My Perestroika

Not my perestroika: Shades of might have beens

by on December 15, 2011 in Soviet/Russian Jewry

Every year, on September 1, Russian children start their first day of school. All of them, en masse. And before them, it was Soviet children. My mother went to school in pinafored uniform, braids and bows in her hair, flowers in her arms. Twenty years later, a carbon copy photo of my cousin doing and »Read More

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The Soviet Samovar! First issue! Wednesday!

by on October 3, 2011 in Soviet/Russian Jewry

*Updated – Check out the first issue of Soviet Samovar here. I spend a lot of my online time doing what most of us do – reading stuff, looking at stuff and sending stuff around. Savvy internet types have even wholescale co-opted the term curating from the dry, dusty bowels of museums to give all »Read More

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Live, in the kitchen, from Moscow

by on September 26, 2011 in Soviet/Russian Jewry

It took the Kremlin until 1959 to realize how starved for things the nation was. In July of that year, Moscow’s Sokolniki Park hosted the American National Exhibition. …In just two week two million Russians had had their faces mashed into a perfect tableau of Yankee wealth. The Cadillacs, the TV dinners, the cosmetics, the »Read More

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Hiding out in the ‘burbs

by on September 21, 2011 in Soviet/Russian Jewry

Surprisingly to some, many of the people living in places like Peel or Scarborough do so voluntarily—almost as if they like it or something. Moreover, a very significant chunk of those suburbanites aren’t white and weren’t born in Canada, a fact that raises some rather sticky questions. To wit, as downtown scenesters badmouth the suburbs »Read More

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When all is fleeting anyway, food becomes everything (Immigrant Decor Part 5)

by on August 4, 2011 in Immigrant Decor Series

If I had a Russian food blog, it would be something like The Gastronomical Me, by Katrina K., a transplanted Russian who lives in London. And, if I loved in London, I would be crashing her monthly Soviet brunch club. As it is, I may have to start my own version in Toronto. In the »Read More

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The weight of an English chesterfield (Immigrant Decor Part 4)

by on July 27, 2011 in Immigrant Decor Series

This next post is from Navneet Alang, a tech-culture writer and PhD student. You can catch his always thoughtful commentary in This Magazine and the Toronto Standard, among others. Nav’s memorable item is slightly bigger than your average tchotchke, but what I really appreciate is how neatly it upends expectations of what, or where, home »Read More

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Hindu gods, the Alberta way (Immigrant Decor Part 3)

by on July 26, 2011 in Immigrant Decor Series

Our next submission on the things we take with us growing up in immigrant homes is from writer Scaachi Koul, who writes about her distance from her Indian background. Scaachi is currently interning over at Huffington Post Canada. She also keeps a personal blog, Big Fists, where she’s recently started an advice column featuring her »Read More

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A suitcase full of matroyshkas and salami (Immigrant Decor Part 2)

by on July 15, 2011 in Immigrant Decor Series, Soviet/Russian Jewry

Today’s peek into the immigrant home comes from Anna Tarkov, a journalist and blogger from Chicago. She’s been published in the Chicago Tribune, Time Out Chicago, and others, and her blog, THE OUTSIDER… and the rueful dilettante, is full of insights on the state of journalism today. Though she left the USSR much later than »Read More

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The faux Persian rug, crowning glory of every Russian home (Immigrant Decor Part 1)

by on July 13, 2011 in Immigrant Decor Series

A couple weeks ago I asked for people to send in their stories about immigrant household decor, an extension of my own musings on the question of whether what’s on your walls impacts your immigrant identity. I got some great responses, and I’m excited to be sharing them over the coming days! Today’s contribution is »Read More

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