Good morning, friends!

I published my interview with war photojournalist Lynsey Addario on Wednesday. It was a conversation I had been looking forward to for a long time. She has covered every major conflict and humanitarian crisis on the planet, including Ukraine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Darfur, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, South Sudan, and Somalia.

Addario has had a number of close calls on the job — she has been kidnapped in Libya, abducted in Iraq, and injured in a car accident in Pakistan. But the one consistent thread throughout Addario’s career is that she never puts the camera down — even in the face of extreme danger.

If there’s one lesson she’s learned about the human experience it’s that no matter what is going on in the world, life goes on. Even in the midst of war, Addario shows scenes of people celebrating birthdays, weddings, and graduations.

“It’s human nature to try to have fun, to laugh, to have some normalcy despite the disruptiveness and the devastation that war brings,” she says. “People try to find some semblance of routine, peace, and happiness. I see those moments over and over in war, and it’s always surprising to me, but it always gives me this reassurance. At the end of the day, we are all so similar.”

In this interview, Addario explains how she assesses risk in a war zone, how she’s dealing with the mental scars that result from her work, and why she doesn’t believe you have to be an activist to enact change.

(Below is an excerpt of the interview, but I encourage you to listen and watch to the full interview below.)

🎧 LISTEN.

Photojournalist Lynsey Addario on Reporting From the Front Line By Polina Marinova Pompliano Podcast episode

🎬 WATCH.

How have you learned to weigh the level of danger with the importance of the story you're trying to tell?

ADDARIO: It's hard because some of the best stories are in the most dangerous places.

When I was younger — you know, before I had been kidnapped twice, before,I had been thrown out of a car on a highway in Pakistan, before I had been in ambushes — I was a lot more bold. And I didn't realize how precarious life was. I sort of thought I was invincible.

Now, I'm more cautious, and I think that comes with the cost of my coverage being less dramatic or sort of not as good as some of my colleagues’ who will just run directly into the front line. And I think that's difficult.

Yes, some of the best stories are in the most dangerous places, and I will do them, it depends on what that story is. For me, I'm not really willing to just run to the front line into the middle of the most dangerous place just to get soldiers firing a mortar or holding a gun. I think it's important to have civilians involved. I think it's important if I'm going into a place that I need to show why I'm going in there. You know, what is the toll on the population? On women? On children?

And I think if most of the population has fled, I will personally be less likely to go in there. That’s because I have to constantly weigh what will I risk my life for — and it's often civilians.

Can you give me an example of a time when you miscalculated the level of risk and what the consequences of that decision were?

Yeah. Libya.

We were working in a group, so there were four of us. We were in two cars, and that is a precaution that we take in case one car breaks down, then you've got a backup vehicle.

We were working on the front line. The front line was shifting very quickly. It was very clear that Qaddafi’s troops were moving into Ajdabiya (the town we were in), and a lot of journalists started pulling east.

The brother of the driver of [fellow journalists] Anthony Shadid and Stephen Farrell’s car was shot on the front line. So suddenly, in the middle of this battle, he just pulled the car over and dumped their stuff on the side of the road.

So we ended up — four journalists and our driver Mohammed — in one car. That meant, you know, not only were the five of us in this very small car with all of our gear, but it meant that everyone had a very different idea of what they needed to do to carry out their job.

Everyone wanted to do different things. Some wanted to go back to the front line, even though it was encroaching on us. Some wanted to go to the hospital to document the wounded and to count the dead. And some wanted to leave.

Ultimately, the bottom line is that we stayed too long. Our driver got a call saying that Qaddafi troops were in the city. We didn't leave at that time. He got a second call from his brother, who was working with the BBC, we still didn't leave because it's hard to corral four journalists.

So by the time we left, we ran into one of Qaddafi’s checkpoints. We were held for a week. We never saw Mohammed again. We're assuming he was killed at that checkpoint — either executed or in crossfire. His death is on us, you know? That is completely our miscalculation. That was not him. That was completely us.

Read the Full Q&A Here

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PROFILES.

— The innocent man on death row [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The royal taking control of the story
— The 30-year-old spending $1 billion to save crypto
— The rapper dealing with a season of loss
— The first Black-owned outdoors retailer in the country
— The coffee shop on every block

PEOPLE TO KNOW.

The innocent man on death row: Richard Glossip is on death row. His case has drawn surprising critics in the deeply red state: pro-death-penalty lawmakers who believe the state may execute an innocent man. The state of Oklahoma has tried to execute him three times, with the fourth attempt scheduled for this year despite claims and evidence that points to Glossip’s innocence. (New York Magazine)

“It is a scary thing that these people don’t mind killing me knowing that I am innocent.”

The royal taking control of the story: Two years since breaking away from the royal family, or “the Firm” as it’s sometimes called, Meghan Markle is ready to take control of her own narrative. This is a nuanced profile that gives us a little more context around who Markle really is while pointing out certain contradictions — she gives off a relatable warmth while the people on her team squash any further questions. Is Markle holding back in this interview? Or is this the true self she’s been waiting to reveal? (New York Magazine)

“When the media has shaped the story around you, it’s really nice to be able to tell your own story.”

The 30-year-old spending $1 billion to save crypto: Crypto is ailing. Sam Bankman-Fried is betting a billion dollars he can fix it. The CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX has appointed himself the industry’s savior—and crypto investors are closely watching his moves after months of market carnage. This year, he bailed out a troubled digital-currency lender and tried to stabilize another. He acquired crypto exchanges in Canada and Japan. He appeared in magazine ads opposite supermodel Gisele Bündchen in a bid to keep mainstream investors enthusiastic about crypto despite the downturn. Will he succeed? (WSJ; reply to this email if you can’t access the article)

“We want to do what we can to stem contagion, and sometimes that’s going to mean that we try to help out in cases where it’s not enough.”

The rapper dealing with a season of loss: In the past several years, Megan Thee Stallion has climbed the charts with hits like “Savage” and “Hot Girl Summer”; won three Grammys; collaborated with Dua Lipa, Cardi B, and Doja Cat; and somehow also found time to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in health administration from Texas Southern University. But the heights have been paired with unthinkable hardships. In 2019, Megan’s mother died of a brain tumor, and the grandmother who helped raise her died soon after. Finding herself parentless in her mid-20s, she has navigated fame and success largely on her own. (New York Magazine)

“I can’t leave my fate in anybody else’s hands.”

COMPANIES TO WATCH.

The first Black-owned outdoors retailer in the country: Texas-based Slim Pickins caters primarily to adventurous types, such as hikers and climbers, but it’s far from a standard camping store. At the back of the shop, there’s a studio for various classes: all-abilities yoga and hunting-certification courses were among the offerings. For the first few years, Slim Pickins grew modestly. But like thousands of other small businesses, it struggled to stay afloat during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then everything changed in February 2021. (Texas Monthly)

“Why leave Texas to live an outdoor lifestyle?”

The coffee shop on every block: Blank Street Coffee is attempting to create cutting-edge, streamlined shops with an independent vibe. This approach has brought it up against some tenets of the craft-coffee movement: to highlight the work of the barista and the quality of the beans, and to create spaces to linger in as you appreciate each cup. Built around high-volume automated espresso systems, the rapidly expanding coffee shop has caught the attention of skeptical New Yorkers. Here’s how. (The New York Times)

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