picking cichorium

As every little baby knows, many people with Harvard MBAs and other fancy degrees have a deep understanding of the financial crisis; they will gladly share their conflicting opinions as saliva  bubbles up in the corners of their mouths – just ask. Sadly, I am not one of them. But I can read.  Apparently there was something about the airplanes at Davos. I surely can response to that – discover alternative modes of transportation!

Hanging around NYPL, which was conveniently closed

Proof that ghost taxis exist

There is nothing lovelier than to wait for a train late at night

I have also read some gossip on parties at Davos – apparently Goldman and several others got caught up in the state of general depression as well. What can I say, I am so sad! Some unverified sources quote a minimum entry fee to the forum to equal to $85,000 –  looks like somebody is saving this year.  I wonder why. 

I should be writing something completely different right now, but some of the current events have sent me to straight to the blog. Since soon I might get arrested for, I don’t know, making fun of the brilliance of the US financial system or something and then get convicted as a terrorist, here is my farewell to privacy and freedom.

The following have been found in Manhattan. Weirdos and no-English speakers of New York, I love you. Keep speaking up!

I am not in the business of making fun of the sick people, but after a friend who saw this asked me whether there is People without AIDS Plaza in New York, I had to post the pic online.

As many of you know, I am a dedicated follower of the kidney and love markets…

Clearly the economic slump is hitting even the most ancient of the professions.

Reading news headlines this morning and then locating this sign on one of the sidewalks of East Village I wondered if they might be related.

Now, happy living to all!

Fine, fine, here is a silver and gold lining.

Caught in a downpour of merciless autumn rain in Poltava, Ukraine, I ran into the first café I noticed.  There I found a not-so-cozy seat on a tall stool overlooking one of the main streets. The street is nothing special, just streams of water and cars. Fortunately the interior design of the place is entertaining an array of thoughts; a personification of one sociological phenomenon of Eastern Europe, it has hit an old wound. The blue sign over the sky scraper on the decoration announces “SIGNORITA BIKINI & GODZILLA,”and the bubble above the girl’s head states in Ukrainian “A road to a man’s heart.”

Women’s position in Ukraine infuriates and puzzles me. I observe left and right various manifestations of female objectification; it jumps at me even from the high school courses and national news edition! Women are often simply an entertainment, an aid or a potential sexual partner for the night. “You cannot come dance at a club for fun, females are only let in if they look and behave like they want to be picked up,” complains a female friend who lives in Kiev. Many girls are raised with “X or nobody will take you as a wife,” where X may vary from a necessity to look a certain way or to perform a certain housekeeping duty. Caring for a man and pleasing a man seems to be among top priorities of a girl. Wearing clothing on the borderline between sexy and slutty even to a workplace at a bank or school is a norm. No wonder I hear from the foreigners that Eastern European women are the best: they are hot and well kept, they cook and clean, they raise children and don’t say a word against their husbands’ whims – a mix of Barbie dolls with vacuum cleaners.
On the other hand, often working with the teenagers, I have noticed that mostly girls take acute interest in extra school work and non-traditional educational opportunities, mostly girls show up to talks and presentations, mostly girls take top ranking spots in their schools. Why then, 10 years down the road, it is men who run the majority of businesses, make most money and constitute the majority of the political force in the country? When and how do these social groups swap the roles? I might have stumbled on an answer in a conversation with a recently married female friend. She had a hard time switching jobs after marriage since the new employer has pointed out to her that he would prefer for her to stay away from having children. Childbearing seems to knock most women completely out of the labor market.
Not once and not twice did I observe a godzilla strolling down the street with a hottie 20 cm taller and/or 20 years younger than him. Where these couples are an exception on the streets of New York or Berlin, they seem to be a typical sight in Kiev. Strangely, the early soviet ideological writings and practices highlighted women’s equality as comrades; looks like not only the economic beliefs have gone extinct in Eastern Europe over the last 90 years.

Make sure to check out New York Times videos today, especially the one about Cape Town, South Africa. Clearly, poverty does not exist there according to NYT. The same holds according to the article that goes with the video. Well, I guess you dont get to see anything besides the touristy things in 36 hours. My bad.

An image from an article on HIV/AIDs in SA from RTI.org

In September I attended a discussion between President Saakashvili and President Ilves moderated by the President of Columbia University, Lee C. Bollinger. I was very impressed with how Mr. Saakashvili presented Georgia after the Rose Revolution – he fired at the audience all sorts of numerical data that proved his case of a capable leader with many accomplishments. The numbers from internationally renowned organizations such as World Bank did not leave a doubt that corruption was effectively fought, GDP was growing, and Georgia was becoming one of the most favorable countries for starting a business. I definitely became a believer. So what is happening now, a provocation organized by the Russian special services, or Georgians’ active disagreement with the accuracy of the mentioned above numerical data? 

What interests me even more is whether both Georgians and Ukrainians demand too much from their leadership, or whether both Rose and Orange Revolutions lost their momentum. Looking from across the ocean I see different things in the press than I hear from the people: could it be that these two focus on different aspects of the development and improvement? In Ukrainian case we just witnessed fair elections recognized by the international community, but Ukrainians sigh when asked about the political situation.

hm…

And since we already started talking about the revolutions, let us bow our heads in memory of the deceased October/November one because today it could have been its 90^th birthday, and many people might have been ploughing in the morning and criticizing in the afteroon by now. If only Lenin did not think  that he knew better than Marx