The Local Sweden • 1st May 2019

'Brexit isn't just a concern for British citizens in Sweden'

Each time I speak to or read about a British citizen in Sweden scurrying to obtain Swedish citizenship, I can't help but repeat to myself the proverb, "There but for the grace of God go I." Not for religious reasons, but because I'm a US citizen living in Sweden.

The Local Sweden • 5th April 2019

Eight books that tell hidden stories from Sweden's history

From a Swedish codebreaker to a colony of conscientious objectors in Sweden, and quite a bit in between, these are not your average history books.

The Local Sweden • 4th March 2019

How we learned to embrace our awkward existence as a multicultural family in Sweden

A couple of beers made us realize we might never exactly "fit in" in Sweden. But in our third year here, we have come to terms with being different.

The Local Sweden • 17th January 2019

Facing the January blues as an immigrant family in Sweden

As much as I love living in Sweden, come January, it's unfailingly one of the most depressing places I've ever been. I've experienced the so-called January blues in other places, of course. In Scotland, for instance, it was demoralizing to watch the sun skim the horizon for the few precious hours of daylight. In Chicago, hibernation seemed the only option when faced with mountains of snow and temperatures

The Local Sweden • 25th September 2018

Where do multinational families like mine belong amid growing nationalism?

The recent election here in Sweden reinforced something I've known for a long time: as a multinational family, no matter where we live, there will always be people who believe we don't belong. And we've got it good compared to so many others, whose nationality, race, or religion give rise to even stronger antipathies among xenophobes.

The Local Sweden • 1st August 2018

Unravelling the mysteries of immigrant life in Sweden

After two years in Sweden, I've come to the conclusion that I will never write a book entitled, "The Immigrant's Fast Track to a Perfect Life in Sweden". If I were to write a book based on my experiences, it would be more along the lines of "The Immigrant’s Guide to Slowly Figuring Out How Things Work in Sweden".

The Local Sweden • 5th June 2018

My children will have advantages in Sweden I may never have myself

One of the paradoxes of being an immigrant is that the very things that draw us to live in another country may never be ours to fully realize and enjoy.

The Local Sweden • 2nd April 2018

Want to know how to be a super-successful immigrant parent in Sweden? So do I...

If there's no guide book to parenting, there's definitely no guide book to parenting as an immigrant in Sweden. Sure, there's tons of advice to be found. Practical resources are also usually available. And, of course, there are numerous groups for immigrants and expats. These are all great and valuable tools for some of the practical and emotional aspects of parenting, but when it comes to the immediate realities I am confronted with every day as an immigrant parent, I’ve found they have limited usefulness.

The Local Sweden • 6th February 2018

The integration tool you probably aren't using in Sweden

For immigrants in Sweden, it can feel at times like the normal daily routine offers precious few opportunities for cultural and historical immersion. This is doubly true for those raising a family. Between acclimating to new ways of doing things, learning the language, working and/or studying, setting up and maintaining a home, caring for children and prioritizing their needs, trying to squeeze in time with a partner, and maybe actually having a social life, it's no surprise that our knowledge of Swedish culture and history often goes woefully uncultivated.

The Local Sweden • 2nd January 2018

How I embraced Sweden's second-hand culture (and why you should, too)

"My children need the newest and best of everything," said someone who was not me. Don't get me wrong, my children are my precious angels whose needs I put before my own on a regular basis. They are also precious angels whose exuberant love of life means that almost nothing passes out of their possession in "gently used" condition. Which is why I have happily embraced Sweden's vibrant second-hand and upcycling market.

The Local Sweden • 30th November 2017

Why America's gun culture made us raise our children in Sweden

I'm often asked why we have made the conscious decision not to live in the United States. Most people laugh at the first answer I generally give, which involves a certain person currently residing in a large white house in Washington, D.C. The laughter always stops when I give my second reason: I already worry enough about my children that I don't want to live in fear that they will be gunned down in a mass shooting, at school or anywhere else.

The Local Sweden • 31st October 2017

Battling nostalgia during Halloween and the holidays in Sweden

For my daughter's first Halloween in Spain, I dressed her up as Minnie Mouse and took her to a small local event hosted by another Spanish/American couple. She was absolutely adorable. Too adorable, in fact. All – and I mean every single one – of the other children were dressed as witches, skeletons, vampires, etc. Clearly, I had missed the memo that, in Spain – where Halloween is only just starting to catch on – "scary" costumes are de rigueur for even the youngest children.

Atlas Obscura • 17th October 2017

Old Police Station at Slottsskogen

This charming building in Slottsskogen in Gothenburg, Sweden, may look like a children’s playhouse, or a quaint cabin plucked straight from the pages of a fairy tale. But in reality, it has a bit of a darker history.

The Local Sweden • 3rd October 2017

How family-friendly Sweden opens up art and culture to all ages

There was a time when I thought that the incredibly diverse and enriching range of cultural, historical, intellectual, and physical experiences my parents provided me as a child had set the bar quite high. Perhaps so high that I would struggle as a parent to reach it. I also worried the traditionally non-kid-friendly cultural and historical activities my husband and I enjoyed so much would be off-limits to us until our children were older. That was before we moved to Sweden.

The Activist History Review • 8th September 2017

Trump: A Pecuniary Barbarian in a New Gilded Age

Trump is what we might call a “pecuniary barbarian”: a member of the financial and social elite who, in the theory of Progressive Era economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen, “is of a parasitic character, and [whose] interest is to divert what substance they may to their own use, and to retain whatever is under their hand.”

The Local Sweden • 7th September 2017

Finding community – and intolerance – among immigrants in Sweden

Finding the emotional support system of fellow immigrants in a new country is important, but there might be a flip side, writes Victoria Martínez in her monthly family column on The Local.

Atlas Obscura • 21st August 2017

Skyddsmantelmadonnan / The Modern, Secular Virgin Mary Motif

Visitors fixing their gaze on the imposing towers of the medieval cathedral in Lund, Sweden may not realize it, but 12 little heads are closely watching their every move. Created to represent the future of mankind, they peer out from a split in the protective cloak of the Skyddsmantelmadonnan sculpture.

The Local Sweden • 1st August 2017

Paperwork and a blank page: A retrospective of our first year in Sweden

As my family celebrates our first anniversary of immigrating to Sweden, I realize how appropriate it is that the traditional gift for first wedding anniversaries is paper. Although we're not celebrating a wedding anniversary, paper symbolizes our first year in Sweden better than it did the first year of my marriage. Looking back, I realize that paper – in the form of paperwork and its close companion, bureaucracy – have been a major presence in our lives over the past year.

The Local Sweden • 30th June 2017

Our life as a one-income family in Sweden

Once upon a time, my husband and I owned a large house in the suburbs of the United States. We had a big back garden and three empty bedrooms for our cats and occasional guests. We enjoyed our two good incomes to the fullest with nice meals, holidays abroad, and lots of “stuff”. This is the period I refer to as B.C. – Before Children.

The Local Sweden • 2nd June 2017

Being the 'too much' family in 'just enough' Sweden

The other day, I was closing my daughter’s bedroom window at the same time I was repeating something to her for the fifteenth time in a loud voice – some might even call it shouting. As this was happening, a neighbour was entering our building from the common entrance below and looked up a bit startled. When she saw me, her startled look turned into a knowing grin, followed by a friendly nod, and I could almost see her thinking, “Of course. I should have known it was the excitable American with the loud Spanish husband and the two wild children.”