Type “March” and “month” into Google, and you’ll discover that the third month of the year wears many hats. March is National Kidney Month, Women’s History Month, National Nutrition Month, and Red Cross Month, just to name a few. In this issue of InTheFray, we look at what unites March’s many causes: the body — and women’s bodies in particular.

We begin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where ITF contributors Anna Sussman and Jonathan Jones make a harrowing discovery: Rape in the West African nation has become the norm, a reality that both locals and the international community have come to accept. In an accompanying podcast, Sussman and Jones reveal just how excruciating this trend is when they speak with a rape victim and a Congolese doctor.

On the other side of the continent, women aren’t faring much better. As A Walk to Beautiful director Mary Olive Smith explains during her interview with fellow filmmaker and ITF Director Andrew Blackwell, a rare childbirth-induced injury has sentenced many Ethiopian women to shame and isolation. But as Smith’s documentary reveals, some women are rallying for a cure.

In Ghana, meanwhile, Julia Hellman discovers a new sense of community — and self — while tending to the body of a friend who died at an underresourced regional hospital. And in South Asia, ITF Visual Editor Laura Elizabeth Pohl documents the implausible perseverance of a Bhutanese paper that delivers news to refugees living in camps in eastern Nepal.

Back in the United States, Ashley Barney looks at a lighter side of corporeal (and sometimes romantic) existence. In What ever happened to college dating?  Barney explores how complicated dating has become for a generation who speak of “hooking up” and “friends with benefits” instead of “going steady.” Taking this look at language and self a step further, poet Cheryl Snell and artist Janet Snell collaborate to provide annotated and illustrated looks at relationships with doctors, lovers, gender, and the truth. Be sure to check out the accompanying podcasts of Cheryl reading her work.

Rounding out this month’s stories, ITF Books Editor Amy Brozio-Andrews tackles the relationship between names and identities in Rewriting History , her review of Vendela Vida’s Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name.

Coming next month: a special issue devoted to religion and politics.

Thanks for reading! We hope you enjoy this issue as much as we have enjoyed putting it together.
 

Laura Nathan
Editor
Buffalo, New York

Laura Nathan-Garner

More than any other month, February revolves around the human heart: The Super Bowl gets our adreneline flowing and inspires many to cheer with their hearts on their sleeves, while Super Tuesday demands that we examine our hearts at the ballot box. And Valentine’s Day invites us to partake in some romantic whimsy, while the public health community reminds us to take our hearts seriously during American Heart Month.

Fittingly, this month’s issue of InTheFray offers several takes on the heart’s emotional manifestations. We begin with a story that will make your mouth water. In “Cooking like an Egyptian,” Aisha Gawad discovers her Egyptian heritage in the kitchen. Meanwhile, our Books Editor Amy Brozio-Adams reviews Anya Ulinich’s Petropolis and discovers that émigrés — no matter how hard they try — can never quite satisfy the heart’s longing for home

Rounding out this month’s stories are three poems about love, passion, and devotion. Each line meticulously written, poet Heather Fowler muses about and the power that we have over our hearts — and the power they have over us. To get the full emotional effect, be sure to listen to the sound file accompanying Fowler’s prose poem “A long time coming: love’s promise poem.”

Thanks for reading. Have a great month!

Laura Nathan
Editor
Buffalo, New York

Laura Nathan-Garner

For many people, December is a month full of cheer. But if you look beyond the surface of what seems to be December’s overarching narrative — Christmas, family, gifts, happiness, Santa — you’re likely to find people who are left out because they celebrate Kwanzaa or Channukah, or can’t afford presents for their children, or can’t afford to partake in the ritual of overeating. You might even discover that the chubby man in the red suit at the mall isn’t chubby at all — and doesn’t live in the North Pole.

In this month’s issue of InTheFray, we invite you to look beyond surface-level appearances. We begin with ITF books editor Amy Brozio-Andrews’ review of The Short Bus, Jonathan Mooney’s attempt to relate to children and adults who have been labeled as learning disabled. A severely-learning-disabled-student-turn-Ivy-League-graduate himself, Mooney illuminates “how students and adults labeled as learning disabled assert their own identities beyond established societal expectations.”

Meanwhile, Michael Tedder uncovers just how traumatic a simple greeting can be for the five million Americans who suffer from social anxiety disorder. And Activist’s Corner Editor Anja Tranovich reveals how defiant religious leaders can be when she interviews former nun and activist Lupe Anguianoabout pioneering efforts in welfare activism and the women’s rightsmovement and reframing religious debates to include social justiceissues.

In her photo essay "Shanti Shanti," Emily Anne Epstein visits India and discovers a place that is simultaneously unique and not all that different from the United States. And over in Morocco, American Sumayya Ahmed discovers the importance of visiting — and learns the how-to of being a guest. 

Back on U.S. soil, we turn to Obama and me, Leslie Minora’s humorous account of how campaign propaganda is inviting heartache as candidates try to wedge their ways into our lives. From there we consider Jacqueline Barba’s case for why newspapers should embrace narrative-style reporting as the onus of breaking news shifts to the Internet and 24-hour broadcast news.

Rounding out this month’s stories is Birgitta Jonsdottir’s essay, My mother’s journey in the belly of the Ladybug, which reveals how the author has used old and new rituals surrounding death to cope with the loss of her mother. In this multimedia tribute featuring a poem, a song sung by her mother, and a photo essay with a written essay, Jonsdottir makes new memories of her dead mother with the help of a ladybug box, her mother’s ashes, and an urn.

We hope you enjoy this issue as much as we enjoyed putting it together. Happy holidays!

Laura Nathan
Editor
Buffalo, New York

Laura Nathan-Garner

We live in a time when faith can get easily politicized, thrown into an opponent’s lap like a hot potato. But don’t let all of the talk of organized religion fool you. We also live in a time when faith can be tailored to fit an individual’s needs and beliefs.

In this issue of InTheFray, we explore some of faith’s personal, social, and cultural manifestations. Belton-Martell Mickle journeys to Ghana to discover his roots — and the importance of the Diaspora to African development. And ITF activist’s corner editor Anja Tranovich tackles a classic hotspot for belief in her interview with Palestinian-fighter-turned-peace-activist Ashraf Khader. The two discuss Khader’s work with Combatants for Peace, the difficulties of renouncing violence in a land plagued by armed conflict, how inciting violence led him to fight for peace, and his group’s hope for a politics without militarization.

Rounding out this month’s stories, cancer patient Robinette Pelka uncovers the waiting room’s dark underbelly and creates her own rituals for enduring this melancholy space.

If you haven’t donated to ITF yet, I hope you’ll do so. The past year has been an exciting time for InTheFray — we launched our new site at inthefray.org, our writers received national awards, and we expanded our content with a new section devoted to activist interviews and an eclectic assortment of articles from five continents. But we need your help to continue providing high-quality writing and photography on topics that matter. In the coming year, we plan to broaden our pool of talent by increasing the compensation paid to our contributors and staff. We will also raise awareness of the magazine through targeted marketing and advertising. We hope that you will join us in our mission to inspire conversations about identity and community, foster tolerance and unity, and help society come closer to a vision of justice, transparency, and opportunity for all people. Please support our efforts and visit inthefray.org/donate to make a donation. You can even use it as a tax write-off!

Thanks for reading!

Laura Nathan
Editor
Buffalo, New York

Laura Nathan-Garner

Each issue of InTheFray features at least one story written or photographed by someone abroad. And one or two always concern matters in other countries and cultures. But this is, to the best of my recollection, our first issue in which every piece concerns life beyond U.S. borders or has been penned by someone living abroad.

We begin with two tales of war. ITF contributing writers Jonathan Jones and Anna Sussman start by bringing us another account of peacemaking in Africa. This time they visit Burundi and discover that the spirit of war haunts returning refugees. And they’ve accompanied their story with a podcast. Meanwhile, in Guatemala, Lianne Milton captures the struggle of three migrant women to find their way back to their mother and cousin in Los Angeles.And Anand Gopal goes to Beirut In search of the Paris of the East and finds that Lebanon has yet to recover from last summer’s war between Israel and Hizbullah.

On a lighter note, Sarah Lynch learns what it means to be Ghanaian when she works in a shack while studying abroad. Austrian poet Michaela A. Gabriel reflects on what October has in store: barren beaches, ghosts, long shadows, and more.

And Amy Brozio-Andrews reviews Andrea Levy’s Fruit of the Lemon and discovers just how difficult it can be to incorporate your ancestors’ identity into your own.

In other news, we’re excited to start bringing you Secret Asian Man six times a week beginning today. We’ve also launched a college newswire to complement our newswire. The college version includes articles of interest to college students and academics. Check it out at itf.newsvine.com.

If you enjoy reading these stories — or any others you’ve read in ITF — I hope you’ll consider donating during our annual Donor Drive. The past year has been an exciting time for InTheFray — we launched our new site at inthefray.org, our writers received national awards for excellence, and we expanded our content with a new section devoted to activist interviews and an eclectic assortment of articles from five continents. While we have made great strides in 2006-2007, we need your help to continue providing high-quality writing and photography on topics that matter. In the coming year, we plan to broaden our pool of talent by increasing the compensation paid to our contributors and staff. We will also raise awareness of the magazine through targeted marketing and advertising. We hope that you will join us in our mission to inspire conversations about identity and community, foster tolerance and unity, and help society come closer to a vision of justice, transparency, and opportunity for all people. Please support our efforts and visit inthefray.org/donate to make a donation. You can even use it as a tax write-off!

Laura Nathan-Garner

With everything from the Internet to the September 11 terrorist attacksputting new words in our mouths and on our computer screens — think enemy combatant or emoticon — the 21st century is shaping up to be one of linguistic and cultural change.

In this issue of InTheFray, we consider the state of language in ourcurrent milieu. We begin with a topic that captured media attention inthe run-up to the 2004 election: sexual orientation. ITF contributor Erin Marie DalyLove Won Out,”a Boston conference produced by the Christian powerhouse Focus on theFamily, and discovers that the language of the ex-gay movement(“struggle against temptation”) does not quite triumph in the attemptto “convert” gays to heterosexuality.attends “

Meanwhile, Pam Lee and Beth Beglin jumped at the chance to marry last weekwhen an Iowa judge briefly defied the language of the law to say thatmarriage wasn’t just between a man and a woman. Now their application —and the legalese of love — is pending.

We then journey to Japan where Hauquan Chau teaches the f-word and learns how empowering English can be in this Asian country. Unfortunately for the narrator in Jim Curtiss’ short story Change me, English is not quite as intimidating in Seville, Spain, where high school Spanish classes don’t prepare one to do business.

In Cornerless city, former ITF assistant editor and native New Yorker Michelle Chen tries to make sense of Cairo, a city bereft of straight lines and angles. And poet Pamela Uschuk reflects on life elsewhere in the Middle East, when she considers the deception of the language of liberation in Words on Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Last, but far from least, is a stunning photo essay by award-winning photographer and ITF advisory board member Stephen Shames. In Dads,Shames reconsiders the value of fatherhood and examines the differentways that minority and poor fathers are perceived in society.

Also, we are excited to announce that InTheFray Magazine is beginning its annual Donor Drive. The past year has been an exciting time for InTheFray — we launched a new site at inthefray.org,our writers received national awards for excellence, and we expandedour content with a new section devoted to activist interviews and aneclectic assortment of articles from five continents. While we havemade great strides in 2006-2007, we need your help to continueproviding high-quality writing and photography on topics that matter.In the coming year, we plan to broaden our pool of talent by increasingthe compensation paid to our contributors and staff. We will also raiseawareness of the magazine through targeted marketing and advertising.We hope that you will join us in our mission to inspire conversationsabout identity and community, foster tolerance and unity,and help society come closer to a vision of justice, transparency, andopportunity for all people. Please support our efforts and visit inthefray.org/donate to make a donation.   

Laura Nathan

Editor

Buffalo, New York

Laura Nathan-Garner

As summer winds down — and heats up — many of us find ourselves traveling to unlikely places by land or sea, even in our minds or on the (Web) page. However and wherever we journey, we usually encounter a few roadblocks and detours before we find ourselves exactly where we want to be.

In this month’s issue of InTheFray, we invite you to pile into our station wagon in cyberspace and join us for some reflective journeys around the globe. We begin by Rowing in place with Victor Mooney, who, as Michael Rymer discovers, is a bit concerned that others might consider him crazy for setting his sights on rowing across the Atlantic. But while Mooney’s journey might seem, on the surface, to be a fanatical quest for fame, there’s something more to his quest. Mooney rows long distances to cope with his family’s struggles with AIDS — and to shed light on the disease that has already killed one of his brothers and lurks behind another.

We then ride with Megan Stielstra to Prague, where she must come to terms with identifying herself as an American even while she feels anger at her own government. Over in Japan, we share Laura Hancock’s frustrations and joys as she desperately tries to find something she can achieve in a country where she can barely speak the language. And back in rural America, poet Shelley Getten recalls the boulders that made two sisters the strong women they became.

Rounding out this month’s stories are two book reviews: ITF Contributing Writer Sharlee DiMenichi reads Matthew Wray’s Not Quite White and discovers that the phrase “white trash” is No ordinary slur, while Jeremy Gillick tries to pinpoint the eye of the Balkan storm in his reading of the collaborative graphic novel Macedonia.

Coming next month: our special issue on the state of language in the 21st century.

Thanks for reading!

Laura Nathan
Editor

Laura Nathan-Garner