Page 11 – Anthrow Circus

Anniversary Letter From the Editor

BY KAMI L. RICE

If you follow us on social media (if not, find us on Facebook and Instagram!), you should already know we’ve spent the past week celebrating our one-year anniversary of publishing as Anthrow Circus!
We’re awfully proud of all we’ve accomplished during this hard year. While travel has been curtailed around the world, our amazing writers and photographers have brought so many corners of our grand globe to a screen near us: from Togo to Georgia (the country), from Nigeria to Mexico, from Australia to Jordan, from the United States to France, to name just a few.
We’re building something solid under our big tent!

View From a Pandemic: Feeling Symptoms in Togo

STORY AND PHOTOS BY AJ JOHNSON
ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY KRISTEN VONNOH

Covid-19, entre corruption et angoisse

J’ai récemment voyagé au Bénin, un des pays voisins, dans le cadre de mon travail. Avant de partir je me suis assuré de faire un test Covid qui s’est avéré négatif. Pour ce voyage j’avais décidé de prendre la voie terrestre puisque, de sources sûres, quoiqu’officiellement les frontières terrestres étaient fermées, il était assez bien possible de traverser la frontière sans aucun problème—à condition de payer des frais, non déclarés, aux différents postes de contrôles que ce soit du côté du Togo, mon pays de départ, que du pays d’arrivée.

COVID-19, Between corruption and anguish

I recently traveled to the neighboring country of Benin for my work. Before leaving, I made sure to take
a COVID-19 test, which was negative. I decided to take the land route for this trip since reliable sources
informed me that although land borders were officially closed, it was quite possible to cross the border without any problem, provided I paid undeclared fees at the various checkpoints on the Togo side, my country of departure, as well as on the Benin side.

View From a Pandemic: Observed in Nashville, No. 4

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY JOON POWELL, JOHN PARTIPILLO, DAWN MAJORS, AND BILL STEBER

Illustrating their divergent perspectives and practices, four photographers from Nashville, Tennessee, USA, each with a solid foundation in newspapers, have prepared a pandemic-era exhibit that is slated to be presented in 2021 at the Scarritt Bennett Center and at Vanderbilt University, both in Nashville. In the months leading up to the exhibit we’re featuring their work in an ongoing Anthrow Circus series, a project that is as much a study of photographic styles as a record of the pandemic.

View From a Pandemic: Ramadan in Jordan in Coronavirus Times

STORY AND PHOTOS BY BATOOL Al-DULIGAN

Ramadan’s vibe in Jordan brings streets full of twinkling lights and colorful lantern decorations; tents pitched especially for nighttime gatherings; children playing in their neighborhoods and celebrating with fireworks; traffic jams; overcrowding in restaurants and bakeries before the call to maghrib prayer at sunset; and people rushing home to break the fast and enjoy the iftar before setting off again to the streets. p>

View From a Pandemic: Missing People Whose Names I Don’t Know

STORY BY JOANNA MARSH

Throughout the past year, I have wondered how “that woman” is doing. I don’t know her name, but I can see her face clearly in my mind: the brown eyes under thick eyebrows, the sharp nose, her black hair pulled back in a French braid.

I saw her regularly at the Washington, D.C., area gym where I worked out. She was chatty with the other women in the ladies’ locker room, often dominating the conversation. She cornered me once and asked whether I would take her into my house as a renter. She would be a good roommate, she said. Unobtrusive and tidy and responsible. Politely, I replied that I would let her know if I heard of anyone looking for roommates. She also worked in the childcare room at the gym, but my 6-year-old son didn’t like her and refused to come to the gym with me if she was going to be there. Was she mean? I asked. No, he replied, she just completely ignores us.Read More »

MicroView: What the Pain Protects

STORY BY PETE SHERRY

In June 2019, at the age of 43, I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer. I underwent colon resection surgery and eight months of chemotherapy, and was then declared “cancer free” in the early spring of 2020.

Why Is Slavery Missing From French Novels?

STORY BY KAMI L. RICE

Take up residence in France and you’ll find that everyday life is infused with history. If you’re a curious person, you can’t help but absorb facts it would take years of history classes and careful concentration to learn back in the United States. Here you see and touch history, observing how its effects are felt even long after its scenes’ original actors have departed.

From dime-a-dozen Roman ruins, to the castle where Henri IV was born, to the ancient port of Marseille, to the angles of Cézanne’s beloved Mont Sainte-Victoire, to the beaches of Normandy, history has come alive during my years of French life.

The Brotherhood of the Blood’s 600-Year-Long Procession

STORY AND PHOTOS BY ELEANOR MARTINDALE

The Brotherhood of the Blood (la Confrérie de la Sanch) is a religious and charitable organization that has existed in Perpignan since 1416. Its founding mission was to commemorate the Passion of Christ, which is the short, final period of the life of Jesus Christ; to assist prisoners who had been condemned to death; and to preach penance and help sinners prepare for their final judgement and salvation. As part of this mission, members of the brotherhood, known as penitents, would accompany prisoners condemned to death on their final walk through the city to the scaffold.

My Neighbors From Myanmar Taught Me to Receive

STORY BY HEATHER M. SURLS

PHOTOS BY HAWA IMAGES, USED BY PERMISSION OF WORLD RELIEF CHICAGOLAND

Years ago, a neighbor gave me a glossy 4×6-inch picture of Myanmar politician Aung San Suu Kyi backed by the red and yellow of the National League for Democracy’s flag. I no longer remember the giver’s identity—at that time my Burmese neighbors numbered in the hundreds—but since the country’s late-January military coup that imprisoned Suu Kyi and others, Myanmar (formerly Burma) has been on my mind.

When I reflect now, those three years among the Burmese were like bootcamp for me, a foundational, immersive course in relating to people different from me. At that time, I didn’t realize this would be a preparatory phase for longer-term work among refugees. I moved in with the idea that I would help them—I did not know how much my neighbors would shape me.

View From a Pandemic: International Students at UK Universities Frustrated by High Cost of Online Learning

ARTICLE BY AKINTUNDE BABATUNDE
PHOTOS BY TUNDE ALABI-HUNDEYIN II

In March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic first forced total lockdown in most countries, many universities around the globe stepped up to deliver new models for emergency remote learning, the United Kingdom included.

A year later, international students in U.K. universities are evaluating their experiences with online learning and calling for more support from their universities and the government.