My mom forwarded me this piece from the New York Times a few days ago. It describes the problems of poverty and lack of access to modern technologies in some regions of Russia and depicts people as living in a more-or-less forgotten era–i.e. using wood stoves, having no running water, having a child wedding. I find these descriptions, and the format in which it’s presented, striking, and illuminating of Russia’s complexities. I really don’t know much about Russian history, culture, or politics, and this piece sparked my interest in learning more about the nuances of the wide range of cultures present in this country. One highlight was a woman’s description of Putin’s visits to his vacation home in the impoverished area in which she lives: “Fluttering her hand toward a patch of sky, she described a magical scene of communion between ‘the sovereign,’ as she called him, and his people: His helicopter flies so low that when tourists call out to him from the ground, he actually answers.”

http://www.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2013/10/13/russia/