Hilary Swift

Skåne County, Sweden for @nytimes @nytimestravel From the article: “In Skane, a fertile agricultural area bordered on three sides by the Baltic Sea, visitors will find delightful meals, baked goods and sweets, all made with a certain ‘craft nerdiness.’” Pictured: @talldungen A restaurant and hotel known for its cuisine, extensive wine collection, and the rolling farmland that surrounds it @gamla_bageriet Sourdough bread and pastries (including the rhubarb pastry pictured) @lindegrens Family run farm, grocery shop and restaurant. Run by the Lindegrens who have been on their land for over 25 years @holysmokebbqsweden Southern style BBQ featuring a wide selection of meats, sides and marshmallows you roast yourself. @osterlenchoklad A chocolate shop that specializes in single-origin bars and exquisite bonbons filled with local flavors like sea buckthorn and licorice. @vyn_restaurant_hotel This hotel and restaurant, praised by its neighbors, is set alongside a rural road lined by rapeseed and a view of the Baltic Sea. Go online @nytimes to read the full list of locations from reporter @lisaabend

Prime Minister @mette Frederiksen greets constituents at a campaign event on Tuesday in her hometown of #Aalborg, Denmark. As Danes go to the polls today, I joined reporters Jeffrey Gettleman and @mayatekeli last week. Frederiksen took office in 2019, becoming the country’s youngest prime minister. If she wins re-election, she will become the longest-serving Danish leader since World War II. From the article: “Many voters in this country of six million credit her with protecting Greenland and keeping the kingdom intact. Her party has leaned into this. A recent social media post said, ‘We live in uncertain times and Denmark needs a steady hand.’ But some Danes are also itching for change. ‘She has done a good, good job but we are getting tired of Mette,’ said Lars-Peter Boel, a chicken farmer. ‘When she speaks, she is talking like a mom, like she is talking down to people.’” … Flemming Frederiksen, Mette’s father, showed us the home she grew up in. He spoke about her with clear affection, describing a stubborn, politically minded child and saying he isn’t surprised by where she ended up. Before heading off to run errands, he sat in his car and blasted Elvis’s “If I Can Dream.” That evening, Mette attended campaign event at a high school in Aalborg. Outside the venue, volunteers from other campaigns handed out hot dogs and sodas. Inside, she took the stage in jeans and a green sweater, the only woman in the lineup, and paused to point out her father in the crowd. She moved easily between global stakes and local concerns, from geopolitics to children’s screen time to fertilizer runoff in the water supply, a familiar balance for a leader trying to hold both a country and a coalition together. Read more online @nytimes

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in her office in Copenhagen for @nytimes “The woman who stands between Donald Trump and Greenland” reported by the greats, Jeffrey Gettleman and @mayatekeli From the article: “Mette Frederiksen had never tolerated bullies. When she was in high school, Ms. Frederiksen stood up to a pack of skinheads for teasing immigrant kids. It didn’t go so well. She got socked in the face. But this week, she ducked a punch, a big one.” Go online @nytimes to read more about Denmark’s Prime Minister and her steadfast measures over Danish sovereignty and rallying power with allies.

Danes in #Copenhagen react to President Trump’s renewed threats to take control of Greenland, a move many here describe as shocking, destabilizing, and deeply personal. Veterans, politicians, artists, and ordinary citizens say the rhetoric feels like a betrayal by a longtime ally, sparking protests, anxiety, and a moment of unity between Denmark and Greenland as tensions over Arctic security, sovereignty, and power intensify. A bipartisan group of US lawmakers, including Senators Chris Coons and Thom Tillis, visited this past weekend in an attempt to calm fears and press for dialogue amid the crisis. Read more @nytimes

“Here, they call me ‘maestro,’” Mr. Ferrara, 74, said. “They know I’m a filmmaker. That’s special to them. In New York, who cares? All you’re doing there is killing yourself to keep a roof over your head.” “What is my fame?” he mused. “Who knows. I’m famous enough, ya dig what I mean? Am I Marty Scorsese? No.” I spent two days with the inimitable Abel Ferrara in Rome, helping illustrate New York Times reporter Alex Vadukul’s profile of the prolific New York director. Ferrara is best known for the films he made earlier in his career, including Bad Lieutenant, King of New York, and The Driller Killer. These days, his work is more inward and spiritual. From the Ukraine war documentary Turn in the Wound to the autobiographical Tommaso and the unconventional biopic Padre Pio. Ferrara got sober 13 years ago in Italy. He recently published a memoir called Scene reflecting on his life in film and his experience with substance use disorder. More from Vadukul’s words: “It all ends the same for every addict, in isolation,” Mr. Ferrara writes. “They call sobriety finding the self of your former ghost.” Mr. Ferrara’s memoir arrives at a moment when he’s experiencing a revival of sorts. He plays a vengeful gangster in “Marty Supreme,” a film directed by Josh Safdie, the co-director (with his brother Benny) of “Uncut Gems.” “I don’t miss any of it,” he added. “I can make movies without being high — that’s the revelation. You think you need something, but the power of it is the delusion.” … “You think people don’t change, but Abel changed,” says actress Asia Argento. “I’ve been sober for almost five years thanks to him.” “He cannot speak Italian, but he’s one of us now,” she said. “I think the New York he once made movies in, a New York that was dirty, scary and dangerous, but also artistic, doesn’t exist anymore. Now it’s all money oriented. I think Abel has found in Rome what he was once finding in New York.” Read the full story online at @nytimes Massive gratitude to @alexvadukul for reporting so beautifully and @esw_viz for the opportunity

#Oslo’s new #Lutheran bishop, Sunniva Gylver, is reshaping how the Church of Norway presents itself. Gylver leads #Norway’s largest diocese with a focus on inclusion rather than conversion. Known for her unconventional appearance and unorthodox outreach, she has introduced yoga services, philosophy cafés, and interfaith gatherings. She emphasizes justice, climate responsibility, and solidarity with marginalized communities. Her approach reflects broader shifts within Norwegian Christianity. After decades of declining church membership, attendance among younger people has risen since the pandemic. Unlike more conservative trends elsewhere in Europe, it is Norway’s progressive church that is seeing renewed interest. Gylver’s theology was influenced by personal loss, decades of marriage to an atheist, and a rejection of faith used as a tool of judgment or power. As bishop, she argues the church’s role is not to offer easy answers or salvation on demand, but to remain present, open, and ethically engaged. Read more @nytimes

“It was the best hour of my life. I held her and felt her against me.” Ivana Bronlund, 18, gave birth to a healthy daughter in August. An hour later, Danish authorities took her baby away. Ivana was born in Greenland, adopted by a couple in #Denmark, and left school in the seventh grade. She worked as a babysitter and played on Greenland’s national youth handball team. Her childhood was marked by sexual abuse from her father, who was later convicted and imprisoned. Officials concluded she could not ensure her child’s well-being and needed extensive psychiatric and social support, a judgment her family says unfairly punishes her for the trauma she suffered. “Her father did something to her years ago and now she has to pay?” said Maria Rubin Nicolajsen, a community volunteer. New laws now require more culturally sensitive assessments for #Greenlandic families, but Ivana’s case was evaluated under the old, discredited system. “I just wish I’d been given the chance to prove that I can be a mother,” she said. Ivana is fighting to bring her daughter home. Read more in @nytimes ✍️ Jeffrey Gettleman, Maya Tekeli, and Amelia Nierenberg.

@d.ham3 for @nytimes In June, I spent a few days following Damar Hamlin. The #BuffaloBills player’s life changed dramatically in January of 2023 when his heart stopped after a tackle on “Monday Night Football.” “I woke up not knowing what was going on or what happened to me,” he said. “I was appreciative just to be able to breathe again, just to be with my family, just to be human again.” Hamlin is resilient. “That wasn’t something I wanted on my bingo card. But that’s why I worked so hard to come back. To be known as an athlete, for playing the game. And for so many other things.” He’s made a successful return to Football. He started a clothing brand, @chasingms , and he’s pushing for CPR training and AED access — the device that saved his life Go online @nytimes to read reporter David Waldstein’s article on Damar. Thank you @esw_viz for a brilliant edit

#Crete for @wsj Tony Perrottet wrote a beautiful travel piece on the Eastern side of Crete. Here is an excerpt from the article: “The east, she opined, is the lesser-visited and more rugged side — and incidentally the most accepted locale for the infant Zeus’s mythic refuge, the Diktaean Cave. So I decided to rent a car in the capital and drive in that direction. If it was good enough for Zeus, I thought, it will be good enough for me.” Ancient ruins, new age resorts, rugged mountains and the Libyan Sea. Cretes eastern side attracts all sorts of people and offers tourists a different version of #Greece. Go online to read more about this side of the island @wsj

36 hours in #Kefalonia for @nytimestravel “Kefalonia, the largest of the Ionian Islands, west of the mainland, has largely escaped the glitz and frenzy. Its centerpiece is the 5,341-foot Mount Ainos, set within the only national park on a #GreekIsland. The mountain’s slopes, which produce Kefalonia’s celebrated #robola wine grape, turn into rolling hills that meet a spectacular cyan sea, made brighter by shimmering sediment from the surrounding limestone cliffs. The Byzantines, Franks, Ottomans, French and English all had a stake in the island, but the Venetians left the most visible mark, as seen in the architecture of #Fiskardo, the only village that wasn’t devastated by an earthquake in 1953.” Read more @nytimes

In July, I photographed a women’s boxing event live-streamed by @netflix . The popular event pitted @katie_t86 against @serranosisters for the third time and was the main event of the night. Thousands came to #MSG to watch the women fight and millions more watched live online. Many hoped for an underdog win and Ms Serrano to succeed but Taylor won again in the end. @nytimes reporter Nicole Sperling wrote about the man behind the streaming service’s push toward live shows and sports. Brandon Riegg has advocated for unscripted series, sports and documentaries and integration of gaming technologies to allow for viewers to vote for winners of a show. The 48 year old has quickly become one of the most watched executives in the entertainment world. Go online @nytimes to read more about Mr. Riegg and the #womensboxing match between #Tayor and #Serrano

36 Hours in #Reykjavik for @nytimes Featuring: @skal_rvk @seabaronrvk @prikid101 @hvammsvik Laugardalslaug Pool @mokkakaffi And more!