Dear TCL Readers:

Here we are, and summer is upon us. I write on my first full day as a student at the YIVO-Bard Uriel Weinreich Summer Program in Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture, spending the next six weeks immersing myself in all things Yiddish to get to a true sense of fluency. It is my literal mameloshen — mother tongue — because I’ve been hearing it from my mother since near-birth, and I understand Yiddish fluently. But because current and future projects require me to up my reading, writing, and conversation skills, this summer seemed like the time, finally, to take the plunge and do the program.

Needless to say, the YIVO Summer Program is a full-time endeavor and I plan on doing little else until it ends on July 31. (The universe may have other ideas, but I cannot, alas, control the universe.) I wish you all a good summer, and promise more updates in early August.

Until then, I remain,

The Crime Lady