Communism
What has the Communist Revolution done for you lately?: In America we think that communism is an absolute evil. But here are some of the good things that communism did for Russia
The ‘Sex Question’ Glass Floweth O’er: Alexandra Kollontai’s theories about how sex should be for true Bolsheviks; the sexual act would be like satisfying one’s thirst by ‘drinking a glass of water’.
The Free Love Movement of the Bolsheviks: Soviet Woodstock, marriage and gender roles in the early years after the Revolution
The Limits of Liberation: Soviet Family Policy in the NEP era, the problems with divorce, stray children, abortion and prostitution.
Soviet Motherhood: NEP Era motherhood and the reversal in Stalin’s era
Georgia
Georgia the country: land of wine, saints and cavalrymen: John Steinbeck’s impressions of the country
Literature
A Comparison of Gogol’s ‘The Overcoat’ to the Fall of Adam: A paper for one of my literature classes
Mythology
Etymology and Slavic Mythology: Words in the Russian lexicon connected with the old Pagan myths: Явь, Ярко, народ, волос
Slavic Creation Myth: Songs of Gamayun
My Experiences and Projects
Don’t Afraid: My terrifying appendectomy in a po-dunk hospital in Ukraine Part I and Part II
Memories and Recipes of Borsch
My photography: My obsession with Russia begins in the details
True Russophilia: 10 reasons why I love Russia
Russian Culture
The Russian New Year in Post Cards: Depictions of Father Frost and the Snow Maiden
Russian and Ukrainian Christmas Carols:
Russian Language
—The Word’s Worth; Weekly bread for the Russophile— My obsession with a brilliant column in the Moscow Times by Michele Berdy, about the language and the culture. Some of the articles:
July 11, 2008: ‘Approve That’- approving visas, ‘All time is relative’-idioms
Taking the Tractor to Church’- the peasant, ‘Avoiding Profanity’, ‘It’s Awkward in Everyone’s Language’-expressing condolences in Russian
International Women’s Day, 8 March
Valentines Day: Love words in Russian
Culinary Linguistics: Origins of Russian Food and the Words describing it
Russian Phonetics Experiment: Can learner’s of Russian as a second language identify native and non-native accent in Russian?
Results of Above Phonetics Experiment: Why identifying native and non-native in Russian is problematic. Do speakers of Russian from satellite USSR countries have an accent or not?
Russian Language Through Music: Kino A little language instruction using the song “просто хочешь ты знать” by the beloved Russian rock band Kino, as well as a few facts about the life and music of Viktor Tsoi.
Russian Politics
Putin’s Language Power in Politics: Putin’s eloquence in Russian, fluency in German, speeches in French and Tatar. Why language can make a leader seem so great.
Russian Society
Women’s Issues: Sexual Harrassment– Russian judge dismisses woman’s harrassment charge saying that if it weren’t for harassment the human race would not propogate. My impressions as well as what Russians say about the issue.
Russian Opinion of Condaleeza Rice: Russian media’s hillarious and outrageous belief that Condaleeza’s anti-Russian stance is because of sexual frustration.
Ukraine
Ukraine Got the Good Looks in the Family and Russia Got the Muscles: Russia’s admiration for big brother Ukraine
Russian and Ukrainian Christmas Carols
My blog posts about my time in Ukraine
Lveaving for Lviv: The beginning of my journey to explore Western Ukraine.
Drastic Post of the Dearer: First impressions of Lviv and funny translations in the airport.
The Bidet and the Water Filter: My nice hostess, apartment and first walk around the town.
Marshrutky, Mashyny and Yamy: Travels in the countryside.
Part I Ukrainian Village: Fun with my friend’s family.
The Price of Prostitutes and Church: Funny conversations about various costs of ‘living’ in the US.
First Day of School, Prohulyanka and Kryivka: More friends and walking around Lviv.
Dangerous Strangers and Masochists: Meet up with more friends and a visit to the Masoch monument.
The African-American Sea: More fun with my clever and witty friends. And more wandering around Lviv.
Part II Countryside; Goose and Scrambled Eggs: Shashlyk and banya
Environmentally Friendly Ukrainians: some interesting methods Ukrainians use to help the environment.
It’s So Creepy: Fun in the dance club and an entertaining conversation with a Polish guy. Also, visit to Ratusha Tower and look out over Lviv.
The Cemetary and The Wedding: A visit to Lykachivsky Cemetery and the wedding I went to in the countryside.
Kyiv, Kiev and Linguistic Chaos: My journey begins in Kiev with a major headache as I try to switch between Russian and Ukrainian.
Pondering These Things in My Heart: I bid my sad farewell to Ukraine.
In Praise of Ukrainian and the School Where I Learned It: Recommending the school in Lviv where I studied Ukrainian, and some interesting information about the peculiarities of the Galician accent.