As part of our series on ethical travel writing, we recently spoke with Faith Adiele, travel writer, author, and founder of the nation’s first workshop for travel writers of color through VONA (Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation). We discussed misconceptions about the travel writing genre, how we can diversify the publishing industry, and whether or not we should make a distinction between travelers and tourists.
Read MoreVoices of Our Nations Arts (VONA)—at the time the largest and preeminent multi-genre summer workshop for writers of color—asked me to start a travel writing workshop. My heart thrummed. If any literary genre were in need of desegregation and decolonization, it was travel writing.
Read MoreAs part of our series on responsible travel writing, we recently spoke with Zabrina Lo, an arts and culture reporter for a storied English-language magazine in Hong Kong. We talked about the many ways Chinese and British legacies influence her hometown, her life, and her work.
Read MoreAfter returning from studying in London, a Hongkonger takes us on a culinary tour of her hometown.
Read MoreAs part of our series on responsible travel writing, we recently spoke with Tarryn Tomlinson, a TV presenter, travel writer, and accessibility consultant based in Cape Town.
Read MoreBolts of lightning flashed across the night sky, the only lights besides those flickering in the distance more than 3,000 meters below at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, glimmering evidence of refuge I would do just about anything for.
Read MoreMy hair elicits a global response. Its reception shifts like dialects do, as slight reinterpretations on a theme. In Rodez, France, I wore it as a lion does its mane. The stares were unrelenting, as though we were on safari.
Read MoreWhile planning a work trip to Mexico City, a location I already loved, I hatched a plan to bring back the ultimate reward: a patio-full of the legendary Talavera clay pottery the city of Puebla is revered for. I pictured myself buying and shipping huge multicolored hand-thrown pots, pewter accents, maybe a huge ceramic yellow sun to turn my rather drab patio into the tropical paradise I’d always known it could be.
Read MoreClarissa Wei is a journalist who has worked around the world, seeking out little-known stories that speak to the heart. After living in Central America, she packed up and moved to Taiwan, where she's currently working on her first cookbook, Made In Taiwan: Recipes From the People.
Read MoreOnly nine months after being laid off from our jobs in New York, my husband and I were about to open the doors to our brand-new bar and art gallery in Altea, Spain. We’d invested our life savings and the renovations had just been completed.
Read MoreI stumbled into The Queen Vic in Aberdeen, Scotland after 16 hours of travel. My taxi driver from the airport had said, looking at my AirBnB address, “I think you live close to the local here in Rosemount. It’s one of the best locals in Aberdeen, so you are a lucky lass.”
Read MoreIn crossing oceans for our 40-day honeymoon trip through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, my wife and I had put ourselves back in the closet for a constellation of reasons. Public displays of affection were frowned upon in these countries, so we were careful not to kiss or cuddle in restaurants the way we would’ve back home in Boston.
Read MoreI can’t feel my right foot and my legs aren’t even in the lotus position. Cici, my husband’s former grad student, and Shifu, as we call the Buddhist master, have folded their lower bodies into tight packets — knees down, soles and palms turned heavenward. Shifu’s posture mirrors the row of buddhas and bodhisattvas, radiating stillness on the shelf behind her close-cropped head.
Read MoreFeatures Editor Yi Shun Lai provides an inside look at disaster relief over her decade-plus of volunteering for ShelterBox.
Read MoreWriter and filmmaker Elizabeth Rynecki searched the globe to the lost art of her great grandfather, Moshe Rynecki, who painted almost 800 scenes of Jewish Polish life before he was sent to the Warsaw Ghetto and was later murdered at the Majdanek concentration camp. She wrote about this journey in Chasing Portraits: A Great-Granddaughter’s Quest for Her Lost Art Legacy and later produced a documentary of this search in the film Chasing Portraits. We recently spoke to Rynecki about her book, her film, and her quest for answers.
Read MoreTegan Aileen Wylie is an international plus-size model and the mastermind behind The Travel Curve, a website that focuses on travel and fashion tips for “full-figured” women. We loved Wylie’s tone and her message, and wanted to get to know her and her mission a little more. Undomesticated talked to her about getting into modeling, being an influencer, and more.
Read MorePam Logan, author of Compassion Mandala and founder of the Kham Aid Foundation, an NGO bringing resources to Tibet, talks about everything from starting an NGO to international relationships to the opportunities and challenges facing today’s non-profit organizations.
Read MoreFour years ago, I moved to Brazil from my home in Chicago. And when people asked me what my calling as a Black American journalist in Brazil was, I said: To save Afro-Brazilians. I wanted to help Black Brazilians confront racism, rise out of poverty, and achieve their full potential in life. Two years passed before the first person challenged my aspirations.
Read MoreWhether it’s called the farmers’ market, the wet market, or the central market, it’s one of the first destinations on my itinerary, no matter where I land in the world. The reasons can be practical—simply buying some fresh fruit to eat—but they can also extend far beyond that as a means of entry into a culture.
Read MoreBy designing clothing and accessories that tell the story of their personal experiences, minority and immigrant designers are not only using design to stay connected to their roots, but to also share their cultural pride with others. I’m a fashion anthropologist, and I’m working to highlight these designers’ efforts.
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