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Like many other blogs, this one too moved to Wordpress. I like their lay-out and tools better than Blogger's. Now, you can read about my discoveries and adventures on SoupOfMedia. Hope to see you there!

And Here Goes My Vote

Voting today felt like passing a language oral exam. I followed the printed signs reading Elections (Izbori) to the second floor of 2285 Mass. Avenue, Cambridge. There, anxious Bulgarians were waiting to enter the quiet room and cast their vote for their party of choice. And as they left one by one, they sighed with relief. I almost felt like asking, "How did it go?"

It went well for me. It was my first time voting in the Bulgarian parliamentary elections and I tried to absorb every scent and sound. Actually, the sounds were pretty synchronized as light-haired babies laughed and jumped on their parents' laps. Most of the voters were young moms and dads or to-be parents. They greeted one
another happily and promised to meet up for coffee or dinner soon.

The more I approached the quiet room, the more nervous I became. Then, a lady with unruly dyed blonde hair showed me the way, I took out my Bulgarian ID and received the voting bulletin.

Like at an oral exam, the room wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. There was a chair and several pens spread out on a wooden table. I looked around and cast my vote quickly. Unlike at a language oral exam, there was no 100%-right answer here.

Anna Karenina in the subway

Sitting next to me in the Boston subway today was a lady. Her activity represented the biggest turnoff for me next to seeing my name spelled wrong. She was blowing gum bubbles and reading Anna Karenina on her iPhone.

Anna Karenina must be read in print. It is probably one of the world's few books that you need to hold and whose pages you need to list impatiently. Actually, I am taking this back. All of my favorite books--Lolita, A Hero of Our Time and Me Talk Pretty One Day among others--have to be held and listed page by page. I just can't bear to see it happen any other way.

And this is coming from someone who gets all of her information online. Reading BBC news and the Onion is very fulfilling. Yet reading a book that makes you laugh or cry on an electronic device seems unsatisfactory. And unproductive. Mostly, because you can't afford to get the device wet with tears.

Photo Credit: Pensiero

Twitter: Can You Be Popular But Not Mainstream?

I have always aimed at being popular but not mainstream. I want to be part of a growing conversation only when I can add a unique perspective to it. This goal of mine is becoming increasingly difficult with trending topics on Twitter.



Tonight, for instance, everyone is tweeting about the elections in Iran. Keywords #IranElection, Tehran and Iranians made it to the top ten trending topics. I logged on to Twitter and thought about how great that was. It instantly prompted me to get more educated in the issue and before I knew it I was reading BBC articles and simultaneously following the discussions on Twitter.

Election followers were giving their support for the Iranian protesters. They were advising one another to change hashtags not to be tracked by the Iranian government. I felt inspired by the togetherness of the international Internet community.

Half an hour later I looked at the Twitter discussion again. It consisted of the same tweets and, worse, same retweets. Actually, every other tweet was quoting what someone else had said. And then the thought occurred--I could so easily become part of this growing conversation. But I wouldn't add anything to it besides another link to a Boston.com photo or a BBC article. Suddenly, this felt so much like the trending topic about swine flu.

Online users want to feel connected and part of a conversation. I have no doubts about their good intentions to bring positive change. It still inspires me. Yet, as I couldn't see a genuine (and original) discussion about Iran take place, I tweeted my actual current activity--listening to Fun Lovin' Criminals.

Today: Bazaar, Next Stop: Babushka Deli

If you have ever entered a Russian supermarket in the U.S., you probably know why the whole delivery thing can't work there. No one visits these stores just for the food.

A Russian supermarket is an adventure in itself. In order to enter the space you might have to wait for a couple of minutes at the entrance until the white-haired babushki there finish their chat. Then, as soon as you open the deli's doors, you can hear oldschool tunes--either Russian music from the 80s or some Boney M hits. "Daddy Cool" is what I heard today when I went shopping at Bazaar, one of the several Russian supermarkets in Brighton, Boston.

Black caviar, classic Baltika 3 and kefir stared back at me from the supermarket aisles. Customers also stared back at me in search of signs to reveal whether I was American or Russian. Here, every product, let alone a human, could be a conversation starter. If the Polish cheese, the Czech beer and the Ukrainian flour were all worth paying tons of attention to, so was I.

The cultural immersion wouldn't have been complete without a shelf devoted to authentic Russian cosmetic and pharmacetical products. Just above that shelf were hanging birch branches used for visits to the Russian public banya.

In that Sunday morning, I could buy tree branches to go to the sauna with but I couldn't purchase my Baltika 3 beer. In accordance with state laws, the lady at the cashier said, they couldn't offer beer before 12 p.m. "Massachusetts is very conservative," she said to chase away the surprise in my eyes, and took the beer behind the counter.

Sad day for British politics

Apparently, today is a sad day for British politics. That is how Sir Robert Atkins referred to the British National Party's (BNP) success at the EU elections.

Why so? Because the BNP is a far-right party with no non-white members. It won two seats in the EU Parliament at an election whose preliminary figures suggest the lowest turnout ever. In other words, the small percentage of people who cast their votes today supported the BNP's extremism. Wait, that sounds familiar.

The National Union Attack, the far-right party in Bulgaria, has been winning a big percentage of the popular vote. It has openly expressed itself against the rights of Roma minorities. According to Novinite Ataka holds three seats in the 2009 EU Parliament with three far-right deputies elected as MEPs.

Interestingly enough, the 2009 EU elections saw great gains in far-right votes across Europe. According to the Telegraph centre-Right parties constitute the biggest group holding 276 seats out of 736 in the European Parliament. It wasn't just the U.K. and Bulgaria. It was anti-immigrant and far-right groups from the Netherlands, Austria, Hungary, Denmark, Slovakia and Finland.

Not sure about the U.K., but could it be a sad day for EU politics?

Auf der anderen Seite

Turkey and the EU--an inexhaustible topic these days. It has started a conversation on which Europe cannot seem to agree. While European nations are still discussing the circumstances around Turkey's potential accession to the European Union, radical Bulgarian politicians already expressed their strong opposition.

In a recent interview Nikola Rachev argued that the Turkish values and religious views are completely incompatible with the European ones. Although 25-year-old Rachev is a student at Sofia's Medical University and speaks three foreign languages, his argument is hardly the most convincing for a well-educated young individual.

Turkey is a modern secular democracy that has been developing at a fast pace. It will, undoubtedly, contribute a diverse perspective to the established EU mosaic. After all, one of the EU's goals is to help make different cultures and values compatible with one another.

Moreover, EU support will mitigate Turkey's political persecutions. The award-winning Auf Der Anderen Seite clearly reveals the need for such type of implementations.

Turkey and the EU--will we exhaust this topic by the next round of EU accession talks?

Pay for information? No way.

"Information is not air," I remember reading in an article for my New Media class this semester. I stopped reading in surprise. "What do you mean it is not air?" I thought.

Then I realized that with the abundance of free information online I tend to think of it as air. In addition to my most visited web pages, I am actively using bookmarks, RSS feeds and Google alerts to keep up with latest news and emerging trends. Information on the Web is free and necessary. It is exactly like air.

Yet some sources limit that air. A couple of days ago I found a Wallstreet Journal headline featured in my Google Alerts. The link redirected me to the WSJ page and I saw the story's lead. But to read on, I had to subscribe.

Some reliable Web sources like the WSJ and Encyclopedia Britannica require paid subscription. When I encounter such a challenge, I just close the page and look for the same information elsewhere. The chances are that I will find it on the NY Times or Wikipedia.

Information is not air because one has to be selective when choosing sources. But the choice becomes easy when one of two competing sources is free and the other one paid. So despite your high-quality content, WSJ, I guess I will have to pass.

Lock your rooms, girls

If a friend called you crying to say that someone had gotten into her college room and gone through all of her belongings, you would think the economy is in bad shape. At least, this thought came to my mind when I heard the news.

Yesterday I learned that someone had entered my classmate's room on the first floor of our dormitory in search of valuable items. The burglar had gone through all her suitcases scattering jewelry, family pictures and underwear all over the floor. After a brief discussion with the college's public safety officer, we decided that the violator must have been an outsider. At this time of the year students prop the dorm's doors open to move in and out of school. That must have given the robber a perfect opportunity to sneak in and look for valuables.

Today I found out another friend's belongings violated. This classmate had left her sealed and labeled cardboard box in front of the student storage area where international students are allowed to store during the summer. Two days after she had placed the box there someone had decided to help themselves to her clothing and computer monitor.

These incidents, together with the many student emails announcing thefts, scare me. Stealing has definitely been on the rise on campus and the most obvious reason for it seems to be the economic downfall. Right?

Best things in life are free

I had spent the whole day helping people to pack, carry suitcases and move out their dorms. It hasn't been my first time doing it and, I hope, it won't be my last time. After all, this is what friends are for--to sit on suitcases while you zip them and to push cardboard boxes down the stairs while you catch them from underneath.

Late in the afternoon a graduating friend needed my assistance moving out. Only she didn't put it this way. She wanted me to help her track down a pair of brand-name boots she had lent someone. The boots were worn only three times, forgotten in the room and probably thrown away by the cleaning staff. She went berserk when she didn't find them. We looked through about seven trash bags full of rubbish and liquid wastes. The expensive boots were nowhere to be found.

Then, she decided, it would be funny but plausible to find the boots in the basement of some other dorm. So, she dragged me from dorm to dorm in search of the pair of boots while picking up other abandoned items there. Soon she acquired a fancy scarf, Armani Code perfume and a pair of black shoes. I went home to take a shower and wash away the dirt from the trash dive.

Less than two hours after we had parted, she asked me for help again. Only she didn't put it this way. She offered to meet me in one of the dorms because it had lots of new and expensive things. There was this brand new CD player that I needed to check out. Oh, and also, she was almost done packing and ready to move out. Although I was not interested in the CD player, I was still interested in helping her move out. So, I went, sat on her suitcase while she was zipping it, and carried her bags across the college campus.

A couple of minutes ago she thanked me for all I had done and offered me a bag of scarves. "I really don't need any of this," I responded and my heart sank as I realized she really didn't get it. I needed no objects to be her friend.

You say goodbye and I say hello

Tonight I said my first goodbyes to the graduating seniors from the Class of 2009 and realized the time for Kleenex tissues has come. Tomorrow morning they are all leaving to London, France, Germany, Spain and other faraway corners of the Globe. And we don't know if life will meet us again.


Graduation is a time to celebrate education, successes and friendships. Yet this graduation for me is a difficult and sobering experience. It marks the moment when everyone takes her path in life and jumps into new adventures individually. It marks a goodbye to the past I was part of and a hello to a future I will be absent from. What can be more difficult to accept than this reality?

A friend told me tonight she didn't understand why I was crying. She said I should be happy I got to meet all those people. But that is exactly my point. I can't help holding back the tears because of memories full of happiness and togetherness. Indeed, I am happy I got to have such classmates but I also understand the extent to which I will miss them.

Now they are off to a new beginning away from the college life that we shared. And I can only repeat the words of Mary McAleese, the President of Ireland, told at the Commencement speech today to the Class of 2009: "A good start is half the work. Enjoy the start of the other half."

Rock The Shocker

"Cuz I wanna take you downtown," sings Peaches in her first single from the album Impeach My Bush. And she definitely took us downtown with her show last night at the Paradise Rock in Boston.

Our tickets indicated 7 p.m. as the time when doors opened for the long-waited Peaches performance. Yet we were not allowed in before 9:30 p.m. Opening for Peaches was the London beatmaker Drums of Death wearing intense black and white make-up. By the time he started playing, the public was ready to rock on and welcomed his electro-pop mixes.

It wasn't until sometime after 10 p.m. when Merrill Beth Nisker got on stage. But what an appearance that was. Dancing on top of the stereo equipment and jumping on and off the stage, she infected the whole crowd with her energy. Peaches changed several times into insanely elaborate costumes. For photos please check out my friend's blog.

Eurovision without vision

If your TV screen is showing half-dressed performers juggling fire clubs and singing “everybody move your body” to Armenian folklore beats, then you must be watching Eurovision.

Eurovision has been around since May 24, 1956 with ABBA as its most successful contest winner so far. The purpose of this international show is to celebrate diverse cultures and talents. Yet, by the end of the show, spectacular special effects and exotic costumes seem to be the only things celebrated. Aside from recent kitsch trends, through Eurovision viewers can't learn much about the musical heritage of the represented countries.

On May 17 Norway's Alexander Rybak became this year's winner at Eurovision with his song Fairytale. Rybak sang "She is a fairytale even though it hurts," while dancers around him performed a traditional Norwegian halling dance. This song perfectly exemplifies the unwritten rules of Eurovision--to win artists need to combine upbeat music, English pop lyrics and some native folk elements.

"You make me feel so special," sang Turkey's Hadise, "no one can kiss like you do." Her song Düm Tek Tek ranked 4th and incorporated sexual belly dancing moves accompanied by fire effects. Similarly enough, Azerbaijan's Always performed by AySel & Arash ranked 3rd in the contest. "Always on my mind, always in my heart," repeated the fast pace chorus of their song. The performance included a short instrumental segment busy with folklore rhythms as if to compensate for the sugar-coated lyrics.

The one country that presented a simple and catchy tune, Georgia, wasn't allowed to participate in this year's Eurovision. Artists Stephane & 3G performed "We don't want to put in" which was interpreted as a protest against the Russian government of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The word play in the song title and Russia's former President's name was not welcome in a politically correct show like Eurovision. According to the European Broadcasting Union's terms no political lyrics or gestures are allowed at the Eurovision Song Contest. As a result, Georgia did not partake in the show.

As the world's most watched singing contest, Eurovision aims at celebrating the diverse cultural mosaic of Europe. What its structure ends up producing, however, are homogeneous and cliched performances.

Really? We don't need no education?

A couple of days ago I had a dream in which I owned a school in Varna. I had hired the brightest international professors to teach. My students were occupied with various extra-curricular activities. It felt great until I woke up in the morning and checked my e-mail.

My friend had forwarded me a link to a YouTube video of Bulgarian high school students in an English class from March 2008. They were yelling, insulting and even beating their female teacher. They were, what seemed to be, celebrating the cultural decadence and lack of values of their generation. The video was more than shocking.

I browsed through YouTube only to find an abundance of similar videos. During high school classes, students were demonstratively talking on the phone, dancing and playing games. By the teachers' faces, I could see this was the routine and not an exception.

I went back in time to remember my personal experiences in high school. Yes, students were chatting, passing notes or eating in class. Yes, they were napping, arriving late or leaving early without any valid excuses. Yet to me it seemed they were not paying attention in a respectful manner.

The student behavior that I saw online, however, exceeds all norms. After watching the video, I instantly put the blame on the students. Then, I decided, it was the home environment that played a major role in shaping such identities. Parents, who work until late at night (or even abroad) to provide for their families, don't exactly have the chance to be role models. More often than not, what they bring home is bitterness and anger. So, when it comes down to it, the governmental inefficiency is to blame the most for the current state of the next generation of young people in Bulgaria.

Naturally, this is no surprise for anyone remotely familiar with the Bulgarian government. But what I, personally, found surprising in my realization was its possible universality. I can easily picture the same situation taking place in other countries in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. Another YouTube browsing and I discovered similar aggressive and degrading behaviors in schools in Romania, Russia, Serbia and Greece.

The implications of a such broader trend are truly scary. They even make me dream of not getting into academia but in politics.

Finish college in diapers

You are standing in the middle of the piazza, dressed in an absurd superhero costume or stripped only to your underwear and diapers. You are reading a scroll that tells a parody of your life in a poetic form. The public is throwing eggs and flour at you. Congratulations, you have just graduated from the University of Padova in Italy!

The graduation ritual of the University of Padova is one of a kind. The moment after their thesis completions, the students are officially exposed to all types pranks from friends. They include hyper-sexualized scrolls, singing, public embarrassment, alcohol and, undoubtedly, a great deal of laughter. Aside from the fun part of this unique graduation ritual lies something fundamental-the ability to laugh at oneself. In the end of the day, a degree in agricultural biotechnology, comparative law or technical physics doesn't guarantee life will treat you seriously. Continue reading

Swine flu reached Amherst

I was riding the Five-College bus on my way back to Mount Holyoke when I saw a friend from Hampshire College. "Claudia! I haven't seen you in ages," I exclaimed and hugged her. "Well, yes, that is because I just came back from Mexico," she responded. Yes, I did freak out.

My mom called me early on Sunday morning to warn me about the flu. She had heard the news in Italy, knew the symptoms and informed me about precautionary measures I needed to take. I had to take a lot of vitamins and wash my hands non-stop. I told her not to worry, hung up and went out to socialize with people.

Now that "at least two, and perhaps six, students have tested positive" for swine flu at Amherst College, I am not sure I am going to the same tomorrow. Today, the president of Amherst College released a campus-wide e-mail announcing the possible swine flu containment. "We are asking that students with compromised immune systems, serious heart, lung, kidney or liver diseases, and diabetes contact Health Services for advice regarding precautionary measures," he wrote in the email. Minutes after I read about this on 22News, I received an email from Robert Holub, the University of Massachusetts chancellor. "This remains a rapidly evolving situation and we will continue to update you as new information becomes available," he wrote.

Although the rapid spread of the flu is scary enough in itself, there is a lot more to it that adds to the student panic. With graduation coming up in May, international students won't be able to invite family and friends from Mexico to their commencement celebrations.

Moreover, there will be further complications with those who tested positive for the flu but had planned on leaving the U.S. for the summer. Infected individuals must be put under a 7-day quarantine, which will undoubtedly prompt change in their travel plans.

To all this I say, I hope my mom is not watching the news.

Keep the conversation going

If you had entered my 300-level sociology seminar two days ago, you would have seen a 86-year-old African American student talking about jazz. Good Dues Blues and Shoo Shoo Baby playing in the background, Luora was presenting her final research project on jazz music in front of the class and the professor.

Studying with diverse individuals has proved to be a highly valuable experience for me. And when I say diverse, I refer not only to the students' race, ethnicity, religion or political affiliation. I also refer to their age.

Mount Holyoke College runs a program (Frances Perkins program) for women of non-traditional age. Every woman over the age of 24 can earn an undergraduate degree on a full or part-time course schedule. Each year approximately 140 diverse and intellectually curious women enroll at Mount Holyoke as Frances Perkins scholars (FPs). And I was lucky enough to have Luora, the oldest African American FP student, in my sociology class Black Cultural Production and Consumption.

"Let me tell you mine experience," Luora started answering a classmate's question about the given jazz presentation. Everyone in the classroom beamed and listened attentively. We love her stories. We love it when she makes the abstract theories about, for example, black authentic identity, real for us.

Born in 1923, Luora is not only an active participant in our class discussions but also a carrier of her generation's worldview. In the classroom, she enables a discourse between at least three generations--her Civil Rights generation, our professor's Generation X and the students' Generation Y.

"Jazz is a conversation," she said in conclusion to her presentation. "It continues a tradition of communication." Undoubtedly, having her and other FP students in my academic program also continues a tradition of communication.

Social media and indigenous people

In today’s global society, the maintenance of cultural heritage and celebration of diversity have become especially relevant topics. In this context, new media technologies definitely contribute to the communication rights’ expansion of indigenous people.


Firstly, they allow greater access to alternative sources of information. For instance, there is a wide range of blogs dedicated to the causes of indigenous people. (Indigenous Issues Today, Ushahidi, Noongar) They offer personal perspectives about the distinct realities of many indigenous people. As a result, these blogs play an important role in raising cultural awareness and recognition.

Similar is the function of news and music podcasts for indigenous people. For instance, Michael Kickingbear, a member of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, narrates and hosts a podcast titled Indigenous Peoples Music. This is a show that features Native American Indian artists and allows listeners to “experience traditional as well as contemporary styles of native music.”



Free and open-source projects like Wikipedia can also positively influence the expansion of indigenous people’s communication rights because they foster collaboration. By being open to constant improvement from experts as well as from the public, Wikipedia encourages valuable participation and social activity.

The Internet video portal for indigenous filmmakers Isuma TV brings positive change to the Inuit population. In addition to encouraging more independent filmmakers to tell their stories in a creative fashion, Isuma TV works on restoring “old videos whose irreplaceable cultural information is in danger of being lost forever.” Thus, it aims at reinforcing the Inuit collective memory and cultural heritage in a well-structured and widely accessible space.

Iraqi Refugees: The Hidden Crisis

"These refugees wouldn't have existed if we hadn't invaded their country," said Maureen White, the co-chair of the Board of Overseers of the International Rescue Committee. She was referring to the two million Iraqi refugees who fled their country in search for shelter in Syria and Jordan.



Tonight, White gave the Mount Holyoke community a public lecture titled Iraqi Refugees: The Hidden Crisis. She made the point that it was time for the U.S. to accept its obligations toward the war victims of Iraq. White noted that most European countries, with the exception of Germany, Sweden and Denmark, have ignored the intensifying situation with the Iraqi refugees. These countries believe the crisis should be solved by the ones directly responsible for the war in Iraq. That would be the U.K. and the U.S.

In Iraq, the International Rescue Committee works to upgrade water services, renovate schools and improve public health institutions. It has launched humanitarian programs in Syria and Jordan where the majority of Iraqi refugees are now living. The committee has been also supporting organizations that provide "outreach services and aim to bring together and improve relations between the overwhelmed host community and Iraqi refugees."

Although the IRC is fully devoted to mitigate the humanitarian crisis with the Iraqi refugees, White acknowledged that the committee faces many challenges. "Even if you want to help them, they are afraid to come out. It is a tiny number of people that we are reaching," said White.

Role of remittances in the immigrants' lives

First, there are the complicated immigration documents. Then, there is the purchase of the cheapest airfare ticket. Finally comes the fulfillment of the American dream with a pinch of nostalgia. This popular view of the immigrant's life, however, often ignores immigrants' reality in the long run.

The "Shifting Places: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Migration" panel took place last week in Shattuck Hall and discussed the role of remittances in an immigrant's life. The panel participants included Ana Croegaert, visiting Assistant Professor of Gender Studies, Luis Jimenez, visiting Assistant Professor of Politics, and Lynda Pickbourn, Ph. D. candidate in economics at the University of Massachusetts. Although the three researchers took approaches on migration from different disciplines, they left the audience thinking about the same thing-the power of sending money and ideas back to a home country.

"Money, how to manage it and how to get more of it was a common topic," said Croegaert about the family affairs of the Bosnian immigrants she interviewed. Croegaert graduated from Mount Holyoke in 1997 and has been working on a research project entitled "Balancing Debts: The Bosnia-Chicago Migration Circuit After Yugoslavia." Through her fieldwork interviews with Bosnian immigrants residing in Chicago she learned about the symbolic significance of the "kucha," a Bosnian word for home. She found out that Bosnian immigrants helped their parents maintain the kucha back in their home country. But at the same time, they were also building a new kucha in Chicago where their children would grow. After all, the kucha is, as Croegaert put it, "a site for identity creation." As a result, Bosnian immigrants invested in more than one household by regularly sending remittances home. This is how, Croegaert explains, the immigrants got introduced to the U.S. "debt-driven industry." Often times, this debt and real estate mortgages led to mounting pressures in the immigrants' family affairs. Continue reading