Passport: What we've been up to
Our new Ukraine series, conference updates and 6 favorite things!
Stranger’s Guide explores how politics, power and culture shape daily life across the globe. We believe that local writers, journalists and thinkers are best equipped to explain their political and cultural realities and we publish stories that ask us to listen to the complexities of the world.
Passport is our monthly letter from the SG team, sharing more about what we’re working on, what we’re enjoying and what’s on our minds. While we share our letter with everyone, we save our recommendations for our paid subscribers who make this work possible.
Friends,
Over the last several weeks, Stranger’s Guide has been on the move. Abby attended the New Pluralists gathering in Atlanta, joined by hundreds of organizations across different sectors, discussing strategies for building pluralistic, pro-social societal approaches even in the hyper-polarized times in which we live. Kira also spent time in Atlanta last month, meeting with writers, activists and academics to commission new work for Stranger’s Guide about that exuberant city.
We also attend the Knight Media Forum alongside hundreds of news organizations. The Knight Foundation has led many philanthropic efforts to revitalize journalism. Local journalism has become the biggest buzzword in these arenas, with good reason. But often that becomes a narrow definition including meat-and-potatoes civic reporting, excluding voice filled essays, columns and arts coverage that can help a community develop its sense of self.
Stranger’s Guide’s placed-based approach to the world almost always includes a multitude of divergent viewpoints—sometimes in surprising places. We work to build trust and a sense of shared community, whether through its music festival, its sports teams or its library. Particularly as our national politics become more chaotic, it’s the work done in local communities that seem not only most constructive but also most possible.
Our conference streak will continue later this month when we will be at the AWP Conference on March 26-29 in Los Angeles. We will be sharing a booth with our friends at Virginia Quarterly Review. If you happen to be there, please come and say hi!
On a very different note, February 24 marked the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine—and a few days later a diplomatic explosion in the Oval Office seemed to mark a new and even more uncertain chapter in the conflict, as Ukraine now turns to Europe in the hopes it can fill gaps left by diminishing US support.
We want to explore the war from a very different lens. On Friday we will be launching a series about the experiences of soldiers on the frontlines of the war in Ukraine. As ever, our goal is to offer a window into how regular people are managing their daily lives as this conflict drags on. These intimate, personal stories from regular soldiers offer very different perspectives than those of diplomats, world leaders and military analysts that typically drive news coverage. We believe these stories are also critical for a serious understanding of what is unfolding in Ukraine.
Finally, we’d love to hear from you. Are there particular places you’d like to read more about? Particular themes you’d like us to delve into? Please leave your thoughts in the comments and start a conversation!
—Stranger’s Guide
And finally a few of our favorite things from SG staff members Abby and Ambia:
Woodie Guthrie
As we grapple with the realities of massive change in our country, I have found listening to Woody Guthrie’s Dust Bowl Ballads to be a strange comfort, a reminder of the ways people have found to be brave and persevere in other difficult and uncertain times. It’s an evocative picture of the horrors the Dust Bowl brought to American farming communities in the 1930s. To me, whether he’s singing with hope or melancholy, Guthrie’s voice always feels like that of a friend. “So Long It’s Been Good to Know Yuh” is our family favorite.
—Abby Rapoport
Stop Motion Fun
Segundo Chomón was an early Spanish filmmaker famous for his groundbreaking use of optical illusions and other camera tricks. His work is often compared to Georges Méliès. He also played a key role in developing the early animation field.
Bob’s Electric Theatre is one of the earliest stop-motion puppet films, and it’s delightful to behold. Three children set up a miniature stage on a table. The stage curtain opens, a carpet unrolls itself, and from there, the weird, funny magic begins.
—Abby Rapoport
Ethiopian Girl Skaters
On Saturday mornings in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, you can find the Ethiopian Girl Skaters catching speed and doing all sorts of tricks at the skate park. Ethiopian Girl Skaters is one of the first female-only skateboarding groups in Ethiopia with over 60 members. The stylish group has garnered international attention with over 60k followers on Instagram and various articles being written about them from Vogue to being featured on the cover of Dazed MENA, which also includes an article and stunning photoshoot series.
—Ambia Elias
Ramen Western
Tampopo is not a film to be watched on an empty stomach. This sweet, funny satire chronicles noodle shop owner Tampopo (played by Nobuko Miyamoto) as she tries to create the perfect ramen—and receives help from a strange group of culinary warriors. The Criterion Channel notes “this rapturous “ramen western” by Japanese director Juzo Itami is an entertaining, genre-bending adventure underpinned by a deft satire of the way social conventions distort the most natural of human urges—our appetites.”
—Abby Rapoport
Angélique Kidjo
If you watched the Grammy’s this year, you may have caught a powerful opening performance beginning with Angélique Kidjo, a Beninese-French artist. This is where I first encountered Angélique however, by no means is she new to the international music scene. Angélique Kidjo is a five-time Grammy winner and has 16 albums to her name, spending four decades blending West African traditions with jazz, funk and global influences, often collaborating with the newer generations of African and international artists. This year, Angélique was nominated for Global Music Performance.
—Ambia Elias
Hoop Dance
Eric Hernandez is a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and is a professional performer in the art of the hoop dance, a traditional healing ceremony and a method of storytelling. Hernandez has over 20 years of experience hoop dancing, and is dedicated to breaking stereotypes and sharing his culture through his social media platforms—which is where I first encountered him. Hernandez is also the lead hoop dancer in Cirque du Soleil’s Totem. Watch his moving TEDx talk and hoop dance performance above.
—Ambia Elias