She's In Russia

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

In Russia International Women's Day is celebrated widely every March 8 since 1917. At some point in the Soviet era, the holiday (whose original incarnation is a strongly Socialist-rooted celebration of the struggle for women's rights, gender equality, and in Russia specifically the women who initiated and comprised the 1917 February revolution) morphed into a twisted mirror-image of itself that reinforces woman's traditional social role as caretaker and patron saint of beauty, family, and the home.

SIR discusses the revolution that made the holiday mainstream in Russia, how the day is celebrated today, plus the story of arguably one of Russia's most influential revolutionary/Party officials.

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

Theme Music: Shit Happens by Tierra Whack

Interludes: Феникс by ГШ, The General by Dispatch

are.na: https://www.are.na/share/YVpvKmu

In Russia International Women's Day is celebrated widely every March 8 since 1917. At some point in the Soviet era, the holiday (whose original incarnation is a strongly Socialist-rooted celebration of the struggle for women's rights, gender equality, and in Russia specifically the women who initiated and comprised the 1917 February revolution) morphed into a twisted mirror-image of itself that reinforces woman's traditional social role as caretaker and patron saint of beauty, family, and the home.

SIR discusses the revolution that made the holiday mainstream in Russia, how the day is celebrated today, plus the story of arguably one of Russia's most influential revolutionary/Party officials.

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

Theme Music: Shit Happens by Tierra Whack

Interludes: Феникс by ГШ, The General by Dispatch

are.na: https://www.are.na/share/YVpvKmu

Russiagate unfolds: on Feb. 16, 2018. Former FBI director and current US Special Counsel Robert "the Swan" Mueller III published an "unprecedented" indictment of 13 Russian people and 3 Russian companies all related to the so-called Internet Research Agency, aka the "Troll Factory" in St. Petersburg and now all formally accused of interfering in the 2016 US presidential elections.

Allow SIR to explain: what actually happened, why it matters, and why we knew all this already.

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

Theme Music: Shit Happens by Tierra Whack

Interludes: Computer Luv by Ravyn Lenae, Your Mouth by Frank Zappa

are.na: https://www.are.na/share/PPVsqBi

Russiagate unfolds: on Feb. 16, 2018. Former FBI director and current US Special Counsel Robert "the Swan" Mueller III published an "unprecedented" indictment of 13 Russian people and 3 Russian companies all related to the so-called Internet Research Agency, aka the "Troll Factory" in St. Petersburg and now all formally accused of interfering in the 2016 US presidential elections.

Allow SIR to explain: what actually happened, why it matters, and why we knew all this already.

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

Theme Music: Shit Happens by Tierra Whack

Interludes: Computer Luv by Ravyn Lenae, Your Mouth by Frank Zappa

are.na: https://www.are.na/share/PPVsqBi

The Russian banya -- the body/soul cleansing, health stimulating spa ritual cum social club. This week we talk about the significance of the banya in Russian culture, why it's very much not just a sauna, what kinds of banyas Russians use today (and one of their slightly frightening prototypes). Plus how to properly "steam" someone with veniki [bushels of leafy twigs, often birch or oak].

Theme Music: Shit Happens by Tierra Whack

are.na channel: https://are.na/smith-freeman/banya-the-russian-sauna

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

The Russian banya -- the body/soul cleansing, health stimulating spa ritual cum social club. This week we talk about the significance of the banya in Russian culture, why it's very much not just a sauna, what kinds of banyas Russians use today (and one of their slightly frightening prototypes). Plus how to properly "steam" someone with veniki [bushels of leafy twigs, often birch or oak].

Theme Music: Shit Happens by Tierra Whack

are.na channel: https://are.na/smith-freeman/banya-the-russian-sauna

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

We're kicking off our ongoing series on former Soviet countries with Kristaps Andrejsons, host of The Eastern Border podcast and, incidentally, a Latvian.

Our conversation runs the gamut: wild boars in Riga, the three waves of National Awakening (i.e. how Latvia became a country), and the best summer festival.

Theme Music: Shit Happens by Tierra Whack

Listen to Kristaps's podcast: http://theeasternborder.lv/

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

We're kicking off our ongoing series on former Soviet countries with Kristaps Andrejsons, host of The Eastern Border podcast and, incidentally, a Latvian.

Our conversation runs the gamut: wild boars in Riga, the three waves of National Awakening (i.e. how Latvia became a country), and the best summer festival.

Theme Music: Shit Happens by Tierra Whack

Listen to Kristaps's podcast: http://theeasternborder.lv/

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

This week we shoot the shit with Igor Belkin, journalist, media person, "blogger", about the Russian Internet (Runet). We've got Livejournal in the early 2000s, quintessential Runet memes, and menacing Orthodox officials. Plus what it's like to be a Russian expat in America.

Theme Music: Shit Happens by Tierra Whack

Interlude: IAmNobody by Lin-Z

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