Jul 8, 2022Why BorderlandsLife is full of borders. There are geographic lines on maps and barbed wire fences between countries, but there are also divisions between ideas, religion, politics, and culture. These spaces are all borderlands. Sometimes borders are like the 49th parallel, a highly fortified area separating the two Koreas–mined with missiles…Identity4 min readIdentity4 min read
Jul 1, 2022Finding your way by knowing yourselfEdith Eger had lived in three countries before she was 12. All without leaving the town in which she was born. With the fall of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, Kassa, a predominantly Hungarian town, was drawn within the borders of a new country and became Košice, Czechoslovakia. Facing discrimination from the…Borderlands3 min readBorderlands3 min read
Published inThe Motherload·Jun 24, 2022Strawberry Jam and the Process of RememberingMy grandma is a twin. I found this out as a teenager at a family picnic when I asked, “Grandma, where should I put the potato salad?” And was told by a woman who looked exactly like my grandma, “I’m not your Grandma.” She was born in the rural west…Grandmothers Love4 min readGrandmothers Love4 min read
Jun 18, 2022The Crossroads of Common GroundIntersectionality is a buzzword. Initially coined by legal scholar Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw as ‘a prism to bring light to dynamics within discrimination law that weren’t being appreciated by the courts’. The term has vaulted into modern vernacular to highlight the different experiences of the marginalized in society. …Intersectionality3 min readIntersectionality3 min read
Jun 4, 2022Loose StonesA rambling of thoughts on foundations — I recently visited my kids’ classrooms. Swiss schools have regular Besuchtage or visiting days when parents can drop in and have a peek into their children’s world. This was the first time I had been able to go post-Covid. When I arrived at the school, all the children were out…Schools4 min readSchools4 min read
May 21, 2022Do you have a ‘back pocket map’?Fátima Disla was struggling in school. Her classmates teased her for looking and speaking differently. She felt lost and disconnected. One night after noticing these feelings, her mother took out a map, pointed to the Dominican Republic, and told her daughter, ‘That’s where we come from — it’s a great…Borderlands2 min readBorderlands2 min read
May 6, 2022In the Green Lines of HumanityWhen the stakeholders of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Freedom of Religion and Belief (APPG for FORB) met in April, a major topic of the meeting was Nigeria. The Nigerian Humanist, Mubarak Bala, was recently sentenced to 24 years in prison. His crime was blasphemy. His weapon was social media…Religion2 min readReligion2 min read
Apr 29, 2022Am I Puerto Rican now?Our family landed in San Juan, Puerto Rico, one rainy evening in April. We were exhausted and bedraggled — having taken the train to Milan the day before, then flying 16 hours via Madrid. We handed our passports to the border guard. …Puerto Rico3 min readPuerto Rico3 min read
Apr 22, 2022To Bridge the ChasmHow bilingual immigrants navigate borderlands — At the conclusion of the second world war, Polish Cadet Michał Giedroyć was attending cadet training in Palestine when he received a letter from the British government urging him to return home and rebuild his country.[1] …Borderlands8 min readBorderlands8 min read
Published inThe Motherload·Oct 6, 2021“Where Do You Come From?” Is Often a Complex QuestionBut it no longer keeps me up at night. — When my daughter began Swiss primary school, she entered an integration program that involved several hours of German as a second language instruction in a separate class with other new students. …Expat4 min readExpat4 min read
