March 2009

The Women of Kabul: A Shakesperean Tragedy

March 26, 2009

I’ve become obsessed with Afghanistan, lately. Actually, it’s been going on probably since sometime in high school, when I wrote a sad little short story about how a Soviet soldier got killed in the mountains, all alone, without his friends there to back him up (I was a pretty intense kid.) It escalated, first when I read The Kite Runner, then The Bookseller of Kabul, and was watching these videos of the Soviet invasion. I think this is exacerbated by ...

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A pox on the people that bought subprime mortgages

March 22, 2009

So, there’s been a lot of media coverage recently about what this crisis means, and how to explain it to the common man.  Terry Gross recently did an interview with Gretchen Morgenson looking at AIG spending and how it’s tied to mortgage-backed securities, and all that fun financial terminology that eventually led to America ending up in the toilet, swirling slowly around the bowl.  And NBC’s Dateline is also looking at how Wall Street and Main Street are linked together.  ...

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GRE Preparation

March 17, 2009

The time has come, The walrus said, To talk of many things Of shoes and ships and sealing wax Of cabbages and kings And why the sea is boiling hot And whether pigs have wings Lewis Carroll was totally not talking about the GREs. He might as well have been, because, as everyone in my Twitter feed is well aware, it is GRE time around these here parts. I’ve finally decided to take the exam so I can do part-time ...

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Uzbek Guest Workers in Russia

March 12, 2009

I love Russia. I say this with mixed patriotism and cynicism. There is nothing that makes me prouder than telling people I’m Russian, which is immediately followed by an apology of what a messed up country we are. Even Israel, I think, is less messed up than Russia on a scale from one to Stalin. The types of stories that come out of that country are amazing. Like the time when I was almost chased by a pack of hungry ...

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The Iranian Threat: Isn’t

March 11, 2009

I’ve really been getting into podcasts lately.  I have the GRE coming up, and God knows I need to brush up on both my logical thinking and my vocabulary (the math is in a whole different circle of Hell for me.)  Podcasts fulfill several purposes for me: A) They get me through the morning commute; B) They help me internalize world news to use for the logic essay on the GRE and C) They catch me up on industry news ...

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