Welcome to America Calling

America Calling explores the intersections of education, culture, and migration and the many ways movement shapes our lives.

At its core, this newsletter is about journeys: how we move through the world, why we cross borders, what we learn from new places and people, and how those experiences transform us. Sometimes those journeys are literal, involving travel, study abroad, immigration, or global careers. At other times, they are quieter and more personal journeys of identity, belonging, purpose, and change.

Drawing on my work as a researcher, writer, and longtime observer of global education and migration, I write about international students, higher education, immigration, culture, and the forces that connect people across countries and communities. I also share reflections on books, ideas, travel, entrepreneurship, and the natural world, topics that often illuminate the same questions from different angles.

You can expect a mix of original essays, commentary, storytelling, interviews, curated recommendations, and occasional glimpses behind the scenes of my own professional and creative journey. This Substack also draws on my award-winning memoir, America Calling: A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility.

Whether examining global trends in student mobility, reflecting on what migration teaches us about belonging, or finding unexpected lessons in a flock of geese overhead, America Calling is ultimately interested in what we learn through both our outer and inner journeys.

Thank you for reading and engaging.

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