Borders, Backdrops & Big Shifts: Stories That See What We Miss🌍📸

Hey there, Benchies!

This week, we’re zooming out and in — from the quiet corners of New York’s federal buildings, where photographer Stephanie Keith documents moments the public rarely sees, to global education trends and the rising cost of a single San Francisco burrito. 

We’re also digging into how visual storytellers chart sci-fi pessimism, track inflation and map the planet’s changing movement patterns. 

Dive in for reporting that reveals what’s happening behind thresholds, borders and bottom lines.

Here is our featured content this week:

📸⚠️“If no one documents this, how will people know?” Behind the scenes covering ICE with photojournalist Stephanie Keith 

Freelance photojournalist Stephanie Keith spent several months documenting arrests and detentions carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) inside New York’s 26 Federal Plaza. 

Using her camera as both tool and witness, she aimed to reveal the “human cost” of immigration enforcement in spaces often hidden from public view. Keith describes her work at the intersection of journalism and moral responsibility, arguing that when nobody documents these moments, few might know they happened. Read here

👽📉 Sci-Fi’s Growing Pessimism, as Visualized by Alvin Chang

Data journalist and illustrator Alvin Chang of The Pudding analyzed how science-fiction has shifted from hopeful visions of the future to darker, dystopian worlds. Using IMDb data from 1,600 films and AI tools to interpret story synopses, Chang visualized how optimism in sci-fi has declined over decades — and even hand-drew pixel landscapes to capture the genre’s fading sense of wonder. Check out the Q&A

Cool Stuff Corner: What are we reading?

🌯💸 How a viral $22 burrito explains inflation in the US

In San Francisco’s Mission District, La Vaca Birria owner Ricardo Lopez raised the price of his signature birria burrito to $22 — roughly double what it sold for just two years prior — as ingredient and labor costs soared. 

His receipts and records, shared with The Guardian, show steep increases in beef, cooking oil and wages, spotlighting how small-business pricing reflects broader inflation trends. The debate has sparked questions about food value, cultural expectations and pricing equity in the restaurant industry. Check it out

🌍✈️ Nearly 20 percent fewer international students traveled to the U.S. in August

The New York Times reports that arrivals of international students to the U.S. dropped nearly 20% this August compared with the same month a year earlier — the largest non-pandemic-related decline on record. 

Using federal data, the interactive points at how visa delays, political uncertainty and a waning sense of the U.S. as a welcoming study destination are reshaping global education flows. Institutions reliant on international tuition may face long-term financial and reputational impacts if the trend continues.

From the Vault 🏛️

🌏🔥A step-by-step guide: visualizing organic carbon in near real time

In this step-by-step guide, Marco Hernandez breaks down exactly how he used forecast models from NASA’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office Research Site to visualize the organic carbon released into the atmosphere during wildfires that ravaged the West Coast. Hernandez has worked in graphics for more than 20 years. His career spans across Reuters, La Nación, The South China Morning Post and the New York Times – and it shows. Check out this tutorial!

PHOTO OF THE WEEK 📷

This image needs no explanation. The Northern lights were visible across the U.S., even the south. This sight is one of those rare moments when we truly appreciate nature. Tuesday and Wednesday night ticked off ‘watching the Northern lights’ off many of our peers’ bucket list. Hope you witnessed this breathtaking view too!

That's all we've got for this week! Thanks for reading, and let us know if there's anything you'd like to see in these newsletters or in our coverage at [email protected].

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