Today I observed something curious. We’re told by diverse and sundry experts that we ourselves should take priority in our own life. Indeed, whose life is it, anyway? Yet when it comes to practicing w...
This Monument to the Conquerors of Space is situated close to VDNKh metro station. I always enjoy its graceful silhouette on my way to and back from filming. The Ostankino TV tower always lurks in the...
My new feature is dedicated to various notes made in the month of October. In Russia this is always the month when trees finally turn yellow and red, and the sun sheds its previous amber light in all ...
Today marks the 100th birthday anniversary of my grandma Lidia Yefimovna Sokolik (nee Alekseeva). She was born near Dorogobuzh in Smolensk Region on October 1, 1924. Ten years later the family moved t...
I’m going through a stage when I produce copious amount of writing. The topics encompass history, literature studies, copywriting, geography, psychology, arts, and perhaps another two, travel is certa...
Summer was extraordinary this year. It was scorching hot yet calm. I spent some days sleeping in the afternoon for it was absolutely impossible to do any work. And much work I did! Alas, I didn’t do a...
Yesterday, on March 22, more than 6000 people were under a terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, a Moscow Region venue famous for tremendous concerts. By night, 40 people had been reported as killed a...
Following THE INTERVIEW of the century (Tucker Kalrson and Vladimir Putin), I want to point you to some posts on this blog that illustrate or analyze Russian history. Being an historian who spent 7 ye...
Three days or so before Christmas all markets and squares were like a great forest of fir-trees. And what fir-trees they were! Russia is very rich in them. The ones here are thin and brittle. The Russ...
Ivan Shmelyov (1873-1950) was a Russian writer and essayist who emigrated to France after the October Revolution. The Year of God (Лето Господне) is a book of his recollections of pre-revolutionary li...