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#VQRTrueStory

A Social-Media Experiment in Nonfiction


PUBLISHED: December 7, 2015

#VQRTrueStory is a social-media experiment in nonfiction that delivers stories across platforms—from Instagram to the website to the magazine. Each week, a contributor takes over our Instagram feed, @vqreview, to post original dispatches that tell the stories behind the pictures. The dispatches are then published on our website as a complete essay. With each issue of VQR, we select a handful of dispatches from various contributors to include in the magazine’s #VQRTrueStory column. You can visit the #VQRTrueStory archive to read all the contributions so far. And be sure to follow @vqreview to keep up with the project as it unfolds.


Project Archive

 

Liskuvate’s Exiles
Megan Buskey in Khyriv, Ukraine



Returning to Nature
Dionne Ford in New Orleans, LA



Red Mountain
Clement Gelly in Erdenet, Mongolia



Sisters at the Falls
Oona Robertson in Niagara Falls, Canada



The Provenance Detective
Emily Ding in London, UK



Looking
Kathryn Savage in Tulsa, OK



COVID Dreams
The Nocturnists



Tasting Notes
Erika Koss in Kenya



Bearing Witness
Benita Mayo in the Charlottesville, VA



Dry Days
Tom Haines in the Great Plains



The House That Built Me
Baylea Jones in Southwest Louisiana



Second Wave
Anandi Mishra in Delhi, India



Strange Luck
Rianna Paulina Starheim in Purcellville, VA



Vendimia
Meg Bernhard



Lonely Hearts Club
Emily Ding



Notes on a Ghost TownPhoto by Rebekah Frumkin
R.A. Frumkin in Southern Illinois



In the Underwater World of 2050Photo by Sonnet Mondal
Brian Turner in Kolkata, India
Photographs by Sonnet Mondal



Building Fences
Kenneth Rosen in Feltre, Italy and The Berkshires, MA



Hunger
Charlie Raboteau, as told to Emily Raboteau, in Philadelphia, PA



After the Old City
Hananah Zaheer in Lahore, Pakistan



PostcardsIllustration by Amitava Kumar
Amitava Kumar in Poughkeepsie, NY



CuarentenaPhoto by Anna Surinyach
Meg Bernhard in Barcelona, Spain
Photographs by Anna Surinyach



The Work of HandsPhoto by Jordan Kisner
Jordan Kisner in New England



Ill NaturePhoto by Dan Schwartz
Dan Schwartz in Quispillaccta, Peru



Fossil CombingPhoto by Emily Ding
Emily Ding in Jurassic Coast, England



Narrative RhythmsPhoto by Rianna Pauline Starheim
Rianna Pauline Starheim in Manassas, VA



The High WindowPhoto by David L. Ulin
David L. Ulin in Los Angeles, California



Tropicana Day TripPhoto by James Sprankle
Ann Neumann in Atlantic City, New Jersey
Photographs by James Sprankle



The North WoodsPhoto by Sara Fox
Porter Fox in Aroostook County, Maine
Photographs by Sara Fox


This Land Is Our Land
Emily Ding in Kelantan, Malaysia



The Right to Be Let Alone
Ann Neumann in Lancaster, Pennsylvania



Dancing Days
David L. Ulin in Los Angeles, California



Sunday Market, Tiretti Bazaar
Emily Ding in Kolkata, India



Diggers
Katherine E. Standefer in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo


Memory Wars
Emily Ding in Belfast, Ireland



Woe and Wonder
Joshua Wolf Shenk in Los Angeles, California



Unmanned
Will Boast in Serekkunda, Gambia



Walking Away
Julia Cooke in Tahiti, French Polynesia



Vaqueros
Michael Snyder in Real de Catorce, Mexico



Under Pressure
Rianna Pauline Starheim in Jefferson, NY



Exile In White
Ruxandra Guidi in Los Angeles
Photographs by Bear Guerra


Omnipresence
Ann Neumann in Brooklyn, NY
Photographs by Elizabeth Felicella


Backcountry Politics
Lois Parshley in US National Parks



The Other Chile (Cecilia and Patricia)
Angie Cruz in Santiago, Chile



Dreams of My Mother
Anna March in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Photographs by Cèdric Von Niederhäusern


Life Is Why
Rianna Pauline Starheim in Alexandria, Virginia



Take ‘Em Down
James McWilliams in New Orleans, Louisiana
Photographs by Julie Dermansky


Neon Havana
Joshua Jelly-Schapiro in Havana, Cuba
Photographs by Mirissa Neff


Dropping In
Bret Anthony Johnston in Desert Hot Springs, CA
Photographs by Bill Driver


Subway Rorschach
Neil Shea in Brooklyn, NY



No Republican Shall Inherit
Randy R. Potts in Tulsa, Oklahoma



Rainbow Weather in Kabul
Rianna Pauline Starheim in Kabul, Afghanistan



Starting Over
Ruxandra Guidi in Los Angeles
Photographs by Bear Guerra


Faith and Its Limits
Ann Neumann in Lancaster County, PA
Photographs by James Sprankle


We All Travel the Milky Way Together
Michael O. Snyder in California



Farhad
Laura Kasinof in Germany
Photographs by Alex Potter


The Air Keeps It Interesting
Ryan Bradley in Los Angeles



Stony Island Story Problem
Lauren Berlant in Chicago
Art by Stephanie Brooks


To Write About A Hole
Jennifer Kabat in New York City



Saint Coltrane
Anisse Gross in San Francisco



An Audience with Wirathu
Sarah Khatry in Myanmar



In the Powder River Basin
Tom Haines in Wyoming



The Truths of Antarctica
Maggie Shipstead in Antarctica



On the Great Bear Sea
Luke Padgett in Canada’s Kitimat Fjords



On Henry Locke’s Wine Dark Sea
Gaiutra Bahadur in New York



Picturing the Pipeline
Holly Haworth in southwest Virginia



Resilience in East Timor
Jerry Redfern in Southeast Asia



Problem Solving at the MacDowell Colony
Danica Novgorodoff on five artists



His Faithful Servant
Randy R. Potts on LGBT life and Christian faith



In the Shadow of Olympus
Baynard Woods on polytheists in Greece



Dubliners
Jeff Sharlet in Dublin



The Last Days of High Bridge Arms
Lili Loofbourow on San Francisco’s last gun shop



Details From the Fogg Museum
Rachel Cohen on encounters at the Fogg Museum



Hope for Sale
Laura Kasinof on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Lesotho



Sidewalks
Jamie Alliotts on encounters on the streets of Manhattan



Vestiges of the Socialist Time
Julia Cooke in Mawlamyine, Burma



Northbound
Lauren Markham on Central American migrants



Elemental India
Meera Subramanian on a changing India

1 Comments

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MP · 6 years ago

Loved Elemental India and Northbound - great idea to integrade image and written storytelling into one. Hope to see more of these stories that take us out of our rosy bubble and show us what world around is like. Maria

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