Making Money While Recycling in Nigeria
One morning in September, Adejumo Omalara, with other women wearing matching uniforms, sat before a huge pile of dirty, used bottles and cleaned them with her gloved hands. For the past…
Editor
Allyn Gaestel
Editor
Allyn Gaestel is an Editor at Inkstick. Formerly an award-winning human rights journalist, Allyn has worked in every region of the world--with especially deep relationships to West Africa and the Caribbean--for outlets including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, NPR, The Washington Post and many others. A former United Nations correspondent, Allyn has written on topics ranging from decolonization, gender, war, and global health, to mysticism, urbanity and architecture.
Heatwaves Are Not Just a European Problem
The summer of 2022 was marked by devastating heatwaves around the world, a level of extreme heat that was yet “another clear indicator that emissions of greenhouse gases by human activity…
Ukraine’s Eccentric Pop Superstar Takes on the War
When Ivan Dorn finally took the stage, at 1:30 in the morning, the crowd was dying to hear his voice. His all-beige, hipster-fabulous outfit appeared to be built around the pleated khakis he…
Dreamer’s Paradise?
Freedom smells like McDowell’s! Yes, you read it right — McDowell’s — a McDonald’s knockoff brand depicted in the Coming to America movie, which I grew up watching on repeat via…
On Crimeans in Ukraine
“I am hopeful, but I am also cynical,” Nika half-smiled at me, “I don’t know how you combine these two feelings, but that’s how I am now.” Nika is not her real name. She prefers…
The Queen is Dead, So What?
Before the announcement of the death of Queen Elizabeth, I, like many journalists, kind of knew. Once, as an aspiring journalist, I’d read that if the Queen died, the BBC would turn…
Tracing Illicit Weapons in the Sahel
In February 2022, Nigerien security forces intercepted a convoy in central Niger that had entered Nigerien territory illegally, reportedly traveling from southern Libya. Aboard the convoy…
Uncovering Dictatorship Violence in Chile
Sept. 11 has a special significance in Chile — it is the date that the notorious dictator Augusto Pinochet came to power in a US-backed military coup. The year was 1973, and the…
On Chechen Soldiers in Ukraine
On Jun. 29, Chechen Head of State Ramzan Kadyrov sent a message of resilience to his millions of Telegram followers: “the real power of Russia does not lie in weapons or technology, but…
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: How to Make the Case?
“Silence is Violence.” “Black Lives Matter.” These are slogans millions of Americans chanted in 2020 from Los Angeles to Atlanta to Washington, DC. Police brutality, systemic racism,…