Content 6+ Lately, my curiosity about my ancestral roots has been growing stronger—a fascination that seems to blossom with age and the realization of how political decisions can shape the lives of ordinary people, often against their will.
The inklings of my family's origins had always hinted at a land farther east than my own birthplace. It wasn't until a DNA test confirmed this suspicion that I truly began … Read the rest
Content advisory 18+ The off-the-charts hullabaloo after Helsinki (Donny and Vlad) has gotten so ridiculous that I once more feel compelled to seize my figurative pen and get to work. The problem is that the folks who most need to read what I have to say here simply won’t — because the kind of American trolls who soil cyberspace with their dim-witted posts don’t know how to absorb much beyond … Read the rest
Content advisory 18+ Although the 2018 World Cup can now be placed in the file of Yesterday's News (and what is deader than the headlines of the day before the day before ?), it is worth a brief look back simply as a way of saying goodbye-to-all-that.
And no matter what your take on sports in general might be-- and regardless of your politics -- I think that only … Read the rest
Content advisory 16+ Following the ideas expressed by Eric (USA-based opinion) and Roopsa (India-based opinion), I want to give you the Russian one)
We have a long history, and often one of dramatic self-contradiction. one example was the belief, which lasted until the 20th century, that women should hide their hair under a shawl or scarf -- because revealing it was a sure sign of a sexually-charged nature and a … Read the rest
Content advisory 18+ In the last couple of days, Russian "patriotism" has had its finest hour. First, a famous painting was well-nigh destroyed by a vodka-swilling nationalistic fool at the Tretyakov gallery; and, second, a Russian journalist, well-known for his criticism of the Kremlin, was fatally shot in the back as he tried to enter his apartment in Kiev, where he had fled in fear of his life in Moscow.… Read the rest
