![Things That Disappear](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/roller-skates-150x150.jpg)
Things That Disappear
The pale yellow “favorite blanket” that you had as a child. The hair dryer that covered your head like a…
![Military Service? Impossible!](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/russian-recruits-150x150.jpg)
Military Service? Impossible!
When I taught English in Russia in the late 1990’s, my main place of employment was the Tolyatti Pedagogical Institute,…
![Blue Skies](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/blue-skies-150x150.jpg)
Blue Skies
I didn’t get back up into the hills again for several months. The repeated storms of January and February had…
![The Dead Branch](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/the-broken-branch-150x150.jpg)
The Dead Branch
I took a walk up into the hills yesterday. It was a leaden sunless day, but the temperature had risen…
![Fear and Trembling](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Mitch-Mcconnell-150x150.jpg)
Fear and Trembling
It’s that time of year again, Black History Month, the month when I once again try to explain to nine…
![Don't Send Her Back](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/statue-of-liberty-150x150.jpg)
Don’t Send Her Back
The defining chant of Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign is almost certainly going to be “send her back.”
![The Wall I Knew](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/berlin-wall-fall-25th-anniversary-150x150.jpg)
The Wall I Knew
Want to watch a video of me reading this blog? Go to my You Tube Channel. On a cold Sunday…
![My Cousin in California](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/california-wildfires-ten-150x150.jpg)
My Cousin in California
On November 9th, two weeks after my cousin in Pittsburgh, in her post-shooting gloom, bowed out of all social media,…
![Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/191_1pants_on_fire_version_2-150x150.jpg)
Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire
If you’d asked me before the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings how I felt about them, I’d probably have told you I…
![Merit Pay, Anyone?](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/school-house-150x150.jpg)
Merit Pay, Anyone?
I wasn’t going to weigh in on this because, well, everyone else has, and what am I going to say…
![Wallis, This One's for You](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Wallis-Simpson-150x150.jpg)
Wallis, This One’s for You
Finally, some good news for a change. Amidst the debacle of “tax reform” and what appears to be rampant sexual…
![Persistence](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/zipped-mouth-150x150.jpg)
Persistence
In our elementary school, we start teaching children about character traits in the third grade. We teach them to recognize…
![To The Barricade](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Trump-Barricade-150x150.jpg)
To The Barricade
I never marched in a demonstration before yesterday. I don’t like crowds much, or noise, or commotion. I’m a stay-at-home-with-a-book…
![2017: Brace For Impact](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/impact-150x150.jpg)
2017: Brace For Impact
At the beginning of the Second World War in Europe, there was a period of time, eight months and one…
![Election Week 2016](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/edge-of-the-woods-150x150.jpg)
Election Week 2016
Last week didn’t begin well. On Monday afternoon, we had to hospitalize our cat, Socrates. He’d been battling pancreatitis at…
![Where You Can Put Your Putin](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Vladimir-Putin-150x150.jpg)
Where You Can Put Your Putin
No one could love Russia more than I do. You have to love a country where the cabbie taking you home…
![A Little History](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/stick-figure-of-little-girl-150x150.jpg)
A Little History
They say if you don’t know your history, you’re doomed to repeat it and this certainly seems to be what’s…
![A Cruel June](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Welcome-to-Florida-150x126.jpg)
A Cruel June
It goes on. Last Sunday morning we woke up to read about yet another mentally ill individual who went out…
![De Ja Vu All Over Again](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/ronald-reagan.jpg)
De Ja Vu All Over Again
There it was again. That feeling. The feeling that I hadn’t felt in a long time, but that I still…
![Madness](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/american-flag2-150x150.jpg)
Madness
And so it began yesterday upon the frozen fields of Iowa, that great democratic act of choosing. The Iowans have…
![Lists](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/doomsday-book-150x150.jpg)
Lists
As another year draws to its close and the next one edges near, there seems to be in both the…
![O Canada](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/canadian-flag-1534780-1279x852-150x150.jpg)
O Canada
A flash of light rent the October sky, lasted a few short moments, and then vanished as quickly as it…
![The Bitter Pill](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ukraine.jpg)
The Bitter Pill
When I was a university student of Russian History in the mid 1980’s, the Iron Curtain was still drawn tightly…
![Sevastapol](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/sevastapol.jpg)
Sevastapol
I’ve always found that when I want to understand something that’s happening in Russia, it helps to hit the books….
![Native Son](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/native-son-117x150.jpg)
Native Son
It’s been a very bad week. First of all, Obama, he’s my guy, but he’s really made a mess of…
![Hopscotch](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/hopscotch.jpg)
Hopscotch
You remember the 1980 movie “Hopscotch,” don’t you? Walter Matthau played a rogue CIA agent who was publishing a book…
![Nineteen Eighty Four](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1984-150x150.jpg)
Nineteen Eighty Four
I know I should feel outraged, violated, sullied. When the whistle-blower Edward Snowden this last week let it be known…
![Remember Gorbachev?](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/gorbachev.jpg)
Remember Gorbachev?
I was reading an article about Gorbachev the other day. Gorbachev, remember him? I’m embarrassed to say that until I…
![Eastward Ho!](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/depardieu3.jpg)
Eastward Ho!
Back when I was in high school in the late seventies and early eighties, back in the waning days of…
![Russian Reformers Old and New](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/russian-reform-150x146.jpg)
Russian Reformers Old and New
The demands of the Russian reformers seemed reasonable enough to me. They wanted the Russian government to stop being so…
![Juneteenth](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/East-germany-1953-150x150.jpg)
Juneteenth
Juneteenth is an African-American holiday officially celebrated in 41 states of the United States. It commemorates the final abolition of…
![Don't Go to Gibraltar!](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/gibraltar-150x150.jpg)
Don’t Go to Gibraltar!
“Whatever you do, don’t go to Gibraltar.” This was what our friends and neighbors down on the Costa del Sol…
![Blame the Germans](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/angela-merkel-150x149.jpg)
Blame the Germans
They’ve been muttering about them in Greece, and in Spain, in Portugal and in Italy. All the countries of Europe…
![Putin Party Politics](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/putin-150x148.jpg)
Putin Party Politics
Why did Putin win the Russian elections? He won due to election fraud. Well, yes, there was election fraud, buses…
![Haavisto Loses, Finland Wins](http://www.lindastrange.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/haavisto-and-flores-150x137.jpg)
Haavisto Loses, Finland Wins
Back in January, the Finns had an election, too. It was the first round of their presidential election. The Finns,…