Watching Vanderbilt football defeat an AP No. 1 ranked team for the first time in Vandy history brought back fond memories. I loved attending the University and being on the Vanderbilt dance team for all four years. We were on the field cheering and dancing throughout every single game from the moment the players first ran out of the tunnel until the last fans left the stadium.
This is the story of a man who was wrongfully convicted of murder and spent 27 years at the notorious Attica Prison. While behind bars, he built a relationship with his daughter, who was just a baby when he was incarcerated, and became a famous artist. Today marks six years since Valentino Dixon was freed. His story is so complex that in preparation for creating this piece, I read hundreds of pages of court documents, journal entries and articles, and interviewed more people than I could quote. I am thankful for each of them. They all gave me valuable background on this story.
Thank you to Valentino and his daughter, Valentina, for sharing pictures with me to use in this report.
I am excited to be earning my master’s degree in journalism! Since this industry is rapidly changing and I am a television news anchor and reporter, I want to maintain up-to-the-minute skills. Media forms are merging. Many television news stations host podcasts and share written web articles to accompany on-air reports, while newspapers feature audio and video versions of their written stories. I realize that a journalist should be adept at all forms of media. So far in my master’s program, I have been taught by amazing experts, including four Pulitzer Prize winners, an assistant editor for USA Today, and a lifestyle expert appearing regularly on the TODAY Show! This program is akin to earning an MBA in terms of length and depth. I will keep you all updated on the process.
Before even unpacking from her Olympic trip, silver medalist Anita Alvarez spoke with me. In this interview, she opens up about team rituals, stepping onto the podium in Paris, watching her USA artistic swimming team’s underwater moonwalk explode online, the time she almost drowned, and how that setback inspired others to persevere through challenges. Alvarez fell in love with artistic swimming while growing up in Western New York. This is her story.
Thank you to USA Artistic Swimming for providing me with photos. Courtesies: Anita Alvarez, Liz Corman, JH Exposures and James Rokop.
This report contains candid images a United Nations ambassador gave me from footage that she swiftly tossed in her handbag as she fled from invading troops seeking her life. An Indonesian army was attacking Timor-Leste, a small Southeast Asian country, while she was overseeing the Timorese’ vote on independence after over 400 years of captivity. On May 20, Timor-Leste celebrates 22 years of sovereignty.
In 2018, I first studied this island nation while preparing to interview young Timor-Leste delegates for a CBS story covering their visit to the United States. That report went viral in their country, and the Timorese invited me to cover last year’s historic parliamentary election between two leaders considered resistance-era heroes. That time, my report trended internationally. This would not have been possible without the help of the Timorese and Debra Lee, the ambassador who risked her life in their vote for independence, and said, “They are the bravest people I’ve worked with.”
It has been nearly two years since the horrific, racially-driven mass shooting took the lives of loved ones at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York. Residents continue to honor them and enrich their city. On that sad day, Lieutenant Aaron Salter Jr. gave his life to save the lives of others. Creating this story about the victims and how Western New Yorkers are keeping their memories alive, was very personal for me. I had covered stories for the news in the neighborhood where this tragedy occurred many times and the people there were always so welcoming. Lieutenant Salter even went out of his way to make sure I stayed safe as I filmed a story on a busy street. Starting this weekend, through June 24, there will be a 5K race, a celebrity golf tournament, and a gala to raise funds for a charity which honors the victims by helping Buffalo’s rising generation.
For this story, I followed the restoration of a century-old Buffalo building that has attracted travelers from around the world! Watching the work of these skilled preservationists felt like going on a treasure hunt, as they chipped away old drywall and discovered elaborate artifacts hidden underneath. Supplemental photos in my report came from The Buffalo History Museum, Jason Yots, Tom Yots and Preservation Studios.
This is the first time I have animated an entire news report! For years, this Buffalo building, steeped in history, has been hidden underneath a plain façade. Few realized that it was a treasure designed by the first-know female architect and used to help lead the Black Arts Movement. In this report, I bring the building to life by combining my own animation with current footage and archival images from Preservation Studios. Restoration experts from that company are collaborating with Common Bond Real Estate and Urban Vantage to bring the building back to its original state. Recently, motion graphics have become more prominent in newscasts, and although every station I have worked at has had animators, I wanted to learn these skills for myself to help my news team when needed. I loved interviewing the talented preservationists and artists showcased in this piece!
“They were thirsting for somewhere to show what they did, other than in their kitchens to their neighbors.” This is a quote from an interview I conducted with the legendary musician, Ron Carter. He sat down with me to describe what it was like for Black artists in the 1970s, and the discrimination they faced due to their race. This multi-Grammy award-winning performer said he traveled every week, on his only day off, from Manhattan to Buffalo to teach Black musicians and help them thrive. The building where Carter taught them also welcomed other renowned Black artists like Alvin Ailey dancers. Preservationists are restoring the structure so this history will live on. Tomorrow, I will post my full story.
Let’s go, Buffalo!!! I guess you all know who I will be cheering for this Sunday when the Bills take on the Chiefs! Here is a short retrospective highlighting some of my favorite memories of covering the Bills’ famously-loyal fans. On game day, they wake up as early as 2 a.m. to prepare their elaborate tailgating cuisines, put on their lucky jerseys, and leave in time to arrive at the stadium the moment the parking lots open.
Tomorrow, Shea’s Performing Arts Center launches its 2023-24 Broadway season! This acclaimed Buffalo theatre is famous for teching, prepping and launching Broadway touring productions in its gorgeous, historic century-old structure. Here is this season’s lineup.
This holiday invites everyone at every age to dance. It is never too late to start such a fun and valuable form of exercise and creative expression! As you can tell from these pictures, dance has been an important part of my life for as long as I can remember. The image on the left was taken of me at my very first ballet studio. The one on the right was shot in 2019, when I performed with Ballet Wyoming while anchoring for CBS.
For this national report, my goal was to learn how technology is changing the dining experience. I filmed at seven different restaurants in three diverse regions. I experienced servers ranging from a maître d’hôtel managing the staff in an elegant dining room to a robot delivering drinks to customers while their dinners sped along a conveyor belt and stopped in front of them. That was a first for me! It was also the first time I created motion graphics from scratch for my story.
The countdown to Super Bowl LVII is about to reach its crescendo. Football fans are cheering on the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, but the team I am rooting for is my brother Clay’s crew of SkyCam riggers. Since last Thursday, they have been at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, preparing to televise the game. People who do this type of work are professional-level rock climbers. The beautiful bride in this photo is Clay’s wife, Rosie. She is also an expert rock climber, and teaches at a high school in Park City, Utah for winter-Olympic athletes.
Freedom’s Path is the farewell film of two acclaimed actors whose lives were abruptly cut short during post-production. Opening nationwide on the big screen February 3rd for Black History Month, this movie pays tribute to the Tony-nominated Thomas Jefferson Byrd, and chameleon Carol Sutton, revered for her roles in films like Ray, Monster’s Ball and Steel Magnolias. Freedom’s Path writer/director, Brett Smith, warmly recalls that as phenomenal as these two were as actors, they were even more phenomenal as people. In this interview, Brett shares those memories, the extraordinary dedication of the entire Freedom’s Path cast and crew, and the many seemingly-insurmountable hurdles they crossed over to create this passionate project.
After the interview, Brett told me that the Freedom’s Path production team has decided to donate all proceeds from the film’s opening weekend to support underrepresented historic black colleges and universities. The major inspiration for the decision came from Byron Allen. His Allen Media Group has formed a HBCU GO promotional partnership with this award-winning film.
