Ports of

The Spiral Sea

An Idea Exchange Vehicle

for Contagious Concepts

Entire Site Copyrighted 2001 Spiral Sea Enterprises 

Vol 1 No 1

August 2001

.Contact..Shirley Timashev, foreign correspondent

Shirley Hayes Timashev first visited Russia in August, 1991 -- a tumultuous time that included the attempted overthrow of the Gorbachev government. She returned several years later under the sponsorship of the U.S.-based Forum Foundation, on an assignment to teach leaders of cultural organizations the marketing and management skills that even non-profits need for survival in a competitive environment. At the same time she taught courses in management and marketing to undergraduates at Urals State Technical University in Yekaterinburg.

Yekaterinburg is a city of 1.5 million in 2001, with a metropolitan area population of 4.5 million. It is located in the middle of the Ural Mountains, the geographic border between Europe and Asia. Some of her experiences of living there for 6 to 8 months, each year, over the last decade are reflected in her stories here in The Spiral Sea's Port-of-Call, "Russia As I See It."

These accounts will be largely personal rather than political, stories about the daily life of an American woman married to a Russian, both committed to endeavours that bridge their disparate cultural worlds. The episodes are organized by seasons, not necessarily chronologically by year, and for good reason. "In Russia," Shirley assures us, "the rhythm of life is strongly affected by the climate. Layered over that are cultural factors which include pre-Revolutionary traditions, Communist era habits, and coping skills for dealing with chaos and change." The result is a daily life that cycles, like the seasons, between periods of challenges, great and small, punctuated by brief tranquilities. The fallout of struggling to meet those challenges is sometimes tragic, sometimes heroic, oftimes mundane, yet with flares of brilliance--the peculiar pastiche of success and failure that has given Russian life its peculiar, lasting mystique.

Shirley Timashev is not just an observer, but a participant in the scenes she describes. She invites her readers to come with her and experience Russia As I See It.