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Faces
Territory
THE ERA OF GREAT GEOGRAPHICAL SHUTDOWNS
Diary of a traveller from Moscow
Notes of a russian traveller
WORLD'S END, WESTERN STYLE
I was watching it all overcome with conflicting feelings.How shall I put it... In general terms, at times I would look at America and think: this is my country! And at times America made me sick
Art of living
PINING FOR THE NORTH
Abramovich is like a father-confessor for everyone in Chukotka, from small potatoes and up to local petty bosses. All of them are hostages of the empire that tumbled. And all hope for a miracle. The miracle has been rushing up and down Chukotka, drawing houses full, a total sold out. Audience were prepared to attend even if that meant standing in the aisles
Distant shores
ANCHORAGE AND ITS PEOPLE
Anchorage is located about as far North as Saint Petersburg. But it looks very much the same as Moscow's countryside: it's all about bright red and yellow forests, and it's showered by rain
Details
TO PREVENT THE FORTUNE-TELLING FROM THE DAISY
When there is no real ground for hope, the hope may take most unexpected shapes. The misty future perspectives of Pevek are lit up by a tiny light of hope that the city will be made the capital
Strange people
MAVERICKS
There are some people I will never understand. Why would one move to live in the tundra, selling a house in a small town which is far enough from everything as it is? Well, that is what Bill Vassendag, a pilot with a local airline, has done. Being a migrating creature, he had two houses: one in Anchorage and another one, which he had built himself, in Nome. He sold the latter for 50 000 dollars and started a new one, 10 kilometers away from Nome, on a piece of land inherited by his wife Goldy. Her old folks used to live there, and their original house can still be seen, sort of a cabin falling apart, a shame spoiling the beauty of surrounding landscapes
Business the russian way
SHIMANSKY SHORES
Why is he dealing with all this nonsense, why doesn't he pack and go to live a normal life on the mainland?
Economics
IN THE DEPTH OF CHUKOTKA MINES
«We do not want do be just dependents» -- I heard this in Chukotka many times. «You better give us a chance to earn our living!» But there is no work
Strange people
GOLDEN PRAGUE BY THE BERING SEA
There were days when this place was full of life and people busy digging gold, getting rich, shooting each other. Not any more. What is left is an empty shore with a few shabby tents amid the rocks. Some last mohicans still try to make a modest living by collecting tiny bits of the precious metal. Who are these strange people?
Live experiences
REINDEERS ARE MORE RELIABLE!
It is the end of the world. There are no roads there, only occasional crazies who drive on snow treks
Master eye
THE LAST OF THOSE ARDENTLY IN LOVE
A person may be totally unaware of his or her own beauty.
Simple truths
LEARNING THROUGH COMPARISON
Our passionate romance with the great and free America seems to be over. We are not in love anymore with this self-adoring nation. We are ready to say: «Let us stay good friends...»
Chronicles of the native land
WE KILL TOMORROW AND EAT UP YESTERDAY
Antipodal twins from the bering strait
Background story
GONE!
Alaska is certainly one of the countless paradoxes of Russian history. Except for the most adventurous and daring fur hunters and traders, few in the country had ever been aware of the very existence of this distant and cold piece of land. Until the day when it was sold to Americans. Since then, no matter which regime was in power, there were always patriotic lamentations condemning the shameful sale of «our dearest little Alaska»
Special feature
AT THE WORLD'S END
Deer-breeders receive a salary of only five hundred Roubles a month. Not very lucrative for a young person, is it? Makes more sense to be unemployed and hang out in the village
Vacations
ABRAMOVICH'S GOLD
Turns out in some seas one can swim
Simple truths
SINNING IN ALASKA
Contrary to what its resounding name is suggesting, Nikolaevsk is just a small village in Alaska. Inhabited by Russian Starovery, or Old Believers
Problems of XX century
CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS
The round table discussion was mediated by Alexander NIKONOV
Sci trek
DOES CHUKOTKA HAVE A FUTURE?
Professor Vladimir KLIMENKO is truly one of the leading Russian climatologists. Follows his overview of the current problems facing the Russian Northern territories
Culture
WRITER, GRANDSON OF A SHAMAN
Yury Rytheu is the only Northern indigenous writer to have achieved world fame. Many others have been inspired by splendors of the Arctic landscapes too. Jack London became famous by recording the Gold Rush in Alaska, and numerous novelists imagined action and passion against the background of Chukotka wilderness; «Alitet set out for the mountains», by Semushkin, is probably the best known of these stories. But, in the 20th century, there were only two truly important literary events directly associated with Chukotka: the endless sequence of jokes about Chukchi, by which Russians naturally reacted to the official brainwashing hailing the Soviet brotherhood of peoples, and Rytheu's writings, who became the first and only Chukchi to produce convincing and credible fiction about his country. In March 2000, Rytheu turned 70. His latest book in Russian was published twenty years ago. But in Germany, his third consecutive novel is at the top of the bestsellers' list
Distant shores
A GIRL AND THE TUNDRA
Today our magazine, for the first time ever, offers you the prose by a 12-year-old author -- a Chukchi girl by the name ...But then, the author will introduce herself in her still very brief autobiography. Read a story by her, pure as the lake water in the tundra...
Culture
CHUKCHIS FIND IT HARD TO SING IN ESKIMO BUT THEY ARE VERY KEEN
The state cost accounting Chukchi & Eskimo ensemble Ergyron is known beyond the Chukotka boundaries. It has existed for 32 years now, during which time it toured in over 40 countries of the world.
