Capturing lightning in a bottle

RJ Hamster

2 years ago

A SMALL TOWN AND A NATIVE SON, BEFORE THE PRESIDENCY

Saturday, February 25, 2023

In today’s newsletter, we see images of Jimmy Carter’s Georgia town before his unlikely election, learn about cocaine eels, catch a Ukrainian fashion that defies Russian invaders … and witness a version of The Little Prince set halfway around the world. Plus, swimming mountain lions.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JODI COBB

By Jodi Cobb
In the summer of 1976 I was reluctantly paddling the Suwanee River for a National Geographic story, one of my first—and one I was uniquely unqualified for. I was a journalist, not an adventurer, at heart.
In the nearby Georgia town of Plains, Jimmy Carter was running his improbable presidential campaign. I had to go have a look. I found a place both charming and complicated, much like Carter himself. This tiny town had shaped the peanut farmer-turned-politician, and Plains was his touchstone throughout his life. I found the things that defined him—faith, humility, caring—the things he in turn offered to the world. The town was giddy with the success of their hometown son (pictured above; Carter in an impromptu baseball game in August 1976; below, a flood of journalists in Plains, a mule ride).

Serious things were happening behind closed doors, but all around him was joy and fun. Carter was surrounded by love. Jubilant friends and supporters—380 of them—boarded a chartered Amtrak train (below), dubbed the “Peanut Special,” and partied all the way to Carter’s inauguration in Washington DC. It was an unforgettable ride.

Below, the new president and his family walk Pennsylvania Avenue from his swearing-in at the Capitol to the White House, braving bitter cold weather.

The list of President Carter’s consequential accomplishments is long, and despite the well-known failures, he will probably be remembered as one of the greats—and arguably the greatest ex-president this country has had. I’m grateful for the detour.

Read our related story.

Also: Jimmy Carter on the century’s biggest problems—and ways to attack them

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Above, a smiling Jodi Cobb, one of Nat Geo’s first women staff photographers, bundled up to work on Carter’s inauguration day.

STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

PHOTOGRAPH BY JR, REDUX

Up to half of 5 year olds in the U.S. today will live to 100, researchers say (above, a larger-than-life image of a 5-year-old girl, in 2022).

Use it or lose it: How to keep an aging brain healthy

Are some of the world’s top museums clinging to stolen masterpieces?

A Scottish artist is found to have written ‘Rainbow Bridge’—a beloved poem that has comforted generations of pet-owners after a loss

What set apart the reconstructed face of this 1,300-year-old man? His teeth—and his smile.

Say what? Mountain lions can swim, startling researchers

These warriors were formidable—and female

It’s not just bears: These waterways have cocaine-addicted eels

Can doctors create better psychedelics—without the bad trip?

No cancer, no pain: What else can the long-living naked mole rat do? Stay fertile until death.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

PHOTOGRAPH BY RICHARD BARNES

Waiting for their marbles: For nearly two centuries, Greece has wanted Britain to return the pieces of the stunning Elgin Marbles taken by London. The hypermodern Acropolis Museum (above), opened in 2009 within sight of the Parthenon, answered British claims that Greece lacked a museum fit for the famed Elgin Marbles. More and more museums are returning looted treasures to their homelands, Nat Geo reports.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

PHOTOGRAPH BY RIVER CLAURE

‘All grownups were children ... but few of them remember it’: That’s a key line from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s enduring Le Petit Prince. But what if this children’s classic—and its spirit of joy and discovery—were transported from the Sahara to the Andes? In this reimagining by photographer and Nat Geo ExplorerRiver Claure, the blond prince is instead a dark-haired Andean child, forging his identity in the world, Nat Geo reports.

MY PRINCE WILL COME

LAST GLIMPSE

PHOTOGRAPH BY DOMINIKA DYKA

Pride in Ukraine: Even before Vladimir Putin’s disastrous and deadly Kremlin invasion a year ago, Ukraine—once robbed of its grain by Lenin and starved to death by Stalin—had a resurgence in traditional culture. That included colorful flower crowns (above, worn by musicians Daga Gregorowicz and Dana Vynnytska). Often used in weddings, these charming headdresses represent another element in this defiant, courageous nation: patriotism, writes Nat Geo’s Eve Conant.

DON’T TOUCH MY CROWN

Today’s soundtrack: Fotos y recuerdos, Selena; and Back on the Chain Gang, The Pretenders. Here’s the backstory.

This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard and Jen Tse. Amanda Williams-Bryant, Alisher Egamov, Rita Spinks, and Jeremy Brandt-Vorel also contributed this week. Have an idea? We’d love to hear from you at david.beard@natgeo.com. Thanks for reading!

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