Comments on: The men and women of Moscow

By: Mary Frost

Mary Frost — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 02:21:09 +0000

It would be interesting for more books to be written about Russia today. Ever since the fall of the USSR there have been very few books written about life in Russia today.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 21:55:55 +0000

Grass. Green. The other side.

By: Steve Nordquist

Steve Nordquist — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 20:15:43 +0000

Nuisance! Photos!

That is to say, I enjoy your blog and repressed cubists (such as the present Mlle. H.-Of God-Of Nazareth, of the Moscow Ibid.) and think this is a break, and it’s all of the above with spoken citations available at some extent for #3; and that it’s not Fertility Weeks in Russia.

There may be, as in the countries that produced _Dai Mahou Touge_ (still in broadcast, s.b. a set around ’06 Nov, NIH) two weeks in which a fellow might go around in embroidered bordering at specific times (not while handing out the bagels…) making a show of his chinning bar; demonstrating that Brill Cream (or smiling, or cashmere, or butter) can restore a rib and lung salvaged from a fire into a family stalwart and neighborhood boon, handing out handyman cards people will reliably toss, redeem gently, etc.

I also like to think it is feminism afoot; one day a man who is not an actor may decide on a hairdo in reciprocity, and not de facto of n: n<10 tries. Did you rule out that Communist Progress just got shunted into a 11-minute morning ritual that keeps the revolution alive…just…..changed?

Ya, I think it’s a bit much to claim it’s a pure-play, but….

By: Overworm

Overworm — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 11:19:54 +0000

As with Tom, this post reminded me of a Ukrainian woman with whom I once worked. I was part of a team that interviewed her, and I have to admit that when the hiring decision arrived, her beauty was the deciding factor in my vote. It wasn’t her Master’s degree or her experience (both of which were more than adequate), but rather her beauty that moved her a micrometer ahead of the next closest candidate, who was also suitable for the job. In this age of political correctness, I’m a little ashamed to admit that, but it’s true.

By: jens

jens — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 05:15:23 +0000

- i think it is number three.
beautiful post.
a shame that you are only travelling with one suitcase – you could bring much more stories home otherwise…

By: Tom Guarriello

Tom Guarriello — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 23:10:23 +0000

Grant, your post vividly reminds me of a Russian woman I worked with…oh, more than 20 years ago now…who was so stunningly beautiful that I, verbal acrobat that I am, was reduced to stammering idiocy in her presence. What a smile! There also was a fragrance about her that I remember still…ah, but that’s a conversation for another time. Thanks for reviving those wonderful moments.

Great, great post.

By: dilys

dilys — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 14:34:54 +0000

I noticed in the 90′s in former-Yugoslavia that young men, though obviously liking to have pretty girlfriends, were not the 18-karat idiots on the subject of female looks that American men are. Gorgeous women were treated as you describe; and homely women didn’t walk around hangdog and apologetic and falsely perky.

I thought it was the extent to which media imagery did not invade every crack and cranny of the formation of children. And, not least, noting your graphic, the extreme sensory richness of Christian Orthodoxy, which, even if people are not devout, pervades the rites and underpinnings of people’s experience in those countries.

After you’ve pondered an authentic, say, Icon of the Holy Virgin, women’s faces per se are in a different perspective and on a different continuum.

Less true, but still sort of the case in Western Europe, which also has roots in a richer visual iconography, than here.