November 17, 2020

Mayorless Magadan


Mayorless Magadan
Not a great place to be mayor, apparently. Johannes Rohr, Wikimedia Commons

Politics are crazy the world over. Not even Russia's Far East can escape.

While most localities offer tense races leading up to election day, not so in Magadan: no one applied to run for mayor this year, according to Radio Free Europe.

The consensus seems to be that potential candidates are daunted by the social, fiscal, and economic woes plaguing the region. Thus, no one wants what would probably be a stressful position that would require them to face the ire of a dissatisfied citizenry.

The current mayor, Yuri Grishan, seems to understand. "You need more than just a desire to be mayor to resolve [the region's problems]. And inviting someone from outside the region who doesn't know our city and our region? You'd have to be crazy to accept such an offer."

In the meantime, the city of 92,000 is pushing back its deadline to apply for the position, so if any of our readers are interested... there you go.

Meanwhile, other city governments in the area are finding inventive ways to sate their citizenry.

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The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.

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