Matador Network's Blog, page 2300

17 signs your soul belongs in France

Photo: Margot Gabel

1. You not only can but you enjoy surviving off of baguettes, cheese, and red wine (and you’re not an alcoholic because you know wine doesn’t really count as alcohol).

2. You’d rather die than eat or drink while walking, and you’re always one to roll your eyes at the métro lunch-muncher. Seriously, take your time to eat. There’s no rush.

3. You weirdly like the smell of cigarette smoke because it reminds you of warm afternoons at outdoor cafés.

4. You can spot Americans in France from a mile away. They’re wearing a t-shirt, and probably speaking English loudly, as if the reason they’re not being understood isn’t the language barrier but that they’ve yet to make themselves sufficiently audible. Also, they’re likely smiling. Who does that?

5. Cupcakes? Good one. You’ve tasted macarons so you know better.

6. Banter with friends usually includes some sort of jab at people who drink rosé.

7. You always dress like you’re ready for Scott Schuman to photograph you for The Sartorialist.

8. You wholeheartedly agree with the phrase: “Mélanie Laurent is a goddess.”

9. Your non-Francophile friends don’t understand why you care about dates like July 14th and 1789.

10. You ask for a pain au chocolat — not a “chocolate croissant” (even though it probably annoys your friends). Same goes with correctly pronouncing ballet terminology, the names of all those amazing philosophers, even popular restaurants like Le Pain Quotidien.

11. Not taking a two-hour lunch break is one of the seven deadly sins.

12. You know there’s nothing wrong with complimenting someone on his/her appearance. Perhaps you even indulge in a stare while walking past a particularly attractive person because you know they’ll be flattered, not creeped.

13. You often wonder why education isn’t pretty much free everywhere. So too goes for healthcare. Doesn’t it seem rather unethical that Americans are legally required to have car insurance, but not health insurance?

14. You recite the three pillars of deliciousness like a mantra: Gruyere, Camembert, Roquefort.

15. You’re personally offended by Gérard Depardieu’s France-shaming shenanigans.

16. You find yourself cursing British people without really knowing why.

17. Your idea of a perfect afternoon is relaxing in a sunny garden or café terrasse with a fantastic book and a journal for taking down some ideas. [image error]

The post 17 signs your soul belongs in France appeared first on Matador Network.

33 people standing up to injustice

Every now and then, when someone stands up to injustice, there’s a photographer nearby who catches the iconic moment on film.

These images are a testament to what brave people can do when faced with injustice that may seem insurmountable, and may even destroy them. Here are some of the great moments in human defiance.

1

The tank man of Tiananmen Square
The day after the Chinese government brutally cracked down on the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square, a single unidentified man stood in front of the oncoming tanks. The image—captured by five photographers, most of whom were in the Beijing Hotel—has become one of the best-known symbols of defiance of all time. As the man is unknown, his fate is unknown as well.

(Via)






2

The Stonewall riots
In the '50s and '60s in America, the police regularly raided gay establishments and shut them down, but when they raided the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in 1969, the crowd spontaneously decided to fight back. The ensuing riots are now widely considered to be the start of the modern gay rights movement.

(Via)






3

The Olympic Black Power salute
When American Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos won the gold and bronze medals (respectively) in the 200 meter race in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, they raised their gloved fists for the duration of the American National Anthem. While the gesture is largely considered a symbol of the Black Power movement, Smith and Carlos suggested it was a show of solidarity for all human rights. The silver medalist, Australian Peter Norman, was also a staunch opponent of racism.

(Via)






Intermission





28 freaky ghost towns you can visit [pics]





11 images to remind us of the need for activism around the world





8 hot travel photos on Instagram this week












4

The fall of the Berlin Wall
A protester straddles the soon-to-fall Berlin Wall at the end of the Cold War.

(Via)






5

Making out in front of Westboro
It's become a popular way to counter-protest the awful homophobic Westboro Baptist Church: making out in front of them. No matter how many variations there are of these pictures, they're always delightful.

(Via)






6

Rosa Parks on a Montgomery bus
This photo of Rosa Parks was taken the day after the legal integration of Montgomery's bus system. This advance was the direct result of a boycott of the city's buses initiated after Parks refused to move to the back of the bus.

(Via)






7

The Newsboys Strike of 1899
The Newsboys Strike was a youth-led campaign for higher wages for the deplorably treated newspaper boys of New York City. The strike was a notable early moment in the child labor movement.

(Via)






8

Mahatma Gandhi at his spinning wheel
As part of his campaign against British imperialism, Gandhi encouraged Indians to spend time each day at a spinning wheel creating their own cloth, rather than spending money on British-made cloth. The image is now so inextricable from Indian history that the spinning wheel is featured on the Indian flag.

(Via)






9

Vancouver riots kiss
Okay, so technically this isn't anyone standing up to injustice—after the Vancouver Canucks lost to the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup, Canucks fans rioted in the streets of Vancouver. Riot police stepped in, and this photo was snapped. The couple in the photo are Alexandra Thomas and her boyfriend Scott Jones. Thomas was knocked down by the cops and Jones was comforting her. Either way, the image of love in the midst of violence took off immediately on the internet.

(Via)






Intermission





You’ve never seen water like this [65 photos]





13 arresting travel photos from Nat Geo’s 2013 contest





How people pray around the world












10

Flower Power
This iconic photo was taken during a Vietnam War protest in Washington, DC. When a squad of National Guard members kept the protesters from approaching the Pentagon, a number of famous photos were taken, including the one above of 17-year-old Jan Rose Kasmir by French photographer Marc Riboud, and also this one of an unknown protester. Kasmir was part of the pacifist "Flower Power" movement.

(Via)






11

Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech
MLK, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech is widely considered one of the most powerful of all time, and encapsulates the entire civil rights movement he was fighting for.

(Via)






12

Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
The 1936 Olympics were supposed to be a showcase for Hitler's Germany, and in many ways, were a great success for the Führer. But American runner Jesse Owens—deemed "subhuman" according to Nazi doctrine—won four gold medals, and reportedly left Hitler furious.

(Via)






13

Thich Quang Duc's self-immolation
Thich Quang Duc was a Buddhist monk who burned himself alive in the streets of Saigon in 1963 in protest of the government crackdown on Buddhists. His protest caused huge problems and led John F. Kennedy to say, "No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one." The protest would be repeated nearly 50 years later by a Tunisian street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi, which kicked off the massive uprising known as the Arab Spring.

(Via)






14

Suffragettes in London
Women's suffrage was achieved (much later than is remotely okay) because of early women's rights activists like these.

(Via)






15

Nelson Mandela's release
When Nelson Mandela was released in 1990 after 27 years in prison, he helped cultivate an attitude of forgiveness in South Africa that would lead to a peaceful transition out of the apartheid regime.

(Via)






Intermission





The 54 best photos of 2012 [Matador edition]





23 photos that will make you want to travel





23 iconic lighthouses around the world [PICs]












16

Madres of Plaza de Mayo
When the far-right Argentine government started "disappearing" (read: kidnapping them, torturing them, murdering them, and then dumping their bodies out of planes into the Atlantic) political opponents, leftists, academics, and clergy, much of the population was silent. But then the mothers of the disappeared started demonstrating in Buenos Aires' Plaza de Mayo, in defiance of the military government. Many of them were "disappeared" themselves. Known as the "Madres of Plaza de Mayo," they are still active in Argentina in working to uncover the fates of their children.

(Via)






17

The pepper spray protesters
During a nonviolent Occupy protest on the campus of UC Davis, this image was captured of a police officer calmly shooting pepper spray directly into the eyes of sitting protesters. The image went viral and instantly became a meme, and a symbol for the overreaction of police forces to the Occupy movement.

(Via)






18

The White Rose
The White Rose was a German pacifist resistance group in Munich. They dropped leaflets in favor of freedom of speech and freedom of religion all across the country until, in 1943, the six most prominent members were captured and beheaded by the Gestapo.

(Via)






19

Oscar Romero
After the murder of one of his friends—also a priest—Oscar Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador, began to use his position to speak out against social injustice, poverty, and the torture and executions committed by the Salvadoran government and military. For this, he was murdered in the middle of giving Mass, by a member of a United States-backed death squad. He remains a symbol of the people in El Salvador to this day.

(Via)






20

Joseph Welch vs. Joseph McCarthy
During one of the hearings of Joseph McCarthy's appalling anti-communist witch hunt in the 1950s, Joseph Welch, the head counsel for the United States Army, was asked to testify against a young lawyer when he burst out with, "Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?" This outburst, along with the report of journalist Edward R. Murrow, helped to finally end McCarthyism.

(Via)






21

The Arab Spring
Touched off by the self-immolation of a Tunisian street vendor, the protests and uprisings of the Arab Spring managed to topple demagogues across the Arab world and led to an outpouring of support for democracy among these nations. While the results have been at best mixed, hardly enough time has passed for us to pass judgment on the Arab Spring.

(Via)






22

Live Aid
Say what you want about "Feed the World," ("There won't be snow in Africa this Christmas"? Who gives a shit?), Live Aid, the massive concert organized by Bob Geldof to fight famine in the third world is estimated to have raised £150 million. That's a lot of mouths that are no longer hungry, and all thanks to awesome music.

(Via)






23

Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Disgusted with the war in Vietnam, military analyst Daniel Ellsberg decided, at great personal risk, to leak the Pentagon Papers, a set of documents that revealed the administration knew how destructive and unwinnable the war would be. The leak not only helped turn public opinion against the war, but set several legal precedents for whistleblowers and freedom of the press.

(Via)






24

Malala Yousafzai shot
After actively campaigning for the right of young girls to go to school, at age 14, Malala Yousafzai was tracked down and shot in the head by the Taliban. She managed to survive and, despite further threats, has continued to campaign for girls' education in Afghanistan.

(Via)






25

Cesar Chavez and the Delano Grape strike and boycott
In protest of the low pay given to grape pickers—their demands were that they be paid at least minimum wage—Cesar Chavez's United Farm Workers and a number of other groups led a 5-year boycott against California grape growers. The successful boycott was one of the first actions that brought attention to the plight of migrant workers in the United States.

(Via)






26

Julia Butterfly Hill and the tree-sit
In order to keep the Pacific Lumber Company from clear-cutting redwoods, Julia "Butterfly" Hill climbed 180 feet into a redwood named Luna and lived there for 2 years. The tree (and all trees around it for 200 feet) were saved, and a deal was reached with the loggers.

(Via)






27

Crystal Lee Sutton forms a Union
When she was fired from her job in a textile plant for trying to form a union, Crystal Lee Sutton went to the middle of the factory floor, wrote “UNION” on a piece of cardboard, and silently turned it around on the floor. The rest of the factory workers shut off their machines and held the “V for Victory” sign. She was forcibly removed, but her act won the workers a union. Note: As no picture of the actual event exists, this photo is from Norma Rae, the film based on Sutton’s life, starring Sally Field.


(Via)






28

Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest
Aung San Suu Kyi, the peaceful Burmese pro-democracy activist, was under house arrest on and off for 21 years. Though she was allowed to leave Burma several times during this period, she chose not to for fear that she wouldn’t be able to come back. Her husband died while she was under house arrest. She was released in 2010.


(Via)






29

The Second Battle at Wounded Knee
To protest corruption on the Pine Ridge Reservation, as well as more general and longstanding grievances with the US government, a group of American Indian Movement activists occupied the symbolic site of Wounded Knee. The following siege by US Marshals and FBI led to 3 deaths, but managed to bring national attention to the poor treatment of American Indians by the federal government.

(Via)





30

Elizabeth Eckford goes to school
Elizabeth Eckford was a member of the Little Rock 9—the first group of black students to be allowed into Little Rock’s segregated school system. In this picture, she calmly walks to school while being pursued by a hostile white mob.


(Via)






31

Horace Greasley confronts Himmler
British POW Horace Greasley was a badass. He escaped the Nazi war camp he was in 200 times as part of a love affair, and when Himmler toured the camp, he confronted him, as seen in this picture.


(Via)






32

Christian protesters protect Muslims during prayer
The Arab Spring in Egypt has been marred in many cases by religious violence. But this picture, taken in 2011, shows Christian protesters protecting Muslim protesters during their daily prayers from the government forces that often rode through Tahrir Square and attacked them.


(Via)






33

A child vs. austerity
After the 2008 crash, some European nations instituted serious austerity measures, which were met with protests. During one such action, this child walked up to the riot police and handed them a heart-shaped balloon.



(Via)

The post 33 iconic photos of people standing up to injustice appeared first on Matador Network.

On standing out in Afghanistan

Photo: The U.S. Army

I shook my lighter in frustration, trying to get enough flame to light the end of the crumpled cigarette hanging from my mouth. “Come on you worthless shit,” I mumbled. Noticing how aggravated I was, my Afghan colleague produced his lighter and helped me out. He smirked at me as I took a deep and overly dramatic drag of that cigarette. Adeeb knew that I don’t smoke cigarettes and that I was handling the stress of the moment poorly.

On this particular Tuesday afternoon, we were standing by our armored vehicles in the parking lot of a government compound in Kabul. Guarding cars is not my job, and there are few people less qualified to “pull security” than me. But my coworkers (ironically all former Special Forces guys) had a meeting to attend and left the new guy behind. So there I stood, looking very American in a crowd of people who all seemed to be scowling at me.

Sure, I could have taken off the Ray-Bans and tried to blend in a little. But if I was going to get shot, I wanted them to find my body and say, “Damn! He looked good today!”

This particular government compound was a bit of a disappointment, honestly. It resembled a really shitty community college in America, complete with trash-strewn lawns, dumpy three-story buildings, and overcrowded parking lots. I was also aware there had been a number of attacks against Westerners here. “Sticky bombs” are especially popular in Kabul at the moment. They are magnetic explosives that can be stuck to the undercarriages of vehicles and detonated by cell phones at inopportune moments. But for the chance to kill a six-foot-tall American standing in a public parking lot in broad daylight, an insurgent might be so bold as to try something more direct. As such, I was being a little more paranoid than necessary and was immensely grateful for Adeeb’s company.

You don’t hear about the Afghan people who had to secretly watch Titanic on a tiny black-and-white television during the Taliban days.

“Mr. Charlie, what province are you from?” He could clearly tell I was on edge. Adeeb was quick with a joke and always ready to laugh, however serious the situation.

“I am from the province of California. It’s really beautiful — I can drive to the beach from my house in 15 minutes.” Adeeb had never been to a beach, but he smiled knowingly and said he would like it.

“What about you? Where is the best place in Afghanistan to visit?” He began describing rivers and lakes in the north of the country, places in the high mountains, places I knew were not safe to visit anymore.

As we watched streams of people come and go from the buildings around the square, we both became transfixed by a trio of women who did not look Afghan at all. They wore the traditional head coverings, but their faces looked more anglo/oriental than anyone I had seen in Afghanistan, and they were strikingly beautiful. Without my asking, Adeeb knowingly said, “Those women are Hazara.”

Afghanistan is a tribal land. Roughly speaking, the Pashtuns dominate the south and east, the Tajiks the north, and Hazaras can be found in the west. Of course, there are more tribes, but these are the three largest. Now and then you’ll even see a blond Afghan. These people still surprise me, because for years the only Afghans I saw on the news wore turbans and waved AK-47s.

As the trio of girls came closer, Adeeb and I both became very involved in our cigarettes and tried to look cool. The girls smiled and blushed and hurried past. Adeeb is a Muslim, so to be sensitive to his beliefs I refrained from making any jokes about getting their numbers. But he surprised me when he turned and said in his thick accent, “You can look, but don’t touch!”

Slowly relaxing, I lit another cigarette and stuffed my hands in my jacket pockets to keep warm. My eyes continued to dart from face to face. I watched hands, studied passing cars, and kept an eye on loitering people.

A fat Afghan National Army general walked through the parking lot with his uniformed entourage. Standing no taller than 5’3″, he looked like Danny DeVito with his shoulders thrown back and his gut protruding unnaturally in front of him.

I listened to Adeeb gush about Pop Tarts, girls, and soccer. I was impressed when a blind man asked him for money and he quickly handed over a few bills.

The unmentioned tragedy of war is that it forces us to be suspicious of innocent bystanders.

On the one hand, I want to blame the media for making most Westerners think the average Afghan speaks Arabic and wants to join the Taliban. There are good people here. There are people wearing Afghan uniforms who would (and do) die to make their country safe. The people you don’t hear about are the Afghan women who can walk around Kabul without a man escorting them. You don’t hear about the Afghan people who had to secretly watch Titanic on a tiny black-and-white television during the Taliban days, and who now listen to Celine Dion on the radio.

But on the other hand, I have to blame myself for being persuaded that any group of people could be so uniformly hateful. The extremists here have always been a minority — a powerful minority that uses fear and force to do terrible things, but still a minority. Even though I work here, I find myself constantly struggling to remember that the average Afghan wants peace. The unmentioned tragedy of war is that it forces us to be suspicious of innocent bystanders, especially if they happen to be ethnically similar to the people we’re fighting. Standing in that parking lot, I understood in a very real way how that suspicion works, and how distracting and unhelpful it is.

The afternoon continued to pass uneventfully, though I was careful not to become complacent. Adeeb demanded that we take a selfie, and that I hold my M4 assault rifle a little higher to get it in the frame. He wanted to post the picture on his Facebook so his friends would know he was a badass.

Afghanistan has been at war since Ronald Reagan was President, but many think that it is close to becoming self-sustaining. Maybe it’s not, and maybe things are about to get worse. But hanging out with Adeeb, you sure as hell wouldn’t know there was a war on. [image error]

Author’s note: Some names, places, and times have been altered.

The post On standing out in Afghanistan appeared first on Matador Network.

Surreal timelapse from the PCT

THE FOOTAGE taken by Brad Goldpaint (Goldpaint Photography) is from the Pacific Crest Trail which he hiked after his mother’s passing. Of it he says,

This time-lapse video is my visual representation of how the night sky and landscapes co-exist within a world of contradictions. I hope this connection between heaven and earth inspires you to discover and create your own opportunities, to reach your rightful place within two worlds.

Brad used around 7000 photos to compile this gorgeous timelapse.

The post Surreal timelapse shows delicate interplay between land and sky appeared first on Matador Network.

90% of women are subjected to this

WHILE IT’S NOT an excuse, it’s no wonder men and boys are completely clueless when it comes to how big of a deal female sexual harassment is. How many men do you know have been touched inappropriately by women? How many men do you know, who feel unsafe when traveling by themselves? How many men would be unable to fight off a woman, if suddenly attacked by one?

I often feel like the best way to help someone understand a culture, is by immersing them in it. This PSA, created by the UN Women’s Egypt Country Office, is a step forward in helping males understand what it’s like to be a woman in their community. It’s not fair to say that every man in Egypt behaves this way, but 90% is an unnervingly high statistic.

The post 90% of Egyptian women are subjected to what happens in this video appeared first on Matador Network.

The easiest $25 you’ll ever make

When you can make honest money while traveling with very little effort — that’s a win-win. The team at Hotel Confidential knows this and is giving smartphone-savvy travelers the chance to make $25 for videos created from their hotel. In doing so, Hotel Confidential is setting itself up to be a massive catalog of user-generated hotel review videos by incentivizing hotel goers.

No special gear or editing skills are needed for this easy cash flow, just a steady hand and a hotel room. I find myself in hotels often enough to give this crazy scheme a try (who doesn’t want 25 extra bones?) — this is what’s up:

You have to register your hotel from the HC website.

You must vet your hotel via the HC website before you can upload your vids and claim your $$.

You have to use your smartphone.

The deal is that you shoot a 60-90 second video showing aspects of the hotel with your smartphone in landscape mode. One shot/take per video.

You have to shoot 4 videos.

For your $25, you must create 4 videos featuring aspects of the hotel property — the room, the lobby, the exterior, and one additional feature or amenity.

You have to narrate your vid.

You don’t have to go full David Attenborough, but you do have to narrate your vid with info on the hotel and some description of what you’re looking at.

You have to upload your videos to the HC site and write a quick description.

This is pretty easy — email yourself the smartphone vid and upload from your computer.

Shooting the 4 videos is simple. 90 seconds is nothing — I created my 4 videos in less than 15 minutes, wandering around the hotel holding my iPhone aloft. My conclusion: If I’m gonna stay in a hotel, I may as well cover the insane cost of the in-room wifi or an ill-advised visit to the minibar with a few quick videos.

Visit the HC site to register the hotel you’re staying at and upload your videos. [image error]

The post The easiest $25 you’ll ever make appeared first on Matador Network.

The mystifying head nod

While virtually all of my first visit to India was profoundly disorienting, one of the strangest differences I noticed was the Indian head shake. If you’ve been to India, you’ve seen it (and if you’re an Indian, you’ve almost certainly done it): it’s a sort of swivel/shake/bobble that’s not particularly easy for the untrained neck to replicate. No matter how many people I asked, though, I never got a clear answer to what it meant — Is it a yes? A no? A maybe? An, “I didn’t understand a word of what you just said”?

All of them were plausible. It turns out, there are different categories of the head shakes, and Meenfriedchikencurry has the explanation for all of them. Now I can go back to India and be just slightly less confused. [image error]

The post The mystifying ‘Indian head nod,’ explained [vid] appeared first on Matador Network.

Celebrity exclusive: Ashley Bell

Photos courtesy of Ashley Bell

My knowledge of elephant rehabilitation is, admittedly, quite limited. While I care very much about endangered species and preserving their environments, my involvement hasn’t gone beyond donating to the World Wildlife Federation, or posting a “Save the Whales!” link on Facebook.

So in talking to actress and animal supporter Ashley Bell — who is currently starring alongside Rebecca Hall in Broadway’s Machinal, and can be seen in Love & Air Sex, available now on VOD and in select theaters — I wasn’t sure what to expect regarding her latest endeavor, a documentary film entitled Love and Bananas. Lots of celebrities have “causes” that they are the “face” for, but don’t go beyond that. Would Ashley describe this charity with rehearsed lines, just like a scene from a script?

To my relief, Love and Bananas is definitely a cause worth fighting for. It’s completely a labor of love, brought about by Ashley’s passion and desire to make the world for elephants, and other creatures, a better place to live.

The title of her documentary, which focuses on the rescue and rehabilitation of two Asian elephants in Cambodia, was inspired by the work of Lek Chailert, who runs an elephant sanctuary in Thailand.

“While working together, Lek would often have bananas piled in front of her,” Ashley explained. “I watched her jamming medicine into them, to help the elephants. In working with these animals, you have to be careful at first, because their trust of humans has been broken through abuse. But by day three, they warm up to you, and approach you.

“It’s so true what they say, that ‘an elephant never forgets.’ It was then that I knew the world could help animals through affection, and patience — through a little ‘love and bananas.’”

The moment Ashley began to speak, I could hear the genuine passion she had for animals in her voice. An animal rights supporter and vegetarian since she was young, Ashley described how, through research and the education her parents provided, she developed her love for all things living.

“When my classmates went to the zoo, or the circus on field trips,” she explained, “I was the one outside of the school, protesting the trip!”

She’s since become an Ambassador for Cruelty-Free International. Her involvement with the elephants of Cambodia didn’t arise until fairly recently, however. Ten years ago, Ashley’s friend David Casselman founded the Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary to protect elephants and other endangered animals of the region and preserve their natural habitat.

He’d been looking for elephants to rescue, and the opportunity came in late 2012, when Casselmen sent out a call to action: “We found first 2 elephants to rescue. Anybody who wants in, come!”

“I never go on vacation,” Ashley described. She has starred in numerous feature films, including a nominated performance in The Exorcism of Emily Rose. “But after reading David’s email, I said, ‘I’ve got to go!’ I booked tickets for Cambodia that evening, and left as soon as I could.”

Lek kept saying, ‘Run!’ I start to run, and turned around to see the elephants charging into jungle.

The initial experience for Ashley was filled with mixed emotions. She felt inspired and overjoyed at watching the rescued elephants take their first steps of freedom, playing an integral part in their recovery and rehabilitation, and experiencing Cambodian culture firsthand. But she wasn’t prepared for the harsh realities that came with such a rewarding opportunity.

“You think you know so much about a situation,” she explained. “But you really have no idea. While in Cambodia, I learned that 75% of rainforest is gone from slash-and-burn logging. I learned that there are no more wild Asian elephants, and that they are all living in captivity.

“To make the elephants captive, you have to break them — they are beaten straight with a bull hook. The love and attachment of their mothers is replaced with abuse.”

Ashley’s ‘Wow!’ moment came when she recognized these crippling juxtapositions. “I was taken by the majestic, raw, exuberant feel of untouched jungle, in stark contrast to the smoldering trees.”

What impressed me the most about Ashley’s story was how she was able to connect with equally passionate and inspiring individuals during her time in Cambodia. Lek Chailert is one of the biggest advocates for elephant rehabilitation in the world, and plays an integral role in Love and Bananas. Chailert is one of Ashley’s personal heroes, and working alongside her proved to be life changing.

“Every act she does is so selfless,” Ashley describes. “Lek spent the night rescuing these elephants, traveled across a war zone, took them on a truck, then on a ferry, medicating them the entire time with medicine stuffed into bananas to feed them.

“One day, she asked me, ‘Do you want to go on a walk with the elephants?’ Of course I did! Lek then pointed into jungle, and said, ‘Run!’ I was confused, but Lek kept saying, ‘Run!’ I start to run, and turned around to see the elephants charging into jungle. These elephants were carving a path with Lek for first time.”

Her story sent shivers down my spine, envisioning the joy these elephants must have felt in tearing through the jungle without fear. I knew this experience must have come with obstacles, however. What types of risks were involved in such an endeavor? What day-to-day conditions are we taking about?

She replied with nervous laughter. “We learned that squatters were coming into the sanctuary land,” she begins. “They were cutting down the trees, and poaching animals. David wanted to see what was being taken down, so we boarded a helicopter and flew over the land. It was such a shock, to see the deforestation for first time — the land was completely charred.

“Even if it’s only one elephant at first, if Love and Bananas can educate people, and bring more awareness to this issue, I’ll have done my part.”

“We looked down and saw loggers cutting down trees using oxen. Then David starts yelling, ‘Cut hard! Cut hard!’ The helicopter circled around them, and the loggers scattered. We managed to chase them away. We wanted to send them a message, let them know what they were doing wasn’t right, that ‘somebody’s watching.’”

That wasn’t the end of it, however. Ashley went on to say that her crew was called to land on a military base, where Cambodian military men wearing flip-flops, camouflage, and AK-47s, traveling on motorcycles, surrounded them.

“We had to call in certain local people to get us out,” she said. It was a tense moment she experienced during her first days there. She also explained that the crew must use undercover camera work, and aerial footage, in areas where they are denied access.

Ashley’s energy is admirable — she considers her acting career, and her work on Love and Bananas, to be two full-time jobs.

“That’s what’s so exciting about taking on a project like this,” she added. “Being able to stay creative constantly, having a project to work on, brainstorm on, keeping busy, keeps my mind in creative space.”

Multimedia company Change for Balance Productions is producing much of the project, but there is still a lot to be done and acquired. Ashley has set up an Indiegogo campaign to help crowdsource specialized equipment, as well as to help track, shoot, and guide the mission to rescue Cambodian elephants.

“I’m so grateful for the opportunity to meet so many creative people, and to collaborate and create this story,” concluded Ashley.

“Even if it’s only one elephant at first, if Love and Bananas can educate people, and bring more awareness to this issue, I’ll have done my part.” [image error]

Special thanks to Ashley Bell for this interview opportunity. You can find out more about Love and Bananas by visiting the “Ele-Fund-Raising” Indiegogo campaign.

The post Celebrity exclusive: Ashley Bell on elephant conservation and the documentary film Love and Bananas appeared first on Matador Network.

6 signs you’re still a tourist in Canada

Photo: edwademd

So you bought a red plaid shirt, you trained yourself to say “washroom,” and you hum Neil Young songs all day long — but, despite your efforts, you still stick out like a sore thumb in Canada. Here’s why.

1. You love the weather.

(via)

You can’t get enough of the weather here. When every Canadian is freaking out because of a snowfall warning, frantically checking the forecast for some better news, you’re rubbing your hands in anticipation. What’s not to like about walking in the snow, hearing it crunch under your boots, and realizing yours are the only footprints out there? Well, according to the locals, the correct responses are: “Driving conditions are horrible,” “I hate shoveling,” and “I can’t wait for all that crap to melt.”

Even when the temperatures are well below zero, you remain excited (but you keep your mouth shut in case those around you decide to cut off your supply of maple syrup). The hell with slippery sidewalks and frostbite — Canadian weather rocks your world!

2. You’re baffled by the national sport.

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You’ve watched a few games to make your friends happy, but really, you’re not a fan. Hockey is one of Canada’s biggest obsessions, and you hate it with equal passion. You always want to laugh at how ridiculous players look when they proceed to swiftly strip down for the purpose of beating each other with their bare knuckles, but you keep quiet for fear of triggering a Vancouver-style riot.

The game is brutal, but everyone seems proud and inspired by those toothless beasts on skates! When you see kids watching that kind of violence, you want to change the channel to lacrosse…a good ole friendly Canadian tradition.

3. You believe in bilingualism.

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The idea of speaking French in Canada gets you excited. Isn’t it amazing that people actually speak French that far away from France?! Upon arriving, you thought you could just go for it and babble on in French to the uncomfortable customs officer at the airport (who lets you through without asking any further questions for fear of crushing your bilingualism dreams).

You’ve learnt your lesson the harsh way, and you no longer believe that every Canadian person speaks French, but you haven’t been here long enough for this to curb your linguistic enthusiasm! You plan on speaking French to everyone who should be able to do so: mail carriers (“Merci pour les factures Monsieur le facteur!”), flight attendants (“Pourrais-je parler au pilote?”), and Tim Horton’s servers (“Un beignet bien gras, s’il-vous plaît!”).

4. You have no clue what’s happening up North.

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When you think of Canada, you visualize the northern lights, the pristine lakes, and the ecological wonders of the country…. Boy oh boy, you are so very naïve. You’ve never heard of Fort McMurray, and some Canadians would like you to remain in this state of ignorance because it really is damaging the country’s reputation.

The Canadian North, especially northern Alberta, is a hub for oil and natural gas extraction, and a centre for forestry that’s turning indigenous territories and the boreal forest into incredibly polluted wastelands. Nowhere in your guidebook did they talk about that, did they?

5. You’re terrified by the wildlife.

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Where you grew up, the craziest thing you could encounter in the forest was a wild boar, and frankly they’re not very scary. Since you set foot in Canada, you’ve got a whole lot more dangerous creatures to worry about, but strangely, you seem to be the only one who’s freaking out.

The locals have a very relaxed attitude towards wildlife, and they expect you to do the same. With all the bears (including grizzlies), the cougars, the black widows, and the wolverines hanging around, you’re seriously having second thoughts about that lovely camping trip you were planning…

6. You’re still in love with Canada.

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You can’t believe people get tired of living in such a beautiful place. Hockey, environmental disasters, even the scary wildlife isn’t enough to turn you off — you wake up in the morning, and all you see are big mountains, the enormous forests that sit on top of them, and the beautiful lakes. You feel grateful for the natural wonders that surround you and wish you’d never have to leave.

Tourist! [image error]

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Transforming your travel writing pt4

This is part 4 of a 5-part series, Transforming your travel writing.

Photo: teddy-rised

STORYTELLING IS AN extended process. To borrow from audio/video terminology, there’s a production phase and a post-production phase. Production is where you’re out in the field gathering raw material — taking notes, interviewing people, setting up shots — in other words, “getting” the story.

Post-production comes afterwards. It’s the editing phase, the period photographers correct the colors, cropping, and different image levels to best represent the emotions and feel of the experience. The period videographers will scrub footage, logging scenes before beginning to put them in order. The process of journalists retracing through pages of notes, figuring out how the different bits of dialogue and observations fit together cohesively into a story.

For some, such as bloggers, “post-production” may be very short, a matter of just quickly posting about your experiences or insights just hours or even minutes after they happen. But no matter what kind of story you’re telling, there are some important takeaways when looking at the patterns of production / post-production.

First: You can edit and polish work forever, but typically, whatever you have to work with is all you’re going to have. It’s usually difficult or impossible to go back and get more raw material. This is why pros schedule their work around specific “shoots” where they have their subject (whether it’s an athlete or model or a specific place or product) and all the lighting, audio, and other elements they need there at the correct time.

No matter what kind of storytellers we are, we can adopt this same logic. Simply put, the more you’re able to clearly identify your subject, the more effective stories you’re going to tell on every level. This is both over an extended project, and just within each moment — taking a single photo or notes about a particular scene or conversation.

Most filmmakers, journalists, and others working on large projects don’t necessarily know where the exact story is going before they begin. In fact, many have no idea; this is something they often figure out during post-production. But going into a project — whether it’s a documentary about endangered languages in Chile or just traveling to Alaska in hopes of photographing the aurora borealis — they’re absolutely clear on what the subject is. This is the difference between pros taking a mission-driven approach, taking every advantage of their production phase, and the beginner who may be just traveling around taking images and notes randomly at whatever strikes their fancy.

Pros determine the subject. If they’re photographers, they’ll observe their surroundings and define their subject before anything else, then adjust their composition so that every element of the image emphasizes the mood, the emotions and atmosphere of that subject. If they’re writers, they’ll hone in not just on a place or “character” but the key details of that character or place which support the story they’re trying to tell.

Complex vs. multi-layered

Most beginners’ stories tend to be complicated but single-layered. They’ll take dozens of different things and attempt to put them all together. By contrast, pros’ stories tend to be simple and yet multi-layered. In other words, there’s an easy-to-identify narrative arc or subject, but through this simplicity are complex layers of information, emotion. Again, this comes down to how clearly the storyteller grasps his subject.

What is the story? Vastness? Desolation? By simplifing the subject, the composition reveals layers, depth. Image by Colby Brown.

What is your subject?

It’s important not to limit yourself when determining your subject. In an image, for example, the subject may just be a mood or a pattern, such as the emptiness of the photo to the right. It can be a certain light, or the look in the eye of a person or animal.

In a written story, it might be a particular character or place, but it could also be a quality or dynamic — say, the resilience of a group of people faced with changing economic times. In this case, each detail of your story — what you’re after in the production phase, and the way you shape it in post-production — needs to support this subject.

As with everything else in storytelling, figuring out your subject is a skill that takes time and practice. Here are two considerations to help you get started:

1. Model success.

Model the way master storytellers portray their subjects. Find a mentor. For me it was the new journalism masters such as Gay Talese and Truman Capote. I loved the way they profiled characters, and so modeled their methods of “shadowing” someone during a day in their lives.

If you’re a photographer, whose work inspires you? How do their compositions tell a story? Spend so much time deconstructing them that you become an expert on their techniques. After enough time, you’ll begin to figure out your own original ways of finding subjects.

2. Don’t confuse your personal story (especially during production) for the subject.

Many beginning storytellers confuse moments as being “part of the story” simply because they happened during production. For example, on my first journalism mission to South America (a series of interviews with the Madres of Plaza del Mayo), I found the whole experience put me in a kind of trance. Every day I was hearing mothers’ stories of their children being “disappeared” during the Dirty War. And then throughout other moments of the day in Buenos Aires things would happen that were charged with the emotions built up through these interviews.

Once I got out of a taxi and came face to face with an aging militar (army officer) who could’ve been involved in the very disappearances the Mothers had suffered. But instead of talking to him, asking him questions, staying mission-driven, I forgot the subject (sharing the Mothers’ stories of courage) momentarily, and juxtaposed my own sense of being overwhelmed as “the story.” This is an amateur move.

Right now, wherever you are, consider: What really matters to you? What could you see yourself writing about not just today, but 10 years from now? How can you break this overarching theme down into little pieces, each of which might become your subjects for future work? [image error]

Editor’s note: This lesson is excerpted from new and forthcoming curricula for the Travel Writing course at MatadorU.

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