Through my years of teaching Finnish, both at the University of Washington, Seattle (1990-1999) and now at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2000-), I have come to know some Finnish American communities and many Finnish Americans well. I helped organized the 1999 Seattle FinnFest and have offered presentations at a number of others.

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Painted pew exhibited at the 2005 Finn Grand Fest, Marquette Michigan, August 2005.

I am currently working to produce a set of singable translations of Finnish American songs, based on the work Reisaavaisen laulu Amerikkaan by Simo Westerholm. I presented three of the songs with some fantastic musical backup at the 2005 Finn Grand Fest, held at Marquette in August, 2005. For streaming video of that lecture and performance, see below.