Melike Smeenge

Anna Melike Smeenge

Anna remains something of a mystery. But then, she wanted it that way. Her children watched and listened ... and wondered. She had a curious penchant for peppers and paprika; for poppy seed paste and goulash. Then there were the times that she would think no one was watching. A dance would burst out of her from another world and era. She sang or hummed continuously. Diverse and very much her own, the music came from deep within, and couldn't be pinned down anymore than the dance could. Anna is the true story of a unique American - one of many who came across in a wave of immigration. Caught in the machinery of industrialization, her history took a unique turn. Woven in her tapestry is the hill country of Galacia, the ghetto of Budapest, Ellis Island, a mining town in Pennsylvania, and - but now I'm getting ahead of myself... Anna was born before there was even a hint that the 1900s would explode into a 'war to end all wars'. The world was on the brink of modern discoveries. Trains crossed borders opening gateways never dreamed of by her grandparents. Empires were the name of the game, but the ordinary citizen began to dream dreams. Some of them dared to pursue these. As such Anna's family came to America. In pursuit of Liberty they lost almost everything. Yet Anna persisted and her fruit remains.