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Mitch and Me: Challenges in a New World
In the final two months of the year nineteen hundred and sixty, Mitch faced a life-changing challenge, and I learned that I was a “person of interest”. The FBI wanted to learn more about me and my life in the USSR, and I was invited to go to Washington D.C. to meet with the bureau…
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Mitch and Me: Iconic Moments of Friendship
I was sitting alone in a booth at a sweetshop on Fort Street waiting for Mitch. We would usually end up there after all of our home basketball games. I’d been in that place more times that I can remember with teammates, fans and their high school girlfriends, chatting about the game, drinking Coke or…
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An Armenian-Speaking Imposter
During a trip to Los Angeles, my host asked if I would like to chat with a mutual acquaintance, who happened to be a former Soviet basketball star. The woman, now in her late seventies, immigrated to the USA and is presently living in the North Hollywood, California area. I told my host that I…
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The Nazi and the Communist
He was born in Germany at the height of Hitler’s power. I was born in Detroit the year before the Great Depression. After World War II, he chose America and attended the University of Michigan, becoming a prominent architect. After World War II, I chose the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and became a teacher…
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The French Connection
I did not anticipate, nor was I prepared to immediately answer, the question. Over the years the memory of the events had been relegated to the farthest corners of my mind. It would take time to recall the story. And one thing a speaker doesn’t have when facing a group is time. I had been…
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A Phone Call from Paris
“A teacher may forget a student; but a student will never forget a teacher.” I found that to be true over the years, for many of my former Soviet students have continued to keep in touch with me thanks to the Internet. One such student, who was on staff at the BBC in London, serving…
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Rewriting History
Many who fell for the Soviet propaganda and accepted an invitation by the Soviet government to repatriate felt betrayed. The Soviet Constitution, Stalin’s Constitution of the 1930’s, by law guaranteed a Soviet citizen work, free medical care, and free education. That was the Soviets’ promise to those who would return. Instead, those who went found…
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The Readers Have Spoken
When I landed on the tarmac at the Romulus International Airport in July 1960, after spending 13 years in the Soviet Union, I had seven dollars in my pocket – dollars I had kept during the entire period I lived in the USSR. The $100 issued to me and allowed by the Soviet government to…
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A Cross Road in My Life
After thirteen nebulous years as a citizen of the former USSR, I remember with pride and no prejudice the early days of my life as a reinstated citizen of my country. I was proud to again say, “I am an American.” I shall not take up your valuable time to count the ways I am…
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One Day in the Mind of a Writer
What goes on in the mind of a writer when he – or she – sits down to create a line of two for those who are interested in his talent? Plenty and nothing! Right now, echoing in the back of my mind, are those who wish to put me on a guilt trip, like…