Just in case you have never seen a sleigh pulled by a reindeer, here is one. My eccentric cousin had them in Lapland and Scotland, of course, but this is a postcard sent to Moscow in 1911 from the eastern reaches of the Irkutsk Oblast, where the sender was exiled or imprisoned. I know of … More Eleventh day of Christmas
Stupid motivational tricks published some spiritual exercises from which I learned that the fear and fretting que me aquejan desde la Reeducación simply must be put aside. Meanwhile, I got hooked on a truly trashy tv series of the kind set in European courts. I like these as palace politics resemble politics at work. In … More Things learned from surfing
A colleague said: It is not a university, it is A PLANTATION. It is not a department, it is SOMEONE’S PSYCHIC SCENARIO. Therefore, DO NOT HOPE FOR RATIONALITY. Axé.
Person: I do not want children. I feel guilty about this as it is my responsibility to have them. Z: Studies show that every U.S. child born is highly detrimental to the environment no matter how green their lifestyle. There is no reason to feel guilty about not having them. Person brightens. Bystander (to Person): How can … More In which I am outspoken in ways that I do not even realize
What is a good literary or poetry magazine, in French, that publishes translations and that is not terribly hard to get into? One of my undergraduates has published translations to English in Alchemy (a translation journal for students) and Tripwire (a poetry journal, not just for students), and I know of many other places to … More A serious question, and lagniappe
Our luck has changed and the tide is turning, I can feel it. I have had this feeling once before that I can identify clearly–something was happening, I did not know what it was, but it was good, I knew–and I recognize it now. Axé.
It is as though we had been through a long war and it were finally over, and we had had losses but had won, were in a position to pick up our lives again. Perhaps we have been through a long war that is now over, have had losses but have won, and are in … More La fin
My great-great grandmother from Mitau. She was born in 1822, before the town was swallowed up by Riga. Latvia had been annexed to Russia in 1795. Here she is in the early to mid 1840s. She is with her first son Alexander, who died at 18 months. Her second son Alexander was born in St. … More Henrietta S. Kahn
On an English side of my family is this great-great-great-great grandmother, born in Virginia in 1750. And the corresponding great-great-great-great grandfather, and a child. And me, of course. These ancestors had a daughter who married Francis Scott Key. He wrote the Star-Spangled Banner, and we know a great deal about that song, so this is … More Great-great-great-great
Most of what I know, was always known. All I have discovered is the Aizenman connection. My father’s aunt and uncle were grandchildren of the immigrant, Benjamin Matveevich. They had first cousins in Russia that they stayed in touch with throughout their lives. Benjamin and his wife Henrietta Khan were both born in Riga. He … More A partial summary of discoveries
coldhearted scientist وداد 