English Summary
Good Facebooks Make Good Neighbours
by Anastasia Ryzhkova (page 114)
Sokol and Aeroport are two adjacent districts a little way north-west of central Moscow. Both have names evocative of proud, slightly old-fashioned things that soar: Sokol means “falcon”, while Aeroport commemorates a former airport built there in 1910, the first of Moscow’s many. Lately, the two districts have had another noteworthy thing in common. It’s a Facebook (соцсеть признана в РФ экстремистской и запрещена) group that goes by the nonchalantly Globalese name of Airport/ Sokol Da Neighborhood, and it’s the breakout success story – mentions at conferences and all – of Moscow’s hyperlocal social networking.
Arina Grebelskaya had done marketing work for HP and Heineken, and was running her own organic desserts business, when she started Da Neighborhood as a spare-time project, following an unpleasant experience with an existing Sokol online community – where “they’d answer your question all right, but not before flaming the hell out of you”. A friendly environment was key – whether a poster was looking for tabletop game partners, asking neighbours for ideas on how to get two stray ducklings she’d seen out of harm’s way, or upset about the magistrate’s plans to repaint some tenements a hideous shade of grey.
The latter grew into a grassroots effort and won; offline civic participation may still be rather meagre, but some officials have since been reaching out to Da Neighborhood themselves. There are subtler effects too; at fourteen thousand members, Da Neighborhood’s culture of friendly small talk and mutual aid is evidently trickling down into “real life” – although that culture probably wouldn’t have been there without Arina’s uncompromising moderatorial policies.
“I Am Where I Want to Be”
by Sergei Nikolaevich (page 56)
Here’s a quick way to annoy Ivan Yankovsky: talk about his famous parents and legendary grandfather Oleg; call him the continuation of a “dynasty” of actors. He can barely hide his loathing for that kind of talk. He’s volatile; one might say explosive. His acting is all about snap reactions: instant falls, instant tears, no hesitation before stripping naked in front of the camera. All of which makes him an ideal Hermann – the reckless protagonist of The Queen of Spades, Pushkin’s short