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Discussing bigotry
In 1996 I worked in Linz, Austria as an English teaching assistant. The main job was at the BORG (Bundes-Oberstufenrealgymnasium), a high school for advanced, mostly college-bound students. On one of...
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Whisper-Talk-Sing-Scream
This is a fascinating collaboration spearheaded by Croatian visual artist Željka Blakšić (known in NYC, her current home, as Gita Blak). From the website: Originating from the need to reflect upon the...
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My daughter is a Marxist
My daughter blew my brain yesterday. She’s already a literary critic. Virtually every Lithuanian child, no matter where they live in the world, learns a poem-and-tickling-game called Virė virė košę by...
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Inside joke for Chicagoans
“Your full name is Karolis Gintaras Žukauskas?” the man asked. “If I were you, I’d change my name. This is America. It’s too hard to spell. I wouldn’t want to spell that name all the time. And all the...
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Junkie kids in Odessa
(WARNING: the included link leads to graphic photos of children depicted in states of tragedy.) I was deeply moved by these photographs, by Michal Novotný, of Odessa street kids. It is not simply that...
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Concert for Ukraine in Chicago
Saturday, March 28th at 7:00, my wife, Maria Storm, will be playing a benefit concert for Ukrainian relief organizations. The first half of the concert, in Chicago’s gorgeous Second Presbyterian...
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Decency amounted to naïveté: An interview with Leland Cheuk
Leland Cheuk has titled his novel The Misadventures of Sulliver Pong perhaps in jest. The novel is a faux prison memoir composed by Sulliver, or Sully, documenting four generations of mis-adventuring...
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Feeling the weight of history
The perpetrator and the victim learn the real truth, but the witness, the observer gains only an impression. The quality of that impression—is it stronger or weaker—to tell the truth, there’s no...
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I Am Lietuva (not me, personally)
I was recently interviewed by Alexsandra Kudukis of I Am Lietuva. She asked me one question that is, to date, the most difficult one I had to answer in any interview. The script is available in a...
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New essay published
The good folks at ReImagining Magazine have published their summer issue. My essay, An American Imposter, finds itself there. I spent a long time abroad this spring and summer, and got tired of having...
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Taco trucks: the shocking truth
Back when I was a kid growing up in Cicero, at that time almost equally (at least in my immediate neighborhood) made up of Eastern European and Mexican families, there were ways of expanding your...
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FAQs for Lithuanians
Before you send me your requests, please take a look here. You might save yourself some time. Hi, I’m Lithuanian, just like you. Can I have some stuff for free? Yes. You can get all the free toilet...
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Discussing bigotry
In 1996 I worked in Linz, Austria as an English teaching assistant. The main job was at the BORG (Bundes-Oberstufenrealgymnasium), a high school for advanced, mostly college-bound students. On one of...
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