Ellen Albanese

Jun 27, 2024 | bostonglobe.com | Ellen Albanese

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — High above the city, the Indian Canyons are a place far removed from the bustle below. Down there, golfers flock to impossibly green lawns, visitors bask in the city’s legendary sunshine, and mid-century modern architecture fans gawk at homes once owned by the likes of Frank Sinatra. Up here, the landscape is scrubby and spare, the buildings are primitive, and the quiet is almost eerie.

Dec 7, 2023 | bostonglobe.com | Ellen Albanese

AMSTERDAM — On a residential street, just steps from our hotel, four shiny brass plaques embedded in the sidewalk caught our attention. Each one, the size of a cobblestone, was engraved with the name of someone who had been forcibly taken from their home — the very home we stood in front of — during the Nazi regime. Four people, all with the same surname, but born in two different generations.