What I’m Reading
August 4, 2022
In today’s What I’m Reading, I’ll share a fine example of reportage from Ukraine; impressive writing and photography you should see. My second recommendation is about climate change and the difficulties of planting new trees. Finally, I take you on a literary detour that explores the relationship between a writer and his work.
Long-form from Ukraine
Today’s first recommendation is a phenomenal dispatch from the war in Ukraine. As I’ve written in previous posts, I carefully select the stories of conflict and violence I read and share. The stories that I believe demand our attention reach far beyond the surface of the world’s need for satisfying the 24/7 (news) cycle.
Instead, the reporters are permitted to stay with the story, with the people. And thus report the small details of the human experience that educate readers about an issue. That, obviously, requires time; on the reporting end as much as on the consumption end. But it’s precisely there where journalism can be the most potent.
One example of this form of journalism is The Desperate Lives Inside Ukraine’s “Dead Cities”, a letter from Donbas by Luke Mogelson and Daniel Berehulak as The New Yorker labels this story from its August 1, 2022 issue.
It’s a long read but worth every second of your time. Mogelson’s writing and Berehulak’s photography are impressive and reveal details small and large about the Ukrainian struggle for freedom and peace.
There’s an embedded audio version that runs 66 minutes; a well-read version that might make it easier for you to find the time for such a long story. If you opt for the audio experience, be sure to spend some time with the photography, for it would be a shame if you missed the visual impressions, which add layers of their own to the narrative.
In the tradition of long-form journalism, Mogelson’s letter reads almost like a novel or novella. The writing pulls us from our reality into the “dead cities” of Ukraine and the reality of living in a conflict.
The story has fast-moving scenes, which are horrid and sad moments that describe what war means for those forced to live with it. In-between, the writer weaves a compelling net of factual context and smaller, quieter moments of life during a conflict that paint a vivid picture of the reality he encountered in his reporting. It’s a picture that we, who are fortunate enough to not have to live in conflict, should all see and allow to affect our thoughts.
The violence is present, of course, but appropriately so and never for a sensationalistic purpose. It’s the reality of conflict, and journalism is how the world can see what it looks like.
The photographs show the destruction, the emotions low and high, and the quieter moments in which humanity often shines the loudest. Some images are sad and beautiful at the same time. Take, for example, the picture of the burning hotel the morning after a bomb attack. The beautiful morning sky and light add a different tone to what we see.
The photography underlines the destruction and despair of war, but it also highlights the human resilience to those circumstances beautifully.
One example I particularly like is the image of Ivan, a farmer tending to the roses in his garden, who is determined to stay.
I hope you’ll get a chance to spend time with the Ukrainian experience told in The Desperate Lives Inside Ukraine’s “Dead Cities”, for it’s the type of war coverage that informs you better than days of shallower headline-level news coverage. It’s the human experience that defines our existence, and journalism like this finds and shares such examples.
Climate Change and the Question of Trees
My second recommendation moves us from Ukraine to Brazil and from conflict to climate change. In Can Planting a Trillion New Trees Save the World?, Zach St. George and Lalo de Almeida tell us about reforestation efforts in Brazil, the country that is home to the important Amazon rainforest, which endures large-scale clearings.
That’s a climate issue that’s seeing good coverage; one example is Sebastião Salgado’s work, especially his latest photo book, Amazônia. I wrote about a documentary that highlights his life and work and followed up with a recommendation of an interview that allows us to look behind the scenes of his new book.
But back to this story, it’s another long read from the New York Times Magazine that also includes an embedded audio version.
It almost reads like a history of tree planting efforts across the world and includes detailed facts about how the first ideas of tree campaigns spread into a global movement that supports tree planting campaigns as a measure in humanity’s fight against climate change.
Then, the story returns to Brazil’s state Goiás and the struggles of the localized Eden Reforestation Project. And from there, it circles back to the impacts our choices as consumers have on tree planting efforts. Finally, you’ll hear about what’s more important: planting trees and focusing on counting up to a trillion or growing trees and ensuring trees enjoy a sustained lifespan.
I found Can Planting a Trillion New Trees Save the World? a fascinating read with important information that increases our environmental knowledge. Read the story to find out how a trillion new trees can help humanity and if there’s actually sufficient space for so many additional trees.
In addition, you’ll hear why experts have grown uneasy about the rising of tree planting initiatives. Without giving too much away, the story dives into questions of which species are being planted and which effects different species have — economically and environmentally.
Can Planting a Trillion New Trees Save the World? is a good climate story that answers questions many might not have thought about before. It deals with the intricacies of big campaigns and the differences between marketing and the effectiveness of environmental measures.
A Literary Detour
Again from the pages of the New York Times Magazine but thematically in strong contrast to the climate story, Wyatt Mason shares a special story about writers and their relationships to their work.
It’s called His First Novel Was a Critical Hit. Two Decades Later, He Rewrote It.
The writer in question is Akhil Sharma, and the work in question is his novel “An Obedient Father,” a “brutal book,” as Mason describes it.
Feeling “secretly displeased” about the work, despite its success, Sharma recently rewrote the novel, more than 20 years after its debut.
The lead brings us to the first moments between the two writers, a very warm and personal moment of two strangers meeting that allows us a glimpse at the novelist’s personality.
The remainder of the article explores the novel as a concept and why it naturally attracts errors and other problems a writer needs to solve. Before the writer returns to Sharma’s revision efforts, he describes some of the more famous revisions in literary history, including Scott F. Fitzgerald’s “Tender is the Night.”
It’s a fascinating read for writers and readers alike. I recommend it for your lighter reading time, especially if you want to find out why Sharma decided to rewrite his first novel and how he feels the two versions differ. There’s an interesting airplane analogy embedded in his answer, which translates to the weight or efficiency of the writing.
That’s all for today’s reading updates. Later in the week and early next week, I’ll launch my series on all things journalism, photography, and writing. And with a bit of luck, next week brings new photography as well. Until then, enjoy your readings.
