Former Becker House Professor Neema grew up in India, moving ten times before she left an architectural practice in Bangalore for graduate school in Berkeley, California. All that moving around has made Neema intensely aware and deeply appreciative of difference, of the challenge and pleasure of learning to live life in-between, on the margins and in-side. It has left her with an abiding interest in communities and the places we build, and the work we must do to create and sustain vital, just, beautiful places. That, and teaching are her passion, even as she makes her way through life enjoying conversation, friendship and laughter, sunlight through her window, a walk up the gorge, and takes pleasure in a finely crafted sentence, a nicely knitted hat, a photograph that simultaneously captures a moment and the artist’s internal impulse, yummy food, the marvels of the indispensable interweb and so much more.