While in Salvador, Brazil, Helene Dötsch met photographer Céu Albuquerque. Joining the photographer for one of her sessions, she discovered how Céu helps women and non-binary people all over Brazil…
Travel is a Political Act
In 2006 and 2007 I lived abroad in Coimbra, Portugal. Those days were filled with morning espressos by the riverside, afternoons studying Portuguese Manueline-style architecture and late nights listening to…
Weaving to Peace: The History Behind Rwanda’s Iconic Peace Basket
When driving down one of Rwanda’s mountain roads, winding through terraced green valleys, I would often see Rwandese women walking gracefully with lidded baskets atop their heads. These iconic baskets…
Violence or Fetishization, and Sometimes Both: What It’s like to Travel as a Black Woman
“Your body is your first home. Breathing in, I arrive in my body. Breathing out, I am home.” –Thich Nhat Hahn And so I am home. I carry home everywhere…
Think Twice Before Saying You Want to See Cuba “Before It Changes.” Change Is Exactly What Cuban People Want.
I was standing outside of Havana’s Hotel Inglaterra when an American tour guide boarded his bus and declared, “Folks, all of this will change! The US Embassy’s reopened, and the…
6 Ways Travel Will Save This Hurting World
Look, I know I’m preaching to the converted here when I say travel is a great thing. I’m talking to you, backpacking from Ushuaia to Alaska; to you, out volunteering…
What the US/Mexico Border is Really Like
Not everyone is lucky enough to grow up on the United States/Mexico border. Did I think I’d be saying that when I was 18 years old and desperate to escape…
The Amazing Thing We’ve Learned From 17 Years of Travel as a Lesbian Couple
“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but are you sisters? You look so alike,” said the clearly inebriated woman sitting next to us on the plane. We were on…
Why Women’s Votes Matter and What Feminism Has to Do with Them
Working towards the right to vote. Image from Wikimedia Commons. On August 18, 2015 the United States marked the 95th anniversary of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. Ninety-five years of cis…
The Growing Pains of Gentrification: My Neighborhood is Gentrifying But at What Cost?
Is gentrification really good for everyone? Image by Flickr user MsSaraKelly. Echo Park, East Los Angeles I’m at my favorite local café, Stories, in Echo Park. The front operates as a…
Understanding Syria
Bruce Reidel over at The Daily Beast has the best article I’ve read yet on the growing conflict within Syria and its potential consequences for the country, the region and…