“Say it louder,” the groom’s father teased the young couple. The timid “I do’s” barely registered in the high-ceilinged Odesa wedding hall. I looked at the empty rows of chairs and fought back tears. My cousin’s friends didn’t come to her wedding. They left Ukraine to escape the air raids. […]

Naina, a litigation associate and Joshua, a resident ENT surgeon, met in their first week as freshman at the University of Maryland College Park. Joshua was eating with his roommate in the basement lounge of their dorm when Naina approached them and introduced herself, with a bowl of popcorn in […]