There are so many appeals for help on the internet. Stories that pierce the heart. But after a while, it's easy to stop caring. …
Continue Reading about A Way for Us to Show Generosity This Christmas Season
There are so many appeals for help on the internet. Stories that pierce the heart. But after a while, it's easy to stop caring. …
Continue Reading about A Way for Us to Show Generosity This Christmas Season
The boundary between history and legend used to be malleable. People were not always so in love with facts. And, frankly, that …
Continue Reading about Oleg: the Prince Who Was Killed by His Favorite Horse
You know that moment when you walk into a Barnes and Noble or a library and see that one book you’ve wanted for the longest time, …
Continue Reading about 8 Things You’ve Never Heard about Dostoyevsky’s Childhood
More and more people are willing to accept the fact that fairy tales are not merely for children. However, there's still often a …
Continue Reading about The Spiritual Meaning of Stories: Slavic Mythology Edition
Last Monday, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated the day of Archangel Michael. It was doubly interesting that the day fell on a …
Happy Thanksgiving from Belarus, where we actually scrounged up some turkey and butternut squash (to my surprise). Naturally, …
Continue Reading about Need Relief after Your Thanksgiving Feast? Try Ivan-Chai
I don't know about you, but I've almost stopped going to the movies. The only decent stuff is superhero movies, and most of them …
Continue Reading about Arrival: the Best Movie of the Year So Far
You probably know some of the best first lines in literature. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” (A Tale of …
Continue Reading about Four Bizarre Ways Tales from Slavic Mythology Begin
What a week! I used to think social media brought out the bad in people. But I was wrong--it brings out the worst in people. …
Continue Reading about 5 Rules to Reestablish Civility in Internet Conversations
Last week, I translated the first part of the story of Martha the Mayoress of Novgorod by Nikolai Karamzin. A few of you requested …
Continue Reading about Martha the Mayoress of Novgorod, Part II
Another short post today, courtesy of my French friends, who translated my earlier short post about a French traveler watching a …
And so ends the most vicious election cycle in my lifetime. Thank God it's over. Now, fear not, gentle reader. I'm not going …
As much as you probably want to forget this fact, the election is tomorrow. I've been at a loss how to deal with it, so I …
Continue Reading about How a Russian Historian Imagined Democracy to Look in 14th century Russia
Last week, I wrote about women’s head-dresses. Today, as promised, I’ll add the male version of that post. Basically, it’s …
Continue Reading about Everything You Need to Know about Men’s Hats in Old Russia
Right now, it's 1:30 AM in Vitebsk, Belarus. I want to go to sleep. But I can't. My body thinks it's 3:30 in the afternoon. And …
Continue Reading about A Short Post about Weddings from Belarus
Do you ever wish that hats would come back in fashion? I do. I still sometimes wish I could pull off the Maltese Falcon look, …
Continue Reading about 5 Kinds of Folk Hats Russian Women Wore
Last week, you may have seen my review of Miles Cameron’s The Dread Wyrm. Mr. Cameron, in preparation for the release of his new …
In last week's post, I explained why Russians prefer to get married in the beginning of winter, on October 1 (October 14 by …
Continue Reading about Russian Winter: Five Fascinating Folk Traditions