Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Orlovian observation
The great Orlov, discussing why Russia was able to survive collapse while America will not survive, noted that the Russian people have not been atomized and isolated by consumerism. They learned to stick together, always talking, negotiating and bartering.
Spokane has a large contingent of Soviet-bloc refugees, somewhere around 10% of the population. They don't stand out because they haven't set up a "Little Moscow" or "Little Belgrade" neighborhood. They're scattered all over town, in true Spokane style.
I've noticed a couple of Slavic households in this neighborhood, not by visual cues but only by hearing the language.
On my morning walk Saturday, I finally noticed a real visual cue. In one of those Slavic households, the wife was in the front yard talking to another woman whose car was in the driveway. Both were smoking and talking simultaneously, and both left the cigarette hanging and bouncing on the lips as they talked.
In 1960 this wouldn't have been an instant Russian shibboleth. You wouldn't necessarily have seen it in a high-class situation, but you saw it all the time in casual front-porch America. Nowadays smokers are forced into dark corners.
After I got past the novelty of the dangle, I realized that the simple tableau of two women talking in a front yard is a foreign cue. They weren't holding cell phones, they weren't texting to 3 other "friends" while ignoring each other. They were in the same location and focused on each other. They will survive. ¶ 4:46 AM
Spokane has a large contingent of Soviet-bloc refugees, somewhere around 10% of the population. They don't stand out because they haven't set up a "Little Moscow" or "Little Belgrade" neighborhood. They're scattered all over town, in true Spokane style.
I've noticed a couple of Slavic households in this neighborhood, not by visual cues but only by hearing the language.
On my morning walk Saturday, I finally noticed a real visual cue. In one of those Slavic households, the wife was in the front yard talking to another woman whose car was in the driveway. Both were smoking and talking simultaneously, and both left the cigarette hanging and bouncing on the lips as they talked.
In 1960 this wouldn't have been an instant Russian shibboleth. You wouldn't necessarily have seen it in a high-class situation, but you saw it all the time in casual front-porch America. Nowadays smokers are forced into dark corners.
After I got past the novelty of the dangle, I realized that the simple tableau of two women talking in a front yard is a foreign cue. They weren't holding cell phones, they weren't texting to 3 other "friends" while ignoring each other. They were in the same location and focused on each other. They will survive. ¶ 4:46 AM
