Faith Through My Eyes

BY SARAH WHITMIRE

Follow me on my reporting travels across Europe as I find a wide array of religious sects and cultures.
Red — Catholicism
Pink — Sikhism
Yellow — Protestantism
Blue — Judaism
Green — Islam

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All images shot by Sarah Whitmire for Faith & Friction blog for the Walter Cronkite School for Journalism and Mass Communication.
® Sarah Whitmire 2009

Paris Back Story: Reporting on Le Marais

BY DEREK QUIZON

(This Report was drafted on June 9)

When it rains, it pours.

That seems a fitting way to begin my Paris back story for two reasons. First, it has been raining on and off over here, which makes the city look really gloomy and depressing.

It’s also fitting because of the way my second story seems to be going. Remember how I was waxing poetic about the triumphant feeling journalists get when they pull off the impossible? It goes both ways.

Il était une fois…

BY ALEXANDRA FLAMINI

Today, I played photojournalist. I met Michael Sawyer, a British photographer living in France and working for the Associated Press, and we journeyed out into Le Marais, the gay and Jewish neighborhood of Paris.

An Afternoon in Le Marais

BY: SARAH WHITMIRE

Le Marais is a district in Paris noted for its Jewish and homosexual communities.

Boys on rue des Rosiers, ‘Rue des Rosiers’ means ‘street of the rosebushes’

Jewish couple talks on rue Pavée

A heated conversation on rue Pavée

Jewish star over synagogue 10 on rue Pavée, this synagogue was commissioned by the Agoudas Hakehilos society of Orthodox Jews, and is known for it’s Art Noveau style

Man on rue Pavée checks out a building under construction

Boy on rue Pavée

Though we’d hoped to see an intermingling of the two facets of this area, after walking the streets, it seemed that the groups just happened to be next to each other.

La Marais

BY: ELLE WALLS

I spent the afternoon walking around a community called La Marais with AP photographer Michael Sawyer. The neighborhood started out mainly as a Jewish community, but today it’s also a gay community.

After we stopped to eat delicious fallafels, we walked the streets of the neighborhood. It was interesting to see the two groups co-exist on the streets. The first area we photographed was a synagogue and a lot of Jewish men in the street. I didn’t see the mingling of the two groups and started to wonder what we were doing there.

Le Marais

BY: KRISTYNA MURPHY

Today we walked around Le Marais in Paris, where a gay community exists down the street from a Jewish community. I went with the photography group. Michael Sawyer, a freelance photographer, led the way. We snapped pictures of the two communities, which was difficult without a decent zoom lense. In America, you can take a picture of anyone in a public area. But that law doesn’t exist in Paris. You could tell that many felt uncomfortable having their picture taken. 

“Oh, great, so what’s it gonna be … matzo and cupcakes?”

BY LAUREN KAWAM

This was sarcastically and rather crassly uttered by one of my fellow trip mates, Jim King, as we hear that we’re traveling to the gay and Jewish section of Paris on our first full day in the city.

We break into two groups so as to not intimidate the Parisians as we approach them for possible interviews. No one really knew what to expect as we went on a walk about through Le Marais (pronounced “luh maray”).

Paris Reporting Day

BY: MEGAN NELSON

Once we finally got on our way today, it was a very good cultural experience. We went to a part of Paris called Le Marais, where there is a gay community and a Jewish community right next to each other. I was under the impression that the two communities were integrated a lot more.

Paris Report

BY BIANCA TUMA

As I walk along the drizzled streets, I feel I am so close to the culture, yet I can’t touch it. While I hear sounds of horns and voices in whispers at every corner, I’m swept away by the charismatic and whimiscal nature of this city—Paris, France.

Le Marais en Paris

BY AMANDA SOTO

Today we walked around an interesting part of Paris today called Le Marais. It is an area where the Jewish community and the gay community co-exist.

We tried to get a taste (literally) of the culture by eating some Israeli street food. I had a poulet (chicken) curry pita—a delicious little pita with chicken, radishes, lettuce, eggplant, carrots, cucumber, hummus and dressing on it. The pita was like a bowl, and I ate it with a fork while standing under an awning watching the rain fall. Dr. Bill bought us some Jewish pastries to try, and we each had a bite and picked our favorites.