SUDDENLY!

“Suddenly” is a word used often by the Russians.  I remember being told once in a writing workshop never to use the word “suddenly.” Only Dostoevsky can use that word, the teacher said.

Writing instructors often say that nothing in fiction happens without a stated or hinted reason. Dostoyevsky uses the word “suddenly” seven times in the first five pages of his short story the “White Nights.” In Russian history it is often the foreign ray, or light, or idea, or perspective that drives Russia, sometimes driving it crazy.

But, we generally know that human events do not usually happen suddenly. Like earthquakes, we feel them in a moment, but underneath the causal elements were long before inexorably moving toward the explosion. We, on the surface of things, measuring only what our senses tell us or what we want to believe, feel only the culminating shock. Read more »

Coco Chanel and WHO? Rasputin??

 Things “happen.” As an “unintended consequence” of the murder of Gregori Rasputin by Prince Felix Yusupov in December 1916 in St. Petersburg, Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich, first cousin of Czar Nicolas II, one of the handful of conspirators, was sent far out of town and Dimitri ended up in Paris. And who do you think took notice of the aristocrat’s arrival? Coco Chanel! She was eleven years his senior but that didn’t stop either one.

The French perfume business was booming because the scents didn’t last past eleven at night—so they bathed in the stuff.  As I heard the story, Dimitri advised Coco that she should not sell big bottles of perfume for cheap prices, but small bottles for high prices.  Dimitri introduced Coco to Ernest Beaux, a successful Russian-born perfumier from St. Petersburg who had learned his craft from his grandfather who entered Russia in 1812 with Napoleon and stayed there, learning the secrets of Russian perfume. From his grandfather, Beaux insisted that the addition of deer musk would make the perfume last the night. Coco hired Beaux, added deer musk to the eighty-some other ingredients and voila: we have Chanel No. 5. That was 1920. As an unintended consequence of the murder of Rasputin, our lovely ladies today have Chanel No. 5. Ce qui arrive, arrive.

As an intended consequence read “Walking on Ice, An American Businessman is Russia.”

Shirt or No Shirt, it’s Putin.

It is amazing to an American to read the Russian news and hear all the varied opinions about Putin’s decision to run for the Presidency—as if there has already been a campaign and an election. But that’s the way it is in Russia—for now. And it will take another generation, at least, to make a change to something like a real democracy.

When I asked a Russian friend, wife of a Russian politician, what her husband thought of the Putin decision, therefore automatic ultimate election, she said, “He’s accepted it.” A perfect Russian answer. If you can’t do anything about it, just accept it and get on with life. Some cast the Putin decision as something approaching Stalinism. In their near-sighted perspective, it is in their best interest to do so, creating a friction and engendering patriotism.  It is unfortunate they can’t stand back and recognize the changes in Russia as they inch along and at least not interfere. Read more »

After 9/11~How We’ve Changed

The first phone call I received was from Russia. After witnessing on TV the catastrophes of September 11, 2001, my friends and business partners were calling to share their shock and advising me to “stay inside.”  New York, and certainly Moscow, seemed far away—but not anymore. It was all one world.

Now, ten years later, we still mourn the tragic losses in the terrorist attacks in New York, but also we have moved on and must recognize the resulting opportunity and its effects.  It was, in a way, a loud and tragic reminder of ongoing global social change.  “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” wrote Einstein. How have we responded to that opportunity?

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Tchaikovsky Spectacular!

It is the time of year for the “Tchaikovsky Spectacular,” which means the end of the summer outdoor concert season with the 1812 Overture with cannons and fireworks. Here in Southern California that means The Hollywood Bowl and many other regional outdoor concerts and festivals.

 But it signals much more than that. The fact is that good Russian music is being played more and more in concert halls and on the classical music radio stations all over the country. I love it. Even if I was raised on the desert near El Paso, Texas,  I loved Russian music from an early age. Rimsky-Korsakov of course (our kids were raised on “Peter and the Wolf.”) As I write this, Prokofiev’s “Love for Three Oranges,” is being played on our great classical music station here, KUSC. There is so much to enjoy: Rachmaninoff, Borodin, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Mussorgsky – the list goes on and on. So many greats. Such romance, such stories in song and melody. I lived in Russia for six years and what a treat in the evenings.

 So fireworks may end the summer outdoor concerts, the stirring and romantic music from the great Russian composers is heard all over all the time. A KUSC announcer once said, “Russian music, like Russian literature, is always excited about something.” Maybe that is why we like it so much. Nothing boring there.

You can find me at www.en.rian.ru. Go to “Features and Opinions” then “Columnists.” Read the others, too.

And don’t forget “Walking on Ice, An American Businessman is Russia.”

Dr. Zhivago Lives…

In the village of Peredelkino it was a magic feeling looking out from Boris Pasternak’s tall windows into the red and golden woods on that autumn day and to know he saw the same thing when he looked up from his small desk as he wrote “Doctor Zhivago.” It is a village of dachas and dogs, and fat cats that sit in the middle of a snowy road. It is old Russian churches with burning candles and much kissed icons. It is woods with broken benches and small streams and old bridges. It is silence.

Boris Pasternak who only wrote one novel, Doctor Zhivago, which was translated into 18 languages and for which he won the Noble Prize for Literature.  I remember the bookcase behind his desk, which still contained some of the books that he loved to read. There was T.S. Eliot, Yeats, Emily Dickinson, W.H Auden, and I was happy to find my favorites, Rainer Maria Rilke and Robert Frost.

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THE PRICE OF IMMORTALITY!

What makes a man murder innocent people and claim a victory for himself? For instance, the recent Oslo bombing and mass murder of young men and women at a camp in Norway by the right-wing political extremist Anders Behring Breivik who called himself a fundamentalist Christian. He said he is a supporter of a “monocultural Christian Europe”–all this in face of the change in Europe toward a secular society. In no way can his murderous insane actions be prompted by any understanding of the teachings of Jesus.

In Breivik’s case it is personal importance at any price. So pertinent is the tale from the foreword of Lajos Egri’s “The Art of Dramatic Writing” where, in classical Greece, a young man is caught for defacing major statues. He is asked if he knows the penalty is death. He answers, “I am a nobody. All my life I’ve been a nobody. I’ve never done anything to distinguish myself and I knew I never would. I wanted to do something to make people notice me . , . and remember me.” After a moment’s silence he added, “Only those people die who are forgotten. I feel death is a small price to pay for immortality!” Breivik will not be forgotten.

The Volga Sinking~a Russian National Disaster

Does it take the deaths of scores of innocent people to shake the moral conscience of a people? It has happened before in Russia and the event is often so quickly forgotten. The recent tragedy on the Volga is but the latest. But today, with such transparent media, hopefully something will change in that land where the absence of personal responsibility so often culminates in failure, or human disaster. “It is not my responsibility” is the rationale for inaction, especially to help others.

The owners and operators of the ancient “Bulgaria” cruise ship indeed should be held responsible, but the moral defect goes much deeper. It is part of the culture and certainly a deep fault that must change. The story continues to become clear about this accident, one that we would more likely hear happening in a third-world land without responsible leadership. But, the incredible and horrible part of this tale on the Volga was the fact that two other ships passed by and didn’t stop to save lives. “It is not my responsibility” they must have said. That is horrible, immoral, and unthinkable. To learn those good people and loving children drown — it makes me mad, and sad, very sad.

Russia and Russians have a great future if they take seriously the changes needed. Much of that is indeed happening, I know. A country that has the best rockets into space, but who cannot build decent cars and manage a safe river cruise industry is one that should indeed take a look at itself collectively and individually and develop the personal responsibility so needed by every civilized society. This will not be dictated from the top. It must grow from the people themselves. I hope this event will indeed spark the societal and moral change so badly needed.

 ”Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”—Matthew 19:19

There is much I admire about Russia and Russians (yes I do!)  Read it here “Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia”. Your comments are welcome.

Nothing of Importance since 1812?

Russians can come out with the most amazing opinions.

There was a large gathering in Moscow’s Red Square for the 50^th anniversary of the end of the Great Patriotic War (aka WWII) and I was listening to the National Symphony Orchestra from Washington,  DC, conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich.

After the Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, the bells of the Kremlin (really!) and cannon (really!) there was a “parade of the ages” that I had seen in Japan and elsewhere. Costumed heroes from the past ride in their carriages or on horseback. On this occasion they rode out of the Kremlin gates, including Alexander Nevsky who defeated the Teutonic Knights during the Battle of the Ice in 1242, and then General Kutuzov who chased Napoleon back to Paris in 1812. And then that was all. I looked for more.

Then I asked a policeman, “Is that all?” His answer had more meaning than he intended. He looked at me for a moment and then said, “Nothing of importance has happened since then.”   

As usual in Russia, the answer can have two, maybe three, meanings.

Learn more about Russians. Buy here “Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia”. Your comments are welcome.

Independence Day at the Beach

I live four blocks from the beach and there, almost each night at Inspiration Point in Corona del Mar, a handful of nature lovers gather to watch the sunset. They are from a variety of  national backgrounds: Polish, Iranian, Irish, and the usual mixtures, like me. But all Americans. Then on weekends like July 4, the mixture deepens. Languages are Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Farsi, and even a little English. But all are Americans.

My friend from Poland and I couldn’t find a place to sit today. We watched the kids play. We expressed our gratitude that all these people, who come on special days for the setting sun and cool evening breeze, are free to do so. It is a great place—America.

See more photos on the Photo Gallery on this site.