Daily Archives: November 12, 2004

A quick note because I’ve been waiting for about 10 min. for a 1.41 MB file to download. The internet in Russia SUCKS!!!!!!!!! I’m currently at 38.6 kbps. That’s right, 38.6. With my DSL connection in LA, this file would have been finished 9 min. and 50 seconds ago. I don’t know how I’m going to survive. So please anyone reading this, do not send me any large files, attachments, ANYTHING that is larger than a regular email message. Russia is the poster child for capitalist uneven development . . . Finally, my file is finished.

So I’m back from Ryazan. But before I tell about my time there, I have to report my meeting with some Russian Marxists. Russian Marxists, you say? Yes, but these aren’t your hard Communists from the Soviet era. These are some young intellectuals (mid 20s to early 30s) I met at an art show last weekend. My friend Claudia, who got her PhD from UCLA and moved to Moscow to live with her boyfriend Stas, invited me to the show. Stas was showing some photography in a show of modern artists from Moscow. I liked his photos a lot. One of the other exhibits was by this art collective called “Chto Delat?” For those who don’t know “Chto Delat” is Russian for “What is to be done?” which was also the title of a book from the 19th century Russian revolutionary ..read more

The Ryazan Kremlin from a far.

Lenin Street in Ryazan.

My Bed in Russia.