The Weekly Newspaper of Inglewood
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 69, No. 53 - December 31, 2020
Dionne Faulk Becomes the First African American
Woman to Serve on the Inglewood City Council
L-R: Assemblywoman Autumn Burke with District 4 Councilwoman Dionne Faulk. Assemblywoman Autumn Burke performed the swearing in ceremony. Congratulations to Councilwoman Faulk for this wonderful history-making accomplishment.
Minnie Carr from front page
parking lot at El Porto, when he was kind to
her after some narcissistic male surfers chastised
her because she was invading their perceived
“space.” Anyway, Craig, after asking her did she
“have fun” shredding the waves, boldly asked
her for her phone number, which she begrudgingly
provided, though, according to Rebecca,
Craig was a bit dubious that the future Mrs. Carr
had furnished the correct phone number. And,
as they say in cliché land, the rest is history.
One of Minnie’s skating coaches is Brianna
Weissmann-Barajas, who has been working with
the young phenom for about three years. She
said “Minnie is a special kid. She is one of
my favorite kids that I look forward to working
with. She is an amazing child. Working
with kids that want to give you that 110%
effort, Minnie is one of those kids. She will
try whatever it takes. She has that fire, that
drive. She just wants to be the best.”
Weissmann-Barajas said she sees a skater in
the young Carr who is not being pushed by
her parents but is “pushing herself. The kid
has improved so much.”
Rebecca said that, two years ago, a renowned
ice-skating Olympic coach dropped into the
Toyota Center, and after a couple of sessions
with Minnie, buttonholed the mom, and related
that Minnie was “one of the most exceptional
female skaters that he had coached,” and that
the Carr family had to keep her in skating,
and that maybe one- day she could triumph
over the best female skaters that the rest of
the world had to offer.
Rebecca Carr said she is up to the challenge
that a parent of a possibly gifted athlete faces.
“His words sent goosebumps up my arms,”
she said of the riff of the famous skating
coach, “but they were difficult to swallow. My
daughter does have immense talent, and now
it is my job to help her reach her potential. I
never understood,” Carr emailed, “how much
of these types of kids parents have to invest,
sacrifice and sweat into the sport.”
Said Rebecca about coach Weissmann-Barajas:
“She works well with Minnie’s personality,
and loves her through thick-and-thin, as well
as putting up with a surfer mom who makes
constant mistakes in the world of figure skating.
Brianna has become almost like a niece,
or at least family, because we all spend so
much time together.”
Rebecca said that the Carr family espouses the
motto: “Have fun, do your best, and don’t worry
about the rest…” Where that will lead Minnie
in this uncertain future, only time will tell. •
A current photo of Skater Minnie Carr with Coach Brianna Weissmann-Barajas.