A couple of months ago,  annanov told me how, while reading a historical novel that featured composer Dmitriy Shostakovich as one of the POV characters, she suddenly came across a reference to my great-grandfather. She talked about how shocking, how surreal it was to suddenly see it pop up on the page, to point where she almost did a double-take - but ( Read more... )

One of the advantages and disadvantages of not having a smartphone is that I have no way to check the Internet when I’m on the go. Not unless there’s a wi-fi hotspot. So, when I came home on Thursday night from an assignment out in Austin and saw an e-mail alert from Tronc about a “statement regarding the Annapolis shooting” my first thought was “ ( Read more... )

When I woke up, I saw a bit of news on my Twitter feed about an explosive device that was found at Ploschad' Vostaniya station, one of the busiest stations in St. Petersburg subway. It was afternoon rush hour in my home city, and I remember thinking that I was glad it ended well ( Read more... )

Last Friday morning, I was in Park Ridge, a suburb just outside Chicago's northwest city limits, covering the ceremony marking the 15th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks for the Niles Bugle.

A year earlier, the city unveiled a 9/11 memorial. Its centerpiece was a beam from the ruins of the World Trade Center, and it was meant ( Read more... )

To be honest, I wasn't sure whether to write anything. I didn't think I really have that much to say that other people haven't said better. But I kept having a nagging feeling that I should write something... So here we are.

At this point, everybody at least knows the basics. If you don't, BBC has a decent summary for the English-speakers, and ( Read more... )

Between the Israel offensive in Gaza and the plane explosion in Donetsk, it's hard to say what makes me more worried. Okay, it's probably the latter - it's still a bit closer to home.


( Read more... )

A few hours ago, a suicide bomber blew him or herself up* in the Domodedovo International Airport, Moscow's main airport and the largest, most important airport in the Russian Federation. As of this writing, at least 30 people are confirmed dead and more than 100 of them are injured.

( And it gets worse )

In case you haven't heard, a plane carrying the Polish president, several other Polish officials and historians crashed shortly beforeit wasscheduled to land in the city of Smolensk, Russia. The delegation was traveling to Russia to mark the 70-year anniversary of Katyn Massacre, a very notorious incident during Soviet Union's short-lived ( Read more... )