I try not to burden you all with too much Tsanoff correspondence but I never touch one of these letters without feeling almost overwhelming gratitude that they fell into my hands. Even though most of them are fairly mundane all are shot through with wide ranging intellectual curiosity, the warmth of commitment to family and colleagues, and even love and happiness. They are, in short, a blessing amidst the turmoil of our times. This letter below, though, is not mundane. It was written by Radoslav in the early fall of 1921 while his family was away in Colorado for an extended visit. He had moved in to what was then called the Faculty Tower just as the students were returning to campus. The sound of jazz (which he did not enjoy) drifting up to his room from the Commons triggered a memory of his own first day away from his family, fifteen years old and far from Bulgaria at the Robert School in Constantinople. His telling here captures beautifully the mingled emotions of leaving home and standing at the edge of something new and possibly great, a mingling that surely continues to this day:

Bonus: All quiet.