What I’m Reading
April 29, 2020
What I’m Reading continues with two reads this week. Both are dispatches that show us the world as it is right now. First, there’s an observation of Paris and how emptiness can bring the past back to life. And I have an important story about Afghanistan and its fight against the pandemic; sad but important.
The Haunting of the Past
The first recommendation this week brings us to Paris. Yes, it’s a pandemic story. But it is so much more. Denuded of Tourists, Paris Reveals Its Old Beating Heart is a dispatch from the French capital by Adam Nossiter, with pictures by Andrea Mantovani and Dmitry Kostyukov.
In a beautifully written (and photographed) dispatch, we hear the thoughts of a long-time Parisian. This piece reveals how the Paris in times of a pandemic feels, how it’s different, which elements of the new Paris are positive and which are negative.
Paris, as is probably every other place on earth, is changed by the pandemic. Nossiter beautifully captures the reemergence of an old Paris. A city of people who are more connected, concerned, warm.
For just a brief moment all the worries of these current weeks fade and we can immerse ourselves in a city that is beautifully different. The city as a place where people live appears. The city as a place where the flashy activity of the tourism-centered economy has vanished.
Nossiter describes this neatly when he writes about the old Paris as a place where one is “likelier to find céleri rémoulade at the corner than $30,000 handbags aimed at tourists.”
He also tells us about the opportunity to discover the natural gems Paris has to offer; now that the empty streets make them visible again. He writes about really seeing, for the first time in his almost 60-year-long relationship with the city, “an epicenter of mass tourism, the beguiling Place du Tertre at the top of Montmartre. The little village square was nearly empty, and a worried Parisian stopped to ask if I wasn’t taking a chance by being out on my bike.”
At the same time, however, Nossiter notices the coldness and emptiness of the old Paris reappearing today. Something is missing. Life. A sensation probably many places across the world cause in anyone of us.
It’s a beautiful dispatch and an important record of our time. If you decide to read it, you’ll also hear of a second negative side effect. The haunting of the past, if you will. The empty streets now bring some residents’ thoughts back to the grim days of the German occupation during World War II, where the streets were similarly empty. Despite those negative observations and realities, you still might find this read more enjoyable and uplifting than you think; I did.
Afghanistan and the Pandemic
The second recommendation this week is also a dispatch. It’s a dire one, and I’m sorry for bringing something sad and angering to you. But Afghanistan’s Next War is a read (and watch) the world needs to register, for the country that has been tormented by war for so long now is even less prepared for the fight against the pandemic than Western countries.
With words by Mujib Mashal and pictures by Kiana Hayeri, this story dives deep into Afghanistan under the threat of the coronavirus. It’s a powerful look at the country’s dealings with this virus. How it all began when Afghan refugees fled back home from Iran after the virus began spreading there. We’re brought right into the hospitals, testing centers, people’s homes.
The words and even more so the pictures are emotional. The combination: effective and attention-grabbing. Sad, of course. But Afghanistan deserves our attention. Now more than ever.
That’s a wrap for this week’s What I’m Reading post. Later this week, I’ll share a photographic post about testing and evaluating something new. And more reading recommendations continue next week. Until then, happy reading.
