The average American news reader knows something about international refugees. For example, they might know which presidential candidate wants us to increase refugee intake and which vehemently opposes welcoming more into the country . Theyre also probably aware of the current Syrian refugee crisis , that a team of refugees competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and they have probably formed an opinion on what the United States should or shouldnt do to help.

Seldom heard in the conversation surrounding refugee issues, however, are intimate descriptions of what life is like for a single person displaced from their home country due to persecution or conflict. Its far too easy to think of refugees as a mass, as a series of numbers, statistics or policies.

How does a journalist find these personal stories? And how do the stories reach an audience? Sarah Glidden tackles these questions in a book of comics journalism that chronicles her 2010 trip to Turkey, Iraq and Syria, Rolling Blackouts . In it, she travels alongside a group of journalists and an Iraq War veteran to see how reporting works firsthand how sources are located, how stories unfold.

Along the way, Glidden meets with people who have had to leave their homes for various reasons. One couple left to avoid prison time for publishing things not approved by the Iranian government. Another girl, who left Iraq with her family after violence against Christians rose in her region, is shown waiting for hours for bimonthly food rations in Syria, at the time a place of refuge for Iraqis.