MicroStories: Cinq

PHOTOGRAPH BY JC JOHNSON & STORY BY KAMI L. RICE

A real life scene has been turned miniature through the magic of photography. This miniaturized scene inspired a tiny fictional tale that invites you to discover the other stories hiding in this image. We invite you to explore the world with us, letting your imagination play along as you do.

 

The king lived for the Saturdays that he could don his long, brown wool cloak and wander out among the shoppers as though the weight of the kingdom were not upon his shoulders. He had perfected the art of blending in, and since everyone expected kings to sleep in late and eat breakfast in their 17th-century four-poster beds, no one ever stared hard enough below his yellow fleece cap to recognize his royal face. Bliss was found in breakfasting in his favorite high street cafe, very much not in his bed. Even though he had to admit, when pressed, that high-thread-count sheets are scrumptious.

A Vienna, Austria MicroStory

 

CULTURE KEEPER

Learn more about MicroStories on Etsy. Learn more about JC Johnson, Culture Keeper’s artistic director, and Kami Rice, Culture Keeper’s editor, at their respective websites.

 
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The View From Here: Mahboob’s Afghanistan
The View From Here: Mahboob’s Afghanistan

STORY AND PHOTOS BY MAHBOOB FAIZI

In the newest installment in our roving View From Here series, Mahboob Faizi takes us to a quiet spot near Kabul, Afghanistan. With this article, we’re excited to add a new language in our Sans Frontières series of articles published in multiple languages. Mahboob has written for us in both English and Dari, which is the version of Persian spoken in Afghanistan.

Xela: A Place Revisited
Xela: A Place Revisited

TEXT BY DONNA FORD
PHOTOS BY SARAH CONNER

Donna Ford lets us come with her to revisit a poignant season in her life that continues to resound nearly two decades later. We’re happy that through the photography of Sarah Conner, who is currently in the Guatemalan community that was so formative for Donna, we’re given extra glimpses into the scenes of this place.

MicroStories: Inishmore
MicroStories: Inishmore

PHOTOGRAPH BY JC JOHNSON & STORY BY KAMI L. RICE

A real life scene turned miniature through the magic of photography has inspired a tiny fictional tale that invites you to discover the other stories hiding in this image. Explore the world with us and let your imagination play along as you do.

From St. Louis with Hope
From St. Louis with Hope

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Our resident contributor from India will no longer be writing and photographing from South Asia for us. She has changed continents. Again. Which is no straightforward undertaking, as she describes here. 

Books Are Like Water: The 24-Hour Bookshop
Books Are Like Water: The 24-Hour Bookshop

STORY BY HEATHER M. SURLS, WITH TRANSLATION HELP BY MARADI AYED ALHAWARI
PHOTOS BY HALA MAHMOUD

Our resident correspondent in Amman has been working on this story for ages. As she ran into road block after road block, we thought we might have a mysterious mini-series on our hands, complete with legends, cracked-open doorways, and classical Arabic to decipher. But our intrepid writer persisted and now brings you a delicious story of the power of a multi-generational love affair with books.

La Luna
La Luna

POEM BY E. AMATO. TRANSLATED TO GERMAN BY ZISKA KILLAT. IMAGE BY JOANNA WINOGRAD.

E. Amato once overheard two people conversing in Spanish on the Tube in London, and the musical quality of their exchange captured her attention. So she listened in, though she is not a Spanish speaker. Among the few recognizable words were “la luna.” And thus, this Spanish moon gave birth to a poem recounting the conversation E. Amato imagined her fellow commuters were having. “La Luna” comes from E. Amato’s chapbook Will Travel and has been translated to German by Ziska Killat.

The View From Here: Jewish Cemetery, Sarajevo
The View From Here: Jewish Cemetery, Sarajevo

STORY AND PHOTOS BY CAT NORMAN TAHIROVIĆ

Cat Norman Tahirović is particularly gifted at learning of the hidden treasures of her adopted home in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Here, she takes us on a stroll to one of them, in the newest installment in our roving View From Here series. 

Contextualizing France's Yellow Vests Protests
Contextualizing France's Yellow Vests Protests

COLLABORATION BY KAMI L. RICE, OLIVIER PEYROUS, AND JC JOHNSON

 Since part of our Culture Keeper team is based in France, it seems appropriate to bring you a Culture Keeper take on one of France’s biggest news stories in the waning weeks of 2018: the Gilets Jaunes (“Yellow Vests” or “Yellow Jackets”) movement that made it into foreign news outlets when the protests turned violent in Paris. We’re not a breaking news outlet by any stretch of the imagination, but we are in the business of offering a bit of cultural context where we can. Which is what we seek to do here as we experiment with a new-to-us storytelling format that we hope to perfect over time.

Masolino’s Annunciation
Masolino’s Annunciation

STORY BY JANE POTTHAST

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Rotterdam’s Solko Schalm and His Art
Rotterdam’s Solko Schalm and His Art

ARTICLE BY MIRTHE SMEETS

ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY SOLKO SCHALM

 Before being translated to English for our Culture Keeper audience, Dutch journalist Mirthe Smeets’s interview with painter Solko Schalm was first published in Vers Beton, a Dutch online magazine focused on engaging the people of Rotterdam in understanding their city as it changes and develops. Rotterdam is the Netherlands’ second largest city and Europe’s largest port. Enjoy this interview with one of its artists!

Jonathan Grant

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