Longyearbyen, Norway, a small coal-mining town near the Arctic, might be one of the most interesting cities in the world, despite having just over 2,000 residents. Why the intrigue? It’s illegal to die here.
Category: Life
Baby Cages: The Chicken Coop-Like Toddler Bins of the 1930s
In the 1930s, London city apartments were decorated with protruding cages that stuck out like air conditioning units. Babies were placed in these baskets as parents enjoyed the idea of actively “airing” their toddlers out to promote health, a fad that emerged in many popular parenting books at the time.
Winter Weirdness in the Swiss “Silvesterchläusen” Festival
Oh, those wacky Swiss. As if those giant horns, yodeling, and Heidi weren’t crazy enough, consider the antics that transpire around New Year’s Eve in the tiny Canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, in North-East Switzerland.
Nellie Bly: Ten Days Behind Asylum Bars
Nellie Bly was the pen name of Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, one of America’s first investigative journalists. Bly was born May 5, 1864, in Cochran’s Mills, Pennsylvania. She began her career in 1880, at the age of 16, writing on “women’s” subjects such as homemaking, gardening, and society for the Pittsburgh Dispatch.
Mobile Library Spreads the Joy of Reading in Southern Italy
For anyone who thinks one person cannot make a difference, just look at the example of Antonio La Cava. The retired Italian schoolteacher has decided to spend his golden years bringing the joy of reading to his local region in southern Italy.
Adolfo Kaminsky: The Teen Forger Who Saved 14,000 Jews
Born in Argentina to a Russian Jewish family in 1925, Adolfo Kaminsky is a former member of the underground French Resistance. During World War II, Kaminsky helped as many as 14,000 Jewish people escape persecution by forging identity papers.
Hugh Comstock’s Dreamy Cottages in Carmel
Located near Big Sur in coastal California, about 120 miles south of San Francisco and 330 miles north of Los Angeles, Carmel-by-the-Sea is an enchanting European-style town that has inspired artists, poets, and writers and lured world travelers for decades.
Skyros Carnival: Exploring Greece’s Noisiest Fiesta
“Skyros Carnival” is a fascinating 85-page multimedia publication that offers a sophisticated narration of one of the wildest ritual events in Greece. The book features 60 photographs by Dick Blau, an ethnographic essay by Agapi Amanatidis and Panayotis Panopoulos, and a CD and DVD by Steven Feld.
An Ode to Vincent van Gogh by Julian Schnabel
Julian Schnabel’s latest drama film “At Eternity’s Gate” is scheduled to be released in theaters on November 16, 2018, by CBS Films. The movie, starring Academy Award nominee Willem Dafoe, Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen and Golden Globe winner Oscar Isaac, is about the last few years of Vincent van Gogh’s tumultuous life and his fiercely painful friendship with French artist Paul Gauguin.
Turkana Tribe: Nomadic Herders in One of the Most Hostile Places on Earth
The Turkana tribe, which is the second largest pastoralist community in Kenya after the Maasais, lives in small dwellings made from palm leaves, wood, and animal skins near the shores of Lake Turkana, one of the harshest and most inhospitable places on Earth.