Anglophone University Power?

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

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

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 . . .

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

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

Occupy Wall St.

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

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.

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

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?

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

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

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

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 . . ."

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

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!

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?

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

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

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

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!