By Eric Le Roy
Content 18+ As we study history together, I often show documentary films to my students. When these films are about the distant past, there is a voice (or person-moderator) who walks us through the information, using whatever illustrations can be mustered. But as we get nearer to modern times the documentaries come to life: actual human action in black and white. From the late 19th … Read the rest
By Eric Le Roy
Content 18+ The gray days turn now to early darkness – light-swallowing afternoons that have me leaving the apartment with my dogs when it is still daylight and returning 30 minutes later to sudden winds and the pitch black of precocious night. These afternoons end quicker than friendships when talking about places like Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Palestine. Believe me, I know.
In the morning, … Read the rest
Контент 14+
One summer day I packed my backpack and headed out on an ethnographic expedition. I had just passed my exams and finished my first year as a student of the Moscow Academy of Music. This annual tour involves different students every go around because only several professors are engaged yet all students must participate at least once.
Our ethnographic laboratory had been studying the Bryansk region on the … Read the rest
Контент 18+
On the day before my first nightduty our only anesthetist-resuscitator Elena had given me her own personal phone number.
— Don’t hesitate to disturb me in any case of emergency, — she said. She was an amiable old doctor who could have retired ages ago, but she loved her job and, moreover, there was no other resuscitator in the hospital. I gave her thanks but hoped that … Read the rest
Контент 6+
I stood up cautiously and headed to investigate the flat. It was not big but I preferred to know every detail: where the couch and chairs were, where the pans were located (just on the floor under the table), and where the dry leaf of a home plant had fallen from the windowsill. I sniffed and sniffed to remember all signs of my new territory, because if I live … Read the rest
