What I’m Reading
September 19, 2023
What I’m Reading returns with a powerful photo essay about the wildfires in Europe, a look at a drug overdose prevention team in Los Angeles, and a reminder of the value of an independent press.
Wake-Up Call Summer?
Massive wildfires have not only increased in numbers in recent years, but they’re also hitting more familiar places. The Greek island Rhodes, a popular vacation spot, is one example.
In Paradise LOST: Rhodes Burns, photographer Pavel Nemecek documents the fire, the efforts to extinguish and save, and the aftermath.
The zReportage essay includes revealing detail images and stunning landscapes. The captions and introduction text provide valuable context. It’s an important story you should view, read, and think about.
The photographs I responded to the most are the aerial view (17), the smoke scene that includes a helping resident (4), and the burnt-out camper van landscape (3).
The birds-eye-view includes hints of beauty and pairs them with the tragedy of the destruction. The other two are brilliantly quiet pictures of the fires that communicate the destruction with visual might.
The tourism angle is also worth considering.
Overdose Prevention Work
Emily Alpert Reyes (writing) and Francine Orr (photography) cover a unique effort to save Los Angeles’s drug victims for the Los Angeles Times.
How mobile teams on Skid Row use oxygen to prevent overdoses and save lives brings us to the streets of the city’s Skid Row neighborhood, where the nonprofit Homeless Health Care Los Angeles sends out teams specialized in treating overdose patients.
The story represents strong reporting and photography. It shows the tough human side of the drug problem.
If you decide to read, you’ll hear about the team’s work and the human consequences of addiction. You’ll also learn why their work has been called the “cutting edge of overdose response” and why oxygen is a “game-changer.”
It’s a good read that’s well worth your time.
Independent History
Today’s final recommendation brings us to Nigeria, where a fascinating archival project aims to save the country’s newspapers.
‘Our history is rotting away’: the newspaper archivists preserving Nigeria’s past, written by Ope Adetayo for The Guardian, introduces us to Archivi.ng, a nonprofit that tries to collect and preserve every edition of every print newspaper published in Nigeria since the country’s independence from Britain in 1960.
The article explains how they go about their task and what difficulties they have to master. And it explains the plans for the finished digital archive.
The effort to preserve independent journalism is, at the same time, an effort to preserve the country’s history. Having seen civil war, military coups, and dictatorship, history has been told in different ways by those in power.
One of the findings of the archival project was a surprise even to the researchers: Nigerian journalism resisted the propaganda wishes of whoever was in power, offering Nigeria an independent look at its history. It also demonstrates the important role that independent journalism plays in society.
I enjoyed this article, and I hope you will, too.
Those are all the reading recommendations for this week. On Thursday, I’ll return with a new episode of Fun With Cameras. Until then, enjoy your readings.
