The following article summarizes the original event which is listed below the summary.
January speaker offered insight into his life's calling
Journalism. It’s a tough job with insane hours and pretty crappy pay. On the other hand, everybody hates you.
With that tongue-in-cheek tweet by fellow journalist Francis Lam, our January luncheon speaker, PBS correspondent and University of St. Thomas educator Fred de Sam Lazaro, commenced a marvelous presentation on his globe-spanning career as a broadcast journalist.
After graciously acknowledging the education his offspring have received at the U of M, where the three of them collectively have received or are completing a total of seven degrees, de Sam Lazaro briefly discussed changes in the media landscape over his three-plus decades as a journalist, including the eroding credibility of many media outlets—PBS and the BBC being the most notable exceptions—and the drastic shortening of news segments and consequent increase in the difficulty of covering stories in sufficient depth.
Still, he has found a formula to teach about the world. He focuses on stories whose importance far exceeds their media profile. He typically finds one compelling figure—a person at once both ordinary and extraordinary—to captivate viewers and help them understand the larger issue. While some stories have tragic elements, their protagonists’ resilience and creativity inspire.
To illustrate his approach to storytelling, de Sam Lazaro shared video clips on subjects as varied as the garment industry in Bangladesh, water issues in Israel and Gaza, the tragedy of obstetric fistula in Kenya, and music’s life-changing impact on child development in an Indian school.
Several personal strengths have fed his success as a reporter: his ability to sniff out important stories in unexpected places, the wealth of knowledge that permits him to put the local into global context, his deep admiration for those who people his stories, and surely, above all, the genuine empathy that his subjects sense in him.
UMRA members who were unable to attend the presentation, or those whose appetites were whetted for more, can find more than 300 of de Sam Lazaro’s stories on the website of his Under-Told Stories Project at undertoldstories.stthomas.edu. There you can also sign up to receive the project’s email newsletter and follow it on social media.
—Chip Peterson, UMRA past president
Making the foreign less foreign
Tue, January 22 2019, 11:30am
West Wing Dining Room, Campus Club, Fourth Floor, Coffman Memorial Union
“How tech is putting the needs of impoverished Kenyans on the map.” “Karachi and Mumbai: A tale of two megacities.” “Health care workers brace for new cholera epidemics in Haiti.” “The race to develop coffee that can survive climate change” (El Salvador). “Does solar power offer a brighter future for off-the-grid Navajo residents?” “This school in India proves music can change lives.” “Reporter’s notebook: Covering Ebola in Nigeria while navigating corruption.”
These are but a sample of the stories from more than 60 countries that our January speaker has covered during his 30-plus years as a journalist.
To fellow PBS fans, Fred de Sam Lazaro needs no introduction. In addition to reporting for the PBS NewsHour from 1985 to the present, he was a regular contributor and substitute anchor for PBS’s Religion and Ethics Newsweekly and has directed films from India and the Democratic Republic of Congo for the acclaimed documentary series, Wide Angle.
“Making the foreign less foreign,” the title of de Sam Lazaro’s January 22 talk to UMRA, encapsulates his life’s work. He pursues this theme not only through his reporting but also through his directorship of the Under-Told Stories Project, a partnership between St. Thomas and the NewsHour to report stories largely ignored in the mainstream U.S. media.
The project produces high-quality, multimedia reporting for public and commercial news outlets on a range of topics, many of them highlighting the work of social entrepreneurs who are improving lives around the world. The 20-odd stories that Fred produces annually for the NewsHour are used to engage St. Thomas students in courses, internships, and mentoring opportunities, through which they develop hands-on skills in media production while reflecting critically on under-reported news stories from throughout the world.
De Sam Lazaro is the recipient of two honorary doctorates, numerous journalism awards, and media fellowships from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the University of Michigan. He is a trustee at the College of St. Scholastica, his alma mater; serves on the board of MinnPost, a Minnesota-based nonprofit online news service; and has also served on the boards of the Asian American Journalists Association and the Children’s Law Center of Minnesota. A native of Bangalore, India, he lives in St. Paul.
Despite the larger West Wing venue for our January meeting we expect a capacity crowd, so you are encouraged to make your reservations early.
—Chip Peterson, UMRA past president
Upcoming Events
We are fortunate to have UMRA member and former Minnesota Landscape Arboretum director Peter Moe to lead this approximately 3.7-mile hike at the Arboretum on Monday, May 6. Plan to have lunch together after the hike at the Eatery café inside the Oswald Visitor Center.
This session will continue the discussion begun in the May 8, 2023 session. See that article for details.
If you currently live in your own home or apartment, have you looked ahead to when you might want to consider a senior living option? Do you have any idea what those options might be? How much they cost? What they provide? UMRA’s May 14 workshop will provide an overview of the world of senior living and the basic information you need.
You’re invited to join the final Family History Interest Group meeting for 2023–24. This will be an opportunity to ask questions related to family history, share insights, talk about recent projects, and suggest topics for next year.
Stephanie Daily will lead the discussion of Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by best-selling author Mary Roach when the UMRA Book Club meets via Zoom at 2 p.m. on Friday, May 17.
The May 20 hike will start at the Historic Lift Bridge in Stillwater and go along the river to the new bridge, cross over and then back on the Wisconsin side, a total of approximately 5 miles. Most of the route is paved. We will eat lunch after at Brian's Bar and Grill in Stillwater. Car pooling will be available.
Climatologist and meteorologist Mark Seeley joined the U of M faculty in 1978 and has been a weekly commentator on Minnesota Public Radio since 1992. We are honored to welcome him as our guest speaker for UMRA’s May Luncheon Forum and 2024 Annual Meeting. He is always entertaining and informative.
UMRA’s Fourth Friday Book Club welcomes back, for the second time, author Julie Schumacher, U of M Regents professor of creative writing and English, for a conversation about her novel The Shakespeare Requirement.
We are in for a treat on June 3! Lynn Anderson, will lead us on trails at two parks near her Monticello home. Bring a bag lunch and we will gather in Lynn's yard along the Mississippi River for eating and socializing after the hike.
Get out to the ballpark with fellow UMRA members for the annual U of M Day at Target Field as the Minnesota Twins take on the Oakland Athletics on June 14 at 7:10 p.m.
Please join us at 9:30 on June 17, 2024 for a walk around Lake Como in St. Paul before attending the UMRA Summer Social and Picnic starting at 11 at the Como Pavilion. A perfect opportunity to get in a walk before we gather to celebrate summer.
Picnic under the covered, open-air Como pavilion, gaze at the water, spy some birds, catch up with friends and former colleagues, and meet new members. We’ll have lunch with plenty of time for visiting and then compete in teams as we are challenged by our Quiz master(s)!
Healthy aging, mindfulness, fighting ageism, and more will be the focus of the third annual Age-Friendly University Day to be held on the U of M Twin Cities campus.