I became a journalist in 2009 for one reason: I wanted to focus my work in a field that promoted social justice. Prior to that, I was working in technology, a much more lucrative field given the presence of foreign … Read more
In November 2022, I saw my former home in Kyiv in flames on live TV following a Russian missile attack. Moscow was targeting energy infrastructure across Ukraine to cause blackouts, often by firing up to 100 missiles at once to … Read more
The trip to Angola was an indelible journey. It wasn’t the first time I had traveled to Africa, but this trip was different. I was there as a journalist. I was there on a mission. It wasn’t about me taking … Read more
Day at our house in the northeastern part of Bangladesh would break with a rally of sounds. First, it was Azan, the call to prayer from the mosque. Then came my dad’s recitation from the Holy Quran, tinkling sounds from … Read more
My parents grew up in the 1960s and 1970s in East Harlem, New York City, when it was especially precarious for people living in that neighborhood. A national recession and a local fiscal crisis pushed the city to the brink … Read more
“I am at home everywhere, and nowhere. I am never a stranger and I never quite belong.” That quote by Belgian writer Georges Simenon hung above my 10th grade English teacher’s desk when I was in high school in Dubai, … Read more
When I was a little kid, there was a game I used to play for hours and hours. To my parents and siblings, it looked like I was wandering around our front yard in Maine, muttering to myself, but I … Read more
“We probably shouldn’t hire you,” the co-bureau chief said near the end of our interview. I couldn’t argue as she went through the reasons — I was new to the continent and South Africa and didn’t speak any of the … Read more
In November of 2017, I made the unpopular decision to move back home to Venezuela. Most people are going in the other direction. More than 5.6 million Venezuelans have left the country, including most of my own family, … Read more
“Why do I do what I do?” they asked. So, I went to the source of all wisdom to contemplate my place in the world: folk singer Todd Snider, the barefoot poet laureate of me. A man once said that … Read more