Posts

Showing posts with the label Russia

Featured Post

The Trump Tripartite

Much like living in America in a post 9/11 world, living in in the aftermath of the Decembrist revolt brought a certain paranoia to the Russian regime. So deep was the neurosis that in 1833 Sergey Uvarov -the Minister of Education of Russia-presented the following statement of ideology : " It is our common obligation to ensure that the education of the people be conducted, according to Supreme intention of our August Monarch, in the joint spirit of Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality . I am convinced that every professor and teacher, being permeated by one and the same feeling of devotion to the throne and fatherland, will use all his resources to become a worthy tool for the government and to earn its complete confidence. " Thus began The Triad of Official Nationality (Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality). Although it is understood that interpretations of the Trinity are different than they were in the 19th century, commonalities still exist. In fact, so c...
Post a Comment
Keep reading

The Photograph

Image
A photograph hung in the hallway of my childhood home in Chicago. It wasn’t hard to see, a Russian relic among family photos and quirky plaques of the 1980’s. You know the type: a wood slab etched with a warm inscription like Welcome to the [insert surname] Home, or a list of moral lessons disguised as house rules—If you open it… close it. If you make a mess… clean it up—or my personal favorite, If you break it… don’t try to fix it.   But as a child, a photograph of my great-grandfather Anatole Poraykoshitz intrigued me more than a list of aphorisms scrawled into part of a sawed-off tree trunk. Like a puzzle, I’d piece together the archaic image with lion-hearted stories told to me. Tales which elevated Anatole to general status in the tsar’s army. The rank of general fit with the ornamental uniform he wore, I thought. Or his straight posture indicated he might be a man, who against formidable odds escaped to the United States to avoid persecution by the hands of the...
Post a Comment
Keep reading