I wrote this post while still in Europe: We've been in Europe for over a month now. Matt and I planned this trip for a whole year. We...

A few years ago, I decided to make a documentary about my maternal grandmother after she fell and broke her hip. The incident reminded me...

If you think you have free will, think twice. Nothing you see in the grocery store is there because someone thought of your health or cultur

"There are only two seasons here," said someone I recently met in Tucson, "heaven and hell." I have experienced both. Winter is...

“You’ll all pass,” I announced to my students at the beginning of the semester. “I want to live,” I added, giggling. I was joking, but I...

Our life made it easy not to use water and because everyone lived the same, there was nothing unusual about our relationship to it.

And while the Belarusians get to have their peace, Lukashenko is co-plotting with Putin to end the world as we know it.

As an immigrant, you always want to go back. The umbilical cord between you and your motherland is stronger than any distance or time....

Coming home is like coming to a waterhole. You are thirsty, and it is the only waterhole you know. You might get killed by an alligator or..

To buy a car, I hired a lawyer and a mechanic. To register it without a permanent resident card, I bribed government officials. I was...

Growing up in a country with no economy, progress meant money. Money to buy salt and flour. Money to buy a second pair of pants. Money to...

When there's no more words from my childhood, I'll leave too. When there's no more sounds from the bison, I'll be silent too. When the...

I never dated a man from my country or even Eastern Europe. It was intentional - I just never thought I could respect a guy from that...

I don’t remember what I was doing when I first heard about the protests in Belarus last summer but I do remember how shocked I felt....

The little wooden house, painted in yellow and blue, is her haven. It is surrounded by birch trees, an apple orchard, plum trees, and...

In the last year of my doctoral program, I started waking up exhausted. I had a cold sore after a cold sore on and around my lips. I...

I didn't care about immigrants, I wanted to become an émigré. An émigré exiled from her home by a dictatorship or war. An émigré...