Oh, Simferopol

I can't help but feel hopeful.

This was the line I came up with on my first jet-lagged afternoon in late January when I sat down to plink out my low-fi ode to heimweh and to celebrate my new temporary home. With almost two weeks of travel behind me, I've returned to Simferopol with fresh eyes and more patience than I had when the draggy end of winter seemed to put everyone - even strangers on the marshrutka - into combat mode. Now that the willows by the river have bloomed and the sun doesn't set til 7, things seem a little friendlier. 

This afternoon, I finally had the chance to meet with an exceptional young Crimean Tatar woman, a student at the University, and the secretary of Bizim Qirim, an international youth organization oriented towards supporting the Crimean Tatar political cause. I'm eager to find out more about their work, but it's inspiring - makes me feel hopeful, even - to see savvy energetic people reaching out and making things move a little. 

In case you were wondering, my paper at BASEES went off just fine for the tiny audience that attended our panel despite its enticing title. ("Music, Memory, and Politics in an Age of Revolution" - irresistible, no?) I talked about Ruslana's entanglements with various social and political causes on the eve of her Amazonka CD release in Ukraine, which I snapped up in Kyiv on Monday. I'm beginning to see a dissertation chapter or more in this, which is also hopeful.