In which I am immersed in Russian music but would have preferred herring

I was at a wedding this past weekend. Both parties are Russian Jews, who left shortly after communism collapsed, and both have maintained a strong Russian (/Soviet) Jewish identity. Unfortunately, this did not translate into a dinner of herring and pickled tongue, but rather, into an evening of almost exclusively Russian music — actually more like a mishmash of Israeli/Russian/Soviet music — courtesy of the […]

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Vintage radio representing BBC Russia

Radio days of the revolution: Goodbye Soviet Russia, hello North Korea

After 65 years, BBC Russia shut down its radio service this week, with all the attendant “end of an era” sighing. That era ended 20 years ago, but hey, who doesn’t appreciate an opportunity to wax nostalgic. If you read anything at all about dissidence in the Soviet days, tuning into illegal radio broadcasts is a central image. In the 1970s and 80s, refuseniks used

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Salem Cemetery for digital afterlife post

The digital afterlife and the lies we’ll leave behind

Alison Garwood-Jones wrote a lovely piece a while ago on her blog about the wisps of life we leave behind on the internet. To add to the unmade bed, the book half-read, the phone call never returned and conversation never finished, is now the digital alter-ego, never finished. And, somehow lacking the poignancy of finding a letter that didn’t manage to get mailed or an

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Twitter Revolution: Gadhafi Tweet

Twitter revolution? Sorry, the revolution is not being tweeted

Hanging out on Twitter makes for an odd perspective on world events. Like Revolution 2011 World Tour. There’s an expectation to comment on these major upheavals. And at the same time, an expectation that seeing lunch tweets interspersed with desperate pleas from protesters is meant to make us uncomfortable. It does. (But then, we’re also meant to click on top Tweets from someecards.com, like the

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Cover of Barbara Demick's Nothing to Envy book on North Korea

So much to envy: Reading about North Korea

As one dictator fell this weekend, I was reading about another, very different one. A friend recently recommended Barbara Demick’s Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, which I started and finished in two days. Yes, it’s that good. I didn’t realize until now just how little we know about North Korea. The book follows the lives of six North Korean defectors from the

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Obesity studies blaming mothers

Study says… "Blame mom!"

Someone once told to me that denial is the cornerstone of civilization. Being a “glass is actually three-quarters empty” kind of person, I’m inclined to agree. And when denial meets obesity meets well-meaning studies, that glass is woefully empty. Two obesity studies blaming mothers have come out in the last few weeks. Both make a strong link between what how we’re raised (by our mothers) and childhood obesity.

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Monopoly ship piece representing teaching history through games

Teaching history through games: Are some things off-limits?

In my last post, I talked about a new Monopoly game in Poland, which is being used to teach children about communism. I also talked about a role-playing game I participated in at summer camp, just before the collapse of the Soviet Union, where we played Soviet Jews trying to escape the country. Come to think of it, it’s the the only time I ever

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Monopoly board for educational history games

Summer camp is for history games (mud optional)

Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance (an Orwellian-sounding name if there ever was one) has just launched a communist-style variation of Monopoly, to help teach kids about life under communist rule. Lots of waiting in lines, lots of squabbling over basic necessities, lots of random shortages—”Go to end of line. Do not pass Go. Do not collect 200 zloty.” It’s an interesting (/bizarre) twist on the

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