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memory trigger
Mar. 20th, 2014 02:31 pmBackground: in 1976, I went with a tour group of (mostly) college students to the USSR, traveling around in VW buses and camping. I have some clear memories, and a lot of vague impressions. Most of the memories aren't of famous tourist sites, but some are well-known places. We didn't stay in Sochi, but passed by it on the way to a campground near a less-popular Black Sea resort.
Yesterday, someone on NPR was talking about the possibilities of damage to Russian businesses if the sanctions expand. She mentioned the toy store Detsky Mir (Children's World) in passing and I had a sudden flash of the huge poster in the store window all those years ago. There is a simplistic song (link below) that was widely used. The first line of the chorus means "May there always be sun(shine)." That was printed on the poster, with a big photo of the sun. Why do I remember that? When I went to youtube, I was wondering if it would be hard to find, as I don't have a Cyrillic keyboard, but I needn't have worried - all I had to do was type "may there" and it auto-filled. Have a version with photos of Young Pioneers. That fall, I showed up to a Russian final exam at UNC wearing as close as I could get to a Young Pioneer outfit - blue skirt, white shirt, and actual scarf and pin (for which I had traded chewing gum and a pencil, I think).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJw9sKg4Z_0
The object near the beginning with the picture of Lenin is the pin. The slogan means "Always prepared" (sound familiar?)
There is also a version by the famous late Commie Pete Seeger, if you want to search for it.
Yesterday, someone on NPR was talking about the possibilities of damage to Russian businesses if the sanctions expand. She mentioned the toy store Detsky Mir (Children's World) in passing and I had a sudden flash of the huge poster in the store window all those years ago. There is a simplistic song (link below) that was widely used. The first line of the chorus means "May there always be sun(shine)." That was printed on the poster, with a big photo of the sun. Why do I remember that? When I went to youtube, I was wondering if it would be hard to find, as I don't have a Cyrillic keyboard, but I needn't have worried - all I had to do was type "may there" and it auto-filled. Have a version with photos of Young Pioneers. That fall, I showed up to a Russian final exam at UNC wearing as close as I could get to a Young Pioneer outfit - blue skirt, white shirt, and actual scarf and pin (for which I had traded chewing gum and a pencil, I think).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJw9sKg4Z_0
The object near the beginning with the picture of Lenin is the pin. The slogan means "Always prepared" (sound familiar?)
There is also a version by the famous late Commie Pete Seeger, if you want to search for it.
