On Assignment with Anelia: A journalist’s search for people, pursuits and passions

Tammy Hansen is a dog lover, who has turned her passion for working with canines into a mission to help law enforcement and grieving families with finding their missing loved ones. She is the only civilian volunteer certified K-9 search and rescue operator in northeast Iowa. She specializes in man trailing and human remains detection. With 2 other women, she recently founded Iowa SAR K9 fund, a non profit aimed at offsetting the cost she and her partners incur in doing their work. This non profit is founded in partnership with K9 Sensus, a national org dedicated “to coaching the human end of the leash.” Here is what I learned.

I reconnected with Ryan Nesbit, one of my former students, who co-founded Alive and Running Iowa, a suicide prevention and awareness- raising group. One or its signature events is a 5K, which will take place on June 20 in Dunkerton. Ryan shares the personal story that focused him on his mission and talks about the impact his advocacy — and that of his fellow advocates — has had on his own life and the community.

Two millennial professionals, husbands, fathers and friends, Ty Burke and Tony Pollastrini, reflect on life, work, aspirations and the meaning of success they have found while working at the Waverly-based agency called The Accel Group. I asked Waverly-Shell Rock high school sophomore Jacquelyn Dufner, to co-host this episode with me, as like many of her peers; she is on the threshold of “the real world” and contemplating a professional path.

Coach Alyssa Olsgaard and 3 of her students, Sally Gade, Delilah Kroymann, Cameo Burgess, of The Studio by Alyssa, in Waverly, Iowa, chatted with me about the joy and lessons of dance right before going to a competition on Sunday.

Annika Wall, 20, is the managing editor of the Trumpet, the studeng newspaper at Wartburg College. She is the recipient of the 202O College Journalist of the Year, awarded by the Iowa College Media Association. The Jesup native aspires to become a sports journalist of note. She has thought long and hard about her goals and plans to graduate in December.

John Dutcher and wife Sue married on Feb.14, 1970. Today, John brought a cake to the Shell Rock Health Care Center where his wife has been living with Alzheimer’s for the past six years. The Vietnam-era veteran recalled his wedding and life and love for his wife. On Sunday, he will take Sue to St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Cedar Falls where the two married. This will be Sue’s first trip back to her home town since she entered the nursing home. “I love her very much,” he said.

Two Portland, Oregon, brothers, Ben, 16, and Jack,13, Iboshi, asked me to be cub reporters for the Waverly newspaper the caucuses. Not only did they become members of the Transformative Journalism Academy I run out of the newsroom, but they also interviewed Mayor Pete and Amy Klobuchar on Saturday before the caucuses. On Feb.3, they covered the caucus at Waverly’s middle school and experienced the excitement of being in the front row of history. They talked to me about their journalistic experiences in Iowa.

Chef,musician, painter and now writer Bryan Sink talks about his life and first book, It Gets Funnier, on Super Bowl Sunday, 02/02/20. The Cedar Falls native, ex owner of Bryan’s on 4th, reflects candidly on his journey, which includes playing alongside Mark Sissel, and cooking alongside Dean Fearring, the patriarch of Southwestern cuisine.

I talked with Pastor Tom Barnard of Waverly’s Trinity United Methodist Church and Timo Harkonen, who preached in Eastern Congo for a couple of years. They talked about their purpose and path as the church contemplates a split over LGBTQ issues in May.

In this episode, author Nancy Price, tireless at 94, talks about her upcoming book, The Woman Who Slept With the Enemy. The book, which she says may be her last, is a sequel to her third novel, Sleeping with the Enemy, portrayed by Julia Roberts in the eponymous movie. A new version of the movie is expected in the next year or so.

In this episode, I talk with Faythe Kubik, who has taught dance to people of all ages and abilities, and who has own her own entertainment company, Faith Kubik Productions, in Waterloo, Iowa, since 1985. Faythe reflects on her own journey in dance and on some of the people she has met along the way. Enjoy!

In this episode, I talk with Erik Johnson, 36, a father of 3, a dreamer, husband, a philosopher and a coffee shop owner who roasts the coffee he serves.