On Russia

I spent the last half of my undergraduate career studying Russian history, I had developed a strong interest in early 19th century Russian history--specifically Tsar Nikolas I. In my little apartment in the little aggie town where I attended college, I had a Soviet banner, a Soviet flag, a Russian flag, and various other forms of Soviet and Russian propaganda. I remember when a repairman came over to check my furnace or AC or something, I was very self-conscious of all my Soviet stuff. The Berlin Wall had come down and the Soviet Union had collapsed in the previous couple of years, but the Cold War died a slow death.

As the repairman warily eyed my Soviet wall hangings, I explained to him that I studied pre-Soviet Russian history but had returned from a recent trip to Russia where I had been able to buy the Soviet souvenirs for a few dollars. And, I told him, the flag wasn't "real." It was a hammer and sickle silk screened on red fabric and sold for $5 to tourists like me.

"There is no such thing as a fake flag," he said. Ah, got it. He was one of those. Great.

He fixed my furnace and moved on. I'm sure he just thought of me as another one of those weirdo pinko liberals associated with the "college" (as locals called the small university I attended). And he was probably right.

In the early 1990s, I would get defensive about studying Russian history, because I didn't feel like explaining why. But why did I study it? Because I loved it. Russia (and I use "Russia" to describe the region that is generally seen as the former Soviet Union) has an incredibly rich and interesting and fucked up history. It is full of drama and violence and various forms of ridiculousness. Now, my knowledge of Russia and Soviet studies pretty much stops in the early 90s and a lot has changed since then, but I know enough that I can make some educated guesses about what is going on. Because when it come down to it, The Soviet Union was just another form of autocracy that had been developed by the Romonavs and it always seems that there will always be a form of this in whatever government is in charge.

I've been thinking a lot about Russia lately. Mainly because of the Tsarnaev brothers and the Boston bombing. I know they probably identified as Chechens and Muslims more than Russians, but to me, Russia is still part of who they are.

As mentioned in an earlier post, as soon as I heard their names and "Russia" on the radio, I knew they were Chechens. It made sense. And to say I have been following the story closely is an understatement --because this isn't just a Muslim thing, this is a Russian thing. At least to me it is.

I really don't have anything to add to this story that hasn't already been said. I still want to know why. I still want to know how a kid goes from wrestling in the basement to planting bombs. I doubt we'll every completely know. But just like twenty years ago, I feel myself getting defensive of Russia. I feel myself wanting to explain what little I know about the Chechen region (which isn't a lot).

Russians (and the other various ethnicities that make up the former Soviet Union) have a strong and deep sense of pride. If you saw the brother's uncle angry about how they brought shame to the Chechen people, you've seen that pride on display, and it can be a blessing and a curse. And even though it's been twenty years since I spent almost every waking moment thinking about Russia--its history, its culture, and its future--I still feel something for the place. And as odd as it sounds, the Tsarnaev's actions are to me more than a bomb planted at a marathon that killed three and injured hundreds in an attempt to make a point related to religion. To me, I feel a sense of disappointment. Like their uncle said, they brought shame to a region that meant a lot to me. It's almost like an assault on someone I used to know and care about.

I know it is more complicated than that. Much, much more complicated. And I know, in the end, it has absolutely nothing to do with me. (I did read that one of their sisters used to live in my current town. This makes sense since we have a sizable Russian population--sizable enough that when the city puts out announcements they come out in English, Spanish, and Russian.)

I really don't know how to end this post. I have started it over several times over the last two days, but I can never really get it to come together they way I want it to. But, really, I feel the need to say something about this but what that is, I don't know.

Reading, Watching

Reading
I went to the local bookstore to buy my niece a copy of The Diary of Anne Frank for Christmas. She's ten. I was a little younger than that when I read Anne Frank for the first time. I read it multiple times after that. It fueled my love of books, reading, and history. At our library's annual children's book booksale, I bought a photobook about Anne Frank. Initially I bought it for me, but then I decided to pair it with Anne Frank (and an iTunes giftcard) for my niece.

Anyway, I remembered I had the remnants of a local bookstore giftcard a friend sent me earlier this year. It wasn't enough to pay for a new hardcover, but I decided I may as well use it. My intended purchases (in addition to buying Anne Frank): Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling and See a Little Light by Bob Mould. What did I buy? Kaling's book and Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie.

I had heard about the Catherine the Great book from my mom, but I didn't think to buy it until I saw who the author was. I never got around to reading Nicholas and Alexandria but I read (and own) Massie's Peter the Great and The Romanovs: The Final Chapter. I tried to read Dreadnaught. I think I still own it, and I still want to read it.

My first thought when I saw the Catherine the Great book? Robert Massie is still alive? I'm pretty sure this is something only thought by former history majors who were obsessed with WWI and Russian and East European history. I grabbed it off the shelf as soon as I saw it. I read John Alexander's Catherine the Great while in college. I think I still own it. (I've been getting rid of books I've been hauling around for twenty-plus years, and I'm not sure if this one made the cut or not). I read it in the first Russian history class I took as an undergrad. This was the class that started my passion for Russian history. I wasn't obsessed with Catherine the Great, not at all, but I did dress as her for Halloween one year. Again, only something a Russian history nerd would think to do.

Anyway, I started Kaling's book eating lunch and I finished it a few hours later. I loved it. And it made me think that maybe I should write a book.

Don't worry, I won't. But a friend of mine keeps telling me I should. She tells me I have a distinct voice. And I tell good stories. I'm really not that interesting but I have known some interesting people. It's what happens when you spend most of your life in small towns, you meet interesting people because they are a whole lot more noticeable. Anyway, Kaling's book made me start thinking about it. And then I realized I could never be as funny as Mindy Kaling. And that was a little depressing.

Watching
At this moment I am watching (and DVRing) Raising Arizona. Thanks to all that crap from Comcast, they gave me HBO free for three months. So I am DVRing a bunch of movies I ether really like a lot or that I kept meaning to see. So far I have DVR'd A Mighty Wind, Quiz Show, West Side Story, The Kids are Alright, and Bend it Like Beckham.

Mama Don't Take my Kodochrome Away

These images are from Daily Kos. Daily Kos talks about how they are America pre-Pearl Harbor -- and they are. But more than that, they show The Depression in full Kodochrome color. When I first looked at these my brain had a difficult time wrapping itself around the fact that these were from the 1930s and '40s. They are so incredibly vivid and rich. I'm so used to seeing these images in black and white -- in color they look completely different.

Kos also links to some images available through the Library of Congress' American Memory Project. They have them listed by subject, creator, and geographic index. Being the dork that I am, I went straight to the subject index and then to Women. There is a List View and a Gallery View of the photos.

These are amazing. Color images of women from the 1930s and 1940s. Depression-era, WWII-era. Women working in factories, women quilting, women doing what they need to do for their families and their country. And to have them in Kodochrome is even niftier.

Take some time, look at these images. They're worth it.