Prologue

Tomorrow I leave on a political fellowship to Russia with the American Council of Young Political Leaders. Almost all of the previous sentence is still mostly a surprise to me, except, of course, the word "political."
A colleague from Progressive States Network (shameless plug, they're a great organization working to support progressive legislators in the states) nominated me, and of course, I jumped at the chance to apply, knowing that the clock was ticking before I turned forty and was ineligible.
So when I got a call for the first trip, I said Yes before I discussed it with my boss, or my husband. Russia has never been on my bucket list, with my primary interest in them being their support of Cuba and some of the leftist Latin American regimes. Even better, of course, because I never would have made it there, and now if I become obsessed, I may even head back.
Sounds like there's good reason to become obsessed.
My initial impulse was to try and learn Russian in six weeks -- while maintaining a full-time job and caring for my family. It was, apparently, going to happen on my lunch hour, while I listened to podcasts.
It did not happen on my lunch hour, via podcast.
Then I hoped to read big meaningful books, but never really got to the library on time.
So instead, I quizzed the surprising number of Russian scholars I have in my social network.
A few things that I'll be thinking about while there:
1. My friend's quotation, "People talk about the Russian government a little bit like teenagers talk about their parents when they visit a therapist for the first time. They compare it to an idealized version of the parents they wish they have." Almost everyone I've spoken with implies a very different relationship between the citizens and the state than we see here in the states. Teasing that out intrigues me.
2. The idea that volunteerism is perceived as a threat to the state, because volunteering points out a failure of the state to care for the people. This could not be more counter to the U.S., where any government intervention is perceived as a failure of the people to organize and care for themselves.
3. Federalist/centralized control of this sprawling country via strategic use of election law -- proportional representation and a powerful party infrastructure. That's a big issue, but the part that captures my attention is the question of how local leaders interact with this larger system. How do they build their base and gain leadership roles? How do they maintain them, and what are their spheres of influence? And of course, how do the new "unfunded mandates" affect them, given what is essentially a one-party system.
4. And of course, homophobia. Apparently, homophobia and limitations on the civil rights of gays and lesbians is justified defensively -- in that gay rights are part of the Western Cultural Oppression. (Capitals mine.) Homophobia is simply a cultural/ethnic attitude, and civil rights for the LGBT community is seen as in conflict with local/ethnic rights to their own ethnic cultural identity. Maps pretty cleanly onto the religious right's (non-capitals mine) arguments about homophobia, and limiting the civil rights of gays and lesbians.

I was hoping to right a sort of Gogol-absurdesque piece about all of these fairly low-level, local political types (not the deciders, at least for now) visiting Russia and meeting with The Office of Vladimir Putin (Capitals not mine), at a time of complete international crisis, when real conversations between real deciders should be happening. It would have made for beautiful absurdist art - but it is not to be. The meeting with his office was cancelled. And, before anyone wonders, the meeting with Pussy Riot never even made it on the agenda.