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Film

Film, Weather

Film: When a Town Runs Dry

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Stratford, California, is located in the Central Valley—where years of drought threaten the livelihood of the community. Lack of water in the region has severely decreased crop yields for farmers, meaning fewer jobs in rural communities. In this short documentary by Joris Debeij and Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, Stratford residents mull over what the decrease in food…

Film, Restaurant

Spinning Plates

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Spinning Plates is a 2012 documentary, well worth seeing, about three very different restaurants. (The tagline is “It’s not what you cook. It’s why.”) It’s now available online via Netflix. The hour-and-a-half film shows the ambition and intensity, but also the financial, emotional, and even health concerns as the restaurateurs grown their establishments.

Film

Film: Cooperation Among Firefighters Along the Rio Grande

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In Texas, Mexican firefighters are saving the Rio Grande. Known as Los Diablos, or “the devils,” the elite firefighting crew is hired by the National Park Service to fight wildfires and conduct controlled burns along the border. The river provides water to more than 5 million people in the U.S. and Mexico, and sustaining its…

Film, Lifestyle

The Value of Knitting for an Afghan Refugee

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The short documentary Stitches is the story of a man who finds peace in knitting—after establishing a life in exile as an Afghan refugee during the Soviet–Afghan War. The subject is the filmmaker Abdullah Abo Jassin’s uncle, who writes, “His story connects in a way with all what my family has been through over the…