Isabella Gomez Sarmiento

The National Portrait Gallery unveiled its official portraits of Michelle and Barack Obama nearly two years ago. Since then, the gallery reports that attendance has nearly doubled.

Next summer, the portraits will hit the road to reach an even wider audience.

In Washington, D.C., dozens of people line up behind velvet ropes every day to admire artist Kehinde Wiley's interpretation of the former president. It features Obama sitting at the edge of a wooden chair, surrounded by lush foliage. Pink and white flowers are dispersed across the canvas.

On an unusually warm January afternoon, 28-year-old Icy Coomber attended a poster-making session for the fourth annual Women's March in Washington, D.C.

Unlike the friend she accompanied to the event, Coomber did not participate in any of the previous anti-Trump demonstrations. Three years ago, the first march drew hundreds of thousands of people to the nation's capital and hosted sister marches in cities around the world.

How do Inuits teach their kids not to get angry?

What is the story behind a practice known as "sex for fish" in Malawi?

And ... oh my heavens ... what have we humans done to the planet?

Stories in Goats and Soda that answered these questions were some of our most popular in 2019.

Here are our top 7 stories of the year, ranked by page views.

For people who live in food deserts, getting groceries can be a real challenge.

Yes, the Miss Universe pageant has its share of detractors. There is, for example, that swimsuit competition.

But then there is this year's winner to consider: Zozibini Tunzi of South Africa.

When Tunzi was crowned as the winner of the 2019 Miss Universe competition on Sunday night, she took a moment to speak about the importance of shifting antiquated beauty standards — and finally celebrating "black girl magic."

Evo Morales stepped down from the Bolivian presidency on Nov. 10, after the military asked him to do so, and fled to Mexico for asylum.

In the most northerly Canadian territory of Nunavut, grocery shopping is expensive.

Like, really expensive.

So much so that residents regularly post in a Facebook group called Feeding My Family to share photos of high prices at their local stores.

A package of vanilla creme cookies: $18.29. A bunch of grapes: $28.58. A container of baby formula: $26.99.

In 2005, when Mikael Chukwuma Owunna was 15 years old, he came out as gay on MySpace.

"There's a white man at the door."

In the new CBS comedy Bob Hearts Abishola, those words cause a flurry of concern for an immigrant Nigerian family living in Detroit.

"Tell me, when has that ever been good?" demands Auntie Olu, played by Shola Adewusi.

Before the members of Congolese music collective KOKOKO! take the stage at Washington, D.C.'s Rock & Roll Hotel, they slip into bright yellow jumpsuits.

The fashion choice, they explain, has utilitarian roots: That's what a lot of workers in Congo wear. Their instruments have a similar no-frills style — they were crafted from kitchen pots, tin cans and air-conditioner parts.

Editor's note: This story includes images that some readers may find disturbing.

Sherrine Petit Homme LaFrance was crying on the side of a road when China Laguerre spotted her.

Hurricane Dorian destroyed LaFrance's newly constructed house in Great Abaco Island on the northern edge of the Bahamas the same night she moved in. That was on Sept. 1.