Destination: Zimbabwe
A Return to Zimbabwe
by Michael Yessis | 07.13.10 | 11:17 AM ET
The theme for Granta’s latest issue is “Going Back,” and it features a compelling story from Owen Sheers about a return trip to Zimbabwe. I love the feel of the opening:
The knees of the soldier from the Presidential Guard are pressing against my spine through the driver’s seat. When he shifts his position they roll across my back like the mechanism of an airport massage chair.
The issue also includes an interview with Sheers.
Postcards From the ‘World’s Most Failed States’
by Michael Yessis | 06.24.10 | 10:21 AM ET
There’s a Big Picture-esque slideshow at Foreign Policy, with some horrific and amazing shots from Chad, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and other unstable places. As Elizabeth Dickinson writes, sometimes you “only know a failed state when you see it.”
Dan Baum on Journalism and the Expat Life
by Eva Holland | 09.14.09 | 4:57 PM ET
In a recent series of tweets, the veteran reporter looked back on how he launched his career—by setting up as an independent foreign correspondent in Zimbabwe—and encourages young writers to follow suit. The tweets are collected on his website. Here’s a sample:
I still think going abroad—particularly to a place others avoid—is a way to make a name.
It’s a way to distinguish oneself from the mass of people who want to be writers.
It’s a way to call attention to oneself—by having something others don’t.
And it’s a way to do what we all got into this business for in the first place.
That is, to shine light into places the public needs to know about, but might otherwise miss.
(Thanks for the tip, Rob Verger)
Morning Links: Paul Theroux Spits From Trains, Swimsuit Issue Locales and More
by Jim Benning | 02.11.09 | 10:42 AM ET
- Paul Theroux likes to spit out the window of a moving train—and other interesting tidbits from one of our favorite writers.
- With the economy in the tank, are travelers looking for “recession chic”?
- Any chance the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act we noted yesterday will actually pass? “Conditions are good for it,” one expert says.
- Cross-border bi-national marriages are great—until they fall apart. The Economist explains. (Via NYT Ideas blog)
- Kate Chambers on paying the porters, Zimbabwe-style.
- The Louvre is planning The Funeral of Mona Lisa. Paris-bound? Wear black.
- Sports Illustrated photographers went to the Grenadines to shoot part of the new Swimsuit Issue. “[A] ho-hum choice since the Caribbean is a Swimsuit Issue go-to location,” says Jaunted. Yeah, Swimsuit Issue readers around the world will be soooo disappointed.
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Morning Links: Road Tripping ‘Amexica,’ Titty Ho and More
by Michael Yessis | 01.26.09 | 8:12 AM ET
- Ed Vulliamy drives the length of the U.S.-Mexico border. Or, as he calls it, “Amexica.”
- Is Mexico City now the world’s greatest food city?
- Paramedics bought Big Macs for stranded AeroMexico passengers in Portland. That might be the only pleasant news from the incident.
- The “tourism gold rush” has subsided in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Blame Mugabe.
- Toronto wrestles with its identity.
- USA Today explores the question of whether the Obama presidency will influence travel to the U.S.
- Super Bowl travel packages are “not exactly a hot ticket.”
- Looks who’s taking on the bad travel economy: William Shatner.
- Motherwell. Glenrothes. New Cumnock. These three towns are in the running for the most dismal in Scotland.
- Crapstone. Titty Ho. Penistone, These and other snicker-worthy place names in Britain have had bloggers, Tweeters and New York Times readers snickering all weekend. Myself included.
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Suffering and Smiling: Vanity Fair Does Africa
by Frank Bures | 06.27.07 | 11:31 AM ET
Africa is hot. Why? So we can save it? Frank Bures deconstructs the magazine's latest issue and what it says about Western views of the continent.
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