A performance of an aria from the opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila” was cancelled in Moscow because it contains the lines, “Dnieper is wide and Kiev is far away.”

As one Russian commenter joked, now it makes sense to outlaw the famous Winnie the Pooh cartoon because the rabbit in the cartoon looks very much like Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, and the whole scene where Winnie the Pooh (who obviously symbolizes Russia’s Prime Minister Medvedev because of Medvedev’s last name) visits the rabbit and eats all his food is very unpatriotic towards Russia.

So the Russian bandits in Ukraine finally realized that they will not manage to recruit Ukraine’s Jews to their side. Now the have dropped the pretense of wanting to “defend” Jews from Ukrainian nationalists and started showing their true anti-Semitic colors.

As the Jews in Donetsk were leaving the synagogue, they were given leaflets, telling them that all Jews needed to register and list all their property. The explanation given was that this was the result of the Jews supporting the Ukrainian nationalists.

My father just reminded me of this story when I told him I was waiting for a cab. I’m not sure if I told it here before, but repetition is the mother of learning, as we say.

Back in New Haven I once called the cab company to request a cab.

“Is it OK if the driver is black?” the lady at the cab company asked.

One more thing, have you heard about Snowden’s participation in Putin’s most recent fake tele-interview with “regular” citizens?

Here is an article about that. Please read and comment. I have to say, I’m kind of appalled. I haven’t watched this tele-interview but I’ve seen the previous ones and I can assure you that they are entirely barf-worthy. Is Snowden being forced to participate in this kind of thing?

While I’m out of commission and on my way to the ER, please enjoy the most ridiculous article I have read all week. The gist of the article is that while posting photos of yourself online (selfies) is empowering and feminist, posting photos of your bookshelves (bookshelfies) is elitist and wrong.

I like taking selfies and posting them on this blog, but I don’t do that to feel “empowered” (I don’t even really know what “empowering” is supposed to mean.) I do it because it’s fun and my readers seem to like being able to put a face to a bunch of endless rants. I also don’t get what’s so elitist about having books. According to the linked article:

Owning large quantities of books, being familiar with them, frequently referring to them, working in an industry where books are valued, these are all markers of upper middle class status, reflecting education, purchasing power, and social privilege.

The statement is too ridiculous and offensive for me to analyze in detail, especially now that I’m not feeling well. But I knew my readers would enjoy this completely idiotic piece and would have fun with it.

You can also find two interesting responses to the linked piece here.

One more step has been traveled in the direction of my Americanization: I just ate the very first PB&J sandwich in my life.

Of course, I’m still me, so the peanut butter was organic, the jelly was rose petal preserve, and the bread was Lithuanian from the Global Foods store.

At this rate, I will be fully Americanized in no time.

Reader valter07 made a brilliant comment about Russia:

Believing in sanctions involves unjustified projecting of Western mindset onto Russians. Those who believe in sanctions essentially are saying that West would surrender if such sanctions were applied to the West. It is testimony to West’s unwillingness to tolerate any discomfort in the name of its principles. It is more productive to think of Russia as analog of some fundamentalist country or organization – i.e. a bunch of people prepared for significant degree of self-sacrifice.

This reader is absolutely right. People used to listing trigger warnings and counting “microaggressions” are not likely to win this game.  I’d say that the complete incapacity to tolerate any sort of discomfort has become the organizing principle of the West. And I’m not saying this is necessarily a bad thing. However, it is a mistake to project this mindset onto others.

As many people have already guessed (or Googled), the identity I discovered was that of an entrepreneur. This was, of course, very unexpected because I always thought I was the opposite of an entrepreneur.

What I liked the most about these articles for entrepreneurs is that they transmitted a feeling of an unapologetic excitement about the work people do. I’m so tired of the environment where depression is the norm and happiness is suspect that it’s extremely refreshing to see that there are people who discuss what they do without needing to apologize, whine, and moan.

This description of an entrepreneur describes me a hundred times better than any description of an academic I ever read.

And these suggestions on how to build a team are exactly the way I’ve been developing this blog.

This strategy is precisely what I do to prepare myself to do some good writing whenever I feel blocked or out of ideas.

And the most refreshing thing about this new-found identity is that it is not based on the incessant use of the passive voice. There is an agent, and that agent is, more often than not, I. My blogroll is spilling over with posts whose organizing idea is “I was told something not very pleasing, and this is such a disaster that I will stop living my life this very moment,” and that is very boring.

Plus, on these blogs for entrepreneurs there are no discussions of “privilege” and no competitions in the degree of ideological purity.

I was in a great mood all day yesterday. This is the same kind of feeling I experienced when I discovered the word “autism.” It’s a very good feeling to discover that you are not a weirdo, and there are people who see the world in a way similar to yours.

So here is what I decided. I will happily assume my new-found identity and will be an entrepreneur without a business.

OK, so I dragged myself to bed, put on a new Vera Wang nightgown, aloe socks, a facial mask, turned on the stupidest TV show I can think of, placed some watermelon slices by my side, lit a lemon candle, and now I will rest.

And I’ll make every effort to avoid Googling news from Kramatorsk where Ukrainian troops finally beat back Russian terrorists, but I’m taking a break from all that.

If this doesn’t work, nothing will.

Russians and Ukrainians are too different, my friends.

“Your socks are mismatched,” N just commented.

“Mismatched?” I bellowed. “Have some respect for the noble colors of the Ukrainian flag!!!”

“But what’s the point,” he persisted, “if nobody sees them anyway?”

“I know I have them on,” I explained. “And that’s enough.”