March 25, 2013
Guns stories

In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shootings, I have been assigned to work on stories about the gun debate. One of these videos is about gun manufacturing in New England, an area that is nicknamed “gun valley” because so many firearms are made there. The irony, of course, is that some of the strictest firearms legislation exists and/or is being proposed in that area. And a lot of the legislation is being demanded by emotional crowds at rallies, like the one pictured below, that happened in Hartford in February. 

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Another one of these stories is about the ongoing inner city gun violence that is often forgotten about and overshadowed by media coverage of mass shootings. We look at a DC neighborhood called Capitol View, which has nearly as many annual gun-inflicted homicides as there were lives lost at Sandy Hook. The problem is so prevalent that a support group called “Life After Homicide” was started at a church in the neighborhood. I asked one of the women in the group, Saundra Beverly, how many people she has personally known who have been murdered. Her guess: 40 to 50 people. When I told her I have never personally known anyone was murdered, the concept didn’t even seem to register with her. She said something to the effect of, “I’m not saying I actually witnessed all of their murders.” I had to explain that I was saying that I actually cannot name one single friend, family member or acquaintance who has been killed by another human being. In certain areas, we are so insulated from this sort of tragedy. It rarely touches us or our loved ones. But for these people who are stuck in tough neighborhoods, gun violence and homicides are facts of life. 

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That exchange made me think about how I often cover stories about people who live in much more difficult situations than I do. I’m drawn to stories about struggle, especially among marginalized and poor populations, because I think it’s important that people in power are aware of what so many of these folks go through. Often they don’t have the means or the know-how to tell their stories to the right people on their own. But I’m sure they see me as an outsider, because my own life is nothing like theirs most of the time. The song “A Wake” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis reminds me of this same thing, especially when Macklemore says:

“Neighborhoods where you never see a news crew / Unless they’re gentrifying, white people don’t even cruise through / And my subconscious telling me to stop it / This is an issue that you shouldn’t get involved in / Don’t even tweet, R.I.P. Trayvon Martin / Don’t want to be that white dude million man marchin’ / Fighting for a freedom that my people stole / Don’t wanna make all my white fans uncomfortable / But you don’t even have a *** song for radio / Why you out here talkin race, trying to save the *** globe / Don’t get involved with causes in mind / White privilege, white guilt, at the same damn time / So we just party like it’s nineteen ninety nine / Celebrate the ignorance while these kids keep dying.” 


I’m obviously not supporting a cause or demanding any sort of change; I’m just sharing truth the best I can, as objectively as possible. But I don’t always know how to approach these kinds of stories, or how to make myself blend in so people are genuine when I’m around. It’s a delicate dance to try to be as honest as possible, showing both plights and flaws. But I will certainly continue to try.

4:04pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZpRlayh64viq
(Notes: 2)
  
February 18, 2013
Photo blog “The Image, Deconstructed” interviewed me and did this profile on the project I did about survivors of gunshot wounds who are wheelchair-bound. See the profile here.

Photo blog “The Image, Deconstructed” interviewed me and did this profile on the project I did about survivors of gunshot wounds who are wheelchair-bound. See the profile here.

11:55am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZpRlayeRI4Q8
(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: video wheelchairs guns gun violence 
February 18, 2013

Inauguration coverage is always a challenge because you know every other news organization is out there covering the same event along with you, so you want to get something different. Our team decided to create a piece with perspectives throughout the city during inauguration day instead of just focusing on the official events. Brad Horn went to a family’s home in southeast D.C., where people would be watching the events on TV. Gabe Silverman went to a gym and a restaurant and got some street scenes away from downtown. And I stayed on the mall, getting reaction’s to Obama’s speech. After we all got back to the office, I gathered everyone’s footage and edited together this piece. It was a 23-hour work day to make it all happen, but a lot of fun to create nonetheless.

11:50am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZpRlayeRGsUN
(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: inauguration barak obama politics Election 2012 
November 5, 2012
The Swing States

Over the past couple months, Joel Achenbach and I traveled to four of the swing states that will decide this year’s presidential election. We looked at each state’s political geography and offered a picture of what voters in each place are thinking. We didn’t line up interviews with voters in advance (we did arrange to talk to some officials and experts beforehand), and instead chose general areas and routes where we stopped to talk with people we found along the way.

In Ohio we looked at the Cleveland area since much of Ohio’s stretch along the banks of Lake Erie is considered to be a firewall for Obama. We wanted to find out if his base there will remain intact. I focused on whether his ground game will be effective, and how the economy is doing there since that is the biggest issue in most places across the country.

In Florida, we traveled to the Orlando area to seek out that state’s Puerto Rican voters. The Puerto Rican population there has grown dramatically in recent years, and a high percentage of them live in central Florida. Unlike the Cubans in the southern part of the state, Puerto Ricans tend to vote for democrats. But some of them struggle to find a candidate who meets all their needs. Many Puerto Ricans are socially conservative evangelicals, but they support immigration and entitlements. 

Wisconsin seemed to be the land of the true swing voter. Many people we met said they were genuinely undecided, independent voters. We met one woman who decided to vote for Obama, but after the first presidential debate, she may have changed her mind. But as it is in many places, we also found differences between the urban and rural parts of the state. Milwaukee and Green Bay seemed to be leaning towards Obama, but the open spaces in between often echoed more conservative sentiments.

And in Virginia we drove south from Washington to find where the South begins. We wanted to find out if Virginia is still a southern state and how that will impact which way that state swings. The state has changed a lot in recent years. Farms have been turned into shopping malls and housing developments. People from other states have moved there, changing the political makeup of Virginia. The state selected Obama for the presidency four years ago, but the race remains tight this time around.

On Tuesday, these states and a handful of others will be the places where the election is decided. See the stories here.

I produced all the videos. Joel Achenbach wrote the stories. And there were some terrific still photographs that were made for this project as well. Michael S. Williamson traveled with us to Virginia and Ohio. Sarah Voisin came to Florida. And Bill O’Leary joined us in Wisconsin.

8:37am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZpRlayWfQlMS
(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: swing states politics election campaign 2012 presidential election president united states florida ohio wisconsin virginia economy healthcare puerto ricans hispanic vote vote 
September 13, 2012
Reporting on “In D.C., another measure of gun violence: Men in wheelchairs”

Several years ago I noticed what seemed like a tragic trend happening in Washington, D.C. I saw numerous young men riding around town in wheelchairs and guessed that most of them were not put there because of car accidents or disease, but because of violence. I wanted to find out if this was true, and if so, why? What is life like for these guys? Are there lessons that young people coming after these men can learn so they don’t end up in the chair as well? Is this situation getting better, or does the crime perpetuate in spite of development in the city? I pitched this story to a colleague, Theresa Vargas, while we were driving around town working on another assignment about a year ago, and she was immediately on board. She found a support group at a nearby rehabilitation hospital for men in wheelchairs re-adjusting to urban life. Soon after we started to go to weekly meetings with some of these men, most of whom are gunshot survivors. And almost six months later, we put together this project: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wheelchairs

Theresa wrote the searing story and I produced the video and shot the photographs for the newspaper and the photo gallery. We got great display in the Sunday newspaper and lots of online promotion.

This story took almost six months to report because of its sensitive nature and the intimacy that had to be captured. Building trust is not a simple task when you’re trying to show people in their weakest, most vulnerable states. These men shared private and painful memories with us, such as when Uni told us how hurt he was when his girlfriend left him after she found out he was paralyzed. Those sorts of disclosures require time and patience before they are given.

We also spent a lot of time going to their weekly support group meetings to gather a collection of conversations and to see how characters like Alfonzo, who was new to the group when we began reporting, dealt with his injury and changed over time.

In our reporting we learned that comprehensive records about non-fatal gunshot incidents are not really kept. Theresa wrote a sidebar story about this, including some of the data we do know about. For example, we know that almost all gunshot survivors with spinal cord injuries that end up at MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital are African Americans. And the men in the Urban Re-entry Group are aware that this crime is mostly happening in their own communities. One of the discussions I had to cut out of the video but that was nonetheless interesting was the day the group talked about “black on black crime.” Dr. Gordon asked the men how many people they know who have been shot by white people (all the men admitted they know plenty of other guys who are gunshot victims). Uni replied by saying he could only think of Martin Luther King, Jr. None of the other guys could think of anyone else either. They then had a discussion about why they think black people are shooting each other. No one had any real answers.

Some of these survivors in the group were drug dealers when they were shot. Some kept dealing afterwards, too. Some owned illegally-obtained guns. Some of them provoked violence during fights. And some of them were working hard, just trying to get by, like Deonte.

We met Deonte near the end of our time reporting for this project. He was shot in September 2010 when he and some friends were shopping in a liquor store. He had just turned 21 weeks before. He didn’t know the shooter. He was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. The police report from the incident backs up his account. Deonte does not have a criminal record. He had a job. He says he was trying to live a standup life, in part because his brother was shot and killed in 1998 (Alfonzo’s brother was also fatally shot when he was a child). He knew he didn’t want to end up dead too. He didn’t want to put his family through all of the grief again. He’s a testament that this can happen to anyone.

Deonte went back to work after he was shot. He worked in a law firm, organizing files and delivering mail, until he developed a pressure sore from neglecting to do regular pressure reliefs on the job. Pressure sores can lead to bad infections and sometimes even amputation. Deonte’s sore put him back in the hospital for almost two months, which is why he returned to the support group.

There are so many details, like many of these about Deonte’s life, that I had to cut from the video. But as it is, I have tried to show an intimate portrait of what life is like for these men.

It’s a long video for the web; it’s 10 minutes. But I hope you watch it because I think it’s an important story. So often we hear about gunshot fatalities. It is rare to see the challenges that the survivors face. They’re the “in between” victims, as Dr. Gordon said. Many of them are completely cared for with American tax dollars through Medicare and Medicaid. These people live in our communities. Any one of us, in an instant of misfortune, could become one of them.

Most of the photographs in this blog post are not the ones that were published with the story, but are ones that I like nonetheless. Here are a few more:

Alfonzo, tired during therapy.

Alfonzo falls over during occupational therapy.

Alfonzo sips water during a physical therapy session.

Nurses lift Alfonzo from his bed into his wheelchair.

Alfonzo tries to open an envelope, which is a challenging task because of the limited mobility he has in his hands.

Deonte at home.

Ish on his front porch.

Ish reaches for his walker.

The tattoo on Ish’s right arm says, “God don’t make mistakes.” He says if he weren’t paralyzed, he thinks he would be dead or in jail.

Ish with friends and family on a Friday night.

Uni uses his mouth to twist his deodorant up.

Uni plays video games.

Uni’s aide helps him get ready for the day.

Uni cleaning his face.

Uni leaving his apartment building.

Kwame Dew, another regular attendee of the group.

Ish, Alfonzo and Uni pose for portraits.

Again, see the entire project at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wheelchairs

4:14pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZpRlayTK7kwk
(Notes: 7)
  
Filed under: wheelchairs gun violence guns spinal cord injury traumatic brain injury national rehabilition hospital 
September 12, 2012

A couple of weeks ago I headed to Tampa to cover the Republican National Convention. After about 24 hours on the ground, I was back at the airport, headed to New Orleans to cover Hurricane Isaac. When I arrived, I headed out to hunt for a pre-storm story and found people swimming and kayaking in the suddenly rough surf of Lake Pontchartrain. I produced this piece about the fun they were having before holing up in my hotel room in preparation for the impending storm.

Sitting in my hotel room, I felt anxious because I wasn’t out producing anything. But it was decidedly unsafe and too dark to go outside. So, I set up the camera to look out onto Canal Street from the fabulous view I had in my room and recorded a timelapse for about 12 hours. I put together this quick piece to show the storm blowing through downtown New Orleans.

After the storm passed, Ricky Carioti, Manuel Roig-Franzia and I headed out to survey the damage. We heard about flooding in the suburbs of New Orleans and headed to Slidell to check it out. We found people rowing boats through feet-deep flooded downtown streets rescuing people from their homes. I shot this piece and edited it quickly in the car on the way back to New Orleans.

Br Friday I was back on an airplane, returning to Washington, D.C., happy to New Orleans was spared on the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

5:37pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZpRlayTGl-7_
August 7, 2012

In mid-June a group of us from The Post took off for Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada to check out oil sands operations before driving down the route of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. I produced a story about the environmental impacts of different types of extraction methods companies are using to pull the oil out of the sand there, as well as a story about what it’s like to live in the boom town that is Fort McMurray. I put together this moody piece about our departure from Canada and did a quick story about the town in Montana, with a population of only nine, just over the Canada/U.S. border.

We went a little off course to North Dakota to check out the oil boom happening there since some of that oil will likely be shipped to the Keystone XL. We found that infrastructure has not been able to keep up with the population growth in the western  part of the state and many people have struggled to find affordable places to live. Jobs, however, are plentiful and the pay is good. It felt a bit like a modern day gold rush, with people flocking there to make a fortune of their own.

In South Dakota we met rancher John Harter who has been fighting TransCanada in court to try to stop them from bringing the Keystone XL across his land. But TransCanada recently won the case on the grounds of eminent domain and Harter could not have seemed more downtrodden about this. Harter is now hoping he can at least demand more money for the inconvenience of having a pipeline built across his land. I didn’t realize a private company like TransCanada would be able to obtain eminent domain, so it was interesting learning more about how that works and how people like John Harter are impacted by it.

My last stop was in Nebraska, where we went to a cookout and fundraiser in Spalding for state senator Ken Haar. People there wanted to thank Haar for his work to redirect the pipeline from their land, the Sand Hills and the Ogallala Aquifer. Many of them also gathered there to talk more about how to completely stop the construction of Keystone XL because they see it as a threat to the water and land throughout their state.

In all I spent two weeks on the road before hopping on a plane in Omaha to head home. My colleagues, Steven Mufson and Michael S. Williamson, along with Mufson’s daughter Natalie, kept going after I returned to Washington, heading down to Port Arthur, Tex., to see where the refining process will happen. They stopped at some Native American reservations in Oklahoma along the way, which was a part of the trip I was especially disappointed to miss. Keep up with the rest of their journey at www.washingtonpost.com/keystone.

It was eye-opening to get a firsthand look at the oil sands operations in Canada and to see how folks along the proposed pipeline route may be impacted if it comes their way. Environmental, social, economic and political effects will be important considerations if plans move forward to put this pipeline into place.

6:21pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZpRlayQyjZmO
(Notes: 24)
  
Filed under: keystone keystone xl oil transcanada canada north dakota south dakota montana nebraska politics petroleum washington post steven mufson michael williamson natalie mufson 
August 7, 2012
See these stunning National Geographic images from Pine Ridge, the Oglala Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota. I volunteered as a coach at a photo camp in Pine Ridge in 2010 and was struck by how much beauty and suffering both exist there. The children of Pine Ridge are especially wonderful as well as vulnerable. It was eye-opening to see how they viewed their worlds through the photography they made, and it was exciting to take them exploring through the outdoors into areas many of them had never been to and to do activities many of them had never tried before.

See these stunning National Geographic images from Pine Ridge, the Oglala Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota. I volunteered as a coach at a photo camp in Pine Ridge in 2010 and was struck by how much beauty and suffering both exist there. The children of Pine Ridge are especially wonderful as well as vulnerable. It was eye-opening to see how they viewed their worlds through the photography they made, and it was exciting to take them exploring through the outdoors into areas many of them had never been to and to do activities many of them had never tried before.

10:20am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZpRlayQx69S5
(Notes: 4)
  
Filed under: native american oglala sioux lakota reservation photography 
July 10, 2012
The project Zero Day: Exploring cyberspace as a new domain of war was a collaborative effort between motion graphics designer Sohail Al-Jamea, reporter/writer Robert O’Harrow Jr., web producer Greg Linch, interactive projects editor Kat Downs and me. I interviewed cyber security experts across the country about how threats to privacy and industrial controls systems are increasing via the Internet, and Sohail created beautiful motion graphics to offer visuals analogies to show what this all means. 

The project Zero Day: Exploring cyberspace as a new domain of war was a collaborative effort between motion graphics designer Sohail Al-Jamea, reporter/writer Robert O’Harrow Jr., web producer Greg Linch, interactive projects editor Kat Downs and me. I interviewed cyber security experts across the country about how threats to privacy and industrial controls systems are increasing via the Internet, and Sohail created beautiful motion graphics to offer visuals analogies to show what this all means. 

10:49am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZpRlayP3hfRS
(Notes: 1)
  
May 21, 2012
She first insisted she was a boy at the age of 2. “I am a boy” became a constant theme in struggles over clothing, bathing, swimming, eating, playing. Eventually, a psychologist diagnosed gender identity disorder. Now Tyler’s parents allow him to live as a boy, and the 5-year-old is reveling in his new identity. I produced this video that tells their story. I actually completed a different version of this story several weeks ago that included interview shots with Tyler’s parents and b-roll shots of the family interacting together. I was really happy with what I had put together. But at the last minute, The Post decided we should think more carefully about protecting the identity of this family. Being transgender, especially as a child, is still a really controversial issue in our society. This is evident in the back-and-forth comments we got in reaction to the story after we published it yesterday. We decided to use the name his parents would have given him if he had been born a boy, which is Tyler. And in the written story, we used the parents’ middle names. We also decided to remove any images of Tyler’s parents and sister. As a result, this re-edit was really complicated. I always lean on interview shots and other characters’ faces to transition between scenes. There wasn’t time to go back and shoot more, so I had to utilize cutaway shots to avoid jump cuts and unsettling scene changes. Luckily I had just enough cutaways to make this work. It doesn’t flow perfectly, but I think it turned out fairly well given the limitations.

She first insisted she was a boy at the age of 2. “I am a boy” became a constant theme in struggles over clothing, bathing, swimming, eating, playing. Eventually, a psychologist diagnosed gender identity disorder. Now Tyler’s parents allow him to live as a boy, and the 5-year-old is reveling in his new identity. I produced this video that tells their story.

I actually completed a different version of this story several weeks ago that included interview shots with Tyler’s parents and b-roll shots of the family interacting together. I was really happy with what I had put together. But at the last minute, The Post decided we should think more carefully about protecting the identity of this family. Being transgender, especially as a child, is still a really controversial issue in our society. This is evident in the back-and-forth comments we got in reaction to the story after we published it yesterday. We decided to use the name his parents would have given him if he had been born a boy, which is Tyler. And in the written story, we used the parents’ middle names. We also decided to remove any images of Tyler’s parents and sister.

As a result, this re-edit was really complicated. I always lean on interview shots and other characters’ faces to transition between scenes. There wasn’t time to go back and shoot more, so I had to utilize cutaway shots to avoid jump cuts and unsettling scene changes. Luckily I had just enough cutaways to make this work. It doesn’t flow perfectly, but I think it turned out fairly well given the limitations.

2:36pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZpRlayLu8we3
(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: transgender health video multimedia mywork 
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