Inside Brighton Beach's Babushka Beauty Pageant A lovely short film on Brighton Beach's Your Highness Babushka Beauty Contest.
The Mysterious Origins of a Flea-Market Painting Peter Guppy of Prosperity Hardware thinks he has a Kazimir Malevich painting on his hands.
Tetris: The Perfect Video Game? A deep dive into the history and philosophy behind Tetris, and the reasons why it has managed to stay relevant for so long and will probably still be in the future.
Piter's People – Natalia Kapiturova We begin a new project, in which readers meet regular St. Petersburgers, to learn about their lives and their favorite places in the Northern Palmyra. First up: coffee!
Piter's People – Nikolay Predtechensky St. Petersburg was founded in 1703 as a port on the Baltic Sea, and about 10% of its surface area is water. So we meet a boat rental company owner and find out the best place for pizza in the city.
Piter's People - Katya Kotlyar Graphic designer, traveler, instagram explorer, Katya Kotlyar knows her home city inside out, and sees it as an artist would, as a beautiful backdrop for living.
Piter's People – Sergey Goorin St. Petersburg is often thought to be a gray city, as it only has about 75 sunny days each year. Still, photographer Segrey Goorin finds inspiration here for his black and white photography, capturing street life, extraordinary locals and numerous parties.
Chelyabinsk Artist Anastasia Bogomolova takes us on a tour of Chelyabinsk, famous for its meteorite, tanks, and a very special forest.
Kursk Region Anastasiya Tsayder takes us inside village living rooms and kitchens, showing a rarely scene slice of Russian rural life.
Yekaterinburg Photographer Daria Kozinova takes us on a tour of the capital of the Urals: Yekaterinburg.
43 Russian Patriots On the Spine of Russia project, journalists Richardson and Mordasov asked over 40 Russians if they were patriots, and why. Here are some of their responses...
The Most Beautiful Village in Russia Last week tiny Kinerma was named as this year's "most beautiful Russian village." As it turns out, Kinerma was a stop on The Spine of Russia project...
On the Tragedy of One Family... and an Entire People As told in two letters, two certificates and the autobiography of one centenarian, who turned 100 on June 16 and is the oldest person in her village of 100.
First Love On the importance of coffee, academicians, a museum, a rooster, the harvesting of turf, and collectivization.
The First Pancake is Always Lumpy The Children of 1917 Expedition is underway. We began in the most logical place: in St. Petersburg...
The Orphan Given the historical and personal realities she faced, Maria Konyayeva was very unlikely to live to 100 when she was born in 1917. And yet here she is.
Nadezhda Alexeyeva Director and artistic director of the Maly Theater, Veliki Novgorod Patriotism is a very personal feeling, just like religion. I don’t want to rank myself among the patrios that yell from every television, in all the mass media, that this is some kind of requirement. Yet recently I have been asking myself this question quite often. It has simply slashed me, because I pose this question to myself and answer that “yes, of course, I am a patriot and reside in that sphere of culture that is my motherland, and a reside among a sphere of people that truly comprises for me my small motherland.” From these small things the whole of everything is created. And my understanding of “motherland,” I repeat, is for me mainly tied to the people and and our culture. Therefore, yes. And in this regard, if I were answering a question about religion, I would also answer unequivocally. Unequivocal in the sense not becasue I don’t belive in God, but because this too is a very personal question. And nevertheless, I answer it, “Yes, of course.” But I don’t want to rank myself among patriots who yell about Russian lands. I want to rank myself among patriots who speak of Russian culture. First and foremost, this is people, our asset, human and rich. Оf course it is our people.
Larisa Safronova Editor of the newspaper Elektron-TV, Krymsk I can say that I love Russia. But patriot, non-patriot, there are so many definitions of this word, both as a curse and as praise. Therefore I love my motherland and divide it into rulers and people, into what I have loved since childhood: school, parents, the city where I was born and raised, and in which I now live. That is everything that I love. But to be a patriot, does that mean to defend the national interests of one’s country? If they are just, then yes, I will defend it to the last. IF not, then I will also defend it. Perhaps that’s simply how we are built. Mine, ours. That’s all.
Andrei Pletnev Professional yachtsman, boat owner, Novorossiysk Naturally, I can call myself a patriot. A patriot of my country, a patriot of the sport of sailing. And I make every effort so that everything I love lives, grows and prospers.
Yakov Somov Co-founder and general director of Lektorium MOOC project, St. Petersburg In general, it's rude to ask a person if he is a patriot or not. I am a patriot of public education. But does that mean I am a patriot? I don't know. I work in my country, I work for it. I also work for the whole world. Yes, I am probably a patriot. In my circles, it is not proper to ask someone if they are a patriot or not. You either do good work, or don't do good work. I do good work for my country, including for the place where I studied. I graduated from this school in 2000, and have been working here for seven years. And so I am investing in the children who study here. And I work with the teachers who teach here. You've caught me off guard. You have, probably, a very well-formed question here.
