Keeping inspired and hopeful despite bad news
I woke up this morning to another radio news report of a huge layoff and bad economic statistics and found myself just wanting to turn off the radio. I believe it’s important to know what’s going on around the world, but too much bad news makes me weak.
All [...]

I have a bad habit when I get a new book to see how many pages it has. While reading, I calculate how much of the book I have read based on the total number of pages, wanting to know how accomplished I am or how close I am to the finish line. I want [...]

My New Years present
In Russian culture, New Years is the most important holiday of the year. Since Qataris don’t celebrate New Years as a holiday, I worked on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The champagne at the hotel was way to expensive, so I didn’t have a requisite glass of bubbly for [...]

(Qatari boys wearing the tradition thobe/dish dash.)
When preparing to go to Qatar, I did some research into what I would have to wear. Relieved, I found out that I didn’t have to dress from head to toe in a black abaya (long black robe) and hijab (headscarf), but that all the local women would wear [...]

A few days before leaving for Doha, Qatar, I asked the US Embassy if I could give a speech or workshop to the Ministry of Education, a university, or association of foreign language teachers about my book, Language is Music, and easy foreign language learning methodology using music. One or two days before leaving, I [...]

(I gave this speech in Doha, Qatar last month at the Doha International Book Fair while on a panel about interactions between US and Arab cultures. The US was the country of honor at the fair.)
Thank you to His Excellency Ahmed AL KUWARI and to the Director of the National Library Mr. Abdullah ANSARI for [...]

I am a Russian Jew who came to the US via an Israeli visa and I am appalled at the Israeli attacks on Gaza and defiance of calls for a ceasefire.
I am not a politician or military commander and I care about the people on both sides because I see how I am closely [...]