Goodbye, My Friend Scene - Harry and the Hendersons Movie (1987) - HD

Postmodernity in a Premodern World

One of my classes here at the Academy (I love calling it that) studies modernity and postmodernity, especially as it applies to Russia. Up until my stay in Moscow, I have taken any notions of modernity and postmodernity as garbage, but lately I've really been into these ideas. So far I've really been intrigued by Giddens' ideas about heightened modernity, and an exacerbation of the forces that shaped the 20th century. For example, we have increased the amount of trust we place in scientific ideas, despite the fact that these ideas are always changing and are built on a sandy foundation. A simple example that I like is that of money. Money has had a simple evolution through modernity--from coinage and bills backed by gold, to the same without a gold background, to numbers in a computer representing those coins and bills, to future expectations of numbers in a computer (debt). This evolution requires that members of society trust that money will be accepted when a good or service is demanded. With the abstraction of money comes a higher level of required trust in that money.

I love thinking of the implications of this on people. In my simple example, I feel that peoples' ideas of spending have really changed quite a bit. It's also interesting to see an application of this idea in Russia--a nation that is really floundering to catch up to the western world. Continuing on money, I can see Russia moving from a cash centered exchange system to digital. They don't really use cards everywhere yet, but ATMs are as frequent as fish in a salmon run. Similarly, crediting agencies are popping up everywhere here. One problem with this is that Russians don't have the traditions of credit instilled yet. For example, no one checks the interest rates before getting a loan, no one checks the terms at all in fact. They just get a loan. How evolved we've become in the US, where we are all so careful with our debt...right?

I have ranted for too long, and so I bid you adieu for now...I leave you the idea to turn over, or throw back as it pleases you. So get out of here...can't you see we don't want you anymore!?

Bureaucracy--Russia's Bread and Butter

After an entire day of travel, what's the one thing that you really want to hear? Well, here's what I heard, "You're not actually going to be studying International Management (the major I signed up for), but actually Change Management (a completely different major)." That was my first introduction to Russian bureaucracy...To get anything done takes leagues of effort, and to undo that act...well forget about it. Everything that really should be automated takes a stamp from ten different individuals on different sides of Moscow. Another example is to get the student discount on a metro pass has taken me probably 6 stops at a completely random station across town, 3 signatures, and a month and counting of waiting time. Keep in mind, this is just for a single discount. We've actually talked about this very problem in some of my classes. Communism began a wonderful tradition of creating jobs just for the sake of creating a job. This leads to the creation of several layers of completely useless bureaucracy.

That being said, my Academy is one of the better ones in all of Russia. It has a great campus, and there's an entire office of people fighting on my side to make this easier. Today I had a meeting to decide on a way to help me learn Russian better. I now get to audit some economics classes that are taught in Russian, and have a personal tutor for an hour a week...all on Mother Russia's tab of course.

Here are a few pictures of my Academy...it's definitely the nicest campus I've ever seen in Russia. The purple sky happens when it's cloudy because there's a giant Gazprom (one of the largest oil companies) sign that lights up the sky.

A stroll with дядя Stalin

I recently took a stroll along the Moskva through Gorky Park (go ahead and sing the Scorpion's song if you need to). Autumn is definitely my favorite season -despite the fact that it's a sign of the impending death of winter- and Moscow has surprisingly not disappointed, since it was a forest 1000 years ago.

My favorite part of the walk (they do that here, just walk) was actually right across the street from Gorky at the Park of the Arts. It is full of Soviet statues that have no other home. I was pretty impressed with some of the arrangements. For example, one display has a large statue of Stalin looking into the distance, but in the background there are a bunch of heads trapped in cages...from a different angle, Lenin is looking on the scene. Another statue has a Russian man pointing the way to the future for an African, and a Chinese man.

I have found myself enjoying art more and more while I've been in Moscow. I went to a museum with my class to discuss modernity as it is expressed in art--in other words, I didn't expect to see anything good. However, I explored the permanent exhibit while I was there, and happened upon a room full of Monet. I really can't describe the feeling I had...I never expected to be completely overwhelmed by a piece of art, but it happened. True life. The museum had paintings from just about every famous artist I've ever heard of, including my favorite artist--Cezanne. Seeing Cezanne's Bridge Over the Marne nearly brought me to tears...but since I'm super tough and manly, naturally it didn't.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of the parks:

Special Thanks to Pawel for the pictures...