Postcard from Verona
I was born in the hometown of Romeo and Juliet. Every day on my way to school, I used to walk past the famous balcony where Shakespeare has the pair exchange passionate v... »
Anna Perlini
Painting a rainbow from life’s darkest storm
I first learned about Fu-Hua Chuang when my family and I watched a documentary that featured several severely disabled yet talented young people. I was struck by the radi... »
Life as a climb
The other day, some friends took me on what I thought would be a short climb. We parked the car and took a look at the summit. We got out our climbing gear and started pu... »
Lost in my hometown
I thought the move was going to be a simple change of scenery, possibly requiring some minor adjustments at most. After all, I was returning to my home country, already k... »
Anti-fear therapy
I was cleaning up my brushes and paint cans after some volunteers and I finished painting a large mural for the local Sunday school when Maxim passed me a note: I was rea... »
A working alternative
I first met Ivan in 1995 while collecting aid in Italy for delivery to refugee camps in Croatia and Bosnia. I remember his smile and warm handshake. It was a few years be... »
Notebooks and planners
Ever since my school days, one of my greatest thrills has been to start a new notebook. That first nice-smelling white page, all clean and perfect, without wrinkles or de... »
Shiny red apples
Christmas 1984 was our family’s third Christmas away from Europe, and the remote village in eastern India where we had moved to help as volunteers had become a second hom... »
Riverside walk
Long discussions regarding possible changes made the future seem foggier by the day. Several years earlier, my husband and I, together with a few friends, had founded a h... »
Tribute to a butterfly
Andja was born in 1962 in the former Yugoslavian republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. When war broke out in the 1990s, Andja’s family fled as refugees to Vojnic, a small t... »
The love of colors
One of the first presents I remember receiving was a small set of tempera paints. Later came a set of oil paints, a tripod, and some canvas. I remember my first “masterpi... »