Isadora Duncan and Sergei Yesenin

They met in the fall of 1921 in the studio of painter Alexei Yakovlev.

ISADORA DUNCAN courtesy of Wikipedia

At that time Isadora Duncan was 44 years old. She was a celebrity in Europe. Vladimir Lenin liked her style of dancing and invited her to come to Moscow and to open a dance school. Isadora knew only several Russian words.

She was born in San Francisco and started dancing at the young age. “She rejected the rigidity of the classic ballet and danced barefoot using more natural rhythms and movements.”

At the age of 21 Isadora went to Europe to seek recognition and in four years became very successful in Budapest. Then she settled in Paris and toured Europe.

In 1921 Sergey Yesenin was 25 years old.

He was son of peasants. He started to write poetry at the age of nine. After he published his first two books of poetry about love, nature and simple life in 1916 he became one of the most popular and loved Russian poets.

Sergei Yesenin spoke only Russian.

SERGEI YESENIN courtesy of Wikipedia

.Isadora Duncan and Sergei Yesenin met in fall of 1921 and married in May of 1922.

Why did they marry? There was a 19 years difference in age. They could not speak to each other. She did not know and could not understand his poetry and I doubt very much that he believed that she was a great dancer (classical ballet was in Russian traditions).

Did they looked at each other and fell in love?

I doubt it very much.

Why?

Let’s look at their love lives before they met.

From ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA: “Her private life, quite as much as her art, kept her name in the headlines owing to her constant defiance of social taboos. The father of her first child, Deirdre, was the stage designer Gordon Craig, who shared her abhorrence of marriage; the father of her second child, Patrick, was Paris Singer, the heir to a sewing machine fortune and a prominent art patron. In 1913 a tragedy occurred from which Duncan never really recovered: the car in which her two children and their nurse were riding in Paris rolled into the Seine River and all three were drowned.”

Later Isadora had two more children from different fathers.

Before marrying Sergei Yesenin Isadora Duncan many times stated her abhorrence of marriage.

Did she fall in love with Sergei Yesenin so much that she changed her view on marriage?

Not likely. I believe that she was ordered to marry him and to take him from the Soviet Union.

Why?

Initially Sergei Yesenin supported Bolsheviks as he believed that they would give land to peasants. But soon he became disillusioned and began criticize the government in his poems. The Soviet government wanted to get rid of him.

What about Sergei Yesenin’s decision to marry Isadora?

From NEW WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA: “Blessed with good looks and a romantic personality, he fell in love frequently… His first marriage was in 1913, to a co-worker from the publishing house by the name of Anna Izryadnova, with whom he had a son, Yuri. (During the Stalinist purges, Yuri Yesenin was arrested, dying in 1937 at a Gulag labor camp.)

… In August 1917, Yesenin married for a second time to the actress, Zinaida Raikh… With her he had a daughter, Tatyana, and a son, Konstantin.”

Thousands of women dreamed about Sergei Yesenin and it is highly unlikely that he married Isadora Duncan because he fell in love with her.

I am sure that he married her to be able to get out of the Soviet Union (it was possible only if authorities permitted it).

After marriage Yesenin accompanied his wife on a tour of Europe and the United States. He hoped that he would be accepted very well in the United States and in Europe where there were many Russians.

However, at that time many people on both continents believed that the couple were Soviet agents and Russians abroad did not want to have anything to do with Sergei Yesenin.

What could he do? He knew only Russian, he could not communicate with his own wife, he had no friends.

Sergei started to drink. His smashing up of hotel rooms received a great deal of publicity in the press.

Yesenin returned to the Soviet Union in 1923. There he published some new poems. He saw that the government started a campaign of destroying peasants but he could do nothing about it.

Sergei tried to find refuge in love.

“…he immediately became involved with actress Augusta Miklashevskaya and is believed to have married her in a civil ceremony, although it’s known he never obtained a divorce from Isadora Duncan.

…that same year he had a son, Alexander, by the poet, Nadezhda Volpin…” Alexander Esenin-Volpin grew up to become a prominent poet, dissident and mathematician.

“The last two years of Sergei Yesenin’s life were filled with constant erratic and drunken behavior, but he also created some of his most famous pieces of poetry. In the spring of 1925, a highly volatile Sergei Yesenin met and married his fifth wife, Sophia Andreyevna Tolstaya, a granddaughter of famous nineteenth century Russian novelist, Count Leo Tolstoy. She attempted to get him help, but he suffered a complete mental breakdown and was hospitalized for a month.

…Two days after his release for Christmas, he allegedly cut his wrist and wrote a farewell poem in his own blood; the following day hanged himself from the heating pipes on the ceiling of his room in the Hotel Anglettere, dying at the age of 30. Some believe that the suicide was staged, and in actuality he was killed by GPU agents, although there is no actual proof for this theory.”

After Sergei Yesenin left Isadora Duncan’s “… performing career had dwindled and she became … notorious for her financial woes, scandalous love life and all-too-frequent public drunkenness… ” (from Wikipedia).

Isadora died on the night of September 14, 1927 in Nice, France, after “her silk scarf, draped around her neck, became entangled around the open-spoked wheels and rear axle, hurling her from the open car and breaking her neck”.

I am happy, I have kissed a woman,

I have slept in grass and flower-bed,

And I never, like a decent human,

Hit a dog or kitten in the head.

Sergei Yesenin

Thomas Sowell and his quotes.

Several days ago I reblogged wise quotes of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Today I want to introduce to new followers and guests quotes of Thomas Sowell. You’ll find link to an article about him in the post.

PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

I just returned home from a nice party and found an email with Thomas Sowell’s quotes. I read all quotes and then went to Google to find out who was Thomas Sowell.

Here is what I found:   THOMAS SOWELL

Then I went back to the email and copied several quotes.

You can see them below and make your own conclusions.

“Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good.”

“It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.”

“One of the consequences of such notions as ‘entitlements’ is that people who have contributed nothing to society feel that society owes them something, apparently just for…

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“Culture and Political Psychology”

One of followers of this blog is a young, smart and beautiful woman. Her name is Thalia Magioglou.

She lives in Paris and we’ve never met. However, i follow her blog, we correspond and we became friends.

Recently she sent me a very interesting book. It’s title: “Culture and Political Psychology: A Societal Perspective.” Thalia is an editor and one of the authors of this book.

I read the book very slowly due to two reasons:

1) it is not easy to read (I am not a psychologist and did not even know that political psychology exists);

2) after each chapter I am doing my best to understand what an author said, how good was her/his research, what are conclusions.

Then I decide my reaction to a particular chapter. I don’t agree with everything but it is normal.

So far I read only 121 pages of 448. I found that the book is very interesting.

It’s a pity that it was not available 40 years ago and that leaders of many countries did not read it. So many terrible mistakes in all areas could be prevented!

I am going to tell more about ideas of this book and to answer to comments to my post HOW BAD ARE AMERICA AND CAPITALISM? in future posts.

I will also let you know summarised results of your choices of my pictures in several latest posts and will comment on them using information from the Thalia’s book.

Finally, I want to tell you that I went on Google to see if there is any review of this book. I was not surprised that somebody considered it one of the best books of 2014.

Please click HERE if you want to know more.

 

Love and care

LOVE AND CARE                                                                                          by JF

Several quotes about justice.

It is very bad for any society when leaders consider justice from purely political point of view without regards to laws and facts.
It is even worse when facts are hidden or ignored and judges intimidated.

PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.

Aristotle

In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.

Albert Einstein

Justice in the life and conduct of the State is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens.

Plato

Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.

Haile Selassie

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Several quotes about justice.

At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.

Aristotle

In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.

Albert Einstein

Justice in the life and conduct of the State is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens.

Plato

Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.

Haile Selassie

Several quotes about priorities.

I believe there are three keys to success. For me it is keeping my priorities in order: It’s my faith and my family, and then the business.

Kathy Ireland

I’m starting to judge success by the time I have for myself, the time I spend with family and friends. My priorities aren’t amending; they’re shifting.

Brendan Fraser

Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work.

H. L. Hunt

The answer to many of the domestic problems we face is not higher taxes and more spending. It is less waste, more results and greater freedom for the individual American to earn a rightful place in his own community – and for States and localities to address their own needs in their own ways, in the light of their own priorities.

Richard M. Nixon

Several quotes about peace.

When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.

Jimi Hendrix

A people free to choose will always choose peace.

Ronald Reagan

It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war.

John F. Kennedy

Even peace may be purchased at too high a price.

Benjamin Franklin

Quote about poverty and wealth.

“In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of.

In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.”

Confucius

Several quotes about treaties.

Charles De Gaulle – “Treaties are like roses and young girls — they last while they last.”  

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Benjamin Franklin – “Mad kings and mad bulls are not to be held by treaties and packthread.”

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Thomas Hobbes – “Covenants without the sword are but words and of no strength to secure a man at all.” 

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I am sure you know what I have in mind. Any comments?

Nassim Nicholas Taleb – a man hated by many experts.

In November of 2013 I wrote the post below after I read two Taleb’s books. His book “The Black Swan” is brilliant! Everyone must read it or at least to look it up HERE and choose what particular parts (chapters) of the book to read now. I am sure that everyone will find a lot of interesting in the book.

I reblogged this post because it is essential today to understand Taleb’s explanations of the last financial crisis, of the ways government policies influence our way of life and predictability of the future.

I also recommend to read an article at the end of the post about Taleb’s tweets.

PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

America has more Nobel laureates in economics than any other country. There are thousands of experts in universities, banks, brokerage companies, insurance companies, etc.

Thousands of people work for the government and tell our presidents and the Congress what to do to keep economy growing and to keep people employed.

There is also a mighty Federal Reserve System. It is the central banking system of the United States. “It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, largely in response to a series of financial panics, particularly a severe panic in 1907…

The U.S. Congress established three key objectives for monetary policy in the Federal Reserve Act: Maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates… The first two objectives are sometimes referred to as the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate… Its duties have expanded over the years, and today, according to official Federal Reserve…

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“Oh, those Americans!” (part 1).

It was a very unusual start of the school year on September 1, 1948. Teachers told all students of 7-10 grades to go to the center of the schoolyard to listen to the speech of a colonel from the Tashkent garrison.

The colonel told us that our Motherland needed our help. He explained that Americans wanted to conquer the world and we needed to grow our economy very fast to become mightier country than America. He said: “We need to overrun America!”.

Then he explained that a part of the Hungry Steppes was recently irrigated and produced very good crop of cotton. Motherland needed our help in picking cotton by hands. The colonel added: “It will not take more than two weeks. The weather is terrific so there is no need to take warm clothing. You will get good meals so don’t take any food. Now go home and prepare to board a train at nine tomorrow morning”.

We were very excited. It was such an interesting adventure and a terrific opportunity to serve our country. Yuri said to Greg and me: “We’ll show those Americans how Soviet patriots work!”

Next day boys, girls and some teachers from Tashkent’s schools went by train and then by trucks to designated places in the Hungry Steppes. We settled in a wooden building which had one very large room with a wooden floor. Each class chose a part of the room and then we got tiny pillows and very thin mattresses and blankets.

Then each of us got a piece of black bread, mashed potatoes and a cup of tea. Bread looked and tasted like clay, mashed potatoes had very unpleasant taste and tea was very black without milk or sugar but with a lot of leaves in it.

After the long trip all of us (178 boys and two teachers) were very hungry and tired but nobody liked the food. We were very happy that our parents practically forced us to take a lot of food with us. Boys of each class shared food from home and drank tea. Very soon after it all of us fell asleep.

At five o’clock in the morning there were loud sounds of gong. Our teachers Boris and Nasir told us to get up fast, wash our faces and hands with water from a large barrel and prepare to go to a field. Nasir (he was our teacher of Uzbek language and he communicated with locals) explained to us that there was a pond near the building but water in it was not good for drinking or washing faces or hands. Locals boiled it and placed in large wooden barrels.

At 6.00 am we formed a column and with songs went to the nearest cotton field. At the field a local man gave each of us a special apron for placing cotton in it and a large sack. The upper part of the apron was around the neck and the lower part was around torso. Both hands were free to pick cotton and to put it in an apron.

Nasir told us that only women picked cotton in Uzbekistan and that majority of them did it with one hand. However, some were able to pick cotton with two hands and they earned more money.

He explained that after an apron is full the cotton placed in a sack. After a sack is full each of us should bring it to a mobile weighing station and a local man will write a name and how much was in the sack. At the end of the day anyone who will be able to pick 40 kg of cotton will get a teaspoon of butter, a teaspoon of sugar and a small pita.

Nasir showed us how to pick cotton and put it in an apron and where was the weighing station. He assigned a furrow to each of us and explained that we should pick cotton from both sides of the furrow until we reach the end of it. Then he’ll assign a new furrow.

Before we started to work a truck brought our breakfast. It was a copy of the previous day supper. We were so hungry that ate everything and added a bit from food that our parents gave to us.

Half an hour later we started to work. It was a gorgeous sunny day. The cotton field was beautiful. The air was fresh. The feel of ripe cotton was very nice and we enjoyed picking it from bushes. Greg, Yuri and I tried to pick cotton with both hands. We knew that nobody will get money but thoughts about butter, sugar and pita inspired us.

Actually, all boys were in a very high spirit and worked very fast.

Our teachers told us not be in a hurry, that two weeks of work was a marathon and not a sprint. However, we loved competition and we loved pita even more.

Several hours passed and everyone slowed down. The sun was high in the sky and it was very hot. All of us were thirsty. None of us had dark glasses and it was painful to look at the white cotton under sun. Sun was beating down mercilessly on our practically unprotected heads and bodies.

Our teachers Boris and Nasir directed our work and helped to pick cotton those boys who stayed behind others.

At 1.00 pm a truck brought our lunch. Each of us got a piece of bread, a bowl of potato soup, mashed potatoes and tea. Nasir talked with a local leader and the man explained that nobody expected that somebody from Tashkent will come to the area. They had very limited supplies of food and nothing was coming. There was only a lot of rotten potatoes and they used it for soup and mashed potatoes.

There were several trees near the road to the field and we were able to eat lunch and relax a bit in their shadows. An hour passed very fast and then we started pick cotton again.

Temperature continued to rise and those of us who were in hats without visors, in sleeveless shirts or in shirts from thin materials suffered very much.

By 5.00  pm we were absolutely exhausted. There was no pita in sight. The best result in picking cotton had a guy from the tenth grade who managed to use both hands. But he picked only 23 kg.

Teachers stopped our work and we went back to our building. We could not sing as we were very thirsty and tired. Happily, there was cool in our large room and there was a lot of cold and hot water in barrels.

At 6.00 we had the same supper as the first day but this time we ate everything and added some food we brought from home. However, many boys did not feel well. Some had high temperature and headache, almost everyone had painful red areas of skin. There were no doctors or nurses for many miles around so Nasir went to locals to find out how to prevent heat strokes and cure painful skin areas.

In the meantime Boris who was a war veteran told us about his war experience. He stressed that usually first days are the most difficult days and that we had only 13 more days before going home.

Nasir brought a very big jar with some substance made from goat milk. Local healer assured him that it was very effective in relieving skin redness, rash and pain. We immediately started gently apply this substance to painful skin areas helping each other.

Nasir also told us that Uzbek women picked cotton in dresses and shawls from thick materials that protected them from the sun. He added that he asked the local leader to give us several shawls just to try if our boys would be able to wear them during work.

In half an hour almost everyone was sleeping. However, our teachers stayed awake. They were doing whatever they could to help boys who had high temperature and headache. I am not sure if they slept even several hours during that night.

Next morning the local leader arrived with several shawls and many old newspapers. Boris gave shawls to boys who had the most painful red areas of skin. He said that all others should use whatever clothing they had to protect themselves. He also showed how to prepare a hat from a newspaper and told us that each of us must make such hat and wear it.

Teachers told boys who had headache or were dizzy to stay in the room and to help peel potatoes, clean the room and boil water.

Then we went to the field again. The morning was cool and we laughed that we were looking as pirates.

The second day was a copy of the first but we were better protected from the sun and we already knew what we were doing. At the end of the day all of us still got extra areas of painful red skin and we suffered from daily heat but our results were better. One guy from the eighth grade who used both hands picked 31 kg. On the way from the field everyone was talking that it is possible that next day somebody will pick 40 kg and will get butter, sugar and pita.

Next morning more boys stayed behind and everyone who worked in the field suffered very much from heat. All of us also suffered from reflection of sun rays from white cotton. However, there was nothing we could do and we worked diligently  till the end of the day.

All of us were pleasantly surprised when we heard that 6 boys picked slightly over 40 kg. However, immediately after supper our teachers told us to gather in the middle of the room. We saw that they were very upset.

Boris told us that when one Uzbek started to empty our sacks in the area where cotton was kept before pressing it into huge 200 kg bales he found that there were heavy pieces of dried land in several sacks and yellow wet cotton in several others. Somebody peed on the cotton to make it heavier.

Boris told us that he never expected that anyone of us would be so stupid, unpatriotic and dishonorable. He also explained that such actions were criminal and could be punished by 10 or more years in jail. Than he added that the local guy warned him that if the same thing happens again he would have to report it to the local KGB representative and our teachers Nasir and Boris would be severely punished.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb – a man hated by many experts.

America has more Nobel laureates in economics than any other country. There are thousands of experts in universities, banks, brokerage companies, insurance companies, etc.

Thousands of people work for the government and tell our presidents and the Congress what to do to keep economy growing and to keep people employed.

There is also a mighty Federal Reserve System. It is the central banking system of the United States. “It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, largely in response to a series of financial panics, particularly a severe panic in 1907…

The U.S. Congress established three key objectives for monetary policy in the Federal Reserve Act: Maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates… The first two objectives are sometimes referred to as the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate… Its duties have expanded over the years, and today, according to official Federal Reserve documentation, include conducting the nation’s monetary policy, supervising and regulating banking institutions, maintaining the stability of the financial system and providing financial services to depository institutions, the U.S. government, and foreign official institutions…The Fed also conducts research into the economy and releases numerous publications, such as the Beige Book.”

With all this tremendous pool of experts how did it happen that the USA and many other countries were recently in the financial crisis and still are very slowly recuperating? Unemployment is still high, financial system is not very stable, interest rates are artificially kept very low and it especially hurts senior citizens.

Some people believe that it is a result of the fact that so-called experts in economics relied on the wrong economic models.

One of those people is  Nassim Nicholas Taleb. He warned long time ago that the way financial and monetary policies conducted was wrong and will lead to a financial crisis.

Who is this man? I will summarize what I know after reading information on the internet and after reading his books “Fooled by Randomness” (2001) and “The Black Swan” (2007).

Nassim Nicholas Taleb was born in a mighty and very rich family. Then the family lost almost everything. He got a good education and wanted to pursue his interests in economics, mathematics, philosophy. To be able to do what he wanted he needed  financial independence. So he applied his efforts and his knowledge to this particular purpose and made a fortune. At the same time he proved that his theories are valid and usable.

You’ll find more information about Nassim Nicholas Taleb in the article below. I hope you’ll find time to read the article. It is very, very interesting. 

NASSIM NICHOLAS TALEB

I have no doubts that Taleb is today’s intellectual giant, that his views on economics and politics, his philosophy must be studied and applied in our society.

However, as I mentioned in the title of this post Nassim Nicholas Taleb hated by many experts. He hated by many economists and statisticians because he states that their knowledge limited and not up to today’s changes in all areas of life, economy and science. He also hated by many politicians because he states that the policy of expanding government debt is leading to a catastrophe.

I think that it is a must to read mentioned above Taleb’s books. They are not written for experts. They are serious and very personal books written by a person who learned views of many intellectual giants before him and decided whom to believe and what to believe.

Below is an article about Taleb’s tweets. I enjoyed it. Hope you’ll like it too.

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Related articles

• Thoughtful tweets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (trejdify.com)