Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein

Chicago

Writer and Editor at Freelance

Senior Managing Editor @SAPIENS_org; writer & editor, language lover, arts & culture; #walking #poetry #nature alum @theworld @globalvoices

Articles

Can Virtual Reality Reconnect a Lost Heritage? – SAPIENS

2 months ago | sapiens.org | Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein

The Traveling Treasures project puts Liberians directly in touch with dispersed cultural heritage through immersive technologies.
Jewish American delis: A story of culture, community and survival

Feb 28, 2024 | theworld.org | Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein

On a recent Friday afternoon at Kaufman’s Bagel and Delicatessen, in Skokie, Illinois, people lined up and waited patiently at the no-nonsense deli counter to place their orders. A toasted sesame bagel with slices of salty lox and chive cream cheese with a tomato slice. A thinly sliced corned beef on rye with extra yellow mustard. A pound of tuna salad. A few warm potato knishes for the road. This place, with a deli on one side and an abundant bakery on the other, has it all.
American World War II doctor in Italy captures scenes of wartime beyond the front lines

Nov 9, 2023 | theworld.org | Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein

On a scorching-hot day in Naples, Italy, this past summer, I tried to picture my grandfather, Dr. Manuel E. Lichtenstein, walking these same bustling streets during wartime. A bustling street in Naples, Italy, July 2023. Did he get lost in the maze of this ancient port city? Walk these same arched alleyways with views of the sea? Pass this same quiet window with the curtain blowing in the midday heat? An open window on a quiet street in Naples, Italy, July 2023.
Tibetan monks on tour in US as China continues to restrict religion in Tibet

Sep 19, 2023 | msn.com | Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein

In early September, inside a sun-filled room at the Lake Street Church in Evanston, Illinois, a group of traveling Tibetan Buddhist monks are seated on the floor, leaning over a blank, blue canvas. They’re plotting the creation of an elaborate sand mandala for world peace. The seven monks with Drepung Gomang Monastery in Karnataka, India, are on a “sacred arts tour” this month in the US, visiting nine cities through the end of November.
Tibetan monks on tour in US as China continues to restrict religion in Tibet

Sep 18, 2023 | theworld.org | Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein

In early September, inside a sun-filled room at the Lake Street Church in Evanston, Illinois, a group of traveling Tibetan Buddhist monks are seated on the floor, leaning over a blank, blue canvas. The monks contemplate their design on day one of the process. They’re plotting the creation of an elaborate sand mandala for world peace. The seven monks with Drepung Gomang Monastery in Karnataka, India, are on a “sacred arts tour” this month in the US, visiting nine cities through the end of November.
World’s faith leaders convene to ‘fight against authoritarianism’

Aug 17, 2023 | theworld.org | Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein

The sounds of the divine rang out from everywhere this week at McCormick Place in Chicago as hundreds of thousands of religious and spiritual leaders convened for the 2023 Parliament of the World's Religions. It’s the largest and oldest interfaith gathering in the world. With rising religious extremism and nationalism around the world, from Brazil to India to the US, the focus of this year’s conference was authoritarianism. Mohammad A.
A ‘green road’ leads displaced Ukrainians to shelter in ecovillages

Jul 17, 2023 | theworld.org | Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein

When Iryna Kazakova rolled her suitcase down the gravel road last month into Hallingelille, an ecovillage located about 6 miles outside of Ringsted, Denmark, she was greeted with warm hugs. Kazakova had just returned to Denmark after a two-month stay back home in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, in Ukraine, where she was visiting her parents. Kazakova had fled the city, located just 20 miles from the border with Russia, last summer after it had become a major target of attacks.
Danish folk high schools offer lessons in peace in times of war

Jun 26, 2023 | theworld.org | Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein

Marta Kostiv quickly finished up lunch in the dining hall before heading off to class at the International People’s College, a residential school located on a tree-studded campus in Elsinore, a historic town just an hour by train from the capital, Copenhagen. Hallways here are adorned with photos of the hundreds of international students who have attended the school since its opening over 100 years ago, and each corridor is named after a different part of the world.
Denmark welcomes Ukrainians under special law - with an expiration date

Jun 22, 2023 | theworld.org | Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein

On a sunny evening in Hvidovre, a quiet suburb of Copenhagen, Denmark, Tanya Herasymova enjoyed coffee and pastries with about a dozen other Ukrainians who fled the war at home with Russia. She said she comes regularly with her mom to this makeshift café for refugees, which was organized by the Danish Red Cross inside a cozy, community space in the Filmbyen area. Herasymova, a disability rights advocate who uses a wheelchair, is originally from Kamianske, a city in eastern Ukraine.
'The muses are not silent': Ukraine House in Denmark offers space for arts, cultural exchange and dialogue

Jun 22, 2023 | theworld.org | Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein

Ukraine House in Denmark overlooks the stunning waterfront in Christianshavn, the heart of Copenhagen, with the flags of both Ukraine and Denmark waving out front. Co-founder Nataliya Popovych hopes that visitors — Ukrainians and Danes alike — will come to the newly minted space to learn more about Ukrainian arts, culture and history. Ukraine House opened its doors on Feb. 24, on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.