On Things Russian

This spring I traveled to Bloomington, IN and Oxford, MS to speak to students, professors and Russian language teachers. While my ostensible assignment was to talk about my research, I also had a hidden agenda: I wanted to learn.

Perhaps it follows from 15 years in journalism, but I always find it fascinating to glimpse another person’s world for a day or so, to learn what they are doing in their corner of the Russian world. Too often routine isolates us from other parts of this world, and it is helpful to see what else is going on out there, if only to be reminded that one is not alone.

Both at Indiana University and at the annual CARTA conference (Russian professors and teachers in the South-Central U.S.) I got a sense of the hard work that is being done to teach Russian and Russian studies to American students, the incredible dedication and talent of Russian teachers, and the surging enthusiasm of the students. Despite strained fiscal circumstances for language study, most teachers I hear from around the country report strong, vibrant Russian programs. Certainly that is what I witnessed at both IU and Ole Miss.

Then, at press time, I heard that I had missed the “2010-2011 World Festival of Russian Language,” held at George Mason University, under the auspices of ACTR, MAPRIAL and Russkiy Mir. It brought together Olympiada competitors and Russian teachers from around the country. It is always a shame to find out about something interesting after it happens, yet at the same time you know our Russian world is doing well when there is so much going on that you can’t keep track of it all.

We face a similar challenge with every issue of Russian Life. For instance, this issue’s publication date coincides with the 60th anniversary of Fascist Germany’s invasion of the USSR on June 22, 1941. There are so many stories to tell on this subject that it is difficult to know where to begin, to consider what new we can write (we have written dozens of articles on various aspects of the War since 1995) as our modest tribute to the huge sacrifices so many made during that horrific war.

What we planned for this issue were two stories: Lada Bakal’s feature on trekking in the footsteps of Crimean partisans and the Calendar piece on alternative scenarios for 1941. But unplanned War tie-ins surfaced in the stories on road rallies and Bulgaria. It was also belatedly decided that the Uchites insert be devoted to the War theme.

On a related note, Russkiy Mir sponsorship for our Uchites inserts runs out with this issue (this being the end of the academic year), and there will be no language inserts at least for the next few issues.

We continue to get very strong positive feedback from readers and teachers about the value of the language inserts. But we are looking for ways to streamline and improve them, to make them better tailored to the needs of independent language study. Please send us your suggestions and critiques ([email protected]). I want us to do all we can to encourage the study of Russian, all the more so after what I witnessed in Indiana and Mississippi.

Enjoy the issue.