Greetings to everyone! My name is Christopher Yousef Helali, and I am very happy to be taking this course with you all! I am a first generation Iranian-American, ethnically Lor/Kurdish, and Muslim. I studied Middle Eastern history with a focus on the Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean. I teach high school courses in social studies with a real interest in world history and regional studies (SWANA/MENA, Balkans, China, Russia). Happy to be engaging with you all on this amazing material. Outside my teaching, I have been active for many years in solidarity work and activism for Palestine and Western Sahara.