Corrie

“First, my brother passed away and then my mother," says Charles Jones, sitting on a blue metal folding chair in Philadelphia’s Breaking Bread Community Shelter. “I needed somebody to take care of. And I needed somebody to take care of me.” Jones pauses and clears his throat, wiping his eyes. “I get emotional about it,” he says quietly, looking down at the black Labrador retriever sleeping at his feet. “Midnight has done so much for me. I really don’t know what I’d do without him.” This is an excerpt from “How Pet-Friendly Homeless Shelters Heal,” a story I photographed and wrote for @yesmediaorg about the life-saving bond between unhoused people and their pets. This story and topic has become so important to me over the past few months. It’s a joy to see the article out in the world. If you have a few minutes to spare (especially if you work in nonprofit or policy), please give it a read! The link is in my bio.

Pastor Vicki in her office Ridgewood Presbyterian Church, Queens, NYC

Fariha, a high school student and food justice activist from Astoria, Queens. Through an organization called Youth Food Advocates, Fariha spent years speaking in front of politicians, attending rallies, and educating younger students on food security issues. “I never saw myself becoming a politician,” she told me, as we sat at this table together last fall. “But after these experiences, I want to become a city council member. As I get older, I’m realizing that I'm passionate about creating change in my city.” Over the past few years, I've encountered so many young people like Fariha who are making an impact in their communities and preparing to be tomorrow’s leaders. Don’t lose hope, friends.

"Carol Foster inched her walker toward the front of a senior living meeting room and paused while a virtual reality headset was strapped onto her face. For a moment, the 82-year-old could only see a mostly black screen. 'We can take you to any place imaginable,' said Chris Brickler, chief executive and cofounder of Mynd Immersive ... 'What about Florence?' he asked. She hesitated; she had never been. Then off to Italy she went, trading rainy Manhattan for the Ponte Vecchio, Michelangelo's marble statue of David, and the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella." Last month for @businessinsider , I photographed a demo of Mynd Immersive's VR headsets at an Upper West Side senior living home. The technology was developed to help seniors, especially those with dementia and Alzheimer's, visit locations from their childhood, "travel" to new cities, practice fine motor skills and reduce feelings of isolation. While I was there, I watched elderly residents visit a horse farm, explore the Louvre and watch the aurora borealis from a mountainside. Thanks @edwardzisserhands for this call!

This week for @documented.ny : “Former ICE Detainees Find Healing, Companionship in New Support Group” “When Hugo was released from immigration detention last May, he knew he had to start work immediately: rent was due, he had a baby. But he also knew that he couldn’t concentrate the way he did before his incarceration. The 32-year-old found work in the fields of upstate New York, but he couldn’t stop feeling anxious. He had an ankle monitor. Immigration and Customs Enforcement knew his address. What if one day they came to find him — and instead they found his wife and his son? These were fears he didn’t want to burden his family with, but they quietly roiled inside him, he told Documented. And as he drove a cart of tomato plants down the road a week after his release, his mind began to race and his fears boiled over. ‘I saw a police car and I was so focused on the police car that I had drifted into the left lane,’ said Hugo … ‘A car was coming straight at me and I wanted to stop, but I couldn’t. I accelerated more, and what I did was turn the steering wheel all the way to the right and the cart flipped.’ Hugo was hospitalized, luckily suffering only a broken bone in his left hand. The bone would heal, but the mental scars he was still contending with were paralyzing, leaving him terrified to leave his house if ever there was a car parked outside. Last June, Hugo got a rare offer: a spot in an emotional support group for detention survivors, run by a Brooklyn nonprofit. After he started attending the monthly Zoom meetings, things began to change. He found a community to lean on: one that had survived some of the same conditions he had and together they developed tools he could use to heal from the trauma and dread he faced.” It was such a pleasure to photograph this story, which was written by @grenchpan . To read the full article about the support group helping recently released immigrant detainees heal from trauma, click the link in my bio.

Reverend Janice Bryant, 76, one of the first ordained women in Austin, Texas. I met Reverend Janice on a July afternoon last year at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where she serves as associate pastor. We sat together in the church office, a wood paneled room with yellow linoleum floors and hot Texas sun shining through dusty blinds. During our time together, she told me about her difficult relationship with religion growing up, her reluctance to pursue ordination, and the way a male pastor had advocated for her leadership even when it cost his church its reputation. Reverend Janice’s story is a part of my coverage of women and LGBTQ+ pastors in Texas. A selection of these stories were featured recently in @19thnews ! With wonderful reporting by @laurennutall and photo editing by @lydiache . Link in my bio to read the full article.

Last month for @documented.ny , I photographed Sonia, an Ecuadorian mother whose husband was detained by ICE last fall while attending his scheduled court appearance. After two months of detention, her husband, Willian Yacelga, finally had his bond hearing. The couple hoped he would be granted bond and be able to return home to their two children. “But the judge denied bond on surprising legal grounds: Yacelga was deemed an ‘extreme flight risk’ not because of his immigration circumstances – but, in part, because he would have to return for future court dates to 26 Federal Plaza, the scene of his arrest. The judge found that Yacelga’s ‘impulse to flee would be irresistible,’ said Bryanna Rainwater, Yacelga’s attorney at the Legal Aid Society. The judge believed that because Yaclega had been arrested at the lower Manhattan courthouse, he ‘would not want to return to court again.’ …Other eyebrow-raising reasons that detained immigrants have been labeled flight risks include clients not having enough letters of support, having too many letters of support, not providing enough evidence that letter writers are U.S. citizens, and having a fear of deportation. …The stakes for detainees denied bond are high: For Yacelga, it has meant declining health, mounting household bills, and a deportation order to a country not his own. That means he may never see his children again.” To read the full article, written by @grenchpan , click the link in my bio. Thank you to @cmelago and Eileen for trusting me with this story.

What a joy to have my project on women and LGBTQ+ pastors in Texas featured in the @19thnews this week! I’m so thankful for the chance to photograph these pastors as they do the hard and holy work of leading their churches within systems that don’t always accept them. I hope you already know this, but Texas is diverse, complex and full of tenacious people working for the good of their neighbors. The biggest thanks to @lydiache and reporter @laurennutall for the sensitivity and care they gave to this story 🤍 To read the full article, click the link in my bio.

“In Sunset Park, the Gods Walk the Streets Once More: The Fuzhou Parade of Gods, a centuries-old village tradition from China, lives on in Brooklyn, carried by a new generation of immigrants.” Spent a beautiful afternoon with @aurora_piaorui covering this parade for @documented.ny . Swipe to the end to see me in my ✨photo flow state✨ (courtesy of the sweet woman in the crowd who tapped on my shoulder and asked to send me this photo)

May our souls behold humanity. Lupe in his garden, a few weeks after his release from ICE detention Photographed in October for @documented.ny

Recently for the @wsj : “Gen Z, Locked Out of Home Buying, Puts Its Money in the Market” For this story, I spent a morning with 23-year-old Helen Bovington who has built about $30,000 after about six years of investing in the stock market. “I feel like my money is safer in the stock market than in a house,” she told the Wall Street Journal. Helen grew up in Montana with the constant threat of wildfires destroying her family’s rural cabin. These experiences, combined with her worries about climate change, have led her to invest in the market rather than real estate. Thanks to @rsm.png for this call!

More from Delaney Hall ICE detention facility, where families wait for hours in the winter cold to visit loved ones held inside. GEO Group, the private prison company that runs the facility, does not allow visitors to wait in the empty, heated gymnasium just inside the building's doors. Photographed for @documented.ny with reporting by @annalko . You can read the whole story through the link in my bio.