Hi, everyone, I'm Samantha Guzman, Executive Editor of Decibel,
and I'm here with multimedia Visual Journalist Blair Waltman-Alexin.
How's it going?
(Blair) It's going good. How are you, Sam?
-I'm good. I'm good.
So we're here to talk about some of the best work we've done this year.
But we before we get to your favorite story,
I want to just talk a little bit about your approach to storytelling.
You're like, what I like to call one of the OGs here on Team Decibel.
You've been on the the team for a while.
What do you think is like the magic essence behind
what makes a Decibel story, a Decibel story?
-Oh, that's a good question.
I think it's two things I think is the first thing which is always
the most important thing is
just the way we're getting to the stories to begin with.
So the fact that every story is starting with listening to the community,
hearing what their concerns are, what they're excited about,
what what they want sort of champions that nobody else is talking about.
Like the fact that that's the jumping off point
for all of our content
that to me is always like the the little extra extra spice
that makes it makes it really stand out.
-You said it's one of two things, right?
So what's the second thing?
-I think the fact that we get to spend as much time as we do with the stories,
so we really kind of get to hit both ends of it where we get to do something
very personal and very creative.
But then we also get to really kind of show you the scope of what we're doing.
-I mean, I say this to all the time, but it kind of is remarkable.
Like all of the things that you all are able to do, you just sort of summed it
up, right?
It's like it's not just a video, it's a written story.
You made graphics, you know, for stories in the past.
So y'all really put in a lot of work into these pieces, and I think it shows.
OK. All right. So
what do you think was your favorite story that you worked on this year?
-I went back and forth on this a lot,
but the one that I landed on was road runners.
but the one that I landed on was Road Runners.
If you haven't seen it,
we are following a Del Valle resident Rogelio Rayos.
So he got into running kind of by accident.
He was training to join the Texas National Guard, and then he just loved it.
He was running with groups in Austin and enjoyed that,
but wanted to find a group closer to home.
And he saw that there wasn't one yet.
And he's like, Well, I'll do it. I'll just start one.
That'll be me.
-So folks may not know this, but you yourself are a runner.
What's the longest distance that you've ran?
-I've done a marathon.
-What expertise do you think you brought to the story
since you're a runner yourself?
-I think, oddly enough, the timing.
I kind of had like a good like sixth sense of it,
it's going to be about eight minutes for you to get from here to there.
So I have enough time to drive, get the gear out set up, they'll come by.
Now I can get in the car and go to the next place.
The best help that it gave me was that.
I mean, videographers, photographers,
we love to say that most of our work is just about like waiting and timing.
So I think that expertise definitely came in handy for you.
So what was most challenging about working on this story?
-So this is where the running expertise was not helpful
because like, I knew exactly what shots I wanted to get,
which led to my brilliant idea
of strapping a lot of GoPros onto a bicycle
and and stalking this man
twice.
That didn't pan out quite as well as I was hoping, but we learned some things.
So I guess that makes it worthwhile.
-I mean, stuff ended up in the story. You know?
That's the ultimate, you know, success.
-So how did our method of listening first lead you to this story?
-So in a lot of our first listening sessions, the things that we were told by
folks was that
everyone finde everything via social media.
So that's where we started looking.
And that's where we found the Del Valley Road Runners.
It really is a good example of how
all of our stories kind of start with this foundation of community listening.
We got this story because of advice from the community.
Like it wasn't specifically, here's a running group, but it was,
Here's how you find out what's going on around here.
-Why, ultimately did you want to tell this story?
-Well, partly it's like you said, like, I am a runner,
so it definitely tugged at my heartstrings a little bit.
But I think something specifically that spoke to me about it was,
you know, when I first came here, like, this is how I kind of learned
Austin was by running, like, that's how I made connections and friendships.
And that's how I really like learned how to get around in the city
was by running through random neighborhoods.
And so whenever I saw that he was starting this group, it immediately
made sense to me why.
It's beyond like the practical reasons.
It's also building a sense of community, and I really wanted people
to take away that like,
that's something that you can just do.
Like, it can be a small thing but you can do something that like adds to your community.
-See, I think you've summed up perfectly
what I love about our stories, because our stories like on the surface
might seem like it's about one thing, but actually it's about another, right?
And so we've put together this story about running,
but really, it's not about running, it's about building a community, it's
about finding your place in the world and like, who can't relate to that?
So what's one thing that you wish our audience knew about
what goes into making a Decibel story?
-That it's very personal.
It's not just about getting a story like you really are building a relationship
with this person and you want them to feel like it's their story.
And we're just, you know, a pathway through which they get to share it.
-Oh, beautifully said,
I'm so glad you picked the favorite story because I love everything,
and I wouldn't have been able to pick it, but such amazing work
and I look forward to seeing what you do next year.
All right, you can find this story and more at decibelatx.org.
Thanks you all and have a great day.