View From Here

For the Love of Oysters

VIDEO REPORT BY BILL DIEM

That the French love oysters is clear. Why they love them is a result of geography and culture.

View From a Pandemic: Finding Life Among Gravestones

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY MIKE PLUNKETT

I can’t tell you how many times Megan and I have nearly tripped over a tombstone during this pandemic.

As our corgi Bentley barks to get off-leash and run through the historic Union Cemetery, it’s easy to nearly twist an ankle on a broken headstone that I could have sworn wasn’t there, even though I’ve walked this spot what seems like hundreds of times.

Kimbé’s World

PHOTOS BY DARIN DUNN

Our photographs feature views from Beni, Bunia, and Niakunde, all located near DRC’s border with Uganda, offering real-life visuals of the context in which this fictional story takes place.

Kimbé, an Excerpt From a Story of Disillusionment and Hope

EXCERPT FROM A NOVEL BY BENJAMIN KISONI
PHOTO BY DARIN DUNN

The novel Kimbé is set in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Visit this week’s bonus article to see a photo album of images from “Kimbé’s world”!

Georgia, a Country of Impressions

GEORGIAN TEXT BY NINO REVAZISHVILI
ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY LIKA MAMASAXLISI
PHOTOS BY JOEL CARILLET AND LIKA MAMASAXLISI

We’re excited to expand our Sans Frontières series of stories with yet another script, Georgian script, that reminds us that the Latin alphabet and script are not the only way of reading and recording the world’s life. We hope you will enjoy this heartwarming introduction to the country of Georgia from one of her expats living abroad.

A Circus Where Least Expected

TEXT BY DANIELLE B.
VIDEO BY KAMI L. RICE

When people learn that I’ve recently moved to Kabul, their first question is usually, “What is it like?”

How do I describe a city filled with such contrasts and contradictions? Exquisite rose gardens bloom behind walls edged with razor wire, guarded by Kalashnikov-toting private security.

Allons au cirque ! (Let’s Go to the Circus!)

PHOTOGRAPHIES ET TEXTE PAR FRANCK ETCHEVERRY
PHOTOS AND TEXT BY FRANCK ETCHEVERRY

TRADUCTION ANGLAISE PAR KAMI L. RICE
ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY KAMI L. RICE

Depuis tout petit le Cirque a été le premier lieu où j’ai pu observer et approcher des animaux issus de la faune sauvage. Fasciné par leur beauté, j’ai commencé à leur vouer une véritable passion et c’est en grande partie grâce à ces premiers contacts que j’ai décidé d’en faire mon métier et de me mettre au service de la faune sauvage et de sa protection (Technicien supérieur en Gestion et Protection de la Nature, spécialisé dans la gestion de la Faune Sauvage).

As a little boy, it was at the circus that I was first able to see and get near to animals that came from the wild. I was fascinated by their beauty. They became a true passion and it’s largely thanks to these early contacts with circus animals that I decided to center my career around wildlife and put myself at the service of these animals and their protection, earning a diploma in environmental management and protection, specializing in wildlife management.

View From a Pandemic: Locked Down Alone in Sarajevo

TEXT AND IMAGES BY KATIE MCCRAW

I panicked. Full-on panic-attack-style, feeling-completely-stuck panic. It was a couple of days after lockdown had been announced in Bosnia-Herzegovina. We had felt the decision coming, as we closely followed news from Italy and Spain and as cases rose in neighboring Croatia and Serbia. My Dutch friend and I had started to make plans to move in together so we wouldn’t be alone for however many weeks lockdown endured, but suddenly she was required to return to the Netherlands. With this, a rift began to destabilize the contingency plans I had made. My mind then went into overdrive, and I fast-forwarded the next few months: living alone, with no physical contact, my family thousands of miles across the other side of Europe, with work ground to a halt, and so many unknowns ahead. And I panicked.