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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnpaA2cFv6c

An important day for Russian Club. In custom with the tradition started last year, Russian Club gave out carnations in the Campus Center from 10-1. For future reference, we bought 180 stems from Stop and Shop. We set up camp at the table in front of the post office on the lower level with the informational poster and handed out carnations to the passing students. Most looked confused at first, “Wait, do I have to pay?” but then overwhelmingly pleased. An excellent outcome, I’d say.

In the evening Ruth, Shana, Nina, Sofi, Liza, and Lara gathered in Talbot basement for the Russian banquet. The main dish was chicken grilled and then boiled with plum tomatoes, tarragon, Spanish onions, garlic, basil, parsley and cilantro, and was accompanied by the traditional staple- pilaf. The vegetable dish was asparagus with lemon juice, butter and garlic sauce. Mmm, garlic. The asparagus turned out nice and tender, and the lemon juice wasn’t too overpowering. Dinner was followed by Russian baba cake, which was covered in a syrup of Godiva liqueur, and accompanied by maple walnut ice cream. All in all, a delight to behold.

This evening the group gathered in Seelye 211 and learned the card game “The Fool.” Relative fun was had by all.

On the advice of Katia, the Russian Club watched Diamond Arm tonight in Seelye 211. What an excellent suggestion! There has been some trouble obtaining a consistent meeting place, but I have finally procured Seelye 211 for all our future meetings. Apologies for the movement. This said, feel free to change the meeting place on the posters around campus if you see one that is wrong. Thanks for your help!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

• “Unfamiliar Terrain: Sufis, Scribes, and the Creation of Russia’s Southern Empire”

Wednesday, February 25th at 8:00 in the Amherst Russian House.

Kelly O’Neill ’97, assistant professor in the History Department at Harvard University, will present a talk at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, February 25 in the Russian House of Amherst College. Her focus will be the development of the Russian-Crimean relationship after 1783, using colorful episodes and excerpts of archive documents. She will talk about how an historian goes about interpreting and contextualizing sources and, eventually, writing the history of an empire. Her talk will be of particular interest to students who are themselves thinking about undertaking historical research projects in the future. Reception to follow.

• “Catherine the Great’s Memoirs: Of Horses and the Political Animal”

Thursday, February 26th at 5:00 in the Russian classroom (Hatfield 107)

A lecture by Hilda Hoogenboon who translated The Memoirs of Catherine the Great.

• Mt. Holyoke Russian Club celebrates Pancake week!

Friday, February 27th at Mt. Holyoke in the ACE House from 5:30-8:00. Here’s the Facebook group:

Maslenitsa!

A group of worldly, curious, intellectually endowed women gathered in Seelye 302 on a dark, but rather mild temperatured night. They crowded in a semi-circle of rickety chairs and read fables from the old country. The crisp prose of Tolstoy and Ivan Turgenev sent morals flying this way and that. Natasha provided sweets with colorful wrappers. They watched, grinning, “Kidnapping, Caucasian Style” and marveled at the very silly turn of events. Date changes were discussed.

International Women’s Day: changed to MARCH 10th, from 10-2 in the CC at a table in front of the green couches.

Brighton Beach: changed to APRIL 4th

Tonight was full of delicious fun. We ate spice cake, decorated posters and settled on dates for activities. Following is a comprehensive list of activities this semester. Everything listed on a Tuesday will take place at 6:30, everything pertaining to food will take place in Talbot House basement, and for everything else we will meet in Hatfield 107 .

• TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17th: Poetry reading followed by showing of Kidnapping, Caucasian Style
• MONDAY, MARCH 9th: International Women’s Day. Giving out carnations by the green couches in the Campus Center between 10 and 2 in the afternoon.
• TUESDAY, MARCH 10th: Russian banquet
• SATURDAY, MARCH 28th: Road trip to Brighton Beach
• SUNDAY, APRIL 5th: Day trip to “Victory” in East Springfield
• TUESDAY, APRIL 14th: Decorating eggs for Easter. Ours might not be as fancy as the ones on Wikipedia. The Hutsuls -the Ukranians of the Carpathian Mountains- believe that “as long as the egg decorating custom continues, the world will exist.” We are saving the world.
• SUNDAY, APRIL 19th: A concert by the National Philharmonic of Russia at UMASS, a speech starting at 6:15, and the concert starting at 7. The tickets to this are $15 for students.

I’ve requested that if possible, members attend LEAP meetings. You just pick one that sounds interesting, sign your name next to the Russian Club on the sign in sheet, and email me that you have gone so that we don’t go to more than are necessary. Here is the schedule.

Remember, we meet every Tuesday. Mark your calendars!

Although sparsely attended, tonight’s meeting was productive and fun. We met in Seelye 107 from 6-8:30. The first half hour we discussed our goals for the next semester, namely:

1. Taking a day trip to Brighton Beach on either Saturday, March 28th or Saturday April 4th. Depending on the amount of interest, we’d have one or two vans. A few members have volunteered to become van certified, although the more the merrier. The remaining van certification days are

Wednesday February 11, CC103/104, 12:15-12:45
Friday February 20, CC103/104, 12:15-12:45

Bring a copy of your driver’s license and the SGA/CSO driver license agreement (go to http://blogs.smith.edu/sga) to fill out and print the form before the certification date. Please remember that you must re-certify each academic year, be at least 18 years old and have one year of licensed driving experience

Also, attendance at a Defensive Driving Presentation is required prior to Sunday March 1, 2009. This presentation will take place on two dates:

Monday February 9, CC205, 2-3PM
Thursday February 19, Seelye 106, 5-6PM

2. Giving away flowers on International Women’s Day (Sunday, March 8th). Last year the club tabled flowers in the Campus Center. We should continue the tradition!

DECISIONS:

It’s my impression that attendance might improve if the club holds weekly meetings. Therefore:

MEETINGS ARE GOING TO BE EVERY TUESDAY NIGHT AT 6:30. Don’t be afraid to come, even if you can’t stay for too long. Location is subject to variability depending on whether or not we want to use Talbot’s kitchen. I will send out the week’s location and activity via email.

After the brainstorming section of the meeting, we watched The Window to Paris.

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