Sports hall of school No. 1 in Beslan. Photo: Elena Kostyuchenko / Novaya Gazeta
In the first school in Beslan, correspondents of Novaya Gazeta and Takiye Delo Elena Kostyuchenko and Diana Khachatryan were attacked.
The attack occurred under the following circumstances. A large number of people in civilian clothes, many of whom were young Ossetians wearing “Anti-Terror” T-shirts, surrounded mothers from “Voice of Beslan” in the gym. They were filmed by Ella Kesaeva (her daughter Zarina was held hostage at school - ed.). They snatched the camera from her hands and tore Ella’s dress.
At that moment, Kostyuchenko took out her phone and began filming what was happening. They also snatched her phone, twisted her hands and dragged her across the entire gym and school yard behind metal frames. They dragged us further, but the people in plainclothes were stopped by the police. These police officers told Kostyuchenko that they knew who attacked her and would return her phone.
Elena was next to the police when a young man, known to the police, in an “Anti-Terror” T-shirt, approached her and doused her with green paint. The police made no attempt to detain him.
A policeman records the testimony of Novaya Gazeta special correspondent Elena Kostyuchenko. Photo: "Caucasian Knot" When Diana Khachatryan tried to remove Lena and the traces of brilliant green on her clothes and face, another young man in an “Anti-Terror” T-shirt hit Diana on the head, took away the phone and slowly left. The police made no attempt to detain the person or prevent hooliganism.
Elena Kostyuchenko is going to give an explanation to the police, but the police do not introduce themselves and hide their badges. In response to my attempt to talk to them (I introduced myself - I spoke on the phone to Ella Kesaeva, who handed her phone to Lena so that she could contact the editorial office) - the policeman who was carrying out official actions with Kostyuchenko swore and hung up.
Also after the attack, the head of the Mothers of Beslan Committee, Susanna Dudieva, approached Lena Kostyuchenko and the mothers of the “Voice of Beslan” and said: “You (addressing the mothers from the “Voice”) can return to the gym of the First School. And you (addressing Kostyuchenko) - sit here. Something always happens when Novaya Gazeta comes here. I don't want to see you here anymore. They will give you the phone after research (apparently the contents and what was filmed on the phone).”
Federal law enforcement agencies took control of the situation.
Novaya Gazeta intends to appeal to the Investigative Committee regarding the inaction of police officers when attacking journalists.
Updated at 3:13 p.m. Journalists from Novaya Gazeta and the Takiye Dela portal suffered a second attack in a day
Diana Khachatryan reports (“Such things”): “Lena and I (Kostyuchenko - ed.) went to the cemetery. A man in civilian clothes, with a hat on his head, approached us. As we were told later, this is the caretaker of the cemetery, his child died in a terrorist attack. He came up to us and told us to “get out of here.” He took us by the scruff of the neck, dragged us along the ground, then stopped, started beating Lena, and hit her in the face. He decided that it was all our fault and organized the action on September 1st. The police stood about seven meters away. They didn't do anything."
Do you want to change this world,
Can you accept it as it is?
Get up and stand out from the crowd
Sit on the electric chair or throne?
Victor Tsoi
Does Moscow need gay pride parades? The reason for the conversation in the RIA Novosti studio was the story of Elena Kostyuchenko, a journalist for Novaya Gazeta, who, as a participant in the parade, was beaten in the capital on May 28. She will tell journalist Irina Yasina how and why this happened, and what Elena and her friends fought for. Also visiting ABC of Change is Evgenia Albats, editor-in-chief of The New Times magazine.
Why does “civilized” society beat gay pride participants in Moscow?
Irina Yasina (I.Ya.): At the end of May, Moscow was excited about the gay pride parade. And the blogging community was even more agitated by an article by Lena Kostyuchenko, a journalist for Novaya Gazeta, in which she admitted that she was a lesbian and discussed why she was going to the gay pride parade. Today my guests are the editor-in-chief of New Times magazine Evgenia Albats and Elena Kostyuchenko. First question for Zhenya. What impression did this article in Novaya Gazeta make on you?
Evgenia Albats (E.A.): Thank you for inviting me, because I think this is a very important topic. It seems to me that we need to talk about it in detail. It was an amazing feeling when I read this girl’s post. Because this is the act of a very courageous person who declares what representatives of various minorities always say - political, religious, sexual: “I am who I am, be kind enough to accept me as I am.”
I.Y.: And I don’t want to hide!
E.A.: And it was absolutely amazing. And the fact that in our very illiberal, very authoritarian society she allowed herself to talk about it so openly, in such detail, even to the point of some, if you like, self-undressing, which is absolutely necessary here, made a very strong impression on me. It's just an act. And the most important thing, it seems to me, is that this Lenin’s post broke through the information blockade.
I.Ya.: Yes, because I wanted to talk about it.
E.A.: In general, people suddenly saw that in front of them was the same person as them. Lena, who has different ideas about how she wants to make love. And it’s no one’s business to get involved in this issue.
I.Ya.: Lena, after you wrote this note, this post, you went to the gay pride parade. Did you know what awaits you there? Were you scared?
Elena Kostyuchenko (E.K.): I could assume that there was a possibility that I would be beaten, because I had previously gone to gay pride parades as a journalist for Novaya Gazeta and saw what was happening to the participants. But there was no such direct fear. Rather, when I was just going to Manezhnaya Square, it felt as if you were going to take an exam for which you were not ready. That is, such an unpleasant feeling, but not fear. Then, when my girlfriend and I unfurled the flag, it was no longer scary. But I can’t say, of course, that I was ready for what happened. It’s one thing when you theoretically understand that someone’s fist can fly into your head, it’s another thing when someone’s fist actually hits your head. This is painful, and I am very offended that this person came up to me from behind. I had no chance to somehow defend myself, that is, none. For some reason this makes me very sad.
I.Ya.: Do you now know who it was?
E.K.: No! And this really infuriates me, because this man was detained by the police immediately after he hit me. Now a criminal case has been opened in which I am recognized as a victim, but the investigator has still not told me the name of this person. She said: “First, your interrogation, then, after the interrogation, we’ll tell you the name.” Then during the interrogation she said: “No, first there will be an identification, then we will tell you the name.” Now she seems to be saying something about holding a confrontation, and then I’ll find out his name. This is my first participation in a criminal case as a victim, but, in my opinion, it is abnormal when I do not know the name of the person who hit me in the temple.
I.Y.: Lena, how do you feel now?
E.K.: I would like to say: good, but, in fact, I’m going to the hospital today. Yesterday I went to the clinic to cover my sick leave, but they sent me for examinations, and it turned out that I have sensorineural hearing loss. In short, I am losing my hearing, and this needs to be treated very quickly so that it does not become chronic. Therefore, now my editors are working on placing me in some clinic. Literally in half an hour, in an hour I go there.
I.Ya.: If you need help, you tell us, we will also get involved.
E.K.: Thank you very much.
I.Ya.: Zhen, don’t you think that you can get hit on the temple for an extended slogan, for some kind of wrong appearance, also because in our semi-feudal society these guys shock this society too much. Maybe we should wait until this society becomes a little more civilized?
Homophobes of the 20th century, or the terrible Death on the flagpole
E.A.: Let me remind you that in our wonderful fatherland, gays were once put in prison.
I.Ya.: In Nazi Germany they were put in a concentration camp.
E.A.: Yes, and lesbians were hanged from lanterns. And gays were hanged. This kind of death was invented for them by the Nazis. They died on flagpoles... I completely disagree, to be honest, with this formulation of the question. Because gays and lesbians are the same citizens of the Russian Federation. And if they are not citizens, then they are tax residents, they are taxpayers, they also maintain, by the way, those law enforcement agencies that are obliged to protect them. And they also have the right to Article 31 of the Constitution, namely, the right to rallies, meetings, etc. And if Messrs. Sobyanin, Luzhkov and the rest have a terrible fear of what God forbid... And I must tell you: studies show that the most ardent homophobes are hidden ones.
I.Y.: Okay. We won't touch this.
E.A.: You need to touch this, because where does this fear come from? We observed statements by Sobyanin and Luzhkov. You see, people have different sexual fantasies, and people forget about it.
I.Ya.: But Zhen, I don’t want this to be our topic right now...
E.A.: Ira, then it’s not clear where this is coming from.
I.Ya.: I admit that this is simply out of habit. Because it seems to everyone that this has always been the case in society, and especially since we have now all become wildly Christian, and any religion prohibits sodomy, so I wouldn’t want to touch this. It’s important for me to emphasize that in these gay parades I see, first of all, not a demonstration of my own peculiarity, although that too, but, above all, a struggle for rights. And I insist that there cannot be a right for some that excludes the same right for others. We are all equal after all. I still wanted to ask. Lena, can you imagine how this began in other countries?
E.K.: Of course, I know about the Stonewall riots. I don't think I'm the best storyteller... It wasn't that long ago...
I.Ya.: I was five years old then...
E.K.: ... Yes. It's hard to imagine that at that moment in America, gays were not only deprived of civil rights, but they were persecuted by law, including holding hands or dancing together, or wearing women's clothing. One gay bar was raided by the police for a seemingly routine check. Visitors were lined up along the wall, required to show identification, and some were taken to the toilet for what was then called a “gender check.” The visitors refused to comply, after which there were street battles in the area for three days. And for the next gay protest, and before that there had already been gay protests, but they were polite gay protests, that is, people did not even use the words “gay”, “lesbian”...
I.Ya.: Were you embarrassed by this?
E.K.: It’s not that they were shy. “Let’s not provoke society; if we say the word ‘gay’, public morality will die in terrible agony.” After this, in fact, a large, serious movement for rights began, and now we see that the States... I cannot say that this is the most progressive country.
I.Ya.: Which one is the most progressive, from your point of view?
E.K.: As far as I know, this is Denmark.
I.Y.: And in Iceland, as far as I know, the prime minister is an open lesbian... And the mayor of Berlin is...
E.K.: In fact, I don’t know much about the history of the LGBT movement. I can now make a lot of factual mistakes, because I am not an LGBT activist...
"I am who I am"
I.Ya.: But you are a civil activist, I would say. Zhen, I have a question for you. Our liberal friends fight for their rights, but completely deny the rights of these minorities. Let me remind you that at one time the gay movement wanted to join Strategy 31. "Strategy-31" was horrified, recoiled and said: "No, no, don't." How do you feel about this?
E.A.: I have a very bad attitude towards this. I’ll tell you, Ir, for me there was such a breakdown of consciousness or, as today’s youth say, a brain explosion. In the summer of 1993 there was a million-strong gay and lesbian march in Washington. I watched it on TV, and it made an incredible impression on me, because the main slogan with which people of this sexual orientation walked was: “I am who I am.” The right to one's own individuality is an absolute human right. And it doesn’t matter at all how your individuality is manifested: in your political views, in your sexual orientation, in anything else - these are all human rights.
I.Ya.: But wait. Some things are given from birth, like skin color, and some things are invented, like political views.
E.A.: This is the right to choose. This is the second most important gift of God to man after birth. In general, I’ll tell you: the first man was a hermaphrodite, right? Therefore, all these male bells and whistles that appeared with the development of monotheism are always fear, in this case, of men or rulers of others. After 1993, and back in the late 90s, and in the 2000s, there were cases in New York where gays were killed. In our country this was a complete nightmare. By the way, few people know: we once had a “sociology of deviant behavior” - that’s what it was called, under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union, which studied what they called “deviant behavior”. And they found out that, for example, in the Soviet Union there were many closeted lesbians, especially among teachers.
E.A.: Not in the secret archives. These were the works of sociologist Anzor Gabiani. And I wrote about this in the Izvestia newspaper because the topics were completely closed. We also know that research has shown that approximately 15% of gays and lesbians are people who are born this way. But, again, it doesn’t matter - from birth or choice. Now there is a fantastic musical on Broadway, where the main aria is “I am who I am.” "I am who I am". A person has the right to choose for himself what he wants to be.
I.Ya.: But society is afraid. In particular, some liberals tell me: “Well, we already have problems with demographics. What a disgrace. They will never give birth to children. Our country is already dying without children.”
Same-sex relationships - marriage without marriage and the collapse of dreams
E.A.: The same liberals were afraid at the beginning of the 20th century to give rights to women. This is fear of competition. At first they were afraid that women would come and take political positions, and the poor unfortunate men would not be able to withstand this competition. Well, of course, they can’t stand it - the weaker sex. Then they were afraid that people with a different skin color would come, and children would be born with different skin colors. And again this is fear of competition. Now Barack Obama is the president of the United States of America. There was absolute fear. The same. Fear of people of other religions. Such fear of Jews, such fear of absolutely any others. And here in the same row is the fear of gays and lesbians.
I.Ya.: Lena, what would you like, what rights? Why are you going to the parade?
E.K.: Sexual orientation is not a question of how you have sex. It's a question of who you love, who you want to start a family with and how you will protect this family. In our country, unfortunately, it is impossible to register same-sex relationships. I can't register my relationship with my girlfriend. Accordingly, it is not protected in the event of my death, in the event of a property dispute. She will not be able to come to my hospital, to the intensive care unit, she will not be able to make any important medical decision in this case. We can't take out a family mortgage. We are both from out of town - this is important to us. We cannot provide family health insurance. And there are a lot of little things like this.
I.Ya.: The most important thing is that this does not threaten anything, if the gay community has these rights, it does not threaten the rest. It seems so to me. Zhenya, what do you think?
E.A.: Well, of course, there is no threat. You know, there was such a wonderful film, I saw it completely by accident. This is such a tragedy of two women, one of whom remains alone. Her loved one dies alone in the ward, and she is not even warned that the woman she loved, with whom she lived for more than thirty years, has died. It seems to me that these objections to demographics... If you look, gay and lesbian couples very often have children. It is completely normal for a woman, it is in nature to have children. And I know: here in Moscow and in the United States I have many such friends - same-sex families in which children grow up well.
I.Ya.: Yes, I know these statistics. There are no deviations from the average statistics. That is, children grow up to have the sexual orientation that is, as they say, destined for them.
An unchildish question about children, or Two mothers have no place in one passport
E.K.: I would also like to talk about children. It seems to me that this is the most important part of the rights that we are deprived of. Regarding demographics. I don’t know, maybe I communicate with some special gays and lesbians, but among my friends, everyone either already has children or is planning to have them in the near future. And in the same “LJ”, “VKontakte”, “Two Moms” - a wonderful community, there are also some communities where same-sex families exchange some experience, including on the issue of interaction with authorities. And what's the problem? The problem is that we can't get both of us on the child's birth certificate. Accordingly, we both cannot represent him in kindergarten, at school, in hospital, or God forbid in court. And the worst thing is that in the event of the death of the biological mother, the child is sent to an orphanage while the second mother tries to prove to the guardianship authorities that this child is not a stranger, that she will be able to raise him further.
I.Ya.: Well, before that you still have to swim and swim. Not all developed countries have achieved this right.
E.K.: I don’t know... You see, the fact is that such children already exist. And we cannot ignore their interests. Such children exist, they are growing up and are already under legal attack.
I.Ya.: Okay, then I’ll say this. What many bloggers consider a provocation at the Eternal Flame, that gay pride parade that took place on May 28, will it somehow move you and society towards solving these problems? Or should we use some, so to speak, calmer forms of lobbying our interests? Question for both of you.
E.K.: We need different forms. Gay pride parades are needed because it is an additional information occasion that allows journalists, media, readers, and bloggers to once again express their opinion or change their opinion about gay rights. Of course, some kind of legislation is needed.
"Gays are as feared as vampires and aliens"
I.Ya.: And who could…? I don’t see in our Duma, for example, a person who could support such a bill. Harvey Milk is not among us. Let me remind you that this was a gay man elected to the San Francisco City Council, who did not hide the fact that he was gay during the elections. He was killed in 1978... And I must say, the brilliant film was shot in America. Sean Penn, who is not gay, won an Oscar for his leading role as Harvey Milk. However, returning to the Duma. I have a hard time imagining such a person.
E.K.: Alas, it still seems to me that the situation can be changed by the mass recognition of gays and lesbians, transgender people, bisexuals: “Yes, we are like that, we exist, we live among you.”
I.Ya.: So, you yourself need to stop being ashamed of this?
E.K.: We need to stop being afraid of the reaction of society, the reaction of parents, colleagues at work. We need to declare that yes, we are like that. And you see, it’s very easy to hate and fear some abstract gays, abstract lesbians, abstract Jews..., vampires, aliens. When a person lives next to you, your childhood friend, your daughter, your colleague, your neighbor in the stairwell...
I.Ya.: In this sense, the same thing happens with people with disabilities. Ruben Gonzalez Gallego, who wrote the wonderful book “White on Black”, once told me: “The sooner you recognize yourself as disabled, the easier it will be for you to live.” And as long as I hid my difficulties (later it became impossible to hide them, but, nevertheless, I hid them for a long time, and it really bothered me), as soon as I said that yes, it’s hard for me, I need help, a huge number of people began to help me. I'm trying to understand what other ways, besides gay pride parades, are there to achieve equal rights? Because we came to the general conclusion that it is important. Zhenya?
E.A.: Still, a very important thing happened in 1994-95, when the article for sodomy in the Criminal Code was repealed. Because, I repeat once again, few people know what happened. It’s just that I was on the Pardon Commission under the President of the Russian Federation, so I had to read about this and study this article. There was a real hunt for gays. They were forced to install armored doors, etc. They were always suspected of being the Fifth Column, spies, a nightmare. Therefore, this very important breakthrough was made in the 90s. What Lena talks about children is a completely new topic for me. I never thought about it, because I know our colleague, who has two wonderful children... I somehow never thought about it at all, that such a problem could arise in same-sex families. I think that in general this is a question of education. Why do I think Lena did a great thing by publishing this post? Because people are always afraid of what they do not understand and do not know. And sometimes they need someone to tell them in normal human language: “Guys, but this is who I am. I love another woman. Or “I love another man.” You understand. This is important to me. This is how I want to live.”
I.Ya.: At the same time, I’m not bothering you. After all, this is still a question...
Openness to the world is the key to recognition
E.A.: Ir, aren’t you afraid that Lena is sitting with us?
I.Ya.: I’m not afraid. This little girl is amazing. Our daughters are about the same. How would you react if your daughter came and said...?
E.A.: Absolutely calm. I've thought about this a lot. It was a process for me when I first met a lesbian couple who were fellow journalists at Harvard University. It took me a while to wrap my head around this. I came from the Soviet Union. I started reading. I thought about this. I talked to them. People are afraid of the unknown or incomprehensible.
I.Ya.: So, it’s important for you that she is happy, your baby?
E.A.: My daughter? Absolutely.
I.Ya.: That is, in what form it will be, you...
E.A.: Absolutely. I want her to have children. I want to be a grandmother.
I.Ya.: Now it doesn’t depend either, actually. God bless Lelka. You and her will have many children, which is what I wish for Lena too. The most important thing, from my point of view, Len, is what you did, and here I agree with Zhenya, that courageous wonderful step - this publication, this openness. Persuade your friends to be just as open, because as soon as there are many of you, we will begin to reckon with you, put up with you first, then support you, precisely because you cannot fight for the rights of some, excluding the same rights of others.
E.A.: If the rights of gays and lesbians are violated, then tomorrow they will come for you and me, Ira.
I.Ya.: Of course, because you and I are definitely the Fifth Column.
E.A.: No, it doesn’t matter. No one's rights should be infringed. If we allow people to be around us whose civil and political rights are infringed, this means that we are next in line. Always. It doesn't matter who we are.
I.Ya.: As the blogger Tokuak, my friend, said, “phobias and disrespect for the rights of others, be it the right to freedom of assembly or to choose sexual orientation, is a characteristic feature of the mentality of societies at that stage of development where one’s own rights, let alone Moreover, their inalienability is not realized; in general, phobias are the privilege of those who are backward and afraid of competition.”
And:
Elena Kostyuchenko: Why am I going to the gay pride parade today?
http://www.novayagazeta.ru/data/2011/056/38.html
Dmitry MURATOV: Whose parade? About Kostyuchenko. Characteristics for presentation
http://novayagazeta.livejournal.com/327121.html
Congratulations to Novaya Gazeta
IN THE RUBRIC “BOOKSHELF” we ask journalists, writers, scientists, curators and other heroines about their literary preferences and publications that occupy an important place in their bookcase. Today, Novaya Gazeta special correspondent Elena Kostyuchenko shares her stories about her favorite books.
Elena Kostyuchenko
Special Correspondent
"Novaya Gazeta"
We cannot see the world through the eyes of another person, but literature helps us get closer to it. You can get into the head of a dead man - wow
Literature for me has ceased to be something sacred, something only bearded men from textbooks do in tenth grade. Then I lived in Yaroslavl and went to a circle for high school students, in which we discussed modern authors - from Viktor Pelevin to Tatyana Tolstoy. I always read a lot, but after moving to Moscow it turned out that there was a whole layer of literature that all Muscovite journalism students loved - and which I did not know at all. All modern foreign countries from Suskind to Palahniuk. I panicked. I went to the book fair at the All-Russian Exhibition Center and bought two thousand worth of books. It was money for a month from my mother. For the remaining month I ate buckwheat - the neighbors shared. For the first six months in Moscow, all I did was read, I didn’t even really walk.
Probably the ones who influenced me most were the Strugatskys, Boris Vasiliev and Svetlana Alexievich. I recognized Alexievich before her Nobel Prize - she really plowed me at the age of twelve. I still have a very difficult attitude towards Zakhar Prilepin. “Sankya” and “Pathologies” are modern classics. His books and life do not seem to contradict each other, but they do not connect at all in my head. It seems like a person who feels so strongly cannot do what he does and say what he says.
You can, of course, learn endlessly from Chekhov; this is the golden ratio. There is “The Tale of the Seven Hanged Men” by Leonid Andreev, and “The Red Flower” by Vsevolod Garshin. I always feel that I lack knowledge of Russian. I’m stuck with the fact that I don’t have enough words to describe what I saw, that I’m not taking the most accurate ones, that I don’t know how, I can’t: this is both a humiliating and a very sobering feeling. The description of the city in “Ugly Swans” by the Strugatskys is unattainable for me. Although this is not Tolstoy - Soviet science fiction.
Some say: writers have it easier than journalists, they are free from reality, formats and generally take the world out of their heads. But the framework of the profession actually helps a lot in writing. I understand that writers live in another dimension, for them language is like an ocean around a small fish: endless, scary and native. We cannot see the world through the eyes of another person; literature helps us get closer to it. You can get into the head of a dead man - wow.
Reading is also a way to quickly get into the right state, to move away from difficult events that you regularly find yourself in on business trips and just while working. Very often I see traumatic things. Of course, there are skills that allow you not to “fall deeply” into someone else’s life. You can pull yourself together at the right moment, you don’t have to cry, you don’t have to feel anything at all, but everything that I see and hear is, of course, deposited in me. Reading helps better than movies, it is more thorough.
Journalism is a completely unhealthy activity, of course. And when it’s hard for me, I reread something I already know. The world of an unread book is always endless: you don’t know where the author will take you, how cruelly he can treat you. A familiar book does not surprise with new twists, but it carries reassurance: you can safely experience something. I scolded myself for a long time for endless rereadings - there is a sea of unread things. They say every journalist has a list in his head. Here I am. I haven’t even opened a third of the books in my library, and it’s kind of embarrassing to admit. But my therapist convinced me that with so many variables in life, it's completely normal to have an island of resilience. And for me, this island is my favorite books.
The world of an unread book is always endless: you don’t know where the author will take you. A familiar book does not surprise with new twists, but it brings reassurance
Marina and Sergey Dyachenko
"Vita Nostra"
I really love modern science fiction writers and follow them closely. I read this book several years ago and have returned to it about once a year since then. I remember very well how I read it for the first time: I opened it in the browser at work, then printed it out, continued on the subway, then at home that same evening. I finished at two in the morning, and it seemed like I was standing inside a pillar of light. This is the story of a student whose life takes strange turns - I don't want to spoil it at all. “Vita Nostra” for me is a novel about language, the mixing of the linguistic and physical fabric of the world. The book taught me a lot about myself.
Nathalie Sarraute
"Tropisms"
This is Mulholland Drive, written in book form forty years earlier. Nathalie Sarraute looks at the world from an unimaginable angle. “Tropism” is a term from biology that denotes the similarity of reflexes in plants: how they strive for light or look for support, open up or die. In more general terms, tropisms are reactions of a living thing that does not have consciousness. Sarraute concentrates on everyday situations, but not on the semantic or emotional components. Anyone needs to change the “focal length” (as a journalist, this is generally obligatory for me), and Nathalie Sarraute is the best author for this.
Ksenia Buksha
"We are living wrong"
These stories are somewhat similar to Sarraute - not in the way they are made, but in the fact that both writers see things completely differently. Buksha speaks very simple, transparent Russian. Her stories often begin at a random moment and end in an unexpected place - they seem to completely disregard the classical model of storytelling. They look awkward, casual. I really love reading women, and Buksha is one of my favorites. I found out about her five years ago and then saw her in St. Petersburg. We even took a ride in a limousine. The world around her is spinning differently.
Hillary Rettig
“Write professionally. How to overcome procrastination, perfectionism, creative crises"
A guide to overcoming writer's block and perfectionism, relevant for people who constantly work with text. You could say this is my reference book: I don’t have enough strength for systematic work, but I constantly use the methods described by Rettig. About three years ago I got stuck in a severe writer’s block and almost finished myself off - I was used to defining myself through texts and profession. What could be funnier than a non-writing journalist?
Retting explains very clearly why this stupor occurs and suggests ways to get around it. She writes about systemic myths that hinder just about everyone: inspiration as a magical state, writing as inevitable self-destruction, and so on. Explains what a writing problem consists of, how it relates to personality traits, and why writer's block is more of a defense mechanism. There is also information about time planning, negotiations with publishers, basic rules of working communication. Now I’m sorting things out with my inner dictator and learning to quickly finish texts that are difficult for me. I am very grateful to the publishers and translators for this book.
Roman Super
"Same blood"
A very powerful book by Roman Super - at the same time about cancer and about love, about music inside and the insides of our state, about inevitability and miracles. Super takes a scary piece of his life and talks about it in great detail and very honestly. He is not at all embarrassed to write what he feels, and is not afraid to seem naive and vulnerable. The author and I studied at the journalism department at the same time and then followed each other; I knew that he was writing this book, he asked about some publishing things - but the book stunned me.
She also helped me a lot: a person close to me died of cancer two years ago. I still can't say I've left it behind. I started crying from the third page (there is nothing scary there yet) and bawled until the very end. It was as if I had gone through everything all over again, but no longer alone. In fact, this is a big book about love, where cancer is only a circumstance. It’s also about trust in the world and gratitude: I finished reading and called all my loved ones to say thank you.
Alexander Anashevich
"Unpleasant Movie"
In the mid-2000s, we had an explosive blossoming of poetry (it’s true), and I tried to read everyone. Now poetry is somehow outside the general agenda, but I am very concerned about poets writing in Russian. Anashevich is completely special among them: he has dark magic and miracles, counting rhymes, music that cannot be confused with anything. These are very sensual poems. Sometimes I wake up and understand: I want to read Anashevich - and I read without stopping all day. And the book is thin.
Pascal Bruckner
“Eternal euphoria. Essay on Forced Happiness"
I hardly read philosophy - it’s difficult for me. This book was given to me by a friend and it greatly influenced me. Brückner writes that the general desire for happiness is the dictate of culture, and modern culture at that, and happiness is an imposed goal for many of us. It is the desire to be happy constantly and at any cost that makes people feel “failure” and “inferiority” most of their lives. At first this is shocking, but now I rather agree with Brückner: it is not necessary to be happy. Life is good without it. By allowing yourself to feel different things, you discover much more reasons for joy and peace in yourself and around you. This book is about how to switch off from the competitive race for happiness - Brückner expands the framework of normativity and introduces into them the possibility of honestly being sad, sad and angry.
Maria Berkovich
"Non-scary world"
These are notes from a special education teacher, essentially a work diary, sometimes a notebook of poetry. Here Berkovich describes how she works and makes friends with a girl who does not speak, does not see, does not hear and almost does not walk. And they have such a serious, intense life - with all sorts of passions and joys. “The Not Scary World” really pushes the boundaries: I even began to feel my fingers differently.
Masha is also an example of how you can be grateful for almost everything - naturally grateful, without effort. In my work, I constantly run into questions about why the world works this way; Masha doesn’t even see them, although she constantly descends into the abyss of pain and systemic misfortune. She wins children back from the darkness and walks with them to the other side, and it's all very exciting. She is sure that the world is not scary. I often reread this book when I become completely ungrateful: “The Unfearful World” works not for pity, but for a fundamentally new look at a person.
Konstantin Sedov
"Neuropsycholinguistics"
I really regret that I entered the journalism department instead of the philology department. The newspaper would not have left me anywhere, but I would have understood much more about my native Russian. From time to time I go to Vorobyovy Gory to the first humanitarian building. There are two benches on the ground floor. I buy professional literature and then read it with pleasure. Such a guilty pleasure of a media worker. Of course, I won’t catch up on anything and won’t acquire systemic knowledge. But this greatly refreshes the sense of language and helps to better understand some of its hidden movements. Besides, it's just wildly interesting.
Linor Goralik
“Oral folk art of the inhabitants of sector M1”
I really love invented, constructed folklore. This book was given to me in the hospital - I was lying there after an attack at a gay pride parade and was slowly losing my hearing. It was hard: my auditory nerve was damaged, journalists constantly called me asking what it was like to be a lesbian, my mother called, and it was completely beyond the pale. This book is a description of hell and a collection of local folklore. Goralik generally thinks a lot about the structure of the world, she has a very complex and intense relationship with God. It sounds sad, but it saved me then. It still saves. The book is crazy.
Novaya Gazeta special correspondent Elena Kostyuchenko said that the police were going to open her apartment. As Kostyuchenko told Mediazona, the district police department of Tekstilshchiki informed her of the intention to open the apartment.
“He said that we were calling the Ministry of Emergency Situations,” says Kostyuchenko. The police officer explained that the opening of the apartment was related to a crime committed in the entrance, but refused to say what exactly happened there.
“We have already visited the neighbors, and now we are opening your door,” Novaya Gazeta quotes the words of the district police officer.
Kostyuchenko is now on a business trip; her younger sister and friends are traveling to her house.
“At home - a bunch of working materials and all the documents from the meeting of the owners of our house,” - wrote Kostyuchenko on his Facebook page.
Later, Elena Kostyuchenko clarified to Mediazona that only a district police officer was still stationed at her apartment, there were no other police officers. The district police officer finally explained what crime the attempt to open the apartment was connected with. “He says that someone from our entrance had their bag stolen,” the journalist said. At the same time, the policeman did not show any documents authorizing a search.
A lawyer is going home to Kostyuchenko.
An employee of the duty station of the Tekstilshchiki police station responded to Mediazona’s question: “We don’t give any comments,” and hung up. At the same time, later in the Tekstilshchiki police department, in a conversation with Novaya Gazeta, they asserted that the journalist’s apartment would not be opened: “No one is going to open anything, there is no need to invent anything.”
The press service of the Moscow City Internal Affairs Directorate was unable to promptly comment on the situation, saying that they were still checking the information about the opening of Kostyuchenko’s apartment.
Novaya Gazeta issued a statement from the editors, which emphasizes that “any actions by law enforcement officers can be carried out in the apartment of our employee only in the presence of his lawyer.” The editors are ready to cooperate with the investigation “exclusively within the framework of the law.”
Kostyuchenko does not know exactly what the district police officer’s actions are related to. She noted that her house was on the preliminary list of houses that the Moscow authorities want to include in the “renovation” program and demolish. On May 15, the residents of her house held a general meeting of owners and voted against the demolition of the house, but the results of the vote were declared invalid by the municipality. On June 8, the residents of the house are going to hold a meeting again. Kostyuchenko added that all documents for the meeting are stored in her apartment.
At the same time, she does not exclude that the attempt to open the apartment is connected with her professional activities.
Updated June 2, 2017 at 7:55 pm: the news is supplemented with information about a possible theft, because of which the district police officer wants to open the apartment.
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