Finally, the semester is over and I have some time to catch up on my reading. I literally have 17 books on my nightstand (or on the floor near it) waiting to be read or reread. I started off with this 2020 reader from an art project done in Sweden in the 2017-2018 academic year. It’s an eclectic collection of essays and interviews reflecting on the importance and relevance of Kollontai and her work today.
New podcast (in English) on Falter Radio in Austria →
Wirtschaftliche Selbständigkeit bringt Frauen besseren Sex, belegt die amerikanische Sozialwissenschaftlerin Kristen Ghodsee im Gespräch im Bruno Kreisky Forum. Ausgangspunkt ist eine schon seit langem bekannte Umfrage aus früheren Zeiten, wonach Frauen in der versunkenen DDR sich viel zufriedener über ihr Sexualleben geäußert haben als Frauen im kapitalistischen Westen.
Die Onlineveranstaltung am 12. Mai 2021 mit Kristen Ghodsee, moderiert von Tessa Szyszkowitz, ist in englischer Sprache.
I can't believe how much I missed this last year...
I like both Italy and France but for different reasons and would be happy to see either of them win. But Barbara Previ is an amazing singer and I like her song more because of those old school Edith Piaf vibes. Still the Italians are crushing it in the energy department.
Manifiesta in Belgium
I’m crossing my fingers that Americans will be allowed to travel to Europe again by the fall so I can actually attend this amazing event in person. A festival of solidarity on Zoom just won’t do…
The final book cover for Taking Stock of Shock
This is the final proof of the front and back of the book!
Wisdom from the Q continuum
Just rewatched Deja Q. I love John de Lancie so much.
Q to Data in “Deja Q” (Season 3, Ep. 18)
White wisteria at Chanticleer
Breathtaking beauty at the Chanticleer Garden
Good dog humor
Sometimes I wonder if Daisy feels this way about me…
A Japanese translation!
I’m so happy to announce that there will be a Japanese translation of Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence with Kawade Shobo Shinsha.
Happy Star Wars Day!
Springtime in Chanticleer
I’m in love with wisteria.
Happy International Workers Day!
Happy International Workers Day
Although the first day of May was once the pagan festival of Beltane, today people around the globe celebrate it as their version of Labor Day. May 1st became associated with the labor movement because of a massive general strike that started in Chicago in 1886. On that day, over 300,000 workers (and around 40,000 in the city of Chicago alone) walked off of their jobs at 13,000 businesses across the United States. On May 2nd and 3rd, the work stoppage gained momentum and the strike grew to include almost 100,000 workers. The action was largely peaceful until the fateful Haymarket Affair of May 3, 1886, which ended in a massive wave of repression, a sensational show trial, and the hanging of four innocent men.
Read more from my latest newsletter here
A little reflection in the Times Higher Educational Supplement →
What are academics looking forward to about returning to campus?
As vaccination programmes offer the prospect of a return to physical teaching, what aspects of their pre-pandemic life will academics most heartily re-embrace (or at least touch elbows with)? And are there aspects of locked-down life that they will miss? Our six contributors offer a range of perspectives
Kristen Ghodsee
Getting back to the stacks
When it’s finally safe to return to campus, I will dive headlong into the east wing of the fourth floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library.
According to the Library of Congress classification system, the H section contains most of the social science books relevant to my research, and it is between the rolling stacks that I will lose myself in something I like to call shelf research.
In those halcyon days before the advent of digital databases, I remember digging through the musty drawers of ancient card catalogues to find a text related to my subject matter. With the call number scratched out in pencil on a scrap of paper, I would hunt down the book. Then I would sit on the floor and take down about 10 books to the left and 10 books to the right of the one I’d searched for. Because librarians have arranged the books by subject matter, I usually find amazing sources that I would not have found by searching remotely through an electronic catalogue. Continue reading
Daisy's begging eyes...
It’s so hard to resist a Bassett hound when she gives you these sad eyes.
I don't have a pretty cabinet...
…but I don’t plan on keeping this bottle around for very long. Today, I’m celebrating the 34th anniversary of my 17th birthday (because I am divisible by 17 for only the 3rd time in my life so far).
Doing Yoga with the Bassett Hound
Whenever I get my mat out, she wants to hog it for herself!
My grandmother's long hair...
This is a photo of my 93-year-old grandmother from last week. She had not cut her hair since the pandemic began. I have never in my entire life seen her with hair this long. She was born in Puerto Rico in 1927 and came to New York after WWII to work as a seamstress. Although she only had a third-grade education, she was a member of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union for many years and a lifelong Democrat. When my parents divorced in the early 1980s, my grandmother moved in with us and I was very close with her as a teenager. I haven’t seen her in almost two years because of the pandemic, but I’m hoping to rectify that soon.
A Great conversation with Ariella Thornhill and Jen Pan →
I had blast with Jen Pan and Ariella Thornhill on the Jacobin Show last night. Lots of ground covered, but I felt like we could have spoken for five more hours.
The blurbs for Taking Stock of Shock
So pleased to have these great blurbs for my forthcoming co-authored book with Oxford University Press
“From a starting point of cacophony, where different disciplines and data seem to depict the post-Soviet transition as either a grand success or an absolute failure, Ghodsee and Orenstein seam together a convincing narrative where both achievements and disappointments can coexist. The book’s focus on widening inequality allows reconciling these opposing views and providing crucial insights not only for scholars of transition countries but also for observers and policymakers in other regions.”
“Ghodsee and Orenstein have written a provocative book on what they argue are the different transitions people across the post-Soviet sphere have experienced over the past decades. Drawing on an impressive array of economic, demographic, public opinion, and ethnographic data, they critically analyze the emergence of stark inequalities that have generated tremendous hardships for many and enormous benefits for some. Taking Stock of Shock is sure to stimulate debate among scholars and policy makers alike.”
A new newsletter is out!
I’m having fun with my newsletter and sent out the most recent update today, inspired as I was by the cherry blossoms at Chanticleer.
Now is only once...
The Chanticleer Pleasure Garden in Wayne, Pennsylvania opened for its 2021 season on March 31st. I’ve already gone four times in the last two weeks to experience the fleeting beauty of the cherry blossoms. Between 1993 and 1996, I lived for three years in Japan teaching English in middle and high schools through a special program organized and funded by the Ministry of Education, and I have fond memories of the Japanese cultural traditions surrounding the blooming of the sakura trees.
Because they blossom only for a few days each year, families, friends, and colleagues carefully plan special Hanami celebrations to mark the coming of spring. In late March or early April (depending where you live in the archipelago) millions of people share picnic blankets under the riotous explosions of pink, drinking sake or specially brewed cherry blossom season beer while reveling each other’s company. Even the gentlest of breezes produce flurries of petals that drift listlessly through the air and catch in your hair life fairy dust. Parks and public spaces burble with joyous voices.
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