Posts Tagged "story"
Stanislav: Seeing-Impaired Street Musician (2)
Another photo of Stanislav, the nearly-blind 77yo accordion player, who says he will play till the end. Here you can see his instrument on a cart that he was dragging through the snow. He has a stick in his other hand to help him walk.
Stanislav: Seeing-Impaired Street Musician
Before I continue with my Minsk photos, I want to post a two portraits from last 24h in Moscow to show how very different people were spending the holiday. I met Stanislav, a 77 yo accordion player, nearly a year ago at the Izmailovsky souvenir market, where he plays as tourists and Russians pass on their way to buy gifts. Today, I randomly saw him in the underpass near Izmailovsky as he dragged his accordion on a cart with one hand and used a sightseeing stick with the other. He had come to play for the holiday crowds, but the market was closed, so he was trying to find a populated place near the park. Nearly blind due - as he put it - to a bad operation, he says he won't stop playing regardless of how difficult it is to drag his stuff through the snow. "If I stop playing music, I will die. It is a holy cause." He said he was proud of his daughter, who has followed in his musical footsteps and often tours Europe to play.
Alexander: Factory Worker & Rapper
For forigners, there is one NY baseball team: the Yankees. I have seen hundreds of Yankee hats around the former USSR...in large part because it represents to them NY, not a baseball team. So, when I saw Alexander standing against a kiosk near the Minsk tractor factory in this hip Mets jacket, I had to find out his story. He said he was a good high school student and thus got to study in college for free but with the obligation to work his first two years for a state-owned company. He is working for a machine building factory and likes to spend his time rapping. He said he raps for friends and his 'neighborhood,' a word that I rarely hear people here mention. So I asked what he meant by neighborhood. He said the tractor factory area where he lives is like an old, forgotten ghetto. That is why I was there - I heard it was a depressed area in Minsk. Alexander said he was inspiried by Onex's 'Slam' and wanted to recreate something similar incorporating his reality. He said he would love to visit the US to experience first hand rap and hip-hop culture, but said it was too hard to get a visa. He thought if he tried to explain to the embassy his reason for visiting the US, "they would think its total bullshit."
Vera: Family Emigration Story
I will post a few portraits from a short trip to Minsk, Belarus that I hope will shed some light on the people and the country. I will start it off with Vera, whom I randomly met when I lost the keys to the flat I was renting in Minsk.
Vera told me her great grandfather left Czarist Russia to work in a Canadian mine to help pay off land debts. When her g-grandfather returned, he discovered that his wife had left for Moscow with the money and a lover. He remarried at 40 and had six children, one of whom died in a concentration camp during WWII, which took the lives of at least 20% of the population. One of the six - her grandmother - is still alive, age 90, and lives alone in a village, something not uncommon. Vera commented that Belarusians still migrate abroad for work much like her grandfather did a century ago. Indeed, quiet a few of the people I spoke with in Minsk considered working abroad as salaries at home are quite low.
As for the lost key, it had the address written on it. When the flat manager arrived to give me a new key, I raised the question of paying for a new door lock. He was relaxed 'Minsk is quite safe. The person who finds it will be too scared to try robbing the flat.' Four days later, no one but myself entered the flat. Minsk indeed seemed to be a safe city.
Sergei: English Translater
Sergei, a translator like his father, studied in America and I interested to here about his experience there. He highlighted that religious organizations were quite active on the campus and he was invited to events. He said he was surprised to see a church service where the music was performed by people with guitars and other instruments. He felt overall it was an advanced attitude toward religion. He pointed out that the more religious students from the US university are the ones that have tended to keep in touch since he returned to Russia.
Alyona: Kursk Waitress at Cafe
I popped into a cafe around 10am in the center of Kursk for a meeting. It was empty except for one other customer. I ordered a standard-sized Americano, but when Alyona returned, she brought me a large Americano. Maybe they simply made a mistake, but she seemed to imply they did it on purpose. Perhaps because I was a foreigner? Many Russians will take an extra step (or add a bit more coffee) to make a good impression on foreigners and I haven't sensed that this trait has changed among the average Russian person since sanctions were imposed. I later asked Alyona about herself. She said she enjoys drawing/painting and may want to teach that skill someday. I asked if there were other artists in the family and she responded that her dad plays Jazz.
Svetlana: ‘New York’ in Kursk
Svetlana, 15, was walking along Lenin St in Kursk with her two girlfriends when I noticed the New York winter hat, which is very popular right now - i see at least one a day. She spoke good English and said she wanted to be a translator. Her older brother also spoke good English she she said because he spent time in New Orleans. I asked her about her wishes for the New Year. She said she wanted to visit St Petersburg in the winter time.
Anna: Kursk TV Journalist
Katya is a TV reporter for a local news station in Kursk and asked to speak with me about city infrastructure for people with special needs. As I went to meet her in the center of the city, I looked at the city buses that passed me. It would have been impossible for someone in a wheelchair to fit inside, much less get on the first step. It is not just a Kursk issue, but a Russia-wide issue. At least local TV is raising awareness, though many years may pass before there is money for such buses.
Igor: Veteran Journalist
Igor has been a journalist for most of the past 25 years and penned 3 books, including one on the bandits of Kursk region. I asked him if the crime situation was improving. He felt it was getting worse because of the widening gap between rich and poor in the region, an issue that is Russia wide. When I asked him about the most interesting Kursk crime story he covered, he said it was the kidnapping of a businessman's son. The kidnappers demand $2mln and ended up getting caught. One of the kidnappers told Igor after the sentencing that they were too greedy. Had they asked for a smaller sum, they might have gotten it.
