About

Why "Elliott meanders..."?

Well, "Elliott," that's me: a soccer fan, disguised as a high school teacher on sabbatical.

And "meanders"  is a verb that is defined as (of a person) wanders at random, or (of a speaker or text) proceeds aimlessly or with little purpose. I think both definitions resonate with what I post.

First, I'm never exactly sure where I'm going, and I don't really want to rush to get wherever "there" is, whilst completely overlooking the "here" (wherever that may be).

Here's what I do know:

• I'm traveling to Eastern Europe, mainly to the republics of the former Yugoslavia, to meet people and learn of their experiences during the civil war from 1992-1995. I am especially interested in the anomaly of Bosnia and Herzegovina's dual system of ethnically-separated regional governmental entities (i.e. Republika Srpska).
• I am equally excited to see as many soccer games as I can, stemming in part for my love of the game, but also due to the historic ties between ultras (hooligans) and guerrilla factions during the Bosnian war. 

And as for the second definition of meander: who knows if I'll have any epiphanies or ever have anything profound to articulate. Sometimes I may rely more on the cliche, "a picture is worth a thousand words" and just post pictures with brief commentary.

The republics of the former Yugoslavia

Based on previous experiences though, I should apologize in advance that readers should be prepared to be underwhelmed.