In 2003, while serving in Iraq with a California National Guard unit, Sgt. Jim Vandenhueval s humvee was blown up by a roadside bomb. Jim suffered severe wounds to his head and legs, and nearly died.
I first did a story on Jim more than two years ago. He doesn t remember talking to me back then, and blames the memory loss he still deals with today. In 2004, Jim told me one of his goals was to earn back his driver s license, something he lost because of his head injury.
I visited with Jim again in the spring of 2006 for a story on his continued recovery. He was even able to take me for a drive in his car; he earned his driver s license a few months earlier. (Tim Post) The subjects in this piece had a very compelling tale to tell, so my job was to stay out of their way as much as possible.
It gave the story a much snappier rhythm than usual, which was fun. Also, I think it supplied a new angle on Internet fraud and the perils of selling online. Plus, painter Lynn Maderich happens to be my neighbor across the street, so in between interviews I was able to run home and empty my three-year-old s training pants or ask my six-year-old to stop poking his brother.
Best of all, in the members of the Equine Arts Protection League, we have a new set of super heroes. Maybe one day they ll have a cartoon on Saturday mornings. (Chris Roberts) This young man was extraordinarily candid in speaking with me about his experience at war in Iraq and returning home after a year, and assimilating back into civilian life with his new bride.
(Mark Zdechlik) (03/24/2006)
When I set out to cover the sideshow at the Minnesota State Fair this summer, I was simply hoping to find some quirky characters and a couple of strange sights. Instead, I ran into a tight-knit family of performers making the most of a dying way of life. Sideshow owner Ward Hall may not have sponsored any pivotal legislation this year.
And his staff of fire-eaters and sword-swallowers didn t draft any constitutional amendments. But when it comes to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, they taught me more than any politician in 2006. (Nikki Tundel) (08/28/2006)
In July, when the Cavity Lake wildfire burned 30,000 acres in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, I spent several days on the Gunflint Trail.
In a series of stories, I described how workers fought the fire, heard New York City firefighters explain what they were learning from wild land fire crews, and explored possible economic impacts of the fire. But the best story came when I tagged along with two Forest Service workers as they hunted for signs of life in the scorched landscape. The trip turned into a lesson in forest ecology, and the take-home message was that fire is an integral part of the life of the northern forest.
(Stephanie Hemphill) (07/26/2006)
I m a fan of all sorts of music, so the story of the Monks was especially fun to do. The Monks were a group of ex-GIs, including one from northern Minnesota, who put together a strange rock-and-roll band in Germany in the 1960s. Apart from their Medieval friar-like haircuts, they created some fascinating music.
Their fame in the 60s was limited primarily to German audiences, but their one album has since been praised internationally by musicians and rock critics. They ve been called a forerunner to the punk movement of the 70s. I liked this story because it gave me a chance to meet the guys who became weird rock-and-roll footnotes nearly 40 years after the band broke up.
I also got to see them perform live at a raucous, foot-stompin concert at a small club in Bemidji. It was an incredible show. (Tom Robertson) (10/12/2006)
Cristina Cordova and Juan Antonio del Rosario work unbelievable hours to script, shoot, edit, post-produce, and post episodes of an ongoing soap opera made in and around downtown Minneapolis.
They told me how they were using the Web as a way to tell stories, while teaching themselves about how to make movies. I was intrigued, but then when I learned they were launching a 105-episode season, I needed to go see how they did it. (Euan Kerr) (11/16/2006)
I first met Moon Roberts several years ago when he was a junior in high school.
He was already teaching racism awareness classes and challenging stereotypes about American Indians. As we were reporting this story in late 2005, I learned Moon had dropped out of college and was teaching at the high school in Cass Lake. I knew I needed to talk with him about what had happened to derail his plans.
Then on a cold stormy, December day the news came that Moon Roberts was dead. Police said he stepped in front of a truck on a highway near Cass Lake. The news was like a kick in the gut.
As a reporter I wanted to know what happened to so drastically change this young man s life, but I also felt grief, which shattered that dispassionate repertorial facade we often hide behind, and left me with a small insight into the pain felt all too often by mothers and fathers in Indian Country. (Dan Gunderson) (03/16/2006)
This was one of those pieces where the more digging I did, the more interesting the whole issue became. To see these small towns being sold these ill-planned sewer systems was completely frustrating.
Once they were built and failed to work, it was time for eveyone to back up and hit the taxpayers for a bail-out. It s not the way things are suppose to work and this story points out how good intentions poorly thought out can lead to bad results. (Mark Steil) (03/17/2006)
I saw this convenience store every day for the five years I lived in the Jordan neighborhood.
It was just down the street from the house we lived in until we sold it in March 06. The story stands out for me because this store has been a point of contention for many of the people living in the neighborhood. There had been numerous shootings inside and out of the store including a horrific homicide that occurred in the store s office.
The owners of the store said they were trying to make improvements to help cut down on the crime, but the city closed them down. The story ran the day we moved out of the house. And ever since then, my old neighbors tell me that things have greatly improved.
The corner of 26th and Knox is no longer a spot for drug dealers to hang out, because there s no store there. The street is cleaner from lack of trash generated by store patrons. It turns out that probably the best public safety move the city made for this part of North Minneapolis was to close the store.
(Brandt Williams) (03/31/2006)
In February, Fardin Oliaei, came to MPR for an interview to discuss her forced departure from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. A research scientist who pushed her bosses at the MPCA to study the spread of perfluorinated chemicals from 3M s former Scotchgard operations in the Twin Cities, Fardin ruffled lots of feathers at the agency s headquarters in St.Paul.
This interview was supposed to be her moment, talking about her work and her future. But, as it turns out, the report would not be about Fardin. When she arrived for the interview, Fardin brought data from her research, not previously released by the agency, showing that contamination in Mississippi River fish downstream from 3M plant was the highest recorded anywhere in the world.
What was supposed to be a valedictory story became instead, a piece about research Fardin had conducted to serve the public, the kind of work that ultimately ended her career in state government. (Mike Edgerly) George Roberts is a great testament to the power of the individual to make a significant difference in his/her community, and to the role art can have in changing people s lives. By opening a gallery in his crime-ridden neighborhood, Roberts was essentially saying I believe in you, and I m not giving up on you.
At a time when the media at large was only covering the bad news in his neighborhood, it was nice to have good news to share. (Marianne Combs) (09/04/2006)
I spent a full day on the campaign trail with Mike Hatch while putting this profile together, which happened to be the day the borrowed RV the campaign was using broke down on the interstate. Dane Smith from the Star Tribune and I were riding in the RV with Hatch and running mate Judi Dutcher, when we heard a loud clunk and smoke started pouring out of the vehicle.
Hatch took the whole thing in stride, but the day after my story ran, he wasn t nearly as calm when reacting to the Dutcher E-85 flap. (Laura McCallum) I ve always been fascinated by the recording process. In January I had the opportunity to observe the Minnesota Orchestra as it recorded two movements of Beethoven s Eighth Symphony at Orchestra Hall.
It was a race against the clock as conductor Osmo Vanska had just four hours to lead the orchestra through enough perfect takes that could be seamlessly edited together create one flawless performance. The session came at the end of a week of recording and Vanska was emotionally and physically drained when it was all over. I know we have done some great things, he said.
But I feel quite empty at the moment. (Karl Gehrke) (05/31/2006)
Going into the last weekend of the baseball regular season, I volunteered to cover the Twins final game at the Metrodome. The program director said he wanted a story for Monday s Morning Edition only if the Twins were the Central Division champs.
It seemed like a remote possibility at the time, but the collapse of the Detroit Tigers over the weekend gave the Twins a chance. That final Sunday turned out to be a memorable one at the old ballpark as the Twins came from behind to win and then watched the scoreboard with their fans as the Tigers lost again to give Minnesota the title. Oh, and Joe Mauer won a batting title too.
(Jim Bickal) (10/01/2006)
My own struggles learning to play the violin led me to do a piece on violin restoration at Claire Givens Violins in Minneapolis. I currently own a violin and love to look at old instruments. I was amazed when the head of restoration, Andrew Dipper, told most of the instruments he works on predate America.
I was also struck by the fact that the Internet and other high-tech tools have significantly changed the ways instruments are restored. (Greta Cunningham) (04/25/2006)
The stories that touch me the most are the ones that come out of a real life experience. I first met Greg Gunderson at our kid s summer camp.
I decided to follow him in the parent s caravan to camp and instantly lost sight of his SUV. I learned when I approached him to tease him about how fast he drove that he was deaf. The conversation happened later when I had paper and pencil in hand.
I learned he was a race car driver and that he was trying to be on this reality television show. I then confessed I was a reporter by trade and would love to do a story about this. While I wanted to focus on his handicap of being the first deaf man on a reality show, it was difficult to do.
He s not limited in what he can do. He simply can t hear. He works hard to communicate with anyone whether it s reading lips or using pen and paper.
Greg Gunderson qualified for the show, he came in fourth place in the voting. Filming hasn t taken place. His wife wonders if it ever will.
Producers say it ll happen next spring. Greg Gunderson is someone who taught me a little about communicating and just how much can be said with a smile and a handshake. (Cara Hetland) I went on a ride-along with the police and got a unique tour of the central part of downtown St.
Paul. Sgt. Paul Paulos showed me some of the places that homeless people live, such as an area under the bridge where Highway 52 begins.
He also took me to an abandoned homeless camp, where I could see the remnants of some of the shelters people had built for themselves before they were evicted. In one spot, I could still see where the former resident had dug out an area that made for a make-shift basement that probably provided some relief from the elements on a cold winter night. (Toni Randolph) (01/24/2006)
Coach Gagliardi does not do many broadcast interviews.
So, when he agreed to talk with me on the eve of a playoff game around the Thanksgiving holiday, I was surprised and excited for the opportunity. It would be my first chance to chat with the man who has won more games than any coach in the history of college football. What started as standard interview turned into a real conversation as we developed a rapport.
In the end, I think it revealed an insight into the personality of a true Minnesota icon. (Cathy Wurzer) (11/23/2006)
Ken Heide carves wooden limbs for patients. He learned the trade from his father.
The unique combination of carving skills and dedication to helping his patients is really touching. He s trying to find someone to teach his skills to, so that patients who can t afford modern artificial and expensive limbs can have a chance to put their lives back together. (Bob Reha) (01/10/2006)
This story is memorable for me because Community Aquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (CA-MRSA) is an emerging problem in Minnesota and elsewhere across the country.
Most people have no idea they can now contract these sometimes deadly infections outside of a hospital environment. The situation is especially troubling given that there are very few antibiotics that still work on these bugs. (Lorna Benson) (02/26/2006)
Political campaigns can be boring especially when you can see that it s going to be a wipeout.
This year s U.S. Senate race was one of those races.
Amy Klobuchar had a wide lead and didn t want to say anything to jeopardize it. Mark Kennedy didn t have anything new to add. Those are the worst things for a reporter.
Imagine covering all of their speeches. Now imagine driving six hours to record the same speech you got the day before. That s what these trackers do.
They are energetic, young staffers who want to make a difference. The best part for a political reporter: They had something new to say and added some spice to a boring campaign. (Tom Scheck) (10/18/2006)
When I first decided to do a story on the new bus service called Megabus, I figured it would be a pretty uncomplicated affair.
And it just so happened that I was planning a trip to Chicago, where Megabus is based, so it was going to work out nicely that I could take the bus and do interviews along the way. But a bus breakdown and various other mishaps took the story in some unexpected directions, which, in fact, made it a lot more fun to work on. And once my story aired, I was delighted by how many people shared their bus nightmare stories with me.
Someday I ll have to do a story on them. In the meantime, I certainly would take the Megabus again; after all, if you book ahead, you only have to pay a dollar. (Annie Baxter) One of the greatest privileges as a journalist is witnessing the interplay between government officials and their constituents.
In this story, I did a ride along with the St. Paul Police Department to observe how it enforces its curfew program for kids under 18. I was struck, not only by the humanity of the cops I worked with that night, but also by the vulnerability of the children who were coaxed into the back of the police car and hauled off to the curfew center.
From what I could see, these kids were hanging out, just being kids, not causing trouble. This story also gave me something else that I was thankful for: great sound. As a reporter who is also a radio producer, sound is so imporant to producing a successful radio story because it conveys a sense of intimacy and place.
For me, this story had it all - a first-person look at the practices of government policy and how it affects people, great characters, and wonderul sound. (Marisa Helms) When All Things Considered visited the small central Minnesota town of Pelican Rapids this summer, we looked for people who encapsulated the town s story. An influx of immigrants had changed the way people did business, but it didn t really change the people.
One of the best illustrations we found was Glen Larson, a mild-mannered shepherd who told eloquent -- sometimes heartbreaking -- stories about how his work and worldview changed when a surge of Bosnians started buying lambs directly from his pasture. As a producer, I usually hold the microphone and let ATC host Tom Crann ask the questions. We switched roles on this one.
Tom gathered the irresistible background sound of lambs bleating -- and he took the adorable photos. (Jeff Jones) It s just a fun little story. What can I say?
I like the Vikings. I like Led Zeppelin, and I ve never learned to appreciate Guns n Roses. Andy Saur s idea just caught my fancy.
(Bob Kelleher) It seems to me that we know very little about each other, that there is a sort of barrier between the long-time residents of Minnesota and the immigrants I see every day. My idea was to focus on a Mexican immigrant who came here illegally since they are perhaps the most hidden and least understood, and also the focus of recent legislation. The moment I met Maria I knew I had found the subject for my story.
Quietly intense, honest and intelligent, Maria has a riveting ability to tell her story, a story that is positively cinematic. Maria s story is her own, of course, but she also shares a lot with other recent immigrants to Minnesota. And so, the story of this one young woman from Mexico sheds its own unique light on state and national policies regarding immigration, policies which will likely be hotly debated, once again, next year.
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