2 of the best people I know are Russian. One is from Siberia, the other Moscovite and Ukranian. I can honestly say I (have and will) trust them with my life. IMHO Russians are cynical and honest. About their own background too. Proud of their heritage and very intellectual (in an honest cynical way). We used to have more of this perspective in Europe back 40-50 years ago. That will tell you a lot.
My Russian wife had a Russian father and Tatar mother. As you suggest, she looks somewhat Swedish to me, but also maybe 5% oriental (probably comes from the Tatars). Our kids are very smart and did really well in school - one is in third year medical school and the other graduated with a degree in computer engineering and is already knocking down a big salary right out of college - they're also handsome and athletic. Her uncle knew Yuri Gagarin from flight school. She passed her nursing exam (in another language) on the first attempt, unlike most American natives. Yea, I can't complain about the Russian quality people. Now if I could just get her to drop the FEMINISM!
Tessa - I am 1/4 Russian. My grandfather (mom’s dad) came to New York at the beginning of the twentieth century to get away from the Czar’s Army and to start a new and hopefully prosperous life in America. While he died before I turned one, he left behind two daughters (my mom and my aunt) who were perhaps the most wonderful people I knew growing up (lucky me!). So in those days when the Soviets were are arch enemies who threatened us with thoughts of annihilation, it was difficult for me to ever blame the Russian people since I had such a connection with their heart. And to this day whenever the subject of Putin being a blood thirsty warmonger comes up, all I can do is turn the other way.
I like to share music with people - songs that have touched me which have meaning and significance. Here is one called Mother Russia. It’s very beautiful and profound. I believe it was written about Solzhenitsyn. Enjoy https://youtu.be/I39oV-xaVxY?si=OPz1pOKpM1ZRKdbT
Some facts of history can't be hidden properly due to linguistic evidence. I speak Estonian as mother tongue, and some Finnish too, so I can confirm that "Rootsi" in Estonian and "Ruotsi" in Finnish, both meaning "Sweden" since the times when the Vikings carried out their "Great Resets" apparently (the pillage of Sigtuna, an important settlement center in Sweden at that time burnt to the ground in 1187 being a relatively well-documented case among many others), are pretty much the closest you can naturally get in these languages to the word "Rus" referring to a geographical location - similar to how the word "England" comes close enough to "Angle land" to rule out alternatives against the backdrop of known history, for example.
Maybe it is also interesting to know that the pillage of Sigtuna, attributed to the Vikings from the Estonian island of Saaremaa/Ösel (in Estonian/Swedish, respectively) resulted in the capital of Sweden being built in a more secure location about half a century after the incident as the name of their new capital Stockholm reflects, meaning something like "fortified islet" in the local language at that time, I guess. Considering such clashes with other Vikings that the Swedes encountered on their way to Russia, the Estonian and Finnish languages provide a clear clue to where the word "Rus" originates in, as the Swedish merchants at that time aimed at trading with the East are known to have settled in Russia, probably dominating their new settlement area economically along the lines of their current practices in Estonia with a couple billion Euro escaping from the pockets of the obedient local sluts and therefore of everybody else through the Swedish banks to Sweden, so for the Estonians in better soul health and able to see through such financial scheming for slavery it is no wonder that a country as large as Russia wants to hide what kind of financial colonialism their stupid peasants together with their local cultural elite once were subjected to. And the region wasn't named after the naive slow-wit people who let rob themselves like that, but after the dominator running the show, obviously, with slight linguistic adaptations in all the languages involved. And who knows, maybe in another millennium the Estonians, remembering the financial colonization around 2024, will find some novel methods of plundering the Swedes again. I find this stupid and disgusting, it's not the way we should coexist, and we should stop it, but it can't be done in a land of sluts and stupid peasants. And once again, a healthy education system is of key importance for a change to take place towards the better. To the credit of the Swedes I have to add that probably the Estonians and the Russians were better off under the foreign rule because of the stupidity of the local dominator gangsters that we collectively allow to wreak havoc (maybe in Russia it is not the case anymore, I don't know), compared to what I experienced during my year in Sweden. Perhaps the Swedes have been just lucky i.e. their cultural elite hasn't been eradicated so profoundly as in Estonia and in Russia due to their distant geographical location (uncomfortably demonstrating, by the way, what the worst enemy of a human being is), both having been financed by the American taxpayer money during the last century or so.
There is one more important respect blocker that I should address which the Russians should know about, really understand it, and leave their System of Domination (predominantly a cultural, not an economic one, unlike that of the Swedes) behind. While being, well, intelligently proud of our cultural heritage and respectful of the people conveying this heritage to us is always a good idea, deserving a lot of attention and gratitude on the student side, whatever the economic, administrative, or any other circumstances happen to be, provided that the teachers don't try to establish shit like their own little version of the System of Dominatioin, the outcome of being cynical about one's language and other aspects of culture often radically depends on on which side of the cultural border between the parties and how it happens, according to my memories of the expansionist cultural invasion called "Russification" under the Soviet regime in Estonia, so the location of our cynical actions relative to this border is worth special attention indeed as it has been the source of a lot of political divide and conquer between the Russians and its smaller neighbors due to the asymmetrical interests of national identity of the Russian population (meaning the mix of all the people living on the territory of the empire) and that of its neighbors, many being on the order of a hundred times smaller, leading to profound misunderstanding of each other. Long story short, our national identity (ask the Latvians, the Lithuanians, the Georgians, and many others, they'll tell you exactly the same) is important to us, uncompromisingly, which means that we are going to speak OUR language in OUR country, among other cultural considerations. It's not for sale, alright, it's part of our identity. I know that it is difficult for the Homo Sovieticus type of Russians to handle or even understand properly, but well worth a collective effort for normal relations (discovering that most Russians don't know where this word comes from definitely is a step in the right direction in order to understand the identity conflict properly), which is straightforward and intuitive to find a solution to and impose it on the bribed politicians on both sides, provided that the Estonians can somehow learn to deal with our soul health and the internal corruption, we have to admit, otherwise the President of Russia just can't accept it for historical reasons. A small country is vulnerable to the type of shit that overseas agents like Smith College in cooperation with the local sluts can generate, backed by our utterly corrupt Secret Services. Robbery never serves us well, so we should be wise enough to keep the current Vikings (the dominators) out of power in a joint effort, no matter what shape they draw of themselves trying to just fool us in order to sneak in irreversibly, PROVIDED THAT we are able to deal ourselves with the sluts among us i.e. the proxy dominators selling (robbing us of) our independence, our dignity, and what not by means of the abuse of administrative power.
Also very importantly, if we try to view many of our current practices with the eyes of a dominator, we've got a question to work with: as long as we allow each other to behave like sluts in public, why shouldn't the colonizer dominator treat us like ones? It's a question about pure national pride, basically, the kind that doesn't strive to diminish the pride of any other natural cultural groups of people. Many key details tend to go completely missing from our wishful imaginary spiritual wonderlands, you see. Consulting reality and learning from history helps while inviting the sharks at each other with our stupid actions doesn't. We need to respect common interests (general moral principles), not just the narrow interests of our own or our group (cynical interpretation of good intentions, exactly the ones that are said to pave our way to hell in the absence of sound principles of mutual respect applying to everybody alike), keep our friends honest, ...
In conclusion, the cultural border of Russia - an empire struggling with stupidity as its leading risk in the model of the last millennium (that must have been why they strove so much to give us such good education in the Soviet Union, I guess, credit due...), captured in its name given by a foreign dominator - with many small neighboring countries, which has been a nasty problem historically and a source of a lot of cultural arrogance on the Russian side, and economic arrogance on ours, in my judgment of the situation now and a few decades ago a lot of homework ought to be done on both sides for a more reasonable outcome than our current situation so far. Culturally speaking, we already have plenty of experience with each other's similarities and differences in identity (our national security, by and large) to learn from, which should help if handled with responsive wisdom, not blind ideology driven by covert support for undermining each other, or outright slut mentality. It took time to end the, say, relatively sweet slavery of the Viking rule, I guess, and it took an awful lot of lives to kick out all the subsequent intruders to Russia, but it currently seems that there isn't enough stupidity available anymore to e.g. repeat the very costly mistake of the Estonian extreme feminist activists who imported all the woke shit generously offered by the, say, Smith College fan club, despite my strong warning story of the destructive Ego of these nefarious bastards in 2005. Consequently, as far as learning is concerned, the gradient seems to be positive for Russia, but how about the results of its so-called good students educating her slow-wit friends of the Smith College fan club, presumably? Any activity going on in that direction? Or in the opposite direction and why? After all, the principle of demanding from all resisters of the System of Domination to be honest and not undermine each other's work in this direction should be quite straightforward to grasp and follow, whoever the abusive hijacking dominator in one particular case or another happens to be.
PS. Without joking, and considering the immensity of the destructive power of the slow-wits among us (the 70% of us, according to the stats I've heard of, interestingly coinciding with the proportion of those jabbed during the scamdemics), if I were Russian then I would be, well, mildly proud of the practicality of the historic reminder of national stupidity conveyed by the word "Russia" hanging in every street, newspaper, and what not, feel pity for all the other nations in the world laboring as hell with the 70% of their next generations of the ever-stupid Homo sapiens often taking pride in the stupidities of their ancestors, and as president I would encourage every teacher and student in the country to really focus on the meaning of important words starting with "Russia" to alleviate the semiotic problems with thinking in Russian and ignoring what and why is important outside our wishful imaginary spiritual wonderlands, especially on things of immense educational value that the nation, or whatever we should actually call the cultural mix of an empire, shouldn't be proud of, which would definitely improve a lot of communication with the neighboring cultures automagically. While it might not be a problem at a personal peer-to-peer level, we can never get rid of the state-to-state layer we are sitting on completely. That would make more of an honest Russian in my eyes, and a practical, reasonable peasant rather than a hopelessly stupid one not even willing or bothering to learn from their mistakes in their own interest, assuming that the God-given potential by and large exceeds that of the window cleaning liquid drinking heartspeak pro and her equivalents being too dangerous to be sober, according to the pessimism-driven branch of diligence of the "Russian dream" dichotomy, covered in earlier discussions here. :P
I am second generation American on my paternal side and third generation on my maternal side. The paternal side is Russian and the maternal side is German. I wonder if one side of me is at war with the other side. It may be easier to forget the dual ancestry and just be an American. Oh, that has its problems. Not that being American is bad. In fact, I believe we are a loving, caring people. It's just that my national government, which represents me, has not been very nice for about 80 or so years (over 300 years, according to some). Still, I am what I am-- a German/Russian American. I am a decent, moral, ethical, loving person, so being American is pretty good. I just wish my nation would resolve its identity crisis.
Being an American makes you a mutt or mixed bag. My Grandfather on my mother's side is Russian-German, my Grand mother is Hawaiian-Portuguese. On my father's side, my Grandmother is Penn. Dutch, or Amish, and my Grandfather was Irish-Scottish. I am "Everything and Nothing"! I was raised on the "World Stage" because my father was military, so I am from "No Where and Every Where." My family embraces all major religions within it and I was "exposed" to them all and took all the best from all of them and an appreciation for all of them through being with my 31 cousins and Aunts and Uncles making me "everything and nothing" so I never got stuck with the fanatical issues most people have that separates one church from another. SO YES I AM PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!! I am "Everything and Nothing" and live in the only country that is that.
Most Americans do not know that that is what being "AMERICAN" IS!
Being American is being a mutt Not a purebred. My family is Russian and Hawaiian and Portuguese on my mothers side, and Penn Dutch, Irish and Scottish on my fathers side. We are the only country that is like this in the world. We are "everything and nothing" which means we have really embraced the world and need to focus on uniting not separation based on nationality, religion or cultural basis. I love my relatives, friends and the world I grew up in (I moved all over because my father was military. I am from everywhere and no where). My family not only is ethnically mixed up but is of every religion and I was exposed to them all through my 31 cousins, Aunts and Uncles. I am so glad because I could not become fanatical about embracing one church over another but I accept the strengths of everyone of them.
i miss the days when you could meet someone and instantly know they were russian. you still can with older people 40+. the magic rectangle is the ultimate weapon of cultural imperialism
one especially cool thing about russian culture is that minor keys are not considered sad or macabre. definitely the most symphonic culture in the world, in the literal sense. this might be the best of them all https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZmnXYYFm1Q
i'm a muttly mix but the majority of my ancestors come from the badlands which, depending on where the border was at a particular time, could have been poland, lithuania or russia. if the story is correst, it was polish at the time that they left...and because they couldn't afford to come straight to america they went to ireland. and while they were there they developed a fixation with all things celtic! my grandmother had a framed picture of jfk over her piano
Great story! There has been some genetical archeological studies taking place during some years, getting to some conclusions about people moving around during a very long time of history, focusing on the European area (including Russia, etc.)
I don’t remember all the conclusions, but it could perhaps be interesting for you to have a look at, if you haven’t done so already.
Personally, I don’t put too much weight on the genetic mix of people of today, but when trying to understand some historical developments, the study can be helpful - it indicates who moved from where to where, who mixed and who died out.
And yes, none of us, whether of Russian or another nationality, are our nation or our past, or indeed, the reason for anything that happened in the past. We can all just participate with the voice and the hands we have now, in a complex setup that also includes many other voices and hands.
Interesting, though, to dive into the many movements of past generations, seeing how we all today are a mix of a lot of different people from the past. We all carry the world, or large parts of it, in our genes - the history of the world is the history of us.
I have worked with all cultures in the hospital but the Russian Nurses wanted me to prove myself so they could put their trust in me as I knew I could trust them and their skills and abilities and to cover my back if I earned it. I did not let them down. Every one of them were hard on me at first and I accepted it as a challenge to my excellency as a nurse. They required the best of me and I gave it, then we had a team of the highest quality.
I worked at San Francisco General until 2019, and it was ground zero for many things. One thing were the traveling nurses that came from many different places around the world because we had such a unique program there. I worked with Canadians, Russians, Chinese, Filipinas, Israeli nurses and African, Australian and all over the US! The Russians were the ones I could trust in all kinds of emergencies and disasters, as well as to be loyal and loving friends.
I know Russia from its wonderful music I grew up with. I always think "Rus" from the opera, Prince Igor. My brother-in-law is Serbian. Northern Slavs and Southern Slavs?
Thank you!! I think when it comes to Slavs, today's classification is Eastern, Western, and Southern Slavs. And there are many stories about who came from where but at the end of the day, no one knows for sure (to the beset of my knowledge, that is)
Isn't there a saying that if you scratch a Russian you find a Tatar? Anyway, I forwarded your piece to two Russian friends, mother and daughter in NJ, who are in the throes of improving their English. I told them it would be a good English lesson and that you'd probably appreciate it if the daughter commented in Russian. Their lives are a busy struggle, but we'll see.
Thank you, Jac! Tatars, alongside the Mongols are known for invading Slaves in the 13th century (rape and pillage is how it went, according to my understanding of history as of this second). There are debates about the ethnic composition of the invaders, I don't have very fond feelings about it. Modern-day Tatars have nothing to do with it, of course. But those were rough times for the Slavic people, if the historians are saying the truth to at least some extent.
While my ancestors came from the region (modern-day Ukraine and Belarus) I didn't get much lore about Russia passed down. I've acquired a whole lot more info about her in my life journey, including listening to Radio Moscow, watching TASS and reading Pravda in the 1970's-1980's, seeking out other historical resources. For my first foray into Russia's cultural history I read "Russka" by Edward Rutherfurd in the early 1990's, a Michener-ish presentation of Russian history through fictional families as narration devices. There's much more out there I discovered since, but it was a good introductory course, history presented in a relatable way.
I learned that the Cyrillic alphabet used for the Russian language is itself an invention of the Church, Saints Cyril and Methodius. Story being that there was no written language before. Blending elements of Latin with local sounds and symbols in the Slavic lands.
A history of constant invasion from east and west. Influences the Russian mind and culture about little things like having a buffer of friendly nations between Russia and the rest of the world, you know, little things like ensuring Ukraine remains a buffer between NATO and Russia. A few thousand years of constant invasion by hordes leaves an impact on the minds of a people, how they interact with the world nearest them. Cossacks, Mongols, Huns, etc. Leaves a mark long after ancestors went through it. Any westerner who doesn't understand the history of Russia, the Russian mind will be tripped up by her in their dealings with her. Is one of the biggest reasons why Putin took so long with Tucker Carlson going over history. History strongly guides the present and future of Russia.
Lovely post, Tessa. I would be interested in your take on this old post of mine [written from my perspective of a Western European descendant on a sofa in the US]:
2 of the best people I know are Russian. One is from Siberia, the other Moscovite and Ukranian. I can honestly say I (have and will) trust them with my life. IMHO Russians are cynical and honest. About their own background too. Proud of their heritage and very intellectual (in an honest cynical way). We used to have more of this perspective in Europe back 40-50 years ago. That will tell you a lot.
I like my people. :) Thank you, Sunshine!
Lots and lots of stories. Each individual is a piece of the Divine Source of all that is.
My Russian wife had a Russian father and Tatar mother. As you suggest, she looks somewhat Swedish to me, but also maybe 5% oriental (probably comes from the Tatars). Our kids are very smart and did really well in school - one is in third year medical school and the other graduated with a degree in computer engineering and is already knocking down a big salary right out of college - they're also handsome and athletic. Her uncle knew Yuri Gagarin from flight school. She passed her nursing exam (in another language) on the first attempt, unlike most American natives. Yea, I can't complain about the Russian quality people. Now if I could just get her to drop the FEMINISM!
Tessa - I am 1/4 Russian. My grandfather (mom’s dad) came to New York at the beginning of the twentieth century to get away from the Czar’s Army and to start a new and hopefully prosperous life in America. While he died before I turned one, he left behind two daughters (my mom and my aunt) who were perhaps the most wonderful people I knew growing up (lucky me!). So in those days when the Soviets were are arch enemies who threatened us with thoughts of annihilation, it was difficult for me to ever blame the Russian people since I had such a connection with their heart. And to this day whenever the subject of Putin being a blood thirsty warmonger comes up, all I can do is turn the other way.
I like to share music with people - songs that have touched me which have meaning and significance. Here is one called Mother Russia. It’s very beautiful and profound. I believe it was written about Solzhenitsyn. Enjoy https://youtu.be/I39oV-xaVxY?si=OPz1pOKpM1ZRKdbT
Thank you so much for sharing this, Jeff! xoxo
Some facts of history can't be hidden properly due to linguistic evidence. I speak Estonian as mother tongue, and some Finnish too, so I can confirm that "Rootsi" in Estonian and "Ruotsi" in Finnish, both meaning "Sweden" since the times when the Vikings carried out their "Great Resets" apparently (the pillage of Sigtuna, an important settlement center in Sweden at that time burnt to the ground in 1187 being a relatively well-documented case among many others), are pretty much the closest you can naturally get in these languages to the word "Rus" referring to a geographical location - similar to how the word "England" comes close enough to "Angle land" to rule out alternatives against the backdrop of known history, for example.
Maybe it is also interesting to know that the pillage of Sigtuna, attributed to the Vikings from the Estonian island of Saaremaa/Ösel (in Estonian/Swedish, respectively) resulted in the capital of Sweden being built in a more secure location about half a century after the incident as the name of their new capital Stockholm reflects, meaning something like "fortified islet" in the local language at that time, I guess. Considering such clashes with other Vikings that the Swedes encountered on their way to Russia, the Estonian and Finnish languages provide a clear clue to where the word "Rus" originates in, as the Swedish merchants at that time aimed at trading with the East are known to have settled in Russia, probably dominating their new settlement area economically along the lines of their current practices in Estonia with a couple billion Euro escaping from the pockets of the obedient local sluts and therefore of everybody else through the Swedish banks to Sweden, so for the Estonians in better soul health and able to see through such financial scheming for slavery it is no wonder that a country as large as Russia wants to hide what kind of financial colonialism their stupid peasants together with their local cultural elite once were subjected to. And the region wasn't named after the naive slow-wit people who let rob themselves like that, but after the dominator running the show, obviously, with slight linguistic adaptations in all the languages involved. And who knows, maybe in another millennium the Estonians, remembering the financial colonization around 2024, will find some novel methods of plundering the Swedes again. I find this stupid and disgusting, it's not the way we should coexist, and we should stop it, but it can't be done in a land of sluts and stupid peasants. And once again, a healthy education system is of key importance for a change to take place towards the better. To the credit of the Swedes I have to add that probably the Estonians and the Russians were better off under the foreign rule because of the stupidity of the local dominator gangsters that we collectively allow to wreak havoc (maybe in Russia it is not the case anymore, I don't know), compared to what I experienced during my year in Sweden. Perhaps the Swedes have been just lucky i.e. their cultural elite hasn't been eradicated so profoundly as in Estonia and in Russia due to their distant geographical location (uncomfortably demonstrating, by the way, what the worst enemy of a human being is), both having been financed by the American taxpayer money during the last century or so.
There is one more important respect blocker that I should address which the Russians should know about, really understand it, and leave their System of Domination (predominantly a cultural, not an economic one, unlike that of the Swedes) behind. While being, well, intelligently proud of our cultural heritage and respectful of the people conveying this heritage to us is always a good idea, deserving a lot of attention and gratitude on the student side, whatever the economic, administrative, or any other circumstances happen to be, provided that the teachers don't try to establish shit like their own little version of the System of Dominatioin, the outcome of being cynical about one's language and other aspects of culture often radically depends on on which side of the cultural border between the parties and how it happens, according to my memories of the expansionist cultural invasion called "Russification" under the Soviet regime in Estonia, so the location of our cynical actions relative to this border is worth special attention indeed as it has been the source of a lot of political divide and conquer between the Russians and its smaller neighbors due to the asymmetrical interests of national identity of the Russian population (meaning the mix of all the people living on the territory of the empire) and that of its neighbors, many being on the order of a hundred times smaller, leading to profound misunderstanding of each other. Long story short, our national identity (ask the Latvians, the Lithuanians, the Georgians, and many others, they'll tell you exactly the same) is important to us, uncompromisingly, which means that we are going to speak OUR language in OUR country, among other cultural considerations. It's not for sale, alright, it's part of our identity. I know that it is difficult for the Homo Sovieticus type of Russians to handle or even understand properly, but well worth a collective effort for normal relations (discovering that most Russians don't know where this word comes from definitely is a step in the right direction in order to understand the identity conflict properly), which is straightforward and intuitive to find a solution to and impose it on the bribed politicians on both sides, provided that the Estonians can somehow learn to deal with our soul health and the internal corruption, we have to admit, otherwise the President of Russia just can't accept it for historical reasons. A small country is vulnerable to the type of shit that overseas agents like Smith College in cooperation with the local sluts can generate, backed by our utterly corrupt Secret Services. Robbery never serves us well, so we should be wise enough to keep the current Vikings (the dominators) out of power in a joint effort, no matter what shape they draw of themselves trying to just fool us in order to sneak in irreversibly, PROVIDED THAT we are able to deal ourselves with the sluts among us i.e. the proxy dominators selling (robbing us of) our independence, our dignity, and what not by means of the abuse of administrative power.
Also very importantly, if we try to view many of our current practices with the eyes of a dominator, we've got a question to work with: as long as we allow each other to behave like sluts in public, why shouldn't the colonizer dominator treat us like ones? It's a question about pure national pride, basically, the kind that doesn't strive to diminish the pride of any other natural cultural groups of people. Many key details tend to go completely missing from our wishful imaginary spiritual wonderlands, you see. Consulting reality and learning from history helps while inviting the sharks at each other with our stupid actions doesn't. We need to respect common interests (general moral principles), not just the narrow interests of our own or our group (cynical interpretation of good intentions, exactly the ones that are said to pave our way to hell in the absence of sound principles of mutual respect applying to everybody alike), keep our friends honest, ...
In conclusion, the cultural border of Russia - an empire struggling with stupidity as its leading risk in the model of the last millennium (that must have been why they strove so much to give us such good education in the Soviet Union, I guess, credit due...), captured in its name given by a foreign dominator - with many small neighboring countries, which has been a nasty problem historically and a source of a lot of cultural arrogance on the Russian side, and economic arrogance on ours, in my judgment of the situation now and a few decades ago a lot of homework ought to be done on both sides for a more reasonable outcome than our current situation so far. Culturally speaking, we already have plenty of experience with each other's similarities and differences in identity (our national security, by and large) to learn from, which should help if handled with responsive wisdom, not blind ideology driven by covert support for undermining each other, or outright slut mentality. It took time to end the, say, relatively sweet slavery of the Viking rule, I guess, and it took an awful lot of lives to kick out all the subsequent intruders to Russia, but it currently seems that there isn't enough stupidity available anymore to e.g. repeat the very costly mistake of the Estonian extreme feminist activists who imported all the woke shit generously offered by the, say, Smith College fan club, despite my strong warning story of the destructive Ego of these nefarious bastards in 2005. Consequently, as far as learning is concerned, the gradient seems to be positive for Russia, but how about the results of its so-called good students educating her slow-wit friends of the Smith College fan club, presumably? Any activity going on in that direction? Or in the opposite direction and why? After all, the principle of demanding from all resisters of the System of Domination to be honest and not undermine each other's work in this direction should be quite straightforward to grasp and follow, whoever the abusive hijacking dominator in one particular case or another happens to be.
PS. Without joking, and considering the immensity of the destructive power of the slow-wits among us (the 70% of us, according to the stats I've heard of, interestingly coinciding with the proportion of those jabbed during the scamdemics), if I were Russian then I would be, well, mildly proud of the practicality of the historic reminder of national stupidity conveyed by the word "Russia" hanging in every street, newspaper, and what not, feel pity for all the other nations in the world laboring as hell with the 70% of their next generations of the ever-stupid Homo sapiens often taking pride in the stupidities of their ancestors, and as president I would encourage every teacher and student in the country to really focus on the meaning of important words starting with "Russia" to alleviate the semiotic problems with thinking in Russian and ignoring what and why is important outside our wishful imaginary spiritual wonderlands, especially on things of immense educational value that the nation, or whatever we should actually call the cultural mix of an empire, shouldn't be proud of, which would definitely improve a lot of communication with the neighboring cultures automagically. While it might not be a problem at a personal peer-to-peer level, we can never get rid of the state-to-state layer we are sitting on completely. That would make more of an honest Russian in my eyes, and a practical, reasonable peasant rather than a hopelessly stupid one not even willing or bothering to learn from their mistakes in their own interest, assuming that the God-given potential by and large exceeds that of the window cleaning liquid drinking heartspeak pro and her equivalents being too dangerous to be sober, according to the pessimism-driven branch of diligence of the "Russian dream" dichotomy, covered in earlier discussions here. :P
I am second generation American on my paternal side and third generation on my maternal side. The paternal side is Russian and the maternal side is German. I wonder if one side of me is at war with the other side. It may be easier to forget the dual ancestry and just be an American. Oh, that has its problems. Not that being American is bad. In fact, I believe we are a loving, caring people. It's just that my national government, which represents me, has not been very nice for about 80 or so years (over 300 years, according to some). Still, I am what I am-- a German/Russian American. I am a decent, moral, ethical, loving person, so being American is pretty good. I just wish my nation would resolve its identity crisis.
Being an American makes you a mutt or mixed bag. My Grandfather on my mother's side is Russian-German, my Grand mother is Hawaiian-Portuguese. On my father's side, my Grandmother is Penn. Dutch, or Amish, and my Grandfather was Irish-Scottish. I am "Everything and Nothing"! I was raised on the "World Stage" because my father was military, so I am from "No Where and Every Where." My family embraces all major religions within it and I was "exposed" to them all and took all the best from all of them and an appreciation for all of them through being with my 31 cousins and Aunts and Uncles making me "everything and nothing" so I never got stuck with the fanatical issues most people have that separates one church from another. SO YES I AM PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!! I am "Everything and Nothing" and live in the only country that is that.
Most Americans do not know that that is what being "AMERICAN" IS!
Being American is being a mutt Not a purebred. My family is Russian and Hawaiian and Portuguese on my mothers side, and Penn Dutch, Irish and Scottish on my fathers side. We are the only country that is like this in the world. We are "everything and nothing" which means we have really embraced the world and need to focus on uniting not separation based on nationality, religion or cultural basis. I love my relatives, friends and the world I grew up in (I moved all over because my father was military. I am from everywhere and no where). My family not only is ethnically mixed up but is of every religion and I was exposed to them all through my 31 cousins, Aunts and Uncles. I am so glad because I could not become fanatical about embracing one church over another but I accept the strengths of everyone of them.
i miss the days when you could meet someone and instantly know they were russian. you still can with older people 40+. the magic rectangle is the ultimate weapon of cultural imperialism
one especially cool thing about russian culture is that minor keys are not considered sad or macabre. definitely the most symphonic culture in the world, in the literal sense. this might be the best of them all https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZmnXYYFm1Q
:) I think the minor keys are still considered said, it's just that ... there are a lot pieces written in them :)
interesting. i find minor keys very invigorating - must be my slave (ic) heritage ;)
Where are you people from? I didn't know!
i'm a muttly mix but the majority of my ancestors come from the badlands which, depending on where the border was at a particular time, could have been poland, lithuania or russia. if the story is correst, it was polish at the time that they left...and because they couldn't afford to come straight to america they went to ireland. and while they were there they developed a fixation with all things celtic! my grandmother had a framed picture of jfk over her piano
Wow this is so interesting! Thank you for sharing!!
supposedly we're all related if we go 20 generations back. with me i think it's probably half that!
Great story! There has been some genetical archeological studies taking place during some years, getting to some conclusions about people moving around during a very long time of history, focusing on the European area (including Russia, etc.)
I don’t remember all the conclusions, but it could perhaps be interesting for you to have a look at, if you haven’t done so already.
Personally, I don’t put too much weight on the genetic mix of people of today, but when trying to understand some historical developments, the study can be helpful - it indicates who moved from where to where, who mixed and who died out.
And yes, none of us, whether of Russian or another nationality, are our nation or our past, or indeed, the reason for anything that happened in the past. We can all just participate with the voice and the hands we have now, in a complex setup that also includes many other voices and hands.
Interesting, though, to dive into the many movements of past generations, seeing how we all today are a mix of a lot of different people from the past. We all carry the world, or large parts of it, in our genes - the history of the world is the history of us.
Thank you, Jorgen, and yes, I agree, most people today are probably a mix of many ancestries!!
I have worked with all cultures in the hospital but the Russian Nurses wanted me to prove myself so they could put their trust in me as I knew I could trust them and their skills and abilities and to cover my back if I earned it. I did not let them down. Every one of them were hard on me at first and I accepted it as a challenge to my excellency as a nurse. They required the best of me and I gave it, then we had a team of the highest quality.
I worked at San Francisco General until 2019, and it was ground zero for many things. One thing were the traveling nurses that came from many different places around the world because we had such a unique program there. I worked with Canadians, Russians, Chinese, Filipinas, Israeli nurses and African, Australian and all over the US! The Russians were the ones I could trust in all kinds of emergencies and disasters, as well as to be loyal and loving friends.
Thank you, Sharon!!! xoxoxo
Thank You, Sister Tessa. I feel better about knowing where Russians came from now.
Maybe mitochondrial DNA would be helpful tracing the path(s).
Thank you, Brother John! The problem is, the people who are looking at the DNA tend to have agendas. :)
I know Russia from its wonderful music I grew up with. I always think "Rus" from the opera, Prince Igor. My brother-in-law is Serbian. Northern Slavs and Southern Slavs?
Thank you!! I think when it comes to Slavs, today's classification is Eastern, Western, and Southern Slavs. And there are many stories about who came from where but at the end of the day, no one knows for sure (to the beset of my knowledge, that is)
Isn't there a saying that if you scratch a Russian you find a Tatar? Anyway, I forwarded your piece to two Russian friends, mother and daughter in NJ, who are in the throes of improving their English. I told them it would be a good English lesson and that you'd probably appreciate it if the daughter commented in Russian. Their lives are a busy struggle, but we'll see.
In your musings you may benefit from checking-out the mysterious, missing, nation Tartaria. “Some having it inhabiting the geography currently Russia.
Thank you, Jac! Tatars, alongside the Mongols are known for invading Slaves in the 13th century (rape and pillage is how it went, according to my understanding of history as of this second). There are debates about the ethnic composition of the invaders, I don't have very fond feelings about it. Modern-day Tatars have nothing to do with it, of course. But those were rough times for the Slavic people, if the historians are saying the truth to at least some extent.
While my ancestors came from the region (modern-day Ukraine and Belarus) I didn't get much lore about Russia passed down. I've acquired a whole lot more info about her in my life journey, including listening to Radio Moscow, watching TASS and reading Pravda in the 1970's-1980's, seeking out other historical resources. For my first foray into Russia's cultural history I read "Russka" by Edward Rutherfurd in the early 1990's, a Michener-ish presentation of Russian history through fictional families as narration devices. There's much more out there I discovered since, but it was a good introductory course, history presented in a relatable way.
I learned that the Cyrillic alphabet used for the Russian language is itself an invention of the Church, Saints Cyril and Methodius. Story being that there was no written language before. Blending elements of Latin with local sounds and symbols in the Slavic lands.
A history of constant invasion from east and west. Influences the Russian mind and culture about little things like having a buffer of friendly nations between Russia and the rest of the world, you know, little things like ensuring Ukraine remains a buffer between NATO and Russia. A few thousand years of constant invasion by hordes leaves an impact on the minds of a people, how they interact with the world nearest them. Cossacks, Mongols, Huns, etc. Leaves a mark long after ancestors went through it. Any westerner who doesn't understand the history of Russia, the Russian mind will be tripped up by her in their dealings with her. Is one of the biggest reasons why Putin took so long with Tucker Carlson going over history. History strongly guides the present and future of Russia.
Lovely post, Tessa. I would be interested in your take on this old post of mine [written from my perspective of a Western European descendant on a sofa in the US]:
https://cheapthoughts.substack.com/p/speaking-of-borderspart-1
Cheers and Merry Christmas!
Thank you so much for the link!!
The same as the word “American” should mean!
For me, ethnicity is not so important, but mental health is valuable to weather the storms of life and bounce back from challenges more easily ;)