People

The Public Engagement Specialist at the U.S. Embassy in Tallinn, Jane Susi, was presented with the Gill Jacot-Guillarmod Award by the Lois Roth Foundation and the U.S. Department of State for her outstanding contributions in educational and cultural diplomacy. “During her years at the Embassy, Jane has helped participants thrive...

Tere kõigile! My name is Liam Kivirist and I recently became a member of the Chicago Eesti Maja, but my grandparents (Aelita and Valdek Kivirist) were long-time members when they were living in Glenview. I grew up in an Estonian-American household and during the COVID pandemic, I took an interest...

“Tööle!” Liisi claps. In the early afternoon of Saturday, November 19, the New York Estonian House held its annual November Blood Sausage Workshop. Organized by Liisi Vanaselja Fletcher and Argo Paomere, the workshop attracted about twenty participants, with annual workshop regulars and a few fresh faces coming in from across...

American poet and translator Adam Cullen recently opened a tiny new bookstore-cafe in the coastal Estonian resort town of Haapsalu. What makes it especially unique is that the bookstore's selection focuses on Estonian fiction translated into foreign languages. Located in a wooden house on the corner of Posti and Vaba,...

In the September 8 issue, VES #34, Mrs Kristi Allpere wrote of her escape from Estonia to Sweden, and from there, after a residency of five years, emigrated to Canada on the MV PÄRNU. Our journey to the USA was similar, but also different. Similarly, we, my brother and I,...

New York-based designer, entrepreneur, and artist Valev Laube launched the limited NFT collection bringing his large-scale digital landscape to Rarible. New York City-based digital designer and entrepreneur Valev Laube is making a limited number of his large-scale digital landscape prints available as non-fungible tokens (NFT) on Rarible Marketplace, marking a...

August 14, 1936 – August 4, 2022 From a childhood in idyllic Tallinn, Estonia, cut short by the invading Soviet occupiers at the end of World War II, to a post-war Allied-controlled displaced persons camp in Germany, Dorothea (“Dodi”) faced an uncertain future. But in hindsight, her future was evident....

Paul Vesterstein is a genuine American success story. A native of Estonia, he came to America in 1949 with little more than hope, his innate talents and abilities, and a strong work ethic. He came from a displaced persons camp in Europe after WWII under the sponsorship of the Duluth...

Welcome to Stanford, Piret Ehin! Piret is a Professor of Comparative Politics at the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies at the University of Tartu, and she will be spending the next several weeks at Stanford carrying out a research project entitled "Varieties of global populism: the rise of the...

The Joint Baltic American National Committee, Inc. (JBANC) hosts a few interns during the year. Today, we profile Sophie May, who is working with the organization remotely – and intensively – during her university studies. She has been focusing on raising awareness about Russia’s war against Ukraine, and in helping...