First off, I want to share a great panel about the crisis for the people of Artsakh in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh hosted by the Nanovic Institute for European Studies at the University of Notre Dame, which you can watch or listen to in retrospect. I recommend it! I…

For my dissertation, I examine a largely unstudied communist policy and phenomenon in southern Albania whereby the communist leader, Enver Hoxha (pronounced hodja), both formally recognized the Greek minority in some parts of today’s southern Albania and repressed them in others when the communist regime came to power in 1945. …

I met Caroline Seebohm in a van in rural India. We were squished together in the front seat — she, for her age and dignity, and me for my less dignified propensity toward car sickness. I had just arrived to teach at a school called Shanti Bhavan, and the foreign…

You are only free when you realize you belong no place — you belong every place — no place at all. The price is high. The reward is great. — Maya Angelou Having studied Albanian formally alongside my Ph.D. work for over a year, I often get asked whether I…

One way to cure jet lag is to go straight to a standing room-only, semi-final football match in a village in Greece. This year was the professional football club Asteras Tripolis’ first year to add a women’s team, in more than 100 years, but no one can say the fans…

I witnessed Mary Trachian-Bradley and Miguel E. Gonzalez get married last year. It was beautiful, intimate, and ultimately, a party. The day of preparation was intensely chaotic because Mary’s phone was dead (conveniently), but the event was also full of love and so much laughter since Mary is Mary. It…

A good cup of coffee can be hard to find for newcomers to any city. This is true in Tirana even with it’s central coffee scene — the cultural product of both Ottoman-era cafes and Italian-style coffee. Ottoman cafés were about much more than coffee. These coffeehouses provided a social…

Buried a(nother) phenomenal person yesterday. A lifelong scholar and teacher (aka “Miz Amme”), an ever-present mother, grandmother and great-grandmother (aka “Mema”) and one of my personal role models, Jane Amme, departed last weekend, at the impressive age of 85 — but still long before her friends, colleagues, and family would…

My grandma passed away, just before Christmas, with complications from COVID-19. Despite her impressive age, I was not ready. We lost her much too soon. I had dreamed of drafting an obituary with, not for her. Even more than my rosy memories of perfection with her as a child, I…