About this blog

Hello world!

Welcome to Voices!  Voices is a collection of interviews with the many and diverse people I've been so lucky to meet and become friends with over the years, including people of diverse nationalities, backgrounds, and faiths.  I hope through reading the stories of these amazing people, you will have a chance to get to know someone you might not otherwise get to meet.

Why do these interviews?  This is my personal attempt to light a candle in the darkness against the rising tide of intolerance and fear I see building in the western world today.  So many people have learned to fear the "other side", whether that "other side" is defined by politics, nationality, faith, etc.  And while this is not always the case, often people have never had the chance to meet or interact with that other side.  It's pretty hard to develop empathy for someone you've never met before - it's a heck of a lot easier to just believe in the cartoons the media and other sources paint for us.  Sometimes those sources may be the only picture we ever get of a people.

I've been pretty insanely lucky - I was lucky enough to get a graduate degree, and then lucky enough to get my graduate degree in a pretty amazingly diverse department, school, and city.  I have learned so much from the people I met during that time.  I've been lucky - I know a good fraction of the people in my country just won't get the chances I've had to meet the wide spectrum of people I've encountered in just a few years.

Although it's not nearly as great as meeting these wonderful people in person, I hope to give the wider world some way to know them through these interviews.  If you, the reader, come away surprised to discover another layer of a faith you never new existed, find an unexpected connection with someone who comes from a completely different continent, or simply learn something new, I will consider this blog a success!

So, dear reader, enjoy these stories and these people!  Perhaps someday I will have the distinct privilege of meeting you too. :)

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