Melissa Hellmann

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Melissa Hellmann

Dozens of people across the world were in non-stop communication for several months to arrange the arrival of Tasneem Sharif Abbas to the US. Abbas’s entire life changed when a bomb dropped on her family’s home in Gaza on 31 October 2023. A piece of metal severed her arm and she blacked out as rubble fell on her. Soon after, her arm was amputated at a local Gaza hospital. “This is not a movie or a fictional story. This is the reality I have lived,” Abbas said in a statement.

2 months ago | msn.com | Melissa Hellmann

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2 months ago | theguardian.com | Melissa Hellmann

With their eyes downcast in reflection, dozens of people dressed in white crossed a bridge to pay respect to their ancestors last October. They carried flowers, herbs and photos of their loved ones to lay at the foot of an altar on a tiny strip of land in the middle of a pond. For the last few years, this ritual at the start of the annual Gullah Geechee herbal gathering on Johns Island, South Carolina, has served as a link between the living and the dead.

2 months ago | theguardian.com | Melissa Hellmann

Aryn Kavanaugh was sitting in her living room in South Carolina when her 17-year-old daughter came into the room and said: “I’m really scared. I think people are gonna die.” Katherine, who is using her middle name for her protection, told Kavanaugh that she thought transgender youth may be the target of violence due to the hate generated by Donald Trump’s recent action. On 28 January, Trump issued an executive order to ban access to gender-affirming care for youth under 19 years old.

Feb 23, 2025 | theguardian.com | Melissa Hellmann

Appalachia, which spans from southern New York to northern Mississippi, usually evokes images of white working-class people, as depicted in JD Vance’s 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy. But it’s little known to people outside of the region that there’s a robust community of Black organizers who are rewriting the narrative of what it means to be Appalachian.