Linda Strange
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Military Service? Impossible!

Military Service? Impossible!

November 12, 2022 · by Linda Strange · in Russia

When I taught English in Russia in the late 1990’s, my main place of employment was the Tolyatti Pedagogical Institute,…

Devon is Dry

Devon is Dry

August 28, 2022 · by Linda Strange · in England, USA

The rains came after a week of heat. Finally. Thank God. Prior to their arrival it was baking and Devon,…

My Cousin in California

My Cousin in California

December 2, 2018 · by Linda Strange · in Finland, USA

On November 9th, two weeks after my cousin in Pittsburgh, in her post-shooting gloom, bowed out of all social media,…

My Cousin in Pittsburgh

My Cousin in Pittsburgh

November 4, 2018 · by Linda Strange · in USA

On October 29th, two days after a gunman burst into a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pa. and shot eleven people dead,…

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

October 9, 2018 · by Linda Strange · in USA

If you’d asked me before the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings how I felt about them, I’d probably have told you I…

Hot, Hot, Hot

Hot, Hot, Hot

August 13, 2018 · by Linda Strange · in England, France, USA

You knew it before you got there, knew it if you’re one of those people who checks weather.com before you…

Fathers, Sheisters, and Other New Yorkers Who Shall Not Remain Blameless

Fathers, Sheisters, and Other New Yorkers Who Shall Not Remain Blameless

June 14, 2018 · by Linda Strange · in USA

A look at the calendar tells me that Father’s Day is here again. Father’s Day these days, other than being…

The Future is Now

The Future is Now

April 26, 2018 · by Linda Strange · in Mexico, Syria, USA

If you’d asked me a few years ago, only a few, whether or not I ever read dystopian fiction, I…

Merit Pay, Anyone?

Merit Pay, Anyone?

March 3, 2018 · by Linda Strange · in USA

I wasn’t going to weigh in on this because, well, everyone else has, and what am I going to say…

Gina

Gina

December 30, 2017 · by Linda Strange · in Italy, USA

Rainer Maria Rilke was an Austro-Hungarian writer who was born, wrote, and died a long time ago. He was most…

Wallis, This One's for You

Wallis, This One’s for You

December 2, 2017 · by Linda Strange · in England, USA

Finally, some good news for a change. Amidst the debacle of “tax reform” and what appears to be rampant sexual…

The End of the World

The End of the World

September 26, 2017 · by Linda Strange · in Caribbean, England, Mexico, USA

In the nearly twenty years I’ve been teaching in the US public schools, I’ve had quite a few kids walk…

Spread the Word

Spread the Word

April 22, 2017 · by Linda Strange · in Italy

Venice is a city of illusions: illusions of water and light, of time and space, of stillness and movement. Looking…

Persistence

Persistence

February 24, 2017 · by Linda Strange · in Germany, Russia, USA

In our elementary school, we start teaching children about character traits in the third grade. We teach them to recognize…

To The Barricade

To The Barricade

January 22, 2017 · by Linda Strange · in USA

I never marched in a demonstration before yesterday. I don’t like crowds much, or noise, or commotion. I’m a stay-at-home-with-a-book…

2017: Brace For Impact

2017: Brace For Impact

January 1, 2017 · by Linda Strange · in England, Finland, France, Germany, USA

At the beginning of the Second World War in Europe, there was a period of time, eight months and one…

Election Week 2016

Election Week 2016

November 14, 2016 · by Linda Strange · in USA

Last week didn’t begin well. On Monday afternoon, we had to hospitalize our cat, Socrates. He’d been battling pancreatitis at…

Where You Can Put Your Putin

Where You Can Put Your Putin

September 18, 2016 · by Linda Strange · in Russia, USA

No one could love Russia more than I do. You have to love a country where the cabbie taking you home…

A Little History

A Little History

July 31, 2016 · by Linda Strange · in England, Germany, USA

They say if you don’t know your history, you’re doomed to repeat it and this certainly seems to be what’s…

A Cruel June

A Cruel June

June 17, 2016 · by Linda Strange · in Uncategorized

It goes on. Last Sunday morning we woke up to read about yet another mentally ill individual who went out…

Lists

Lists

December 31, 2015 · by Linda Strange · in France, Germany, Syria, USA

As another year draws to its close and the next one edges near, there seems to be in both the…

Living in America

Living in America

December 14, 2015 · by Linda Strange · in USA

There are many things I could write about as the dark and confusing year of 2015 draws to its close,…

The Long Walk Across Europe

The Long Walk Across Europe

September 29, 2015 · by Linda Strange · in England, Germany, Greece, Syria

In December of 1933, a young man set out from England on a great adventure. His intention was to walk…

Living in America

Living in America

December 15, 2012 · by Linda Strange · in Uncategorized

There have been days since my father and mother passed away three-and-a-half years and a year ago respectively when the…

September 11th

September 11th

September 19, 2012 · by Linda Strange · in USA

And so another anniversary of the September 11th bombing of the World Trade Center has come and gone replete with…

Spanish Flames

Spanish Flames

September 5, 2012 · by Linda Strange · in Spain

As if they needed anything else to go wrong, the country of Spain has this last week been battling yet…

The Pip Squeak Sikh

The Pip Squeak Sikh

August 15, 2012 · by Linda Strange · in USA

Several years ago, on the first day of school, a young child was delivered by their mother to the class…

Author

Portrait photo of Linda Strange

All countries are strange, none stranger than your own.

January 2023
I am delighted to announce that Glass Mountain Literary Magazine has published my short story Retention in their current issue. You can read the story here.
September 2022
Watch a video of me reading a live version of a blog about the Berlin Wall, The Wall I Knew.
July 2022
Watch a video of me reading a live version of my blog, The Last of the Best.
May 2022
I’m excited to announce three pieces of my writing have recently been published. What Ever Happened to Igor, an essay in Pangyrus, is about a study trip I took to Ukraine in 1985 with a group of Finns and Swedes. Igor was a young Ukrainian-Swedish man from Stockholm who was going to meet his father in Kyiv, a father he hadn’t seen in twenty years. Want to watch a video of me reading the essay? Click here. Will They Make it Home Again?, another essay in Pangyrus, explores the relationship between the images of World War Two childhood evacuations recorded in select works of European literature and the images of evacuation we now see on our television screens from Ukraine. Click here to watch the video.
Finally, The Longest Day, is a short story published in the 2022 Freshwater Literary Journal. It details the experience of a young non-English speaking Cape Verdean girl, Gee, on her first day in an American inner-city school. It is an account of Gee’s first encounter with her new ESL teacher and the safe space this teacher creates for Gee to express her true emotions. Watch a You Tube video of me speaking with Georbina DaRosa, the real-life inspiration for my story.

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