INTRODUCTION “Don’t you believe in science?” This is what I hear from my friends and neighbors when I wonder about the policies instituted because of Covid-19. For people who are not doctors or epidemiologists, it has been hard not to be coopted into highly politicized camps. The review below is a first attempt to turnContinue reading “THE COVID 19 CONTROVERSY”
Author Archives: Galina DeRoeck
UNDERSTANDING THE MIDDLE EAST
INTRODUCTION I have lived my formative years in an Arabic country, namely Morocco. This experience has resulted in my absolute conviction that Arabs – whether in Morocco or Palestine or elsewhere – are just people like you and me. Of course, people’s historical developments and cultural traditions are different: in particular, Morocco’s colonial status wasContinue reading “UNDERSTANDING THE MIDDLE EAST”
DIANA JOHNSTONE’S MEMOIR
Diana Johnstone’s memoir Circle in the Darkness is immensely absorbing. It recounts events one is familiar enough from reading the papers or watching the news, but then it takes you from what you think you know to what you need to know. Is it “radical” to expect that if “regular” people are told the truth,Continue reading “DIANA JOHNSTONE’S MEMOIR”
THE ICON
“No,” I told my granddaughters Chloe and Astrid, “this is not a picture, it’s an icon.” I know that the “icons” on their tablets or smart phones don’t look like that at all, and that got me wondering. My husband Rick and I have been talking about our Final Exit plans, and what would happenContinue reading “THE ICON”
A TRIBUTE TO MY THREE FATHERS
Dear Chloe and Astrid, When you check out the pictures on my bookshelf, there are several people there you may not recognize. Just the same, I don’t want them to be forgotten. Not only because they were important in my life, but also because they came from obscure or faraway places – places we don’tContinue reading “A TRIBUTE TO MY THREE FATHERS”
THE WORKS OF YURI SLEZKINE
INTRODUCTION Yuri Slezkine’s The Jewish Century, and the metaphor of classifying certain peoples (land settled) as Apollonian and others (wanderers) as Mercurian was a moment of personal insight to me. Yuri Slezkine, who was trained as an ethnographer in the Soviet Union, while highlighting the condition of the Jews as a prime example of Mercurians,Continue reading “THE WORKS OF YURI SLEZKINE”
FROM THE GROVES OF ACADEME
INTRODUCTION Dr. Marci Shore teaches Russian literature at Yale University. The two books under review have been widely acclaimed, a position not shared by my own reviews. Particularly regarding her enthusiastic description of the Ukrainian “Revolution” of 2014, her narrative reflects an utterly naïve understanding of the geopolitical contexts of events. THE TASTE OF ASHESContinue reading “FROM THE GROVES OF ACADEME”
LINES IN THE SAND
INTRODUCTION My decision to accept a position at the University of Arizona opened up new perspectives on U.S. politics. I had been vaguely aware of something called “The Sanctuary Movement.” But in New York the focus had been on East-West relations. I was now faced with “border issues,” and how local events actually reflected internationalContinue reading “LINES IN THE SAND”
