A story I m telling you ll get it piecemeal over several months has an interesting backstory. 7:00 am, Apr. 22, 2021 ×
Normally, my job is fairly straightforward.
I find a story idea. I call people or meet them in person. Questions are asked. Answers are given. The tale is told of those questions and answers.
A photographer shows up and tells the story his or her way. We mesh those two storytelling styles together, and Bam! journalism. Sometimes there s a video. Sometimes there s a chart or graph.
I m oversimplifying things a bit, but this is the basic formula practiced by everyone from Walter Cronkite down to little old me.
Family fled Laos 1988. Citizenship lets my family know we are settled here, grateful man says. 6:00 am, Apr. 20, 2021 ×
Yong Nhia Lor, left, stands with his wife, Judy Xiong, on their back deck in Winona, Thursday, April 15, 2021. Lor, a refugee from Laos who has lived in the United States since 1988, plans to apply for his U.S. citizenship this year. (Brian Todd/btodd@postbulletin.com)
EDITOR S NOTE: This is the first story in a series as the Post Bulletin follows the progress of Yong Nhia Lor as he works to become a U.S. citizen.
WINONA When Yong Nhia Lor arrived in the United States in 1988, he brought with him a small amount of money from his years as a soldier in Laos, and the six things that really mattered: his wife and then-five children.