At a cheerful birthday gathering, Gabriel relaxes into the music of conversation—family memories, migrations, half-finished dreams. He listens for the “micro-histories” inside each toast: a grandmother’s recipe, a factory’s closure, a neighborhood changing its language. Parties, he tells his students, are archives with cake; rituals reveal what a community protects. He is careful to keep the joy intact while noticing what goes unsaid—who plans, who hosts, who is photographed. Later he folds these observations into seminars on oral history and memory studies, assigning short interviews about celebration and belonging. Laughter becomes data; affection becomes a primary source.