In this urgent and deeply personal episode of Amy's Room, we move beyond the geopolitical rhetoric and heartbreaking headlines emerging from the Middle East to focus on the people at the heart of it all.
With the recent escalation of attacks in the region, our guest, Joe Campana, joins us live from Beirut, Lebanon. Joe is an American educator who, for nearly eight years, has chosen to make his home in this vibrant, complex, and now embattled city. As the High School Principal at the American Community School of Beirut since 2017, his career has been a testament to the power of understanding culture—from editing the Encyclopedia of Multicultural America to chronicling life in Mumbai's Dharavi community. But today, we ask him a question that weighs heavily on many minds: Why stay?
We sit down with Joe to go beyond his professional title and speak with him as a person—an American living through a crisis far from his passport's origin. What does it mean to be an educator when the world outside your classroom is in turmoil? How does a principal support his students, his teachers, and his own family while navigating the uncertainty of a conflict zone? And for the Americans watching from afar, what is the reality for those who have built their lives there and are choosing to remain?
This is not a policy discussion. It is a human conversation about resilience, community, and the profound decision to stay and bear witness. Join us for a powerful look at the lives behind the news.
Why you need to listen: To hear the voice of an American on the ground, to understand the human reality behind the conflict, and to discover why, for some, staying is the only choice they can make.
