In The Fray

How to Say ‘Divorced’ in Spanish

April 30, 2013 • Comments

In search of healing, I took a three-month trip to South America after my marriage ended. But the memory of my divorce was never far: in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, Peru and Chile, it seemed that almost everyone I met was recently divorced. And then, I met Hugo.

Story and photos by Alexandra Levine

Features

Interviews

Dirty Planet: A Conversation with Journalist Andrew Blackwell

July 31, 2012 • Comments

ITF speaks with Andrew Blackwell about his new book, Visit Sunny Chernobyl, a travel guide to the most polluted places on the planet. Even sites ravaged by radiation and industrial waste, he argues, can still be places of “nature, wildness, and beauty.”

By Susan M. Lee

Reviews

Losing Zion

May 21, 2012 • Comments

Conservative inflexibility and liberal apathy have endangered the dream of a democratic, secure Jewish state, a prominent American Zionist argues in a new book. But for all his ideas to salvage the two-state solution, Peter Beinart seems really to be documenting its demise.

By Rob York

News / Photo Essays

Saving Souls

May 19, 2012 • Comments

Home to one-third of the world's poor, India attracts hundreds of Christian humanitarian groups seeking to do God’s work in its slums and hinterlands. But while these groups make up in vital ways for the failings of government and markets, their work comes with a consequence: conversion.

By Benjamin Gottlieb

Reviews

A Circle, Broken

April 4, 2012 • Comments

In a poignant family memoir, veteran journalist Mark Whitaker describes his long road to truth and reconciliation with his parents, a biracial couple brought together by a shared faith and torn apart by their separate frailties.

By Amy O’Loughlin

Commentary

Learned at My Father’s Feet

March 27, 2012 • Comments

I took care of my father near the end of his life, as dementia slowly unraveled the strong and proud man I had known. His memories faded, his body failed him — and yet his heart was full of grace.

By Kae Dickson

Reviews

Across Oceans, Haunted by Memories

March 8, 2012 • Comments

The Truongs and the Vos escaped war-ravaged Vietnam, but years later, the wounds of unspoken trauma and regrets have not healed. In a story that spans three decades across three countries, Aimee Phan’s debut novel describes the secret history of two families and the shared pain that both unites and divides them.

By Susan M. Lee

Photo Essays

Life after Innocence

March 2, 2012 • Comments

Among them, Jeffrey Deskovic, Kian Khatibi, and Fernando Bermudez spent forty-three years in New York prisons. All were eventually exonerated — freed by DNA evidence, confessions, and recanted testimony. Their photos before and after incarceration speak to lives transformed, years lost.

By Dana Ullman

News

Freed, but Scarred

March 2, 2012 • Comments

Best of In The Fray 2012. When he is feeling overwhelmed, Fernando Bermudez lies down in his son’s bedroom. After spending eighteen years in prison for a murder he did not commit, he finds the confined space soothing. For exonerated prisoners like Bermudez, the struggle to rebuild their lives goes on, long after the reporters and cameras are gone.

By Francesca Crozier-Fitzgerald

Commentary

The Road Less Traveled

February 27, 2012 • Comments

Best of In The Fray 2012. With a pack, a duffel bag, and a handful of Spanish words, I had hitched my way up the road to Cuba’s northern coast. But now it was getting dark, no more cars were stopping, and I needed to find a place to sleep.

By Lita Wong

Reviews

Havel: An Authentic Life

January 20, 2012 • Comments

Best of In The Fray 2012. Long before he was a dissident or president, Václav Havel was a playwright. His plays offer the fullest picture of the late Czech writer’s moral vision, which cast aside ideology in favor of a more authentic, more personal “truth and love.”

By Jan Vihan

Commentary

Girl’s Best Friend

January 5, 2012 • Comments

Lessons on embracing life, from the dogs.

By Rebecca Leisher

Commentary

In Exile

December 20, 2011 • Comments

How I learned to walk away.

By Nicole Cipri

Photo Essays

Capitalism Reborn: An East African Story

December 20, 2011 • Comments

Best of In The Fray 2012. Around the world, protesters decry the inequality and excess of free-market capitalism’s “race to the bottom.” But in East Africa, social entrepreneurs are planting the young roots of a new, cause-minded capitalism.

By Jonathan Kalan

Time To Go Nuclear

Republicans in the U.S. Senate have routinely used the filibuster — and the threat of the filibuster — to deny President Obama and the Democrats their legislative agenda. It's time to go nuclear. The facts that Goldman's study lays out make it clear that Senate Republicans don't believe Democrats, even when they win an election, should be allowed to govern. After the last election, Reid agreed to modest measures of "filibuster reform" that Republicans promptly ignored. Now it's time to call out their strategy of blanket obstruction for what it is: the subversion of democracy.

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The Culture of Make Believe in Kidlit

As many Americans cling to the prospect of a post-racial society in the wake of its first African American president, children growing up in the United States may find they are unable to fully comprehend the significance of this political milestone. For young Americans today, an unburdened, limitless, and diverse reality is all they’ve ever known. But identities are complexly crafted from a variety of different sources, and many children’s understanding of their position in America will start with the books they read. But what is the cost of passing on tales of Jewish and African American sacrifice and suffering that are whitewashed or inaccurate?

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The Velveteen Rabbit (or How Empathy Becomes Real)

As I wandered around a local craft festival last November, my mind was on my seven-month-old niece. I wanted to give her a Christmas gift that was thoughtful, soft, and sweet. When I’d almost given up hope, I spotted a small stand outfitted with handmade stuffed animals that, upon further inspection, were all velveteen. I picked out a gray rabbit with long, floppy ears. I envisioned the little girl snuggling up to her new sleeping companion, a subtle yet constant reminder of her loving aunt. Unfortunately, this idyllic picture would not come to pass. A few weeks after I bought the bunny, I got a phone call from my brother that irrevocably changed our relationship.

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A portion of any purchases made through the links below will be donated to In The Fray.

How to Say ‘Divorced’ in Spanish

Dirty Planet: A Conversation with Journalist Andrew Blackwell

Losing Zion

Saving Souls

A Circle, Broken

Learned at My Father’s Feet

Across Oceans, Haunted by Memories

Life after Innocence

Freed, but Scarred

The Road Less Traveled

Havel: An Authentic Life

Girl’s Best Friend

In Exile

Capitalism Reborn: An East African Story

Editor's Blog

In the City Where Arizona-Style Xenophobia Was First Legislated, a Crosscultural Movement Emerges

It’s Not Cheeky If You're Famous

Time To Go Nuclear

The Culture of Make Believe in Kidlit

The Velveteen Rabbit (or How Empathy Becomes Real)

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