Hanna, 78, who lives in Chernobyl’s exclusion zone, is featured in this month’s MORE magazine. Our friend on the ground, Sergei Ivanchuk, dropped by to show her the story. “The main thing is that we have pig fat and vodka,” Hanna told me when I was there in December. A single photo could hardly embody more culture clash…
Here’s a quick round-up of some diva-related media:
The democracy movement is going off in Syria and you might want to check out Holly’s new Syria program - just released from Globe Trekker.
Check out the unstoppable Kiran Bedi, featured in Adventure Divas’ documentary ‘Holy Cow,’ in her recent TED Talk.
Babushkas of Chernobyl. This month is the 25th anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear accident (and let’s hope Chernobyl keeps that title). Check newsstands for MORE magazine’s ‘A Country of Women’ about the old ladies who refused to leave their contaminated homeland. Also, Globe Trekker “Ukraine,” presented by Holly and featuring some of the babushkas, is airing nationwide on PBS throughout April.
Check out this thought- provoking story in the Kansas City Star that compares Ukraine’s Orange revolution to what’s going on in Egypt. Adventure Divas spent a chunk of time this fall and winter
traveling Ukraine and becoming obsessed with the “resettlers” of Chernobyl who - in defiance of all officialdom and logic - live in Chernobyl’s Exclusion Zone, a 19 square mile highly contaminated area evacuated and cordoned off after the accident at the nuclear plant 25 years ago. We’ll be posting material from the latest trip asap. And have a look at next month’s MORE magazine and PBS’s Globe Trekker for Holly Morris’s full report....
In an interesting move, Syria is cracking down on its religious conservatives to stem threats from radicals. The government is vetting the imams’ sermons, and has transferred 1000 teachers
who wear the face veil to administrative duty. But hey, it’s still legal for men to marry 13 year-old-girls - so things aren’t changing that fast.
For lighter Syrian fare, take a look behind the scenes in on Holly’s recent shoot for Globe Trekker; airing on PBS now.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/04/world/middleeast/04syria.html
Top Indian cop Kiran Bedi, who we featured in our documentary “India: Holy Cow" a few years ago, just won the 2010 EPIC Award which will be presented by Meryl Streep this week. Bedi will be in NYC to accept the award, and to attend a screening of “Yes, Madam Sir” - a new documentary (a decade in the making) about her extraordinary, rabble-rousing life as India’s best-known and highest ranking police diva. Check out part of our interview with Bedi here.
the high-minded lowdown from holly morris and the diva blog crew
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