Arizona Illustrated

We revisit Arizona Public Media’s 2022 Edward R. Murrow Award winners for excellence in broadcast and digital journalism. We Belong Here Too Since the start of the pandemic, there has been an alarming surge in violent attacks against Asian American Pacific Islander communities that have been linked to rhetoric blaming Asian Americans for the spread of Covid-19. From March 2020 to March 2021, the number of reported attacks grew from 3,795 to 6,603, with attacks on women making up sixty-five percent of reported cases. Although there have been few reports in Tucson, Arizona, we spoke to two leaders in the Asian American community about how their friends and loved ones are coping with and responding to potential threats. Sonoran Shelter Across Arizona’s southern border, nonprofits and religious organizations continue to support asylum seekers who have waited months to present their cases in the United States. Tony Paniagua traveled to Nogales, Sonora where he visited a shelter providing aid and spoke to migrants about their journeys. Pandemic Dreams Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, people all over the world are reporting having what are now known as “pandemic dreams.” We sat down with Dr. Michael Grandner, the director of the Sleep and Health Clinic at the University of Arizona, who answers questions from four characters about where their dreams have taken them over the past year. In our fully animated story, we learn about the vocabulary of dreams and how they might be helping us to make sense of our new normal in ways that we are incapable of doing during our waking life. School in the Time of COVID-19 In the fall of 2020, the Tucson Unified School District had planned to open schools for a hybrid of in-person and remote learning. But with the continued rise of COVID-19 cases, the plan was postponed. We visit BASIS charter school in Oro Valley where the hybrid model has been in operation since October 15th 2020, to get a sense of the physical and mental toll it has had on teachers, students, and parents. BASIS schools have made the decision to delay the return to in-person learning until January 19, 2021. With a close eye on metrics, they hope to reopen campuses for primary school grades and then phase in middle and high school grades over the following weeks.