What I’m Reading
May 12, 2021
This week’s What I’m Reading features two heavier reads/topics and a sporty kicker.
The first recommendation is another Covid-19 read; The New York Times has been doing great reporting on the vaccination effort in America, particularly the skepticism that can be found in parts of rural America.
The second article is a short watch about an inspiring photojournalist who visits some of the most dangerous places on the planet to shine a light on the human stories behind conflicts.
The final read breaks down Desiree Linden’s stunning sub 3-hour 50 Km race.
The Nuances of Covid Vaccine Skepticism
Faith, Freedom, Fear: Rural America’s Covid Vaccine Skeptics is a brilliant story published by The New York Times about the varied reasons people in rural America remain skeptical of the Covid-19 vaccines.
Written by Jan Hoffman, with photographs by Erin Schaff, this story takes us to Tennessee. The community of Greenville, to be precise.
It’s communities like this one that the Biden administration is trying to convince to accept the vaccination offer so the country can reach a good level of immunity and can return to some form of normal.
While resistance is widespread in white, Republican communities, the story shows that it’s a far more complicated matter than just a political or religious divide.
In urban areas, experts have made good progress in convincing people to get vaccinated. The rural areas remain more problematic. And the reasons are many and often deeply personal.
A fear of issues in one’s social life marks one end of the spectrum. Talking about vaccines can be tricky and uncomfortable. Many vaccinated residents won’t dare to speak about it; out of fear of becoming alienated.
In the middle, we have a list of concerns that include a profound fear of a fast-tracked vaccine development. Or a refusal to have outsiders dictate what one should be doing. There’s fear that side-effects may lead to problems at work. And there’s sometimes a deep governmental mistrust that leads to false beliefs about the vaccines.
Ending the spectrum is the spread of conspiracy theories that have people believe the vaccines include secret trackers or “aborted fetal parts.”
The story approaches the topic with an open mind, is well-reported, well-written, and well-photographed. The pictures include beautiful portraits of a town and community, pictures that show the human element behind one of the greatest vaccination campaigns in human history. Give it a read, if you can.
War Photography Hidden Gem
The next recommendation starts with a quick video. It’s in German only, but the pictures shown don’t need a word-based language.
I found this mini-profile of photojournalist Ursula Meissner via the news program of the German TV station ZDF.
I’m rather glad I stumbled across it because it introduced me to a photographer who had been unknown to me before.
The video opens with the apt description that a good picture is viewed longer than two seconds. In the following, we get an introduction to the woman behind the camera and her work.
Meissner describes an encounter with a woman that shows the impact conflict photography can have. A picture of a young girl, the woman told Meissner, had encapsulated the entire war in Kosovo for her.
Speaking of pictures that are being viewed for more than two seconds.
She also touches on the tough conditions attached to her work. Fear, she says, is necessary but shouldn’t be shown in the field.
Aside from safety concerns, it’s also the horrors of war that can’t be unseen that she needs to learn to live with. She does so by turning it all into refreshed motivation to show the public what’s going on in the world.
I’ll dive deeper into Meissner’s work, which started in Afghanistan about 30 years ago. I hope you give the video a quick look, even if you don’t understand German. For first stops on a potential deeper dive, may I recommend this 2008 interview about Afghanistan on the platform Qantara and the photographer’s website?
Running and the Challenge of the Unknown
Now onto a lighter read to end today’s post. How marathon runner Des Linden ventured into the ‘unknown’ to break the 50km record, published by CNN and written by George Ramsay shows the fascination that is long-distance running.
The basics are: instead of a spring marathon, runner Des Linden looked for a new challenge and decided to go beyond the marathon distance. Having not raced beyond the 42 Km distance before, Linden broke the 50 Km record (a world’s best instead of a world record for technical reasons explained in the article) and is now the first woman to have completed this distance in under three hours.
Head on to the article to learn about her training, the mental challenge of extending beyond the marathon distance, the new (lonely) race experience, new goals, past accomplishments (she won the 2018 Boston marathon, which is one of the most prestigious long-distance events in the world), and her passion for bourbon. I find her career and accomplishments inspiring. There’s also a video with some impressions from the event and an interview with Linden.
And that’s it for this week’s What I’m Reading post. I hope to have the second episode of “Of Miles & Minutes” ready this weekend. And I’ll have more spring pictures from the streets of Oberhausen on Tuesday.
