A-Town Magazine
PHOTO ESSAY: A symbolic marriage ritual and beauty pageant brings India’s trans community together
KOOVAGAM, India | Under stage lights, hundreds of transgender women adjusted their sarees, tucked flowers into their hair, and waited to be called onstage. One by one, they waved to cheering crowds and struck poses at one of India’s largest gatherings for the transgender community. Held each year in Koovagam village in southern India’s Tamil […]
Zimbabwe’s vivid English first names carry family histories, from Privilege to Shame
HARARE, Zimbabwe | Have-A-Look. Handsome. Thanks. Trust. Privilege. Doubt. Problem. Shame. In Zimbabwe, these aren’t just random words. They are names chosen with intention in a culture where naming a child goes beyond identity and can offer a snapshot of family history, emotion and circumstance. At first, Privilege Mubani, a 37-year-old bar manager in the […]
Bulgaria gives its Eurovision winner Dara a grand welcome upon her return home
SOFIA, Bulgaria | Hundreds of cheering fans waving Bulgarian flags welcomed Eurovision Song Contest winner Dara upon her return home on Sunday. Visibly tired but smiling, the 27-year-old singer arrived at Sofia’s Vasil Levski Airport waving the Eurovision trophy. Bulgaria’s major television stations made changes to their regular programs to air live coverage from the […]
Journey of a lifetime: A US teen Buddhist lama is now a monk studying in the Himalayan foothills
KATHMANDU, Nepal | At a monastery in the Himalayan foothills, a teenage Buddhist lama blesses thousands. One by one, he taps bowed heads with a ritual vase and a peacock feather, sprinkling holy water for protection, purification, wisdom. He stops to smile at children who eye him with curiosity, reverence and awe. He tries to […]
Such great heights: They’re tall, they’re proud — and they’re getting together
SEATTLE | This story has legs. Very long ones. At a Seattle sports bar on a recent Saturday night, hundreds of very tall people got to experience something rare: blending in. Women in their highest heels craned their necks to look at someone taller. Men who usually duck under doorways looked ordinary. For once, nobody […]
Cannes and the Hôtel Martinez await a ‘White Lotus’ close-up
CANNES, France | Though many actors are appearing at the Cannes Film Festival this week, the best role in town might be a little further down the Croisette. Season 4 of “The White Lotus” will be set around the Cannes Film Festival, bringing one the most acclaimed TV series into the heart of cinema’s French […]
Americans love their iPhones (though sometimes they wish they could live without them)
SAN FRANCISCO | The American obsession with the iPhone is complicated, as most love-hate relationships are. It sometimes seems like a talisman so magical that we can’t fathom living without all the pleasures and conveniences that it bestows almost anytime or anywhere. The iPhone, and its smartphone brethren, enable pictures that can be posted instantly […]
Muskets like those from 1776 are mostly exempt from today’s gun laws
HALIFAX, N.C. | With 165 grains of black powder in the barrel, a .75-caliber Brown Bess flintlock musket like the ones the redcoats carried in 1776 can hurl a lead ball at a velocity of around 1,000 feet (305 meters) per second. Imagine what that can do to a human body. Now, imagine that it’s […]
Paris’ Invalides is more than Napoleon’s tomb. For 350 years, it has been a home for war wounded
PARIS | World-famous as the resting place of Napoleon, the gilded dome of the Invalides in Paris draws millions of visitors. But behind the landmark’s grand façade lies a lesser-known mission: serving as a home and hospital for wounded soldiers and victims of war for more than 350 years. Built in the 17th century under […]
A Vienna cafe offers a welcome for Israel supporters as tensions brew at the Eurovision Song Contest
VIENNA | Vienna’s famed coffeehouses have embraced the Eurovision Song Contest. They have also been touched by tensions over Israel’s inclusion in the sequin-drenched pop music competition. When officials announced a list of “Eurofan Cafes” — Vienna coffee shops offering food and music from competing countries — Israel was initially left out. MQ Kantine, a […]