… about. As I never hesitate to say, Europe wasn’t my area of study when I was a History undergrad, and then I switched to Literature for grad school, and long after to Mythological Studies.

But some events are really vivid. After a childhood in terror of a nuclear holocaust; after watching the TV news about the Berlin Wall going up when I was 13, in the presence of a family friend who lived a lot of European history herself — it was breathtaking to watch the Wall come down and the Soviet Union break apart as an adult. I can’t remember if I cried, but it was that monumental.

My husband remembers the agreement with the Ukrainians the same as I do, the one I mentioned in simple form at first. I only looked up the rest to make sure I was right. We have an obligation, we really do. And what I said about Uncle Sam’s word being degraded these days — yes, I believe that.