Tending a Garden and Her Dreams
Salsabel Al Masri’s garden was the center of her world. She and her five brothers spent every day after school chasing each other among the olive, orange, apple,
Author: Dora Totoian
Painting his way around the world
On a Wednesday afternoon in 2003, Samir Khurshid burned his own painting. The rest of his 480 works were also destroyed that year, he said, in his hometown of Tus, […]
The Journey of a Lifetime
When 25-year-old Nader Rezvani saw the Statue of Liberty from a tourist boat in 1963, he recalled the poem inscribed on the statue’s pedestal and thought,
Yilan to Portland, a Lucky Life
In 1960, Chang-Shee Chang’s pharmacology lab partner promised him a date with the runner-up of Miss Taiwan. He eagerly accepted. Alone in the theater
Soñando más allá de las fronteras
“No tengo papeles.” Liliana Luna miró la oportunidad de ir a la universidad desvanecerse. El consejero de la preparatoria repentinamente abrió su cajón
Dreaming Beyond Borders
“I don’t have papers.” With this admission, Liliana Luna saw her chances for college slip away. The high school counselor who was advising her suddenly gathered
Creating New Narratives
When Naskah Zada immigrated from Iraq to the U.S. in the fall of 1997, she was expecting to eat pizza in front of a big-screen television in either a mansion […]
Around the World Through Music
Every morning, Monday through Saturday, 14-year-old Kim Mai Nguyen woke up at 5:45 a.m. She dashed out the door at 6:20 a.m. to catch the subway. By the end of […]
Education Triumphs Over Nationalism
On his first day of Second Grade in 1992, Flamur Vehapi arrived at his school to see soldiers barricading the entrance, declaring, “No more school for you.”