She's In Russia

In the suburbs of Moscow people have been fighting with local government to solve what has now clearly become a region-wide garbage management crisis. To make matters worse, it's in the largest urban area of a country that, at least on the official level, doesn't recycle.

This week Lily tells Smith what she learned about Moscow Oblast's trash problem from talking with people at a protest in Lobnya, one of the several Moscow suburbs that held trash-related protests on April 14, in honor of the regional governor's birthday.

On top of an unassuming building on the LES of Manhattan there is an 18-foot tall copper statue of Vladimir Lenin, gesturing to Wall Street.

This week Smith tells Lily what she learned about the statue’s journey from post-Soviet Russia to New York — and what it has come to symbolize there — from speaking with the statue’s co-owners and residents of the neighborhood.

Theme Music: Shit Happens by Tierra Whack

On top of an unassuming building on the LES of Manhattan there is an 18-foot tall copper statue of Vladimir Lenin, gesturing to Wall Street.

This week Smith tells Lily what she learned about the statue’s journey from post-Soviet Russia to New York — and what it has come to symbolize there — from speaking with the statue’s co-owners and residents of the neighborhood.

Theme Music: Shit Happens by Tierra Whack

This week SIR tells the story of the recent tragic fire in Kemerovo through voices from the city.

On Sunday March 25, a fire broke out in a mall in the Siberian city of Kemerovo, killing 64 people, mostly children, who had come to see the movie Sherlock Gnomes and celebrate the start of their Spring break.

The tragedy has been filling the Russian internet and media space for the past week, occupying the minds of people across the country who are mourning with the city.

This week SIR tells the story of the recent tragic fire in Kemerovo through voices from the city.

On Sunday March 25, a fire broke out in a mall in the Siberian city of Kemerovo, killing 64 people, mostly children, who had come to see the movie Sherlock Gnomes and celebrate the start of their Spring break.

The tragedy has been filling the Russian internet and media space for the past week, occupying the minds of people across the country who are mourning with the city.

We've got Hannah Gais on to talk about the phrase the "Russian soul." We cover the phrase's origin and subsequent adoption by the West, its contemporary uses amongst unhinged Twitter personalities, and how it is Russia has excellent sushi despite being a landlocked country.

Read Hannah's article on the "Russian Soul" in The Baffler: https://thebaffler.com/this-american-carnage/whos-afraid-of-the-russian-soul-gais

Follow her on twitter at @hannahgais and go to her website to check out her other writing, https://hannahgais.com/

Theme music: Shit Happens by Tierra Whack

Subscribe to our Telegram channel: https://t.me/shesinrussia

We've got Hannah Gais on to talk about the phrase the "Russian soul." We cover the phrase's origin and subsequent adoption by the West, its contemporary uses amongst unhinged Twitter personalities, and how it is Russia has excellent sushi despite being a landlocked country.

Read Hannah's article on the "Russian Soul" in The Baffler: https://thebaffler.com/this-american-carnage/whos-afraid-of-the-russian-soul-gais

Follow her on twitter at @hannahgais and go to her website to check out her other writing, https://hannahgais.com/

Theme music: Shit Happens by Tierra Whack

Subscribe to our Telegram channel: https://t.me/shesinrussia

This week we are co-presenting -- with Event Horizon Magazine and translator Isaac Wheeler -- the English-language debut of author Olga Onoyko. We're devoting this episode to Olga's surreal, dream-like short story, "The House Behind The Vacant Lot." Lily interviews the author and Isaac reads his translation of her story.

Olga Onoyko is a 33 year old, Moscow-based musicologist by training, who works in IT. She is the author of multiple published novels and short stories. In 2007 she received the Debut award in the Fantasy genre for her novel "Surgical Intervention" (Хирургическое вмешательство), and in 2009 an encouragement award from the European Science Fiction Society.

Isaac's translation of "The House Behind The Vacant Lot", written in 2003 and published in Russian in 2007, will appear in Issue 3 of literary and graphic arts periodical Event Horizon on March 21.

Read the story here: https://eventhorizonmagazine.com/

More about Olga and her work here: http://olga-onoyko.ru

Follow our Telegram channel: https://t.me/shesinrussia

Theme Music: Shit Happens by Tierra Whack

Interlude: В каждом доме (гроб cover) by synecdoche montauk

Cover Art: Vacant Lot by Erica Lambertson

This week we are co-presenting -- with Event Horizon Magazine and translator Isaac Wheeler -- the English-language debut of author Olga Onoyko. We're devoting this episode to Olga's surreal, dream-like short story, "The House Behind The Vacant Lot." Lily interviews the author and Isaac reads his translation of her story.

Olga Onoyko is a 33 year old, Moscow-based musicologist by training, who works in IT. She is the author of multiple published novels and short stories. In 2007 she received the Debut award in the Fantasy genre for her novel "Surgical Intervention" (Хирургическое вмешательство), and in 2009 an encouragement award from the European Science Fiction Society.

Isaac's translation of "The House Behind The Vacant Lot", written in 2003 and published in Russian in 2007, will appear in Issue 3 of literary and graphic arts periodical Event Horizon on March 21.

Read the story here: https://eventhorizonmagazine.com/

More about Olga and her work here: http://olga-onoyko.ru

Follow our Telegram channel: https://t.me/shesinrussia

Theme Music: Shit Happens by Tierra Whack

Interlude: В каждом доме (гроб cover) by synecdoche montauk

Cover Art: Vacant Lot by Erica Lambertson

On March 18 Russians will vote to elect a (possibly new) President to lead the country for the next 6 years. This week SIR changes it up, handing our mics over to three millennial, liberal-leaning Russians -– Nastya, Max, and Rita -- to discuss the personalities and platforms of all 8 candidates.

During the discussion, they explain why TV is the country’s “main problem”, what kinds of gifts you get the first time you vote in Russia, why Ksenia Sobchak was more badass when she started her campaign, and why Alexey Navalny (the only Russian opposition leader covered widely in Western media), along with his call to boycott the elections, should be resisted, or at least ignored.

Follow our Telegram channel: https://t.me/shesinrussia

Check out the are.na channel for this ep: https://www.are.na/share/XJPSNfg

Theme Music: Shit Happens by Tierra Whack