So they really wanna shed a positive light on the community.
That is the twin Cities because it's our community too.
Thanks for watching our photojournalist special.
We care about you, your stories, your moments, your concerns and your triumphs.
Our photojournalist staff is the backbone of capturing all that.
Throughout 2023 you've led us into your homes,
into your communities and into your lives.
And we thank you for that.
Your stories allow all of us to grow
and to learn.
We're grateful.
Good night.