Aaron's Russia Blog

Christmas is Here!

2012-02-01T21:58:00.000+04:00

I have awesome friends and family. Today, I have physical evidence of the fact. Today, 1 February, 2012, I received Christmas presents. I should note that this is not such a big deal. Orthodox Christmas falls in early January and, frankly, we just took down our New Year's/Christmas tree last week. And it's not the fault of the sender that the Russian post office took five weeks to deliver a modest package.

Thanks to Julie and Sarah, I now have an awesome Christmas stocking and card. While the stocking is a little late for use this year, it will get much use in future years, without a doubt. In scores of other games, the fancy chocolate bar inside will not make it nearly that long.

From my family, many awesome things: peanut butter, homegrown/homemade blackberry jam, spices for cooking, Ziplock bags. Christmas gifts were never any better, and they amazingly made it here in less than ten business days. A new world record!

And this very awesome hand-made (thanks Mom!) wool hat. I have no doubt that it will stand up to the worst that Moscow can throw at me. Although forgive me if I'm not running outside to test it right this instant against the current temperature of . . . -22 C.

Nice looking hat. Who's the nerd?

Instead, how about a nice picture of me trying it on . . . indoors:

In other news, I've been a busy bee in the archives the last several weeks. I'm finding good stuff, and in pretty large quantities. The question, as always, remains - can I make an argument out of all of this?!?

More on that later. And also on a brief trip I'm planning for this weekend to visit a friend in the city of Kursk, several hundred miles/kilometers south of Moscow.

Winter is Here; Archives

2012-01-22T16:20:00.000+04:00

Well, it had to happen eventually, and it finally has. Winter, real Russian winter, has arrived.

Today's high temperature appears to be cresting at a balmy -15 C/ 7 F. With wind and snow. I'm seeing some numbers in the forecast for later this week that begin with a "2": -25 C, yikes! I'll admit that the mild winters of North Carolina have made me soft, but this is ridiculous!

* * *

To brighten the outlook, how about some fun stuff from the archives?

From the complaint files, one from the chief accountant of a state farm near Moscow. He wrote that, having recently arrived to work there, he found the books and affairs of the farm in terrible condition. When he turned to his co-workers and superiors for help, they engaged in a systematic campaign of disruption and offensive behavior. The letter then proceeds to detail many of these events; in fact, these episodes are given much greater attention and detail than the problems with the farm's operations.

A few gems from the letter:

A party member, comrade N. "in a drunken state used vulgar words to offend the accounting staff on account of their request that he make good an unpaid debt for the acquisition of 40 kg. of meat."

"In November of this year, the veterinarian of the Troitski Borki section, a member of the party organization's council, comrade R. entered the [accountancy] office and, expressing himself in the choicest oaths, struck the glass on a desk, breaking it, upon which he was thrown out of the accountancy."

"In October of this year, a tractor-driver, comrade S., appeared in the state farm's office in a drunken, undressed, completely naked state; with his appearance, the accountancy staff and workers in the office fled out of shame."

Is it me, or does this sound less like an office and more like a frat party?

Crossposted, "We Won the Cold War"

2012-01-17T08:04:00.002+04:00

Stuff: "We Won the Cold War" Edition

Of Archival Notes and Dumptrucks

2012-01-10T21:12:00.000+04:00

I've been looking at some of my notes from the archives. In so doing, I've realized that my notes to myself are often cryptic, or in a sort of argot that I can assume might only make partial sense to anyone other than me.

Just as an example: You'll find in the spreadsheets where I keep track of files read, files to be read, descriptions of individual files that are derived from the archives' own finding aids.

There are often files that appear to contain documents on a number of issues, often completely unrelated in any sense other than that they appear to have been on the plate of a particular bureaucracy at the same time. If I see one of these catch-all files in the finding aid, there is no point in copying out its entire title: Either it appears to be of no use, and I move on, or it has one issue among several that seems interesting. However, I like to be able to note that this is one issue among many, so I'm not expecting an entire file and getting, in fact, a few pages within one.

The result are notes that look like this: "f.5, op. 32, d. 75: Dumptruck on ag., incl. corn and regional ag. depts."

Which would make no one but me, and can only be explained as a misquoted homage to the late Ted Stevens.

These are the things I amuse myself with.

No, seriously, I'm not completely insane.

Hungary and One-Party Government

2012-01-08T15:23:00.000+04:00

I'm cross-posting something I wrote on the other blog I decided to start. It's not about Russia, per-se, but it is Eastern Europe. And that's a problem.

Politics, Culture, and Other Infuriating Things

Holidays and News

2012-01-08T10:31:00.000+04:00

It's been several days since I've posted because, frankly, there's not much to write about. The ten days to two weeks that begin before New Year's Eve and carry through until next Monday, following yesterday's Orthodox Christmas, are essentially vacation for everyone in business and government. And the news media, which slumbers as well.

This also includes the archives. As a result, I've had some time to do some reading, spend time with friends, including some old friends visiting Moscow. It's been a welcome bit of vacation, but I admit that I am excited, anticipating getting back to work.

There's not much to update on anything else I've written about recently. There is a sense that the next protest march is being planned for 4 February, which is about a month before the scheduled presidential election. For now, things are pretty quiet. However Stephen Cohen, in a video interview on DemocracyNow!, noted, in response to a question about the seriousness of Prokhorov's run for the presidency, that he spent New Year's Eve in a chalet in Switzerland. This is not something you do if you are anything more than a ploy by the Kremlin to eventually siphon off the protest vote.

Now That's What I Call Art!

2011-12-27T21:11:00.000+04:00

A painting by Russian artist Oleg Khvostov. H/t to Ben Sawyer for the photo.

If I should ever be so lucky to get to that stage, a book cover perhaps?

Václav Havel (1936-2011)

2011-12-23T20:04:00.000+04:00

In the news, Communist Czechoslovakia's foremost dissident, first post-1989 president, and the first president of the Czech Republic, Václav Havel passed away this past week.

I don't have much to add to what has been said or written, other than to underline again how important he was to the dissident cause, providing a moral voice and then actual leadership. He was, if I may loosely paraphrase Joe Biden, "a B.F.D."

However, what I really want to post about is what I found on my return to Moscow on Tuesday evening. I may not have mentioned it before, but the Czech Republic's embassy is literally right around the corner from my apartment building. I pass it about half the time I leave, as it is one one of the two main routes to the Metro I take.

This is the wall in front of the embassy, I took this picture on Wednesday evening.

Kyiv, Pt. 10 - Bykivnia

2011-12-20T14:14:00.000+04:00

Bykivnia

Not a word or place well-known to the average American, but certainly of significance in this part of the world, and not only Ukraine. The Great Terror (1937-1938) represents only the height of the period, spanning, more than a decade from the late 1920s until 1953, of the most repressive practices of Stalin's rule of the Soviet Union. Bykivnia, the mass grave in which victims from the city of Kyiv, the Soviet Union's third largest, were buried, cannot tell the stories of those who are buried there, but the site does convey a sense of the tragedy of the period.

This is the entrance to the site, along a main highway leaving the city on the Left (Western) Bank of the Dnipro.

There are plans to build a larger, permanent memorial with a museum, church, and other structures. But for now, it's a few modest but powerful memorials.

Most of the trees don't have any names, only these cloth markers with a traditional Ukrainian pattern.

A few also have these red and white ones, left in honor of the numerous Polish victims.

Needless to say, it's a very fraught subject. I don't think I can possibly explain it all, but I hope these pictures convey a sense of how people here are constructing a historical memory about the period.

С днём рождения! or: Happy Birthday!

2011-12-20T10:56:00.000+04:00

You may well have been subjected to my preaching about the cuteness of Cheburashka, a Soviet-era cartoon character. If you're interested, check it out on Youtube.

However, that's not the point of today's post. Instead, Cheburashka's crocodile sidekick, Gena, will provide the entertainment by singing Happy Birthday to Kim:

Transliterated text: My (loose) translation:

Pust begut neuklyuzhe peshekhody po luzham,       Let the pedestrians run clumsily through the puddles,
A voda po asfal’tu rekoi.                                                          And the water – as a river over the pavement.
I ne yasno prokhizhim v etot den nepogozhii,             To the passers-by it is unclear, on this rainy day,
Pochemu ya vesyelyi takoi.                                                    Why I am so happy.

A ya igrayu na garmoshke u prokhozhikh na vidu. But I’m playing the accordion, for all the passers-by to see
K sozhalenyu den rozhdenya, It’s unfortunate that birthdays,
Tol’ko raz v rodu. Are only once a year.

Priletit vdruk volshebnik v golubom vertolyete,         Suddenly a wizard arrives in a pale blue helicopter,
I besplatno pokazhet kino.                                                     And shows a film for free.
S dnyem rozhdenia pozdravit,                                            He wishes me a happy birthday,
I naverno ostavit mne v podarok pyatsot eskimo.       And probably leaves me a present of 500 “Eskimos.”*

A ya igrayu na garmoshke u prokhozhikh na vidu.
K sozhalenyu den rozhdenya,
Tol’ko raz v rodu.
K sozhalenyu den rozhdenya,
Tol’ko raz v rodu.

* Soviet for “ice-cream sandwich.”

Russian text:

Пусть бегут неуклюже пешеходы по лужам,
А вода по асфальту рекой.
И не ясно прохожим в этот день непогожий,
Почему я веселый такой.

А я играю на гармошке у прохожих на виду.
К сожаленью день рожденья,
Только раз в году.

Прилетит вдруг волшебник в голубом вертолете.
И бесплатно покажет кино.
С днем рожденья поздравит,
И наверно оставит мне в подарок пятьсот эскимо.

А я играю на гармошке у прохожих на виду.
К сожаленью день рожденья,
Только раз в году.
К сожаленью день рожденья,
Только раз в году.

Kyiv, Pt. 9

2011-12-18T16:51:00.000+04:00

I took a walk on Sunday afternoon in one of the nearby neighborhoods. I've been meaning to post a few pictures I took mostly of architecture and lighting, but this week got away from me very quickly. Here goes, sans narrative.

This picture and the two subsequent ones are of the House of the Chimeras.

For orientation, the building at the bottom of this steep hill is the Besarabs'kiy market.

Kyiv Visa Adventure Madness

2011-12-18T16:30:00.001+04:00

Now that there is an end in sight, I should explain how I ended up in Kyiv in the first place.

When I arrived in Russia back in September, I had a visa good for 90 days. While there, I planned to get a student visa from a university through the program that is sponsoring my research. Since I was switching from a tourist visa to a student visa, I would have to leave the country. However, this didn't seem like a big deal: any city with a Russian consulate would work and I have a scattering of friends and family in Europe. I chose Kyiv because it was close and, also, now that I look back, I remember thinking, "If I were to get stuck there, at least I could do some research in the mean time."

That was an uncharacteristic bit of prudence, perhaps.

I submitted all of the paperwork to the program back in early-mid October. They were to deliver it to the university, and promised that the invitation would be done on November 15. No problem, that leaves plenty of time. The invitation is the first step: it's an officially signed and sealed document that proves that there is an organization in Russia that is sponsoring your trip and that your entry has been cleared with the government. For a student visa, it takes up to a month. For tourist visas - somewhat less.

In any event, I went along thinking that everything was okay. I even bought a plane ticket: a Ukrainian airline was having a sale in early November and so I bought a round-trip ticket to Kiev. And then I got worried, thinking: "I've not heard anything about my invitation, maybe I should email them."

After a couple of days, I heard back that they needed a new photocopy of my passport and that the prognosis was "hope" that it would be ready on the 15th.

The 15th came and went, but I had no invitation. Little did I know that this was just the first of many frustrations. Although I admit that I feared something like this was possible. I canceled my plane ticket and get most of the money back. Again, no big deal.

The next question was when the invitation wwould be ready, and whether it would be ready before November 29, the day my visa ran out. It wasn't. I left on a train to Kiev on the 28th. I had no invitation, only a promise that it will be in the mail in a day or two. And, that once I have it, it will only take one day to process it at the embassy in Kyiv.

I arrived in Kyiv and got settled in with at my friend's place. Since my travel plans had changed, it turned out that he was leaving town the afternoon that I arrived and wasn't going to be back until the following Monday. In the meantime, he generously put me in contact with some of his friends and acquaintances here, so I was not left completely to my own devices.

This is just the first of many examples of my good luck amidst all of these frustrations. I am enormously grateful to everyone in Kyiv, American and Ukrainian, who have made me feel very welcome.

I arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday, November 29th. On Thursday, December 1st, I got an email from the program director. My invitation was done and the university was to mail it that day. Great! I started checking the mail on the following Monday. Nothing. Wednesday rolled around, I'd been in Kyiv over a week already, and I started to get paranoid. What went wrong? I checked all the emails I had sent and received, discovering that I had relayed the address with the incorrect apartment number. I'm usually extremely careful about things like this, afraid that just this sort of thing will happen, but apparently this time around - that was not so much the case.

I talked to the people in that other apartment, and they agreed to leave anything that comes with the doorman downstairs. I checked with him once, twice a day for several days.

It turns out that this was in vain because, by the time I figured out the problem with the address, the package with the invitation had not even been sent. It finally arrived on Monday, the following week, my fourteenth day in Kyiv. I was told it was ready and mailed on December 1. It was actually mailed on December 9th, and arrived on December 12th. When it finally did, DHL contacted me via email, so I was able to correct the address and have it delivered to me in the right apartment number, not the one I had sent them. One crisis averted.

* * *

Okay, cool, invitation has arrived. Easy from here, right? Well, yes and no. From a time standpoint, it only took a few more days. But, as it always seems to go, struggles ensued. First, the invitation stipulated that the visa could only be good beginning on Tuesday, December 20th. So regardless, I will have spent three full weeks in Kyiv.

Second, when I actually went to submit everything, another adventure ensued:

I searched the website for the Russian embassy, found the address, and went there on Tuesday morning. It was a bit out of the way, but I thought, "Whatever, I'm going. I will get this done. I got this." I walked up, told the guards what I needed to do. They looked at me confusedly. This is not good. They called someone on the phone in their little booth. "You need to go to the consulate."

"?" I think. There was nothing about a separate consulate that I saw on the website, but okay.

"It's at no. 8 Kutuzov street."

So I hop on the subway, get across town and go in. I get all my paperwork in order, and then . . . I sit. . . . For an hour and a half. Talking to an Irish guy who was also waiting for a visa. Finally, 1 pm comes. They are closing for their lunch break, so they are rushing to get the last of us taken care of. Irish guy goes in first. Comes back out a minute or two later: "New rules. Can't get it here. I have to go back to Dublin."

"Uh, oh," I think. "What about me?"

I go in. I hand my documents to the woman. "Okay, everything is here," she says. "It will be two weeks."

"Wait," I say, "the university assured me you could process it in one day."

The rules had, in fact, changed. They can only do that for Americans who have a residency permit for Ukraine, i.e. those staying more than 90 days. I, as a tourist staying fewer, don't have one. So I make my best "I'm desperate and sad" face and explain to her that I've been waiting for weeks, and I've just come today because the invitation only arrived yesterday even though they promised it to me weeks ago and so on. And in that special way that only Russia works, all she needed to do it according to some other set of rules was verbal approval from someone else. And so she walked around the corner and got approval from the consul to give it to me in three days, as long as I pay the fee for the expedited service: $250. Okay, no big deal. It would normally cost at least $150. A little sanity is worth a hundred bucks.

American. Dollars. Cash.

Also no problem, I think to myself. I'll just need to find an ATM. In Moscow, this is not hard: most of the major banks' have ATMs in the center of the city that offer the option of drawing dollars, euros, or rubles. And failing that, there's the option of taking out hryvny and going to one of the numerous currency exchanges.

Well, this is not exactly so easy in Ukraine, as it turns out. In the course of more than two hours, including trips to other parts of the city and at least five different banks or currency exchanges, I discover the following: within the last few weeks, a new anti-money laundering law has come into effect. No drawing dollars from the ATM. And you can only change hryvny into dollars with a Ukrainian passport. But no one told me that straight out, I only pieced it together slowly, after several attempts to solve the problem.

In the end, I went back to the consulate, begged them to give me until the following morning to come up with the money: clearly, the woman at the kassa understood that this was a new thing. She didn't have to help me, because she could have made me go back to the beginning of the line and through the whole process again. And also have put off receiving the visa a day or two more. But she liked me, or so she said: "I looked at you and thought, This is a chelovek.'" And so she let me bring the money the following morning, which I did, after a Ukrainian friend helped out by changing the money for me.

After that, everything went fine. I picked the visa up a couple of days later and I'm on a plane back to Moscow on Tuesday. UUUra!

* * *

Again, Kyiv is fun. I've been incredibly lucky in the last couple of weeks. I've met new people, made some friends, had some productive days of work. On the other hand, if I had known how this would all work out, i.e. how much time I had, I might have gone to some other places, including L'viv, Odessa, or Chernobyl.

But I guess that means I have to come back again some time soon!

Kyiv, Pt. 8

2011-12-14T11:28:00.000+04:00

Nothing too profound here, but I submit that Ukraine has some of the most beautiful bills I've ever seen. By way of reference, $1 buys about 8 hryvnia, [actually, you should say 8 hryven', but that's a grammar lesson for another day] and its buying power in Kyiv is about on par with that as well. For example, breakfast at McDonalds will cost you 30-35 hr., or about 4 bucks, and an espresso about 20-25 hr., or about $2.50-$3.

And now, pictures:

This one has Taras Shevchenko, the 19th c. national poet and namesake of at least
half of the objects and organizations in this city < / hyperbole>

The reverse of Shevchenko.

This one is Ivan Mazepa, an early 18th c. political leader.

And finally, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, a 17th c. Ukrainian Cossack hetman.

By the way, there are also 50 hr., 20 hr., 2, hr., and 1 hr. notes, as well as coins for the fractions of a hryven.

Post-election Fallout

2011-12-10T19:21:00.000+04:00

I'm not in Moscow, or even in Russia, so my ability to comment on today's protests is limited by a lack of first-hand knowledge. However, I gather from news, blogs, friends' social networking sites and so on, there are significant, peaceful protests calling for a rerun of the elections. Official figures for Moscow alone are 25,000, while organizers suggest twice that many. A large event occurred in Petersburg and events, difficult to tell of what size, have been reported in many other cities. A safe, conservative estimate is that 100,000 Russian citizens - probably many more - were in the street today.

Most reports suggest this is the largest political event in the country since the early 1990s.

This official response has been to a) allow the protests to happen and b) to paint the protesters, as with those who reported election violations, as tools of foreign governments, especially the United States.

Hopefully this is a story that will be continued.

Kyiv, Pt. 7

2011-12-07T19:38:00.000+04:00

Soviet kitsch, especially for the 1950s and 1960s, is a "thing" here, and a growing one. I see more and more restaurants and cafes with this kind of decor, often accompanied by a particular kind of synthetic "Soviet" cuisine found in the ubiquitous stolovaia.

But, given the nature of my research, this is too awesome for words:

Khrushchev. Complete with corn, Cuban flag, and compote.

When we went in to have dinner last night, I didn't even notice the corn stalks at left. But there they are!

Also: the food was delicious!

Kyiv, Pt. 6

2011-12-07T13:52:00.000+04:00

This one is for you, dad: it's for sale!

Some back-story, for any readers out there outside my immediate family: my parents are remodeling an old house and it is, after a number of years, nearing completion.

I, for one, am terribly afraid my dad won't find anything else to do with his time.

Kyiv, Pt. 5

2011-12-04T21:06:00.000+04:00

This weekend I've had some time to take a walk or two around town. I've visited some important monuments, but also seen some stuff that made me laugh, or at least smile.

First, the serious: on Saturday, I took the metro a couple of stops from the center to find the memorial to the victims of Babyn Yar. This is the site where the Nazis murdered more than 30,000 residents of the city, mostly Jews, in late September 1941. Throughout the period of the occupation, the site continued to be used for political executions, and many thousands more died. It is the first site associated with the Holocaust that I can remember visiting and, not surprisingly, it was sobering.

Today, during the course of my walk, I was on one of the central streets of the city, and stopped at this memorial and display about the Holodomor.The short version of what is a difficult and politically contentious event: in 1932 and 1933, mass famine killed more than a million people, and perhaps many times more, in the parts of today's Ukraine that were then part of the Soviet Union.

There has been much debate about the extent of the famine, its causes, the role of Stalin and the Soviet state, and much more. I'm not an expert, so I'm not going to weigh in on the issue. However, it is definitely worth reading into.

Suffice it to say, history in the city of Kyiv is a pretty intense subject.

On a lighter note: spectacular bridge-construction fail.

That yellow structure? Yeah, that's an enormous crane on a barge that was part of the construction of a bridge across part of the Dnipro. Then it capsized. And apparently they don't have another crane big enough to rescue this one.

Finally, "Yellow Submarine" is apparently a restaurant specializing in hotdogs. Their advertising? Pictures of famous people . . . eating hotdogs!

Kyiv, Pt. 4

2011-12-02T11:04:00.000+04:00

Kyiv has a big event coming up next spring. The country is, along with Poland, to host the final rounds of the Euro 2012 championship - and the final itself will be in Kyiv. Euro 2012 is the competition for Europe's soccer national teams, held every four years, alternating with the World Cup. It has a similar format, with round-robin play in groups, and then a single elimination tournament to follow. It has a huge following both within Europe and beyond, so it will be interesting to see how Kyiv and Ukraine are able to showcase themselves in the coming months.

Stay tuned!

Kyiv, Pt. 3

2011-11-30T21:06:00.000+04:00

One thing Kyiv and Moscow have in common? Advertisements for Lipton tea - with Pierce Brosnan.

I submit, without comment, this concert poster.

Kyiv, Pt. 2

2011-11-30T21:03:00.000+04:00

While I did not plan it this way, today's post has turned into a little bit of a photo-essay of my walk around Kiev.

This was not the plan because I had actually intended to go to the archive where the Communist Party records are available. Unfortunately, they were closed for a regularly scheduled maintenance day. So instead I played tourist.

The archive is about two metro stops from the center of the city. The metro here is insanely cheap: a ride - represented by a little blue plastic token about the size of an American nickel - is 2 hr., or about 25 cents. By comparison, in Moscow, a ride costs anywhere from 3-5 times that, depending on how many you buy at once. All this is to say that money was not the reason I decided to walk the distance back to the center. Along the way, I passed rows of Soviet-era housing blocs that sprung up in the post-World War II period.

After about 20-25 minutes' walk, I arrived in the center of the city, at Bessarab'ski market, the city's central food market. Since I was planning a good bit more walking, I didn't buy anything, but I did check it out and do plan to go back to pick up some fresh fruits and vegetables, not to mention some Ukrainian sausages.

After that, I walked up the Boulevard Shevchenko, where this picture was taken. While not a whole lot survived the war, the streets that did are quite pleasant. It's hard to beat a walk along a tree-lined boulevard on a brisk winter day.

On the recommendation of my friend with whom I'm staying, I stopped after a couple of blocks to check out "The Museum of the Ukrainian People's Republic." It's only one room, but it's surprisingly thorough in covering the events between February 1917 and 1921 in Ukraine and Kyiv. During these years there was an attempt to establish an independent Ukrainian state. The Rada, its governing body during the early stages, sat in this building, which today is houses a number of teachers' organizations, as well as this one-room museum. I would need innumerable blog posts to explain the complexity of the period, but to suffice it to say it was a violent, multi-sided, and messy affair which the Bolsheviks won only with great difficulty.

A little further up the street, Kyiv's opera house. Tonight's feature: Turandot.

Kyiv's history is a long one, reaching back before 1000 AD, when it was a major point on trade routes between northern lands and the Byzantine Empire to the south, as well as in contact with various cultures of the steppes to the east.

This is, of course, a problem, when those steppe peoples - like Batu Khan and his Mongols in 1240 - show up and burn the joint to the ground. One of the few structures to survive from that period - although it has been rebuilt and renovated along the way - is the Golden Gate. For those of you who remember my posts from Vladimir, this is the ur-Golden Gate that inspired that one.

These two pictures are of a central square, the last place I went on my walk today. If you remember footage of the Orange Revolution of 2004, this might look familiar, as the rallies that led to a rerun of the presidential election of that year took place in this square, Maidan Nezalezhnosti, or Independence Square. In the above picture, there are two of the postwar buildings that line the western side of the square (there are several more not pictured, of similar style) and a statue of the Archangel Michael, the city's protector. In the lower picture, the other side of the square. For reference, the apartment where I am staying is just beyond the large building in the center, which is a hotel.

And finally, for fun, coffee trucks! These are apparently a relatively recent innovation, but a good one. It's a teeny-tiny pickup truck-style car; an espresso bar on wheels. Cappuccino for 10 hr. ($1.25) in a paper cup to go? Yes, please! And pretty good too!

Kyiv, Pt.1

2011-11-29T21:11:00.000+04:00

Thanks to visa regulations, I had to flee the country. Well, no, not exactly. But my old visa expired today and so I have to leave Russia in order to get my new, fancy student visa. As a result, I'm in Kiev for a couple of days.

I like Kiev, or rather, Kyiv, a lot. Kiev is a transliteration of the Russian Киев while Kyiv is a transliteration of the Ukrainian Киïв. Russian is nearly universal in Kyiv and, as my Ukrainian is limited to a few words and phrases, it's the language I use the most. However, I will defer in this case to the Ukrainian. So if I lapse and call it Kiev, call me out!

I hope to post a little more about it over the next couple of days. Thus I presume to name this post "Kyiv Pt. 1" even though there is, as of now, no part 2.

But for now, I have a couple of pictures to whet your appetites.

This picture is along one side of Khreshchatyk, a main thoroughfare of central Kyiv. Note that I took this at about 5:00 pm local time. Daylight savings time? Yikes!

The major political news in Ukraine in recent months has been the criminal charges against former prime minister Iuliia Timoshenko, ostensibly for some of her actions as PM. More on this later.

Also, I hope to post later this week about Thanksgiving, po moskovskii!

This Week from the Archives, Pt. IV [or, White Dog, Russian-style]

2011-11-22T21:20:00.000+04:00

Working in the archives is a lot like having a big puzzle to put together. Unfortunately, the end result is not at all clear. You don't have a dissertation for which you have to fill in the pieces.

So when you find a document that screams, "Hey you! This is important!" it is pretty exciting.

I found one of these the other day: a summary report on a conversation that Khrushchev had with a group of five senior agricultural officials a few weeks after launching this whole corn-planting scheme. It's only twelve type-written pages long, but there are at least five separate passages that offer fodder [no pun intended] for analysis.

Plus, there's humor. One of Khrushchev's constant refrains was that corn solved two problems: It provided grain, which was great, but the plant itself could also be chopped and used as fodder for livestock.

In this conversation, he related his amusement that that it might have a third use: One of his minions, Shevchenko, had gone to his, Khrushchev's, native village in the Kursk region to investigate their progress on planting corn, which they had begun a year or two before at his recommendation. The reports were good. Perhaps too good. Khrushchev explained:

There is so much silage there now that they feed it to cows, sheep, horses, hogs, and they've even tried to distill samogon [bootleg liquor] from it, but it hasn't turned out yet. As you can see, it even solves a third problem. True, they might be thrown in jail, these innovators, but they are convinced that they can make samogon.

There you have it: white dog, Russian-style.

Morality, "po komsomol'skii"

2011-11-20T22:45:00.000+04:00

I've been thinking a little more about the list of questions I referred to in this earlier post. One of the other dominant themes of the list were questions of personal conduct and morality. The questions entailed issues of love, friendship, and the individual's duty to society. These were issues that were covered in the course of Komsomol activities.

From memory, the list included questions from the superficial ("Is it "uncultured" for a woman to wear lipstick or paint her fingernails?") to the probing (Which is more important, love or duty? Is it possible to love more than one person?)

This and related topics is something that an increasing number of historians have examined for various points in the Soviet period, especially for the 1950s and early 1960s, when Khrushchev's reforms and plans to "construct a communist society" engendered earnest discussions about the proper conduct of individuals who were to lead the way. The membership, presumed to be future communists, had to be educated in how to lead an exemplary life.

This made me begin to think about similar questions in our society. Clearly, American society has no centralized authority that attempts to establish guidelines. Although some might argue that Hollywood tries. For many, a church or other religious authority establishes certain priorities and guidelines. But not for all.

Is it society that sets the norms? Or is it we who, through the aggregate of our individual actions, set the norms of society? Are we individualists? Or do we just selfishly do what we want and find justification anywhere we can?

I tend to think that neither - that we are "rugged individualists" or selfish - tells the whole story. It seems more likely that it is a combination of these and several other options. Individuals and the built-up weight of cultural tradition contribute, but also popular culture in the form of music, literature, and film.

In any event, I think it's interesting - and necessary - to stop for a moment and consider what principles guide our lives. I've occasionally said that I try to act "the way my mother raised me." But what exactly does that mean?

The Century of the Self

2011-11-11T19:13:00.000+04:00

Since the archives are only open so long every day, I have some time to read and relax in other ways. On the recommendation of a friend, I recently watched a four-part documentary on the role of Freudian psychology in shaping society, especially American society, in the twentieth century. The director's name is Adam Curtis, and it originally aired on the BBC in 2002.

Wikipedia: The Century of the Self

YouTube: The Century of the Self

The film's argument is provocative, and is certainly food for thought. There are a couple of more posts on this subject germinating, but more on those later.

This Week from the Archives III

2011-11-10T19:06:00.000+04:00

Today I was searching through the files of the Komsomol (Young Communist League) Central Committee's Department of Agitation and Propaganda. Lectures were a major part of this department's activities, but what interested me is the list compiled of common audience questions for the year 1955.

The historian in me thinks about how these questions are more likely reflective of the fears of the bureaucrats compiling the list than they are an accurate reflection of the actual questions and interests of the average Soviet young person.

And then there's the part of me that had a little laugh out loud in the archive.

"Why does the Soviet Union not demand that the United States return Alaska?"

"Was Jesus Christ the first communist?"

Good question.

Also, I'm trying to imagine how a Soviet propagandist might answer to such an audience.

November 4, Day of National Unity; or, Why I Can't Go to the Archives Tomrrow

2011-11-03T23:27:00.001+04:00

Yes, I am going to be the kind of nerd who uses a citation in a blog post. I might as well do it up front:

Chester Dunning, Russia's First Civil War: The Time of Troubles and the Founding of the Romanov Dynasty (University Park: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001).

Okay. Now that that is out of the way, onward.

Why, you ask, a citation for an academic book about "Russia's first civil war"? It all begins with a holiday: tomorrow, Friday, 4 November, is Russia's День народного единство, or "Day of national unity." If it sounds a little wooden, well, that's because it is. Holidays take time to wear off some of their rough edges and build up traditions. Celebration of this Imperial-era holiday was re-initiated only in 2005 as a way to avoid celebrating the October Revolution, traditionally celebrated with parades on November 7. Thus, the "Day of people's unity" is still in "like-new" condition. Even Russians have no idea what to do with it. A survey cited here suggests that only 23% of Russians actually know what the holiday is for. And that's an improvement.

The history behind it, as the above book suggests, goes back to the days of Muscovy and the establishment of the Romanov Dynasty, which ruled Russia from 1613 to 1917. As with many events in Russian history, it all began with Ivan Groznyi (or "the Terrible," if you will). On his death in 1584, he left behind two sons: Feodor, of limited intelligence, and Dmitrii, a young boy. The elder son reigned for several years, but did not rule. Ruling was the responsibility of his brother-in-law, Boris Gudonov, a nobleman and favorite of Ivan's later years. In addition to the privilege of ruling, he also had the privilege of being hated by many of the boyar (the highest level of Muscovite nobility) families for various reasons of blood, honor, and whatever other reasons rich people hate each other.

You know, in their free time when they are not enserfing peasants. More on that later.

Also, it probably didn't help that Boris got is start in Ivan's proto-secret police.

To make a long story short, Dmitrii Ivanovich mysteriously died in the course of an epileptic fit. (Who let the kid play with a knife? Sounds fishy.) And then Feodor Ivanovich died, childless. Suddenly, all-too-conveniently, Boris is presented with the opportunity to not only rule, but to reign. And so, the Rurikid dynasty having died out, Boris ascended the throne in 1598. And everybody lived happily ever after.

What? Wait. . . this just in: no they didn't.

Actually, for want of a better term, everything went to hell in a hand basket. The subsequent period lasted from 1598, when Boris ascended the throne until 1613, when the boyars got together in a great council and elected one of their own number, Mikhail Romanov, to rule as tsar', autocrat, and all that, etc.

In Russian, it is called "Смутное время," usually rendered in English as the "Time of Troubles." And troubles there were. First on Boris's plate was a young pretender, claiming to be Dmitrii Ivanovich (remember his suspicious death?) but most likely an errant monk of one sort or another. While Boris proclaimed his innocence all along, it's fairly likely that the original Dmitrii was murdered at his orders. Karma will get you like that. In any case, this "Dmitrii" showed up at the head of an army of Poles. Now, that may not sound that scary now, but in the 16th century, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was a powerhouse. It was bad news for Boris. He bowed out (i.e., he was killed) in 1605.

No news on how Natasha fared. [Now that I have my Rocky and Bullwinkle reference out of the way, moving on.]

And this wasn't even the only "false-Dmitrii." Once the first one took the throne and then got himself killed, there were at least a couple of more. After killing this first Dmitrii, the boyar Vasilii Shuiskii seized the throne. And the Swedes got involved. Again, doesn't sound all that frightening, what with their social-democracy and cheap but functional furniture, but in the 16th and 17th centuries, you didn't want to be on their bad side.

And the bad things didn't end there. More invasions, more pretenders, resistance from various Muscovite magnates. I won't bore you with all of the details. Also, it;s because I can't remember them all and I don't have Dunning's book at hand. Hence the citation. The main argument is that the "hooray for national unity" narrative conceals as much as it reveals. For example, the standard narrative downplays the fact that many Russians, from common soldiers to boyars, worked with the foreign invaders and there was just as much conflict among insiders as outsiders: hence "Russia's First Civil War."

What's important is that Russian society was profoundly altered in the process, as its military, political, social, and economic structures could not go back to the way they had been under Ivan. Many peasants, fed up after years of Ivan's increased taxes and curtailment of their traditional freedoms, decided get to out of dodge, fleeing to the south and west and joining nascent Cossack bands. Or to the north and east in to sparsely settled lands of Siberia and the north. Those that stayed behind, they ended up as serfs: The exact moment of transition from semi-free peasant to serfs (which they would remain, in hereditary servitude, until 1861) is debatable, the social chaos of the Time of Troubles certainly didn't help.

So, to make a long story short, the cycle of chaos, war, famine, disease, and violence did not end until 1612. The traditional narrative has it that some well-intentioned folks, led by a nobleman — Dmitrii Pozharskii — and a merchant from Nizhnyi Novgorod — Kuzma Minin — got everyone together and threw the Poles and their allies out of Moscow. The final battle took place (new style) from November 3-6. Hence the November 4 holiday. Also, they have that nifty statue in Red Square.

And I can't go to the archive tomorrow. Thanks, guys, for the guilt-free day off. And that other stuff, too.

Elections, Coming to a Russia near You

2011-11-03T09:08:00.001+04:00

An election poster update, this one from outside M. Frunzenskaia, for the liberal "Яблоко" - yes, that means "apple" - party.

The picture is of its leader, Iavlinskii, and the slogan says "Russia requires change! We will return hope to you. Come to the elections, vote for APPLE."

This was the first party-oriented material I've seen. Then, yesterday, I saw a poster (which I did not manage to snap a picture of) for the LDPR.

Most. Misleading. Party. Name. Ever.

Suffice it to say the incongruity of the slogan "Russia for Russians" and "Liberal Democratic Party of Russia" never dawned on them.

This Week from the Archives, Pt. II

2011-11-01T23:13:00.000+04:00

Alcohol and collective farmers. Hilarity ensues. (Or not, depending on your perspective.)

Excerpts from the village newspaper of L. collective farm, S. region.

25 September 1957
Collective farmers Kh - - -, Mu - - -, Mo - - -, and the driver Le- - - stole 158 kilos of sunflower seeds from the collective farm. After selling them to some un-named third party, what do you imagine they did with the money?

"Пропойка." They went on a drinking binge, what else?

And for their troubles they were referred to the district prosecutor's office.

But then again, they weren't as bad as the guy who lost his job because, a couple of months earlier while driving drunk, he crashed a Moskvich belonging to the collective farm.

Local newspapers are way more fun! Or at least less predictable.

Have reusable grocery bag . . .

2011-10-29T23:05:00.000+04:00

. . . will travel. To Moscow. Just thought it would be fun to show the bags I got from Weaver St. Co-op in action on the far side of the world.

Burning Questions

2011-10-24T09:10:00.001+04:00

(Source: http://www.rususa.com/news/news.asp-nid-44520)

For some reason, the sign at right struck me enough that I stopped to snap a mobile-phone picture. The one above is a classic from the Russian Civil War. "Have you volunteered?"

And then there is the burning question of today's Russia: "Have you paid your mobile phone bill?"

Pumpkins!

2011-10-24T09:02:00.000+04:00

A friend of mine here won a contest for the best recipe using pumpkins and, as a result, came into possession of a huge stack of them. To resolve the conundrum, she invited friends and fed us dishes made from pumpkin. Delicious! To make a long story short, I was nominated, as the American in the room, to supervise the carving of a jack o' lantern. Voilá!

This Week from the Archives

2011-10-21T18:09:00.000+04:00

“The Council of Ministers of the RSFSR and Gosplan [State Planning Agency] of the RSFSR reported that to decrease the plan for procurements of popping corn for 1964 is not recommended because the existing level of production does not satisfy the population's demand for foods prepared from these varieties of corn.”

The Soviet people demanded more popcorn! That is all.

Elena

2011-10-20T08:34:00.000+04:00

The film, Zviagintsev's Elena, about which I wrote briefly a few posts back, has stayed on my mind, so I've decided to try to explain it more thoroughly.

I said before that it was not entertaining per se, but instead thought-provoking and troubling. Despite its quotidian subject matter, or perhaps because of it, I found it disturbing. Each major character lives a life with which the viewer can easily identify. That said, they are real in some way, rather than being types or stereotypes. Each, in order to "just get by" is compromised or, rather, has made some choice which compromises them: Each chooses depend on someone else out of a sense of either helplessness - or entitlement. They exploit their relationships, and the power imbalances within them, to achieve what they want, rather than working to achieve a balance that is mutually beneficial and supportive.

The central characters are Vladimir, a wealthy businessman of some sort, somewhat past 60, and his wife, Elena, somewhat younger. They met when he was a patient in a hospital, appendicitis if I remember correctly, and she - a nurse. They have been together for approximately ten years, married for a rather shorter time, and each has a child--now an adult--from a previous marriage.

As I was watching the film, I considered that perhaps Katya, Vladimir's daughter, was the potential exception, the character who, despite superficial appearances, defies to the above characterization. Now I'm certain that it fits her as well. She plays her father expertly, as only daddy's girl can. At the same time, there's a something in her expression, speech, and body language that suggests that she despises him for the very thing that gives their relationship any footing at all, his unquestioning provision of anything material she requests. She despises him in a way, I think, a person can only despise one to whom they owe a debt. Thus Katya's compromise; she craves independence from her stern but doting father, but she depends on his money--and the expectation of his inheritance.

However, we also see her relationship to Elena, her ostensible step-mother. Elena feels acutely Katya's haughty sense of superiority based on class, education, wealth, and status. Katya is rude and dismissive, and Elena returns the favor by denouncing her to her father as a spoiled brat, to whom he has never denied anything.

Concomitantly, Elena's relationship with Vladimir is another compromise. Whatever the conditions and nature of their relationship in the past, it is now a sort of dystopian sort of world-turned-inside-out. He needs (or rather, has) not a wife, but a maid, cook, and nurse. They have a sexual relationship, but there is little warmth between them. In fact, the film's first line of dialogue sets the tone. Him, to her, over the breakfast that she prepares him daily: "The oats are good." Each of those aforementioned roles she plays while occupying her own modest bedroom at the other end of their otherwise opulent apartment in a posh Moscow neighborhood. Her material needs are met, but it is very clear that her emotional ones are anything but fulfilled.

Vladimir, on the other hand, retains all power, not the least of which are control over finances and the right to a wandering philanderer's eye, evidenced by his ogling of a woman in the gym just moments before the heart attack that, after some twenty-five or thirty minutes of growing tension and sparse and therefore effective movie-score strings, sets the plot in motion.

Thus he has made his choices: he has made her dependent on him financially, while being dependent on her to care for him both before, and most certainly after, the heart attack incapacitates him. He has also made his choices. Moreover, he professes that he refuses to help her son out of "tough love" toward Sergei, regardless of his willingness to provide anything for Katya. Eventually, he contemplates reserving not half of, but his entire estate for Katya in a petulant attempt to keep her son and his family away from his wealth.

And then there is the son himself, Sergei. And his own wife, son, baby, and, as we learn, a third child soon-to-be. They are as close as Zviagintsev comes to allowing himself stereotypes. However, as far as I am aware, Russian film has thus far little portrayed their type and so it has somehow avoided becoming trite, cliched. They are, in an attempt to place them in American terms, urban white trash.

Early in the film, we watch Elena leave the marbled halls of the tower in which she is caged. She collects her modest state pension and journeys far beyond the edges of Moscow to the post-industrial wasteland in the shadow of a power plant where their apartment is situated. She delivers the stash of rubles (and a bag of groceries bought on Vladimir's dime) into the hands of Sasha, who pockets a little for cheap beer and gives the rest to his wife for the provision of food. This portrays their poverty, the class divide between the Vladimir and his wife, and the physical decay of the post-Soviet Russian reality for those beyond Moscow's glitter and glam. It also serves to demonstrate Sergei's helpless but entitled dependence on troubled, even desperate, yet comfortable Elena.

But they want more from Vladimir, whom they hardly know, and who cannot tolerate the thought of helping "others." What Sergei and his tragically overstretched wife want is for the elder son--Sasha--to avoid military service (to be avoided at any cost in Russia, given the living conditions and hazing by most accounts rampant) by gaining entry into higher education.

The young man is aimless, probably blamelessly, given the socio-economic conditions of the post-industrial wasteland that surrounds their apartment block. His way out - gaining access to higher education on his own merit - he closes by avoiding study in favor ofss, probably blamelessly, given the socio-economic conditions of the post-industrial wasteland that surrounds their apartment block. His way out - gaining access to higher education on his own merit - he closes by avoiding study in favor of first person shooter games and petty brawling between his clique of friends and its neighboring counterparts. Thus it will take money to buy his way, by hook or by crook, into a university or college.

The wife is, although a minor character, more sympathetic than any. She attempts to maintain order, culture, and decorum in the face of a slobbish husband and a surly teenage son, but she manages neither exercise her considerable authority in the family to encourage Sergei to do anything but drink beer and get her pregnant, nor to induce Sasha into taking his education seriously.

Without giving too much away, Elena takes drastic action to secure the grandson's admission and a substantially more comfortable existence for her son, daughter-in-law, and their 2.3 children. That leads, of course, to the ultimate question: Are her actions moral, the 'right thing to do'? Is everything, including harm to a man who is in many regards reprehensible, permissible to secure the material needs of those who are dependent on you?

We are, as the audience, expected to see her as the protagonist. But are we to be sympathetic? In a Hollywood multiplex block-hit cine-buster, there would be clear good guys and clear bad guys. But here, the point is finer. In fact, I think it sits on the point of a pin. Is blood thicker than water, or whatever makes up the bond that holds Elena and Vladimir together?

To be honest, I think I could sympathize more with her if her actions toward him were in revenge for the apparent emotional abusiveness of their relationship, rather than in pursuit of the money.

At bottom, the conflict is about money. But where does that get them? Vladimir had it, but was he a good person? A happy person? And Katya? She has it, but is she happy? And as for lacking it, Sasha, the lump that he is, has a certain childish joie de vivre, despite the poverty and chaos around him.

On the one hand, money as the motivating force for the plot disappoints, for it seems such a hackneyed, trite way for an artist to create a conflict for his tale. And yet, there is something true in that struggle, which seems to consume us all. And this, with a nod toward another film I've seen recently, honors Hemingway's dictum that an artist's work is good because it is true. This is not a commentary on Russia's upper crust, although theirs is the pursuit of money. It is not a condemnation even of Russian society, but rather of all of us. You might grandly say, of our entire civilization.

And that brings me to a final point: Chekhov. I'll bet you didn't see that coming. This film has more than a little something of Chekhov within. As I was watching, I thought of this Chekhov short story. Chekhov is esteemed - rightly so, in my humble opinion - by many, especially beyond Russia, because there is something universal in his stories. His stories, in a way that those of most other great Russian writers do not, works in translation. He created the believable, the typical, but not with stereotypes. His stories place the reader in situations in which something universal resonates. These situations, lacking an author-imposed apparatus of moral judgment, leave it to the reader, to us, to decide who - if anyone - is good, who is bad, and to whom. All while turning the spotlight on the day-to-day tragedies of which human folly are made.

Anglophone University Power?

2011-10-19T09:24:00.000+04:00

I don't generally give a lot of credence to university ranking systems. I would argue that, past a certain point, the name on the walls--and the diploma--is less important than the quality of the people within those walls.

With that in mind, I read in one of the Moscow foreign language newspapers an article lamenting the state not only of Russian universities, but of continental Europe as a whole.

"The Decline of Europe"

The source, of course, was a series of rankings released by a firm called Quacquarelli Symonds, or QS.

Rankings

Moscow State University came in at 112 and St. Petersburg - 251. The article continues, suggesting that there are historical reasons for the low placement of universities in the former state socialist countries of Eastern Europe, evidenced by the fact that the Charles University in Prague is the only other one in the top 300.

However, it also laments that the countries of Western Europe don't, in the opinion of this ranking system, stack up well either.

My translation, which is, of course, rough:

"We can put this [the low ranking of universities in continental Europe] on the account of the supernatural force of the the American power. Effectively, beyond the celebrated schools of the Harvard sort, the humbler ones such as the University of North Carolina overshadow Europe like a mountain over the mouse." [I may have missed the exact sense of that, I'm not familiar with the idiom.]

The conclusion that the article reaches is that American universities--and by extension those of the Anglophone world--hold their advantage in sciences, humanities, and social sciences thanks to the position of English as the language of international learning, itself a product of American power.

It's something to think about, but also makes me apprehensive. We in America have built a system of education that, while imperfect, functions very well. And that system is under threat by savage budget cuts from the state governments that support it and increasing pressure to find sources of funding in the non-profit and private sector. The young and the talented come from all over the world to learn and contribute to this system, but can this system continue to function as it has, in light of this budget squeeze, post-9/11 visa regulations, and a host of other pressures?

Elections

2011-10-17T22:42:00.000+04:00

So Russia has elections coming up in a little over a month, for the State Duma, the federal parliament. But, other than a few posters, you would hardly know it from the streets of Moscow. In fact, the only evidence I have seen is a few posters: this first one isn't even for a party, it simply says: "December 4, elections for the State Duma of the Russian Federation. For life, for people."

But even the election posters for United Russia are a little hard to come by: the only ones I've seen were for the local party branch in Moscow's Lefortovo district.

I guess it should be said that Russia--like most countries not called the US--doesn't have a tradition of near constant electioneering. I will be curious to see the elections become more and more visible over the next six weeks - if they do.

Russian Film Recommendation

2011-10-16T12:28:00.000+04:00

I'm slowly settling into a normal routine in Moscow. One of the things that I hope to make a part of that is going to see good movies. A friend of mine introduced me to a great theater that shows Russian films, but also foreign films without dubbing. It's a little thing, but it makes all the difference and they are often hard to find.

Today I went and watched Elena. I don't want to give anything away, but I recommend it. I will say that it is not light entertainment; it's a difficult film, to say the least. It challenges the viewer to consider the moral position of each and every main character. There is much that is Russian, but also, I think, something universal in the story. It's also quite beautiful and technically brilliant.

Wikipedia in English

Wikipedia in Russian

It has also been well received internationally, so you folks out there might have a chance to see it.

Hollywood Reporter Review

Some cooking pics . . .

2011-10-11T08:47:00.000+04:00

I've made a couple of forays into the kitchen in the last few days. First, dissatisfied with the stock available in the local supermarket, I decided to make my own.

Then, there is the question of what to do with the stock. The answer: coq au vin. I followed Julia, so it was easy. Render the bacon fat, brown the chicken. Flambé. (Whoa, the flames didn't go that high last time!) In goes the stock and wine. Saute your mushrooms on the side. Brown braise the onions. Put it all on a platter. Then reduce the remaining sauce. Serve with parsley potatoes. Yum. With enough leftovers to feed me for the rest of the week.

Bright Lights, Big City

2011-10-08T14:44:00.000+04:00

I was out and about last night and decided to take a few pictures of the bright lights of the city:

Occupy Wall St.

2011-10-08T09:02:00.002+04:00

I'm sad that, by chance, I left the country just at the moment this was getting started. I'm now consuming news and information about it on a daily--sometimes hourly--basis. Suffice it to say, no one is likely to start an "Occupy the Kremlin" movement any time soon.

If you're out there in 'Merica, find a site--NYC or one closer to home--and please go. Check it out.

Crappy Opinion Pieces, a Global Phenomenon

2011-10-07T17:50:00.005+04:00

I was reading Moscow's English-language newspaper the other day and happened across this:

American Terrorist Liberties Union

I'll give you two guesses, based only on the title, what the thrust of the author's opinion is. And the staggering thing is that she is affiliated with what is ostensibly a moderate to liberal media outlet, Ekho Moskvy. In this case, that could not stand in the way of a good game of "beat-the-hippie."

I'm angry about the "world is black and white, good guys and bad guys" worldview not so much implicit ans explicit in the article. Far too reminiscent of George W. "You're either with us or against us" Bush.

The first person I showed this to brought it to my attention that her interpretation of Harry Potter is even wrong. (Full disclosure, I did not read past the first book. Знаю, что я - некультурный человек.)

Any other thoughts on this?

By the way, I sent a response to the Moscow Times editorial page, but I highly doubt it will get published. I've not heard anything back from them.

2011-10-06T16:30:00.001+04:00

Today's post consists merely of a picture and a link.

2011-09-29T20:13:00.006+04:00

Moscow is a huge city. And I do mean huge, in terms of both population and physical size. I read on Wikipedia (so it must be true!) that Moscow is the northern-most city in the world with over 10 million people. In fact, it has about twelve million official residents and, by some estimates, another 3 million unofficial ones. That's 15 million. 15,000,000. It also has a land area of over 400 sq. miles, making it a little more than 1/3 the size of the state of Rhode Island. Or, for you Euro-philes out there, about half the area of Luxembourg.

And so I had to prove that, amidst all of this hustle and bustle, there are some green spaces. Like the one above, at Chistye Prudy (lit. Clean Ponds).

In need of a chance to stretch my legs, I decided to walk home from Chistye Prudy, following the Boulevard Ring. Like most European cities of a certain age, Moscow is constructed on a series of rings. For the most part, these follow the paths of defunct city walls. In Moscow, the inner of these two follows a the site of walls that were taken town in the 18th century, having lost their value after being replaced by a large set of earthworks where now the outer Garden Ring courses. The boulevards themselves became permanent features during the reconstruction after the city was destroyed by fire in 1812.

The picture above was taken facing downhill on Sretenskii bul'var, in the direction of Tsvetnoi bul'var.

A little further along, you eventually come back around to Tverskaia, the major thoroughfare of central Moscow. In the square where they meet, a fountain, which at that time of the afternoon happened to be well lit.

Did I mention that the square is named after everyone's favorite Russian poet? I couldn't resist taking this picture of the pigeon roosting on the head of Aleksandr Sergeevich, milyi.

Work?

2011-09-27T23:05:00.002+04:00

The last two days have been my first two doing, well, what I actually came to Russia to do: work in the archives. Rome was not built in a day, and neither will my dissertation be researched in two. In fact, I won't even get a chance to see any documents until Thursday. No matter, it's an accomplishment just to get in, get set up, get the proper passes, and fill out the necessary paperwork. So while I have no pretty pictures to show for them (more of those soon, I promise), it's been a good couple of days.

In other news, I've also gotten my registration (hooray legal residency!) and therefore have been able to buy a SIM card. Now I can make phone calls, like an adult!

Weekend Fare

2011-09-25T20:25:00.015+04:00

As promised, a few pictures of food: this is the leek and potato soup I made with the aid of my trusty dutch oven. It is, in my opinion, the best ten pounds I could have put in my luggage. Or at the very least, the ten pounds that will help me eat better this year! There wasn't a whole lot to the recipe. Basically, just remember to wash the leeks thoroughly, sauté them along with your carrots and celery. I added a bit of garlic for fun. Then in go the potatoes and stock. Leave it at a slow simmer until the potatoes are soft, probably 30 min. or so. Finish it with a bit of cream, or not, as you so desire. Just that easy!

And what weekend would be complete without some time spent in a coffee shop? There are not many places in Moscow with chairs as comfortable or an atmosphere as good as Coffee Bean. I have time, so I will keep hunting them out.

The Environs

2011-09-24T21:00:00.006+04:00

As promised, I snapped some pictures of the immediate neighborhood around my apartment and of my building. This first one is of ulitsa Krasina (Krasin street). It might have been named after this guy: Leonid Borisovich. But since he apparently was disgraced after his death, perhaps not.

In any event, I took this picture on my way to the supermarket, which is fortunately about 2-3 minutes walk away from home. It's not a very wide street, but as you can tell, it's comparatively busy.

This is the outside of the building. As I said in my last post, it doesn't face the street, so you have to know where you are going to find it. I think you should be able to make out the signs on the corner of the building that show the street name and number. It's a gray brick building, a pretty standard five-story apartment block. Since it doesn't appear to have been prefabricated, my guess is that it was built sometime in the immediate postwar period--no later than 1955.

This is the door to our entrance, no. 1 of 2. It's the first line of "defense," if you will. The first of several. There is an intercom over which to call any of the ten apartments reached from this entrance, but for residents, there is radio-frequency gadget that one keeps on a key ring. Just swipe it and in you go. Then inside of that is another door, locked with a push-button combination. And that only gets you to the stairwell . . .

. . . which looks like this. That's our door at the top. Two more doors here, each one with it's own key. Isn't this fun?!

Perhaps next time some pictures of some of the other things in the neighborhood. Stay tuned!

ul. Krasina 24, ap. 10

2011-09-24T09:45:00.008+04:00

In an attempt to show my loyal reader(s) a little bit more about my new-found life in Moscow, I snapped a few pictures of my apartment. This is the first of a multi-part series: I will try to post pictures of my building and neighborhood in the next few days.

The apartment has three bedrooms and is located on the fifth floor of a five-story building. Sorry, no elevator. On the bright side, I won't be in the market for a second-hand Stairmaster.

When you enter the apartment--through the typical double doors--my apartment mates' rooms are on the right, and to the left is the common area. It has a TV (I don't actually know how many channels we get. I haven't even turned it on!), coffee table, and couch.

Again to your left, beyond the couch, is the kitchen. It is, for kitchens in Russia, large and well apportioned. In fact, it's better than those of many of my rental places in the States (but not Todd St.!). Note the bookshelf in the foreground. It is, in addition to my contributions (the most recent New Yorker and Graham Greene's The Quiet American), well stocked with Russian fashion magazines. Perhaps I will browse them over breakfast. Let's call it "cultural research."

One of the advantages to living in a country awash in oil and gas: gas stove. I had forgotten just how awesome cooking with gas is. Hooray! There will be future posts about cooking successes and follies. Sneak peek: on Thursday, I made a potato and leek soup with cream. Yum!

The view from my room into the common area.

My room, which includes a large desk by the window and more cabinet space than I could possibly use. In addition to those in this picture, the entire wall behind me is covered with similar cabinets. Whoever remodeled this room seems to have knocked over an IKEA. And I can't complain.

There is also a balcony which leads from the common room. The view isn't much, but that's because our neighborhood is relatively quiet and the building is screened even from the local streets by other buildings. The sound is the soft hum of busy streets--Tverskaya-Yamskaya and Sadovaya--that are 3-4 blocks away. This is the view as you look left, in the direction of M. Mayakovskaya. It's a little scary that the maple in the foreground has lost almost all of its leaves. Not all the trees are that far gone, but fall is in full force. On a happier note, there is a beautiful goldfinch in the tree at this moment. It's the little things.

This is the view as you look right. The building in the foreground is a secondary school.

A closeup over the top of the school, that is the top of the Stalin-era "skyscraper" at Kudrinskaya ploshchad'. You can check out more about it and it's six contemporaries on their collective Wikipedia page.

"Don't talk to strangers . . ."

2011-09-22T15:38:00.012+04:00

As many of you may know, perhaps my favorite work of Russian literature is Mikhail Bulgakov's masterpiece satirizing life in 1930s Moscow, The Master and Margarita. It turns out that the actual location of the novel's first scene, Patriarch's Ponds, is located about five minutes' walk from my new apartment. On my way out today to take care of some errands, I stopped to snap a couple of pictures.

This is especially fun since my favorite book people are in the process of reading the novel. This one's for you!

Malaia Bronnaia street, which is one of the four that ring the park.

One side of the pond. Also, a puzzle: in Russian it is "Ponds," but there is only one pond. My guess is that there used to be more, but as the Patriarch's estate became incorporated into the growing city, they were filled in.

And finally, a bench, close to the entrance, with it's back to Malaia Bronnaia. Perhaps the one that Bezdomnyi, Berlioz, and Woland occupied?

In lieu of update, a pretty picture

2011-09-22T09:13:00.004+04:00

Mission #1 largely successful: I went to bed at 10 pm local and woke up at 8:30 am. I'm sure I will be tired, but at least I seem to have beaten jet-lag. (Knocks wood.)

Since today and the next few days will probably be taken up largely with getting settled and taking care of bureaucratic stuff, all I can do is post a pretty picture I took out the window of the airplane shortly after leaving JFK yesterday (?) the day before yesterday (?).

To Moscow!

2011-09-21T15:50:00.004+04:00

A little later than originally planned, I have finally made it to Moscow. Since I arrived this morning, I have spent a few hours getting settled into my new apartment, which I hope will be home for the next several months, and letting my friends and family know that I made it.

I don't imagine that there is anything profound that I can say, given my exhausted state. I won't try. However, the plan is for this post to lead to another, and another, and another.

And now, to the supremely difficult task of staying awake for a few more hours so that I get on some reasonable sleep schedule.

Resurrection?

2011-08-17T16:14:00.001+04:00

Well, I just read my last post (from late 2009, yikes!) and realized that my pledge to update was a miserable failure. Life gets in the way of writing about life, or something like that.

On the bright side, I am returning to Russia in about two and a half weeks to begin a year of dissertation research in the Soviet archives in Moscow. I hope to resurrect this blog as a way to keep family and friends updated about where I am, what I'm doing, and what I'm learning while in Russia.

Stay tuned!

New Post

2009-12-06T23:25:00.002+03:00

I realize that it has been a long time since I have posted anything here, in part because I have not been back to Russia since the summer of 2008. Graduate school has taken up what seems to be every amount of brain function I have left. I plan to travel to Russia this summer to begin pre-dissertation research, presuming, of course, that I can secure funding. In the mean time, I plan to start updating the blog with thoughts and commentary on both current events and on my studies. Call it an early New Year's resolution.

Cheers!

The Moscow in June

2008-07-02T15:47:00.005+04:00

Got my luggage (and my camera cord), so here are a few pictures of Moscow. After spending the day on the 23rd (my birthday) in Petersburg, we headed for Moscow on a night train, complete with delicious almond birthday cake. (Thanks guys!) We arrived on Tuesday morning and I was to fly out on Thursday morning to Morocco.

As this was not my first time at this rodeo, I don't have many pictures of the stuff you'd expect:

A few from inside the Kremlin:

. . .including this mess of black BMW's and other fancy official cars, a type of official ride collectively and lovingly known in the lyrics of a popular song as the"chornyi boomer."

And the obligatory group of Russian school kids posing for a picture (while I surreptitiously snapped one of my own!)

Otherwise, the food the group got was great. I've not eaten quite so well in a long time (being mostly contained to what I can cook myself!)

And finally, a trip to my favorite Moscow coffee shop - If you'll remember its the same kind as the one in Vladimir. I love you CoffeeBean!

I also got a chance on Tuesday night to steal away from the group and meet up with a friend from Vladimir, Katya, who now lives and works in Moscow. I also got to meet her husband, Nick, for the first time.

I finally arrived in Rabat Thursday night, after a day that started at 2 am Rabat time and included extra time in Rome and searching for a lost bag in Casablanca (which I finally got on Saturday afternoon.)

Summer Solstice - White Nights

2008-06-27T15:24:00.003+04:00

One of our last nights in Petersburg, we went out on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and made shashlyk, BBQ - Russian style. These pictures are from about 10:30pm:

I will try to put a few pictures up from the two days I had in Moscow, but as yet that is not possible until I get my bag and camera cord back from Alitalia in Rome or wherever in the world it ended up!

Got to Morocco last night. It's hot! (About 20 F hotter than Moscow) and humid and I'm not adjusted yet, but it won't take long: reminds me of July back home in Indiana! Will try to post a little more about Morocco experiences when I can, but for now, just going to enjoy it!

Novgorod

2008-06-20T22:09:00.004+04:00

The group took a day trip to Novgorod, which is several hours on a bus. Lunch was great and, even though I've been there, I had fun.

This one is essentially the pimp-ride of the Soviet era, a long black limo that bureaucrats and bigwigs got as a perk of the job. Now doing duty as a wedding transportation and I have to say it is much better than a stretch Hummer that is the usual fare.

"Daytripper"

2008-06-16T22:54:00.003+04:00

A fairly large group of us took an elektrichka (suburban communter train) trip on Sunday to Vyborg, which is the last city before you get to the Finnish border. It was for a long time part of Finland, but was taken by the Soviet Union in the course of the Winter War of 1939-40 and WWII. It has an old castle from the 14th century and then an old town with buildings ranging mostly from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. I especially like the Art Nouveau style, which is represented below. The town is not large, there's not tons to do, and it rained most of the day, but it was still cool to get out and see something new.

,

Also, Lenin:

Cruisin'

2008-06-16T20:25:00.012+04:00

Last Thursday, June 12, was "Russia Day" a holiday of recent origin that marked the day that the Russian Federation claimed sovereignty from the Soviet Union. We took advantage of the day off to arrange a night-time cruise on the Neva, under the night skies and raised bridges. It was raining when we left the hotel at midnight, but by the time we made it to the center of the city and got on our boat, it turned out beautiful. The pictures won't do it enough justice - but here they are:

Pictures from Pavlovsk

2008-06-08T22:03:00.008+04:00

The group went to Pavlovsk on Saturday morning, beautiful and sunny, but chilly. As I had already been to the palace before, myself and a couple of others skipped out and went for a walk in the large imperial park that goes with it. The pictures turned out pretty well, but they hardly do justice to the beauty of the day.

There was this tree, a huge hollow in the middle. It's amazing that its still alive!

And this picture of some crazy guy:

Also: baby ducklings:

A Room With a View. . .

2008-06-03T21:17:00.002+04:00

. . .of a typical Russian apartment building, as seen from the window of our hotel. It may look like the projects, but people keep their personal spaces very neat and clean.

Tere!

2008-06-01T20:23:00.008+04:00

Thursday night we left Petersburg headed for Tallinn. We left on overnight train from Vitebsky train station, which I had never been to before, and looks like it came from a Hollywood lot for old European train station.

When we arrived the next morning, we got a guided walking tour of the upper and lower parts of the medieval city, complete with great views from the upper to the lower town. The weather was gorgeous, as it stayed for the whole of both days.

Likewise, we climbed to the top of the tallest church steeple for a different view.

Tallinn had tons of little shops, restaurants, and cafes along the narrow, winding streets of the Old Town.

The rest of the time we spent wandering around some in the new city, but mostly in the old town. Souvenirs, good found, friendly people and a neat atmosphere, relaxed despite the tourism, all added to the ambiance of the place.

Tallinn definitely gets a big recommend.

Going to the Big "V"

2008-05-28T22:01:00.005+04:00

Last weekend I took a train to Vladimir, where I spent last year teaching English at the American Home. I found that little had changed. The Golden Gate is still where it used to be:

The Coffee Bean, the best coffee shop in Russia, is still open:

Sara is enjoying her year as "lead teacher," pictured here at said cafe:

Cafe Pizza is still in business:

Went to visit Nina Petrovna. Her cats are as crazy as ever:

Also, her blinni are as delicious as ever.

The only noteworthy addition is a large statue of Vladimir, the founder of the city, I guess. Perhaps it is a different Vladimir:

In all, people haven't changed much, it was nice to see and talk with the people I knew from the American home and around town. I have to admit, that even though I was only there for two days and the weather was horrible, I felt no small amount of nostalgia for my little slice of the "real" Russia.

Tsarskoe Selo

2008-05-18T18:14:00.005+04:00

I've been to Tsarskoe Selo, also known as Pushkin, and its palace before. Our group went last Thursday and so I went along to just take pictures and have fun.

The results:

Also, I came away with a scarf for "Zenit," the local football team which won a major European championship last week and is kind of the talk of the town right now.

Making Change, Part XXXXII

2008-05-18T18:11:00.001+04:00

So, if you've read my blog before, you've probably heard me complain about making change: breaking a 1000 ruble note (about 40 bucks) is really hard and cashiers generally complain if you don't have correct change.

For that reason, today at the grocery store I thought I was doing well. My total was 158.45 and I handed over 1,000 rubles. As I started to and over the 8 rubles 50 kopecks, the cashier, in a very sharp tone typical for Russian cashiers, informs me that she's "not interested in the little stuff," and gives me all the coins and everything.

I understand nothing about this place. . .

May 9 Holiday

2008-05-11T16:10:00.003+04:00

In Russia, May 9, the holiday celebrating victory against Germany in the war is still a big deal. Our first morning here was the parade and such in Palace Square. The first picture is Nevskii Prospect, closed off to help get people to the square. The second is a picture of part of the parade, which was really hard to get a spot to see from, even for someone as tall as me.

Otherwise, things are going fine. The hotel/apartment where we are staying is spartan, but fine for six weeks. The other people on the program seem cool. We've had a couple of days to get acclimatized and now we have our first day of class at Smolnyi sobor' tomorrow.

End of the Semester and Back to Russia

2008-05-06T04:11:00.002+04:00

I finished my first semester of grad school last Friday. It's so hard to believe the first year had come and gone, it went so quickly. I'm leaving on Wednesday morning for Russia. I will be in St. Petersburg from May 8-June 26 for a summer language program and hope to update some about the city and anything else I come up with. May 9th and Victory Day, plus trips to Tallinn, Estonia, Moscow and, hopefully, Vladimir are on the agenda, but no matter what I do I think it will be great.

Even greater, though, I'm off to exciting Morocco after Russia for about six weeks to stay with Molly and possibly teach English a little. No matter what I do, she and I are going to have a great time there!

Look for new updates from Russia soon!

Kiva

2008-04-03T16:38:00.002+04:00

If you have a few spare bucks: $25,$50, check out Kiva. It's an organization that brings together donors and microcredit organizations representing individuals. You can choose a country and an individual person in Africa, Asia, Latin America and so on to loan your money to help them get their small business off the ground.

Check it out!

Putin Debate Comes to Chapel Hill

2008-03-28T15:15:00.002+03:00

Yesterday my adviser, Dr. Raleigh, and most of the other Russian-ists were out of town at a conference, so I volunteered to supervise his two undergraduate classes. It didn't require much time, but one of them was especially impressive.

A freshman seminar on Russian history and politics was to hold a debate on the pros and cons of the Putin presidency, which de jure ends on May 7. It was very impressive to find a group of twenty 17-18-19 year-olds who had read and begun to form opinions about issues as diverse as economics, civil liberties, and press freedom. I also found it heartening that they were able to draw comparisons with issues and events from the US and the world I honestly didn't expect them to know or care about.

They were probably 10 or 12 years old when Bush "looked into Putin's eyes and saw his soul" and found a man he "could do business with," but that was one among the many events they evoked (this one, of course, contra-Putin).

Morocco Pics

2008-03-23T18:15:00.003+03:00

So, as promised, I have some links to others' pictures from Morocco.

Nicole's Pictures from Morocco Scroll down to and find the Morocco pics in the big group at the bottom.

Joanna's

I'm glad we all got to hang out in Morocco and thanks guys for getting pictures up!

Journalism, (n.) a very dangerous profession

2008-03-22T17:43:00.002+03:00

Journalism in Putin's Russian proves yet again to be a dangerous profession. I guess we can only hope that journalists in Medvedev-ian Russia will find a safer work environment. Effective journalism is one of the ways to guarantee a free and civil society. American journalism is far from perfect, as evidenced by the need for bloggers and non-professionals to take up the slack left by too many Britney Spears stories. However, Americans are lucky that journalists are largely safe from threats such as this:

Not a Good Sign

Travels of the Non-Russian Variety

2008-03-19T21:46:00.003+03:00

I know this is a Russia blog and all, but when I travel I want to tell people about it. So, here goes:

This past week was Spring Break at UNC. Conventional wisdom says that grad students don't actually get vacation, only some extra time to work. I broke the rules though, and bought a ticket a while back to visit Molly in Rabat for the week, leaving on a Thrursday and returning the following Sunday: I'll tell you one thing - nine days in Morocco is not enough even to begin to see all it has to offer.

Little did I know when I bought my tickets back in December that there would be an American Home Reunion, Morocco Style in March. It worked out that Nicole, Joanna, and I were all coming to visit Molly and Eric, who lives in a different Moroccan city, Meknes. It was great to catch up with everybody and we had a great time handing out. Its hard to believe that after nearly a year together we had not seen each other eight months!

Highlights of the trip abound.

I had never been surfing before, but thanks to Molly's connections at the Oudaya Surf Club, we got a lesson on morning. The lesson: surfing is hard!

Another trip took Molly, Nicole, and I on a train to Meknes where we planned to meet Eric and Joanna. Turns out we didn't have to wait that long, as they were on the same train! After a night at Eric's place, the following day we took a train an hour further East to Fez, a city famous for its medina. A media is a walled city, often with crazy winding streets, a continuous market of everyday goods, antique stuff, food, and tourist souvenirs blended into a whirlwind of sights, sounds, and smells that are not easy to forget.

After another night at Eric's we took a short car ride north of Meknes to visit Volubilis, the site of Roman ruins that date back nearly 2,000 years. I had never seen anything like it. Sited on a high spot in a lush valley of wheat fields and olive groves, it was easy to imagine it as it might have appeared, a bustling and prosperous town of thousands of people with all the hallmarks of the Roman way of life.

Another favorite part of the visit is the food. In addition to the well known dish couscous, Morocco has great pastries. Think French, only with the occasional North African touch and really cheap! Think delicious pain chacolat for less than fifty cents!

Language is another amazing part of Morocco. As Molly has told me from her experiences teaching and meeting Moroccans, they seem born linguists. In addition to the local Arbaic language, Darija, or Berber educated Moroccans often speak standard Arabic and French, languages of education, business, government, and culture. One also doesn't have to look far to find English speakers, many of them with excellent accents and commands of English is a third or fourth language!

In all, it was great to see Molly's school, meet her friends, see the great little apartment in the Casbah, the oldest part of Rabat right next to the sea, that she shares with Anya. (Thanks Anya for putting up with us!) The climate is beautiful, the people friendly, living is inexpensive and I am looking forward to returning this summer!

P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures, I'm working on that!

Russian Politics

2008-02-16T06:18:00.001+03:00

As the Russian Presidential election quickly approaches, I keep asking the same questions of the news I read: Will anything change with the nominal transition from Putin to Medvedev? Will Medvedev be able to influence policies?

It seems as if Medvedev is projecting a more liberal image that befits a focus more toward legal reforms, social problems, and economic issues and away from the raw power of the former KGB and FSB elements in the Kremlin. We shall see...(a common refrain of mine when I think about Russia these days.)

Semester #2

2008-02-01T02:08:00.000+03:00

I haven't written at all about my new semester and new courses. This semester I am have a different load of classes. First is the required seminar for History grad students, HIST 900, in which we work on our own personal research, in order to produce an original article length piece by the end of the semester. My research is about public opinion in the Soviet Union, specifically about a poll from May 1960 when a group of Soviet citizens were surveyed on their opinions on the chances for peace between East and West.

My other class is in Global History, where so far we are looking at wide scope theoretical models and categories of analysis, as well as the interchange between geographical areas in History and social science fields.

I'm continuing to take Russian and this semester I added a class to help me for a French exam that I will need to pass to fulfill my 2nd language requirement.

I also found out this week that I will get to go to Russia, back to St. Petersburg, for about two months in May and June this year. I'm really excited!

An American Political Aside

2008-01-28T06:12:00.000+03:00

Fired up? Ready to go!

As you can easily tell from what I write about, I am to a certain extent a politics and news junkie. With the Presidential primary season in full gear, I got into the act and got involved.

I've lived my whole life in Indiana, a state that neither holds a relevant primary nor is traditionally in play come general election time. (Know the last Dem to carry IN? His name was Lyndon Baines Johnson and it was over 40 years ago.) That means that, largely from despair and not seeing it in action, I've never gotten active in a Presidential election before.

Fast forward to me living here in North Carolina. NC isn't voting yet, but its neighbor, South Carolina is. Or was, on this past Saturday. Earlier in the week I got an e-mail asking people to come volunteer to work as get-out-the-vote (GOTV) volunteers for the Obama campaign, and so I met some like-minded local people here from Chapel Hill and we formed a carpool. (Thanks to Linda, Erica, Carole, and Brian for making my first foray into political volunteering a great experience.)

We left the Chapel Hill area at 5:30am Saturday and got to Florence,SC after 8:00. The polls were open from 7-7, but I guess waking people up asking them to vote at 7:00am on a Saturday is a good may to make people mad! The Obama headquarters in Florence was nothing more than a house with some computers, posters, and some donuts and coffee from Krispy Kreme. Oh yeah, and hordes of people coming in to help! In addition to about 50 people from the Triangle area here in NC, there were 30 students from Howard University, and assorted individuals and small groups from a handful of different states, including a guy with a heavy British accent and a gentleman from Seattle who had also been to volunteer in New Hampshire and Nevada. He despaired that he might be a bad luck charm, as Obama narrowly lost NH and lost the popular vote while winning the delegate count in NV. His fears, however, would prove unfounded.

Because of the large turnout, our group of five volunteered to go back out into the rainy cool morning and drive about 20 minutes to a small town, Hartsville, where they didn't have as many out-of-state volunteers. Hartsville turned out to be a town of about 7500 people and with a small college in the town.

We spent the day going in groups of two or three to remind people of the primary, encourage them to vote, and arrange for transportation if they couldn't get to the polling place on their own. We weren't going door to door. Instead they wanted "targeted GOTV:" we had a list of people in a given precinct who they thought would be likely Obama voters and sent us to them. I have to admit I was a little puzzled at times, because in some situations the information was clearly out of date, which was a bit frustrating.

What wasn't frustrating was the result. Personally, we got a few more votes out. I especially remember one woman who thought we were selling something: "We don't want any." Then, when she realized we were from the Obama campaign, she was a little embarrassed to admit that she had forgotten it was primary day, but earnestly promised to go by and vote on her way to work. Statewide the results were great: not the 5-6-7% win the pre-election polls had predicted, but a 55%-27% win and better than expected showings in practically every demographic. (And, he won the county we worked in, Darlington, with 64%!)

Here's where a little hindsight would have come in handy. At about 6:00, the polls were going to be open for another hour, but the chances of getting to much more result were pretty slim. The town Obama organizer asked us to do just a little more, but also understood we had been at it all day and could beg off if we wanted. We also knew that Obama was set to give a victory speech in Columbia, an hour's drive away.

We did "the right thing" and went back out.

We also went to Columbia.

We also got left at the threshold...

...in line about 30 yards from the door when the fire-marshall stopped letting people in. If only we'd left a little earlier, we'd have gotten in to be a part of a raucous crowd and hear live a man who is, in my opinion, one of the most impressive speakers of our time. The speech was great. I know: we listened in the parking lot before embarking on a drive home that ended n Chapel Hill at almost 2:00 am.

While the drive to Columbia might seem futile, it wasn't. I was glad that we got just a little bit of the atmosphere: electric. People only talking about one thing. Thousands of different people, all coming together, a diverse bunch of Americans, all celebrating something great that I hope will catapult Barack Hussein Obama into a fancy new house in D.C. and this country off the awful drifting course its on now and get it moving in the right direction.

Can we do it? Yes we can!

It's Been a While

2008-01-24T18:08:00.000+03:00

...since I've posted. A month and a half, to be exact. It's been a busy stretch, both for me and for Russia. The holidays were here and I have been lucky enough to spend a month with those I love. Now, it's back to school and things are going well, like they say "Time flies when you're having fun." I can't believe that January has nearly come and gone.

As for Russia, well, as you probably know, we have an heir apparent. No surprises, although I was a little surprised that the decision became public as early as it did, months before the March election. It seems like they are aiming for a seamless official transfer of power, without much real change.

Any opposition candidates (Kasyonov, Kasparov, Zhyugonov, et.al.) are finding tough sledding in their attempts to get registered, run, and find air time for their campaigns. I fail to understand why the authorities feel the need to quash opposition when they would win even in a fair election.

Elections

2007-12-07T02:07:00.000+03:00

So the Russian Duma elections went off last Sunday and SURPRISE! pro Putin parties won.

Wow, what a shocker.

The real quiz is what will happen with the Russian presidency in the Spring, when Putin is constitutionally compelled to give up his seat in the Kremlin, but doesn't seem ready to give up his power and seat at the decision-making table.

Free Rice...

2007-11-25T06:29:00.000+03:00

...to eat! Not for me, for hungry people in places that need it. All you have to do is answer correctly SAT style vocab questions - and maybe buy something from one of the advertisers.

Check it out: Free Rice.com

Thanksgiving is Almost Here

2007-11-19T01:29:00.000+03:00

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone as this most American of holidays rolls around soon. I'm excited to be visiting my big sis in New York City, and that Mom and Dad are driving in from Indiana too. It's going to be Thanksgiving with a twist!

It's hard to believe that a year ago we were preparing for the madness that was our American home teacher collective bid to make Thanksgiving dinner. It turned out pretty well in the end, but most of all I remember being totally exhausted by the time is was over. To all of out there who do it every year, every holiday! Here's to you, preparers of Turkey Day feasts!

In the news, Russian Duma elections are looming closer. The old Duma has adjourned and the current squabble is with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) who typically sends election observers. "Not so fast!" the Russian government says. "We're not going to give you visas yet!"

Oh, how things always stay interesting!

Another Killer Fact...Actually a Hypothesis...

2007-11-06T06:25:00.000+03:00

...brought to you by my history studies at UNC Chapel Hill.

The other day we were discussion the last years of Josef Stalin's life and his relationship with those around him: largely sycophants and lightweights that Stalin found easy to manipulate.

However, like most things, it's not that easy. Stalin died in March 1953, apparently of a brain hemorrhage, despite relatively good health for a man of his age. While death by natural causes is largely accepted as the true reason for his death, there is a small but significant amount of evidence that someone from amongst his inner circle did him in in order to avoid a gathering purge of the leadership at Stalin's bidding.

It's not hard to imagine. These were men who had seen and taken part in the havoc that Stalin wrought on others, secret police chief Beriia was himself the chief agent of some of the purges. If they felt threatened, it's not hard to imagine the man who controlled Stalin's residences and body guards taking a page from Stalin's own playbook.

I guess it just goes to show you that being an evil dictator has its occupational hazards too!

November Already!

2007-11-01T08:02:00.000+03:00

It's hard to believe that October has come and gone already. It's still very much fall here in NC. Heck, the trees have just barely started to change on campus. It's going to be a beautiful month - made all the better by a big helping of turkey at the end.

On Russian matters, there's about a month left until Russia holds parliamentary elections. There's little doubt which party will win, but nonetheless there is still bickering over allowing foreign observers in for pre-election observation.

On a more personal level, I'm going to be continuing to study Russian in the spring and I hope to have an opportunity to spend six weeks or so in St. Petersburg this summer. It should be fun!

Now for a killer fact update!

Moscow: it's big, but you already knew that. In terms of population, it's got a little over 13 million people. If you toss in likelihood of 1-1.5 million people who live or work there undocumented, it comes out to fully 1/10th of Russia's population. Comparing to the US, it's as if you rolled NYC, LA, and Washington DC all into one and, if it had the same percentage of the country's population, would have about 30 million people!

As it relates to what I've been studying lately, Moscow was one of three main Nazi targets (along with St. Petersburg/Leningrad and the resource-rich lands of the south and Caucasus) when they invaded in June 1941. They reached the outskirts of Moscow, with the closest advances of the Wehrmacht reaching within 40 km of the Kremlin.

Climate Killer Facts

2007-10-21T18:07:00.000+04:00

Since it is fall these days and winter is soon approaching (for some sooner than others) I thought some climate killer facts about Siberia, the region Molly and I visited this summer, are in order.

Two things:
(1) Siberia is home to the place with coldest recorded tempurture, almost -100°F. According to Wikipedia (yeah, I know - I'm taking their workd for it) in January 1926 a temperature of -71.2 °C, or -96.1 F, was recorded at Oymyakon, Sakha Republic.

(2)Farther south, where the Trans-Siberian Railway runs, the climate is much warmer, reaching comfortable temperatures and summers long enough for agriculture. Despite this, the mean annual temperature is still 0°C, 32°F.

The moral, even though it's not a snowy frozen waste year round (I have pictures to prove it) it's still really, really extreme!

Websites of World Significance

2007-10-11T07:29:00.000+04:00

Nope, I'm not talking Google. (Although we all know it really runs the
world.) I was thinking of the White House and it's website www.whitehouse.gov.

That got me thinking: "I wonder what Putin's website looks like?" Well, here
it is: www.kremlin.ru. (Thanks
Google!)

If you want to know a little more about the
physical Kremlin, try this one: History of the Kremlin and
other stuff.

Here's a Killer Fact: The Kremlin was a symbol of power in Russia even during the two hundred year hiatus during which the Tsars (and ruling Tsarinas) lived in Petersburg. They continued to be crowned in the Uspensky Sobor'(Assumption Cathedral) and to lavish money and talent to update the architecture of the palaces and government buildings within the red brick walls.

Putin's Next Move

2007-10-02T03:51:00.000+04:00

Putin's Next Move

I'm waiting a while before I'll try to say what this means, but the picture is starting to clear up. It seems that Putin wants to have all of his ducks in row long before it comes to elections. It's not as if United Russia needs his help, but this begins to cement his position for the Post-Putin-Presidency Era. (PPP, if you will.)

September's Almost Gone

2007-09-23T03:11:00.000+04:00

It's hard to believe that September has almost come and gone. School is
going well, but there is lots to do! Reading, writing, researching,
learning Russian are all part of the game. The biggest part of what I'm
learning is historiography, the history of the study of history! As
Molly said, "It's so meta!"

As for Russia, it's still in the news. The latest shakeup is near the top, when Putin axed his PM and replaced him with a surprise, obscure candidate. My first thought upon
hearing that Fradkov was out was that Putin had decided to make his successor choice obvious early by picking one of the two main rivals, Medvedev or Ivanov. Instead we get Zubkov, a bureaucrat and manager from way back in the pack.

Only time will tell what this means for Russia.

Finally, an Update from the States!

2007-08-21T02:56:00.000+04:00

Finally, as promised, an update from Stateside. After several days of train travel and a stop to visit the Siberian cities of Novosibirsk and Tomsk, Molly and I reached Vladimir. We had twelve hours to say some final goodbyes, repack our things, and gather the stuff we had left behind in a closet at the American Home. (Also: to eat good pizza!)

A middle-of-the-night drive to Sheremetevo and a couple of hours of waiting found Molly and I on separate flights to separate cities in Germany and then to the States. Suffice it to say, we made it safely, but we were exhausted. I've never been so exhausted in my life! As bad as this picture looks, I felt worse!

A whirlwind couple of days in New York City with my sister was followed by a few more days with my parents at home in Indiana. Finally, I arrived here in Chapel Hill, NC last Thursday. I begin my graduate career tomorrow, on the first day of class here at UNC. I'm excited about the chance to take three history seminars and a Russian class at neighboring Duke in Durham, a few miles' bus ride down the road.

Since I'm no longer in Russia, the best I can do is find news and talk a little about what I'm learning. The first installment is about something many take for granted that can never be assumed in Russia: hot water.

Been
There

Long-Delayed Update

2007-08-01T06:46:00.000+04:00

It's been at least three weeks sense I've had a chance to write anything. Two of those weeks we spent living in a tent in a forest on a hill near Lake Baikal. The other week we've been traveling around in the area and enjoying the beautiful area. This is a place very rich and beautiful in nature, if not always in other ways. I will try to write more and show what I mean with pictures when I get back to the States next week and have more consistent Internet access. Between now and then, we are beginning the long journey home with the first leg of our train trip from Irkutsk tomorrow even1ing. Then end will be a week from today when we fly from Moscow to our respective destinations and families. I'm having a great time and it's been a wonderful experience, but I can also honestly say I'm ready to come home!

To Irkutsk...and Beyond!

2007-07-11T05:59:00.000+04:00

Irkutsk at last, vacation at last. After a long train ride (we thought of it as a four-night, three-day tea party, bed included) we reached Irkutsk on Monday morning. The first impression I had is of course that Siberia is huge. You can just sit and watch the landscape roll by. The other odd thing about the train is that it stays on Moscow time no matter where you are. I knew this on an intellectual level, but it wasn't driven home until we were on the train and the sun came up three or four hours earlier than it should have.

As for Irkutsk, its a pretty cool city. There are lots of old buildings in the center of the city where are hostel is. That said, it's also clearly a Soviet-Russian city with its industry and fair share of ugly buildings. There's also a lot of influence from East Asia, with Asian cars, products, and people everywhere.

We're leaving tomorrow morning to begin two weeks of camping and working near Lake Baikal. We're going to be near a small village called Tankhoi. It might be a while before I get to post again.

Last Vladimir Post

2007-07-05T13:36:00.000+04:00

It's hard to imagine that almost a year has passed, but today is my last day of living in Vladimir. Tonight, Molly and I are catching a train to begin our month in Siberia before we return to the States. Since I wrote last my birthday passed; my parents, sister and family friend visited Moscow, Vladimir, and Petersburg and have safely returned home; and I have packed stuff and said goodbye to people for about three days straight Not surprisingly, they really enjoyed Petersburg and I think they now have a better idea of why I am so interested in Russia. (Even if they think me a little crazy still.)

I will try to update a time or two from Siberia, but I'm not sure when or where I'll be able to use the Internet. After three days in Irkutsk, we are embarking on a two week camping trip near Lake Baikal. As you can imagine, no Internet.

Thursday Picnic

2007-06-22T11:14:00.000+04:00

Yesterday was the last Thursday of the semester. Because we don't have lots to do in the summer on Thursdays, the Russians teamed up to make a picnic in the backyard. We exchanged a few gifts, sang some songs, and ate some good food. (As you can tell from the picture, even Gosha got fed well!) Also, despite a Russian tradition against celebrating birthdays early, we celebrated my birthday, which is actually tomorrow. I got a cool LED flashlight and Molly baked a delicious cake! It's getting hard to believe that the year is almost at an end. Even though I'm very excited to travel and then begin school, it's also hard to leave behind friends and familiar places.

Gosha

2007-06-19T19:42:00.000+04:00

This picture needs no explanation at all.

Blinni and a(nother) Russian Institution

2007-06-17T15:41:00.000+04:00

Yesterday was a Saturday afternoon. We spent it, as we usually do when the weather is overcast and a little cool, at the American Home. It was a little unique because we began pulling our personal things out of our little cubbie-holes and storage spaces, only to be confronted with the fact that we either have to cart home to the States or get rid of a lot of STUFF! It's going to be interesting.

We also made a nice dinner which included Russian blinni (Thanks for cooking blinni, Molly!) and followed it up with another Russian favorite, some Cheburashka cartoons. Cheburashka is a little creature of unknown origin who cutely popped out of an orage crate and makes an appearence in four short stop-motion animation films from the Soviet '70s. He's cute; befriends an easy-going crocodile names Gena; is sometimes foiled by the quasi-evil, but strangely grandmotherly, Shapaklyak; and learns many life lessons. It's cute, and despite the fact that there is barely an hour of existing films, he is wildly popular over 30 years after his creation. (If you look closely at Olympic footage, you'll see him as a sort of mascot for Russian teams in both of the last two Olympiads.) You can read more about him here: Wikipedia, giver of knowledge.

This is also the source of one of may favorite sentences in the Russian language, which goes like this: Жил в городе крокодил. Его зовут Гена. Он работал в зоопарке крокодилом. (There lived in the city a crocodile. His name is Gena. He worked at the zoo as a crocodile.)

So, with that our semester is winding down. My parents and sister are in London now and will be here on Saturday to visit, which is still hard to believe. These next two weeks are going to be crazy!

I'm Scary!

2007-06-12T11:09:00.000+04:00

I'm scary. Didn't you know? I scare teenage girls! I yell at adults! I'm just SCARY!

Well, actually I don't think I'm that bad. I'd like to think of myself as a nice guy. But, then there are these little vignettes:

I. The other day we had new prospective students to test them for their level of English. Part of this is an oral interview with one of the Americans. I do this pretty often and invariable I get a 13-14 year old, usually girl, who is scared to death of this big American boy who speaks English at them. (I'm also told that I speak "very quickly," but since I'm from Indiana we all know that that ain't true!) Last week, a 13-14 year old girl didn't say a word:

Me: "My name is Aaron. How are you?" Her: Nothing.
Me: "Where do you go to school?" Her: Nothing.
Me: "What are you doing right now?" Her: You guessed it, nothing.
Me, in Russian: "That's fine. Do you have any questions you'd like to ask?" Her: Nothing.
Me: "Okay, it was nice talking to you."

II. I don't like it when people use cell phones and/or cheat on exams. Those students who do this, and persist in it, I tell them how I feel. I guess this makes me scary ;)

III. One of Molly's students used the Russian word "gul" to describe me and my voice. It means "echo" or "reverberation." When Molly asked her if I was scary, she replied: "You can't say he's scary, but on the other hand, you can't say that he's not."

There you have it: You can't say that I'm not.

Flowers of June

2007-06-09T15:24:00.000+04:00

Last weekend when we went to Sergeev Posad, one of the things I had plenty of chance to take pictures of were flowers. Everything was in full bloom and beautiful. My pictures were helped by the fact the it was clear and sunny, without a cloub in the sky. In short a perfect day to snap some pictures.

Sunday Day-trip

2007-06-05T11:47:00.000+04:00

I had forgotten how nice it is to be able to drive places on your own schedule! After months of public transportation we took a little trip to Sergeev Posad, by car! Natasha who works here at the AH, Joanna, Eric, Molly and I joined some of our students and friends, Larissa, Marina, her son, and a co-worker of Marina’s on a road trip. Sergeev Posad is a small town northeast of Moscow that is home to one of the most famous and beautiful monasteries in Russia, The Trinity-Sergius Monastary. We were there on Sunday during mass which was very interesting. As you can see, I took tons of pictures.

After thoroughly checking out the monastery, we drove a few miles to Abramtsevo. It is a small estate that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was owned by a wealthy Moscow industrialist who invited artists like Repin and Vasnetsov to the estate, a sort of artists’ colony. In addition to pleasant woods, a beautiful stone church, and some pretty wooded buildings, there are museums and workshops for things like painting, woodworking, and ceramics. We spent some time wandering the grounds and, you guessed it, taking more pictures.

After Abramtsevo we drove a short while and stopped for a picnic lunch and some relaxation. On the way home, we went via the little town of Radonezh. It’s a small town with a church and a spring that is famously connected to St. Sergei of Radonezh, who was the founder of the monastery in Sergeev Posad. It’s a very pretty place and we took the chance to have a dip in the spring-fed stream and drink some of the water from the spring that is believed to have cleansing powers.

In all, it was a relaxing, beautiful day that I think we all really enjoyed. I know that I'm enjoying summer, but the time is going very fast. We have barely three weeks left to teach! Yikes!

The Family is Coming, The Family is Coming!

2007-06-02T11:59:00.000+04:00

As I was informed in a comment, I neglected to mention that my family is also coming to visit me in Russia at the end of the month.

After a whirlwind tour of London and Paris, Mom; Dad; my sister, and a family friend are coming to Russia! They'll be in Moscow for a few days, then to Vladimir for a short stay and then on to St. Petersburg as the last stop on the voyage.

I'm really excited that they are coming: now they can maybe understand why I've come to Russia twice! I'm going to try and be the best tour guide/interpreter that I can be, but unfortunately they're arriving right at the end of our summer semester here at the AH, which is always a crazy time.

As for that, we had midterm exams for the summer semester yesterday, so today will mostly be spent hanging out and grading them. So far they seem to be doing okay. They need to be graded today because tomorrow we're teaming up with some students and taking a trip to Sergeev Posad, which is a town famous for its monastaries and beautiful churches. I think that we're going to take a picnic lunch and make a day out of it. It will be a long day, but with the cooler weather that we're having, it should be very enjoyable.

The last part of this post is a little picture I took a while back. Can anyone figure out what it is?

School Update

2007-05-29T18:23:00.000+04:00

School is going well and very quickly. The summer session is intensive. Instead of twice a week for 3 hours total for 15 weeks, the summer is 3 times a week for almost 7 hours, but only for about 6 weeks. It's the same number of hours over the semester, but two 2hour 15 minute classes in a night are pretty exhausting.

Midterm exams are this week and then we'll have class until June 27, the final day. (We do have one short vacation of one day for Russian Constitution Day or whatever.)

All in all, while I'm going to miss lots about Vladimir (host-babushka, co-workers, etc) I'm really excited to travel to Siberia and also to begin school in the fall. August 21st will be here before I know it and I feel like a little kid getting ready to go to kindergarten for the first time!

Speaking of Siberia and Baikal, we got accepted into the program and so we know where we will be working: Great Baikal Trail Project Our project is called "The Jungles of Kamar-Daban," sounds pretty awesome to me!

Sunday Politics...

2007-05-27T13:37:00.000+04:00

Commentary from The NYT on the state of Russian justice and its hopeless entanglement in the political system. The quote below seems to be the most pertinent to the situation that arose this week when authorities in Great Britain began seeking the extradition of a former KGB officer in the poisoning of Litvinenko.

The cynicism has been a hallmark of Mr. Putin’s presidency, allowing him to consolidate power by using the law to weaken the media, marginalize opposition parties and imprison political enemies. It is now being used to paint Britain as wielding its judicial system in Mr. Litvinenko’s murder in the same way Russia often wields its own — manipulating the law for political ends.

Who knows what will happen next. The more I read about, it the less I understand.

News...

2007-05-25T11:17:00.000+04:00

A little a bit of news from Russia: First more mine disaster from the same region where a different mine exploded two months ago killing dozens.

Mine Blast Kills 38

Also, Putin has been in Europe for the last few days, especially talking about the Russian economy and the Russia's growing wealth.

Putin Touts Economiuc Strength

Post Number Two of the Day...

2007-05-22T19:40:00.001+04:00

...but I couldn't resist. Here's a pretty hilarious article from 2001 from The Onion archives. (Thanks to Molly for finding it!)

Russia Aquires Amway Distributorship

Also, in other news the Brits are charging a Russian in last fall's poisoning/murder of ex KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko. Is anyone surprised?

Read All About It!

Some Politics

2007-05-22T11:57:00.000+04:00

So the recent EU-Russia summit in Samara went off not-so-well. First there was the planned protest that didn't get off the groud and then there was the fact that there was little agreement between the two parties on...anything. Issues like the Russians' tiff with Estonia and the disagreement between Poland and Russia over Polish meat exports do little to improve things. On the other hand, as the article below notes, European and German dependence on Russia for energy supplies make this relationship vital, if no less contentious.

EU-Russia Relations in the NYT

The other thing that looms is the fact that by this time next year we should know who Putin's successor will be. That said, the picture is far from clear. There are some candidates (unofficial, of course,) but I have a feeling that Putin will pull a rabbit out of the hat, much the same way that Yeltsin did when he plucked Putin from relative obscurity to Prime Minister and then hand-chosen successor.

Some Commentary on the state of political Russia from The Moscow Times

2007-05-19T14:59:00.000+04:00

Last Thursday evening brought one of those pleasant summer rainstorms that blankets the flowers with water drops and forms puddles everywhere. (Don't lie and say you didn't like jumping in them when you were a kid.)

We took a few pictures and these are the results. They are a little dark due to the low light, but I didn't want to spoil them with Photoshop, so here they are.

Lake Baikal Adventure

2007-05-15T19:42:00.000+04:00

Call me crazy, but at least hear me out. This July, Molly and I are going to pay money to work hard. But it will be completely worth it because we will be working on the shores of one of the most unique places on the planet. Most people have never heard of it, but it's amazing.

Lake Baikal is the found in Siberia, some five time-zones from Moscow and European Russia. It contains 20% of the world's fresh surface water. Yes, that's right: 1/5th. That's because it's a big lake coupled with the fact that it is over 1600 meters deep.

More than that, it is home to thousands of cool endemic species of plant, animal, fish, etc. Included it the plethora of flora and fauna is the Nerpa seal, the world's only freshwater seal.

Unlike most parts of the environment in Russia, Baikal is in comparatively good shape. It has its problems, but overall is cleaner and better cared for than almost anywhere else in this vast country.

So, you ask, what are we going to do there? The answer is: build trails. Here's the website for the program: http://www.greatbaikaltrail.org/.

Their goal is to build a network of trails that ring the lake and make it more accessable to people who will enjoy the natural wonders that the lake and it's surrounding areas, which include several national parks open to all.

Here's a link to the Wikipedia article on Baikal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_baikal .

Here's a link to an image of Baikal from space: http://www.irkutsk.org/baikal/space.htm.
If you want more about it...Google it!

Aaron's Russia Blog

Christmas is Here!

Winter is Here; Archives

Crossposted, "We Won the Cold War"

Of Archival Notes and Dumptrucks

Hungary and One-Party Government

Holidays and News

Now That's What I Call Art!

Václav Havel (1936-2011)

Kyiv, Pt. 10 - Bykivnia

С днём рождения! or: Happy Birthday!

Kyiv, Pt. 9

Kyiv Visa Adventure Madness

Kyiv, Pt. 8

Post-election Fallout

Kyiv, Pt. 7

Kyiv, Pt. 6

Kyiv, Pt. 5

Kyiv, Pt. 4

Kyiv, Pt. 3

Kyiv, Pt. 2

Kyiv, Pt.1

This Week from the Archives, Pt. IV [or, White Dog, Russian-style]

Morality, "po komsomol'skii"

The Century of the Self

This Week from the Archives III

November 4, Day of National Unity; or, Why I Can't Go to the Archives Tomrrow

Elections, Coming to a Russia near You

This Week from the Archives, Pt. II

Have reusable grocery bag . . .

Burning Questions

Pumpkins!

This Week from the Archives

__Elena__

Anglophone University Power?

Elections

Russian Film Recommendation

Some cooking pics . . .

Bright Lights, Big City

Occupy Wall St.

Crappy Opinion Pieces, a Global Phenomenon

Work?

Weekend Fare

The Environs

ul. Krasina 24, ap. 10

"Don't talk to strangers . . ."

In lieu of update, a pretty picture

To Moscow!

Resurrection?

New Post

The Moscow in June

Summer Solstice - White Nights

Novgorod

"Daytripper"

Cruisin'

Pictures from Pavlovsk

A Room With a View. . .

Tere!

Going to the Big "V"

Tsarskoe Selo

Making Change, Part XXXXII

May 9 Holiday

End of the Semester and Back to Russia

Kiva

Putin Debate Comes to Chapel Hill

Morocco Pics

Journalism, (n.) a very dangerous profession

Travels of the Non-Russian Variety

Russian Politics

Semester #2

An American Political Aside

It's Been a While

Elections

Free Rice...

Thanksgiving is Almost Here

Another Killer Fact...Actually a Hypothesis...

November Already!

Climate Killer Facts

Websites of World Significance

Putin's Next Move

Elena