Writing for the Russian Media

For almost a year now I have been writing for the respected Russian news media RIA Novosti.  I and about six others write weekly columns on various subjects. My column is called “Musings of a Russophile” and comes out each Friday. The subject may be a nostalgic epic, usually humorous, like how to take a hot wash down (I can’t call it a bath) when the city turns off the hot water for several weeks in the summer. Or they may be about thoughts on the poet and writer Boris Pasternak  (“Dr. Zhivago”) and my visit to his suburban home and what is story means today. There is even a report from the banya, the hot steam and massage experience. Whew!

 The columns of other writers are about a variety of things, all having to do with Russia, often critical and often cynically funny. Russians are good at laughing at themselves and particularly at their leaders.  I get good comments on my columns, particularly Russians who say I tell it like it is, but with respect and humor. Two of the favorites are “Moscow , a City of Dogs” and “St. Petersburg, a City of Cats.” Both Muscovites and Petersburgers love these, laugh, and say I got it right.

 You can find me at www.en.rian.ru.  Go to “Features and Opinions” then “Columnists.” Read the others, too.  All are good. My latest is http://www.en.rian.ru/columnists/20110812/165710036.html .

 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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Now it’s Russian art at the auctions!

One of my favorite Russian artists is Ilya Repin. The painting above is called “They did not expect him.” It is in Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery. I always enjoy seeing it. Repin was one of the “Peredvizhniki” or “The Wanderers.” These famous artists in the late 19^th century rebelled against the academic formalism of the Imperial Academy and portrayed the hard lot of the poor folk, the common men and women. Today much of Repin’s art can be seen in the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg as well as the Tretyakov.

Now Russian art is getting the big money. I was amazed to see where a Repin recently was sold at Christie’s auction for over $7.3 million. It was one he did in Paris, called “Parisian Café.”

There is a very interesting story behind Repin’s “They did not expect him,” but that is for another time. Contact me if you want to discuss this or any of the “Peredvizhniki,” as it is all a favorite art subject of mine. Repin, clearly, is one of the best.

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

Russia’s Victory Day!!

There is nothing like a Russian military parade.  And on May 9, this year, it will happen all over Russia again. As usual, there will be the patriotic bands, goose-stepping soldiers, rockets, missile launchers, freshly painted armored personnel carriers and tanks. Overhead will be low flying jet fighters. You’d think The Great Patriotic War wasn’t over 66 years ago. But, the Russians are proud, and have a right to be, of course.

I remember such a celebration a decade or so ago in Red Square. The orchestra that day was the  National Symphony Orchestra from Washington conducted by the famed Rostropovich and they played, of course, Tchaikovsky’s 1812  Overture. It was a memorable experience. After the Kremlin bells and cannons closing the 1812 Overture, out came costumed historic figures on white horses. It was like a Parade of the Ages  I had seen in Japan once parading all the heroes of the centuries. That took an hour.

The Red Square experience was different however. Out came Alexander Nevsky, fresh from defeating the Teutonic Knights during the Battle of the Ice on 5 April 1242. After that rode General Kutuzov after chasing Napoleon from Russia in 1812. Then that was all. I asked a policeman, “Is that all?” He looked at me with that satirical Russian expression and said, “Nothing of importance has happened since then.”

Learn more. Buy here  “Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia”

What is it about Russian Women?~ Part 6, the “bewildered.”

And that brings us to the sixth category, the bewildered. In the early nineties I noticed the blooming female nouveau riche, superficially sophisticated lovelies in Prada and furs. They sipped cappuccinos in Café Mozart at the Radisson Slavanskaya with men who were convinced of their importance in the new get-rich-quick world. These women have now lived a fairy-tale life for ten years or so, shopping in Paris and parading down the posh avenues of world centers where their rich boyfriends would take them for entertainment while they stashed their ill-gotten riches in foreign banks.

 Even if these women had a university education and degrees in economics or science, they found themselves left out of the picture. As their male sponsors faced the unpredictability of Russian financial progress, bankruptcy or a bullet, the ladies drifted into other camps, or were dumped by their men for younger companionship. Now they look at their bold contemporaries, running advertising agencies or technology firms, and are standing on the dock watching their ship disappear over the horizon. They are bewildered, longing now to find a purpose, to get a life. Some may take the long step needed to find a place that will replace their earlier frivolous goals and bring them self-respect. Some have taken their credit cards and come to America, where, with some luck, they will find more secure, if not richer, life.

This is the end of my special series out of my book, Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia. You can back up on this web-site to read the earlier excerpts. Or you can buy the book at  “Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia”

Questions and comments are welcome anytime.

What is it about Russian Women?~ Part 3, the “babushkas.”

This is the Part 3 of my weekly series about Russian women.  It’s about the babushkas, bless their hearts.

The babushka, or grandmother, has a special role in Russian history and life. They are the social conscience, and humorously, the collective mouthpiece of Russia. They have an opinion about everything. They are fearless; they talked back tank drivers at the Russian White House in 1991, they march in political demonstrations (all sides), they guard the lobbies of apartment houses, they beat away gypsies attacking foreigners in the street (as they once did for me). They sat outside my building on long summer nights, petting the house cat, enjoying the children playing hopscotch on the pavement, complaining about the immoral price of milk or the crooks in the Kremlin. Yes, they also sweep the streets and sidewalks with stick brooms–someone has to do it.

Sometimes intimidating with their dour, deeply-bred suspicious looks, they can quickly return a smile exposing a few gold teeth or none at all, or start a conversation, or willingly give a direction. They often live alone or in depressing communal flats struggling to maintain their dignity. Our Los Angeles/St. Petersburg Sister City Committee supports a charity group that serves some of the dear ladies in that city. I remember dearly my visits with a few. One was 95 years old and fought the Nazis in that terrible “900 days”  war of attrition- wonderful sweet lady. They deserve help and are one group you don’t want to have against you.

 Come back next week for the Barbies and the beaten.

Buy here  “Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia”

 Your questions and comments are welcome.

What is it about Russian Women? Part 1

There is a lot written today about the escalation of women in world affairs.  There is no doubt they are rising to the top in business and politics. It’s about time! Nowhere is this more evident as with Russian women, whether in Russia or abroad, where often they have to go to get the freedom and opportunity they crave. I cover this in depth in my book, “Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia,” and will excerpt parts of it, and add recent observations in this column on my website. I will do this once a week over the next several weeks, so watch this column weekly.

In Chapter 38 of “The Domostroi,” a sixteenth century version of Good Housekeeping, the husband is instructed in how to discipline his wife and children, “beat them only with the lash, in a careful and controlled way, albeit painfully and fearsomely.” Progress has been made in Russia, but progress, like all else, is relative. It is a long story, but it’s clear the women in Russia are moving up regardless of the men. A Moscow Times article said the over 50% of the new businesses in Moscow were started by women. But, if they can’t make it at home, they go abroad.

March 8th is Woman’s Day in Russia. Some say it is a transparent apology for mistreating women the rest of the year, which is to some degree true. Others say that women have come a long way in Russia and are, and should be, grateful for that step forward, also true. They still have far to go, but they are getting there.

Check each week for a new post on this alluring subject.

Buy here  “Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia”

SIBERIAN TIGER TALES

The famous Siberian Tiger has been getting a lot of attention of late. Even Mr. Putin says he knows one. The wild population of Siberian tigers is estimated at around 350-450 tigers. They live in the southeast corner of Russia east of the Amur River. They are the largest of the tiger species and can grow up to 13 feet in length and weigh up to 700 lbs. Not your cuddly bed-partner.

They are an endangered species with the primary threats to its survival in the wild being poached for their fur and for their body parts used in  Chinese folk medicine.and habitat loss from intensive logging and development.

A romantic account of this fascinating cat is the beautiful book “Spirit of the Siberian Tiger, Folktales of the Russian Far East” by Alexander B. Dolitsky head of the Alaska-Siberian Research Center in Juneau, Alaska. This is a wonderful and entertaining book which I have recommended to many and loved by all. The artwork is magical and the well-written stories so entertaining. Highly recommended.

A full story of this colorful animal and its survival is found in the book “The Tiger, A True Story of Vengeance and Survival” by John Vaillant. It was chosen by our local book club.

What do you have to add on this fascinating subject?

Buy here  “Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia”

AUTHORITY!

No one said it better than Dostoyevsky. In his masterpiece, The Brothers Karamazov, the master clearly defines the underlying rationale for the mental despotism that has for centuries burdened the Russian people.

In the famous chapter, The Grand Inquisitor, the middle brother, Ivan, relates to his younger brother, Alyosha, an allegory he has written, set during the Spanish Inquisition, in which Jesus has returned to earth and is immediately imprisoned for bringing a dead girl back to life. The wizened  Grand Inquisitor lectures the silent Jesus on the folly of freedom and individual choice and says to him, “There are three forces, the only forces that are able to conquer and hold captive forever the conscience of these weak rebels (the people) for their own happiness—these forces are: miracle, mystery, and  authority.”

These three things are generic to the traditional Russian character: the idea that good, if any, will come from some unexpected outside source (miracle); that man is not ordained to be responsible for his own welfare and progress (mystery); and that guidance and protection come only from constant dependence on and obedience to someone else (authority). Today that situation is changing with the young, but it still pops up at times. It could fall into that category of unpredictibility which I call, “The third side of the Russian coin.”

Do you agree? For more on this, see my book.

Buy here  “Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia”

Tolstoy Lives and Dies~Again

With 2010 being the centenary of Leo Tolstoy’s death, there have been many events in his honor.

The greatest was the award winning film “The Last Station” with Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer.  And now a new book is out. “Leo Tolstoy: Escape from Paradise” by Pavel Basinsky recently won Russia’s 2010 Big Book award. It will be out in English soon I hear. A super review of the book can be found on the Russia Now edition of 22 December 2010.

Tolstoy was such an iconoclast, always rebelling against the social and religious conventions of his day and time, yet faithful to his view of love and a spiritual understanding of the Bible.  I have read his “A Confession” and can understand his consternation in 19^th century Russia. For all that, he was excommunicated from the Russian church in 1905.  He had lots to handle in those last days. But, he left us so much.

Buy here  “Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia”