The Monitor’s Francine Kiefer is nothing if not passionate. For 30 years, she’s brought energy and intensity to her reporting, whether it’s about the fall of the Berlin Wall, 9/11, or the tumultuous politics of the past decade. Multimedia reporter Jessica Mendoza talks to Francine, now serving as West Coast bureau chief, about how her experience gives her an edge – and why she still responds to every reader email she gets. In this four-part holiday series, we hear from Monitor reporters about how they find the humanity and compassion behind today's headlines.