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Blog
I see a blog as a type of open dialogue, or open diary, that a writer shares with her reader. Please forgive me if I do not post as regularly as I should, but I will do my best to keep you updated on my life, my thoughts, my projects.
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Laima Vince
Swimming in the Rhine
I am content beyond reason here in Konstanz, where I will work as a postdoc researcher at the Zentrum für Kulturwissenschaftliche...
Laima Vince
Sep 6, 20241 min read
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One Woman’s Quest to Reclaim Her African Spirituality
By Laima VincÄ— Photos by Laima VincÄ— Muthoni Mahinda, Diani Beach, Kenya, February 2023 An enormous baobab tree grows on Muthoni...
Laima Vince
Apr 5, 202417 min read
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The Ten Courageous Women of Shiraz
Forty years ago, on June 18, 1983, ten innocent Bahai women were hanged in Iran for not renouncing their faith. Today, their courage is...
Laima Vince
Jun 12, 20231 min read
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Salem Satanists and Ukraine
Having taught Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" many times in Literature classes, it seemed a shame I'd never visited Salem, Massachusetts,...
Laima Vince
Nov 1, 20222 min read
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Compassionate Linguistics: Learning Ukrainian as Resistance to Russia’s War
Compassionate linguistics is the desire to learn another’s language out of a sense of empathy, support, and mutual respect. I came up...
Laima Vince
May 25, 202224 min read
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Safe Place: An Interview with Ukrainian Poet Yuliya Musakovska from Lviv, Ukraine by Laima Vince
Artwork by Alyona Zhuk SAFE PLACE Are you in a safe place? — This sounds like a prayer, repeated over and over since February 24, 2022 to...
Laima Vince
May 3, 20227 min read
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The "Good Russian"
Sandra had written to me a few days ago that there was a missile struck in her town. I called her this morning to ask how she was doing...
Laima Vince
Apr 15, 20229 min read
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Support Ukraine: A Lithuanian Grassroots Humanitarian Aid Organization
In the early morning hours of February 24, 2022, Neringa PetrauskaitÄ— was woken by the alarm on her iPhone. Like many young Lithuanian...
Laima Vince
Apr 13, 202214 min read
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Sofia had three daughters: Hope, Faith, and Love…
Svetlana is a professional, a wife, and a mother. She chose to remain in Ukraine after Russia invaded Ukraine and started its brutal war...
Laima Vince
Apr 12, 20228 min read
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Checking In
Two weeks ago, I’d spoken with Katya from Mykolaiv, who now lives in Norway. I called again today to check in and see how things were...
Laima Vince
Apr 3, 20229 min read
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This is What Pain Feels Like
From the diary of a 16-year-old girl named Katya, Mariupol, Ukraine We all lived together in one cellar. In that cellar we all went to...
Laima Vince
Apr 3, 20222 min read
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A War of Mentalities
Today I spoke for two hours with Sandra, a young woman in her early twenties, who is a doctoral student in Economics at Taras Shevchenko...
Laima Vince
Mar 26, 202213 min read
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To Leave or to Stay?
On Wednesday, March 23rd, the Russians bombed Kyiv yet again. I was worried about Alina, whom I’d just spoken to on Tuesday, and who had...
Laima Vince
Mar 24, 20227 min read
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The Past Meets with the Future: Russia’s Barbaric War Against Ukraine
As I spoke with Alina in central Kyiv on the evening of March 23rd, her husband kept an eye on the skies and his ears open for Russian...
Laima Vince
Mar 23, 202210 min read
258 views
1 comment
Escaping Russian Terror in Ukraine
Millions of Ukrainian women and children have been forced to flee their homes. This is just one story out of many untold tales... A woman...
Laima Vince
Mar 19, 20225 min read
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Goodwill on the Border with Poland
Today I spoke with Nadya, a 47-year-old woman who lives in the border town of Sokol, Ukraine. With a population of roughly 20,000,...
Laima Vince
Mar 17, 20225 min read
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Open Your Eyes, Clear the Skies...
I spoke on the phone today with Ana in Ukraine’s fourth largest city, Dnipro, as she was preparing to hide with her four-year-old son in...
Laima Vince
Mar 17, 20223 min read
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Children of the Ice: A Solo Performance by BirutÄ— Mar
In 1939 Nazi Germany invaded the Lithuanian city of KlaipÄ—da and occupied the Baltic Sea coast region. In June 1940 the Soviet Union...
Laima Vince
Feb 24, 20224 min read
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The Poet: The Life of SalomÄ—ja NÄ—ris (1904-1945) Expressed Through her Diary and Poems -- A Play
Lithuanian actress BirutÄ— Mar has perfected the genre of the solo performance. In her play, PoetÄ— (The Poet), which premiered April 20,...
Laima Vince
Feb 17, 20223 min read
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Finding my great-great grandparents' grave, Jutkonys, Lithuania...
This journey began in 2016 with the passing of my great aunt, my grandmother's sister, Elena ÄŒiurlytÄ— Barnet (1923 - 2016). When my...
Laima Vince
Oct 27, 20215 min read
235 views
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Translating Master Jin Mok's book on Kouksundo into English
Translation is a road between cultures. Today I had the great honor of meeting Master Jin Mok, Kouksundo Master, and son of Kouksundo...
Laima Vince
Oct 25, 20211 min read
234 views
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BirutÄ— Galdikas: "Without a spiritual attitude, the research you do simply does not work."
Birute Galdikas has dedicated fifty years to working in the field in Borneo, observing orangutans in their natural habitat. Today this...
Laima Vince
Oct 21, 20212 min read
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About the Creation of the Book of Love Letters: "Those Unforgettable Years," Edited by Laima VincÄ—
This morning, my mother, Aldona Simutytė Sruoginienė, sent a photo of our close friend, Nijolė Bražėnaitė Lukšienė Paronetto, holding her...
Laima Vince
Oct 13, 20216 min read
275 views
1 comment
1984
As I was driving to the homestead of the anti-Soviet resistance fighter and writer, Juozas Lukša, to attend his 100-year anniversary...
Laima Vince
Oct 13, 20213 min read
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A Lost Letter from Weight Watchers, 1975
This letter was shared with me by Liz Jaroslaw from San Francisco. Her father was the founder of Weight Watchers. Apparently, her father...
Laima Vince
Oct 13, 20211 min read
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Apie Nijolės Bražėnaitės ir Juozo Lukšos Meilės Laiškus ir Laikmetį...
Kalbėjausi vakar telefonu su Nijolė Bražėnaitė Niujorke. Ji džiaugiasi, kad išleidau jos ir Juozo Lukšos meilės laiškų knygą, „Apie anuos...
Laima Vince
Sep 30, 20214 min read
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A Play That Engages the Full Palette of the Human Soul
Last night I was invited to Solo Theater's premier, "Motinos Pienas" (Mother's Milk), based on the best selling novel by Latvian writer,...
Laima Vince
Sep 30, 20212 min read
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Antigone and Belarus
Perhaps the best way to witness the ancient Greek tragedy, "Antigone" is in the driving rain and cold wind as I did on Friday in the...
Laima Vince
Sep 26, 20212 min read
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Parallel Lives: October 9, 2020
Perhaps it is because I am a writer, and much of a writer’s work is to revise and to edit, I am continually tempted to revise my life, to...
Laima Vince
Oct 14, 20206 min read
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A Return To My Formative Years: Visiting the Lithuanian Gymnasium: October 5, 2020
Today I drove out to the Litauisches Gymnasium in Hüttenfeld, a small village in the Lampertheim region. I visited with Marytė Šmitienė,...
Laima Vince
Oct 9, 20208 min read
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We Have Not Yet Concluded Our Conversation, Wiesbaden, October 3, 2020
This morning I woke up to a glow of pink coming through the skylight in the dormer over my bed. I went into the kitchen and opened the...
Laima Vince
Oct 5, 20208 min read
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When Will I Be Free from History? Dresden, Saxony, East Germany, October 2, 2020
I awoke in my hotel room and it took a minute for me to get my bearings straight. I was in East Germany, the former DDR. This weekend all...
Laima Vince
Oct 4, 20205 min read
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Arriving in Germany from the Hinterlands of Europe
October 1, 2020 Yesterday, just shy of 10:00 pm, I rolled into the parking lot of Hotel Aviv in Dresden, after thirteen hours of driving....
Laima Vince
Oct 3, 20208 min read
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My Determination to Vote...
This is how determined I am to vote Trump out of office in the November 2020 Presidential Election... I am in Lithuania, so I need to...
Laima Vince
Sep 23, 20203 min read
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Tikhanovskaya's Press Secretary Talks About the Protests in Belarus at Vilnius Univeristy
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya’s Press Secretary, Anna Krasulina, Talks About the Situation in Belarus at Vilnius University Saturday, August...
Laima Vince
Sep 5, 20204 min read
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Joining Hands For Freedom
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya heading into her first press conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, on August 21, 2020. On Sunday 52,000 people in...
Laima Vince
Aug 27, 20202 min read
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A School Trip to Minsk in 2009
On Sunday I participated in the Freedom Way, a peaceful protest where people in Lithuania linked hands from Vilnius to the border of...
Laima Vince
Aug 25, 20206 min read
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The People of Belarus Protest for Their Freedom
When I translated Lithuanian resistance leader Juozas Lukša’s memoir of the resistance against the Soviet occupation of Lithuania in...
Laima Vince
Aug 23, 20201 min read
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