Each time I enter Tolstoy’s world of the romantically depressed Anna Arkadyevna, the in-over-his-head Aleksei Kirillovich (Vronsky), the joyful Stepan Arkadyich and the ultimate sweetness Ekaterina Alexandrovna (Kitty), I enter a world I don’t ever want to depart. The happy and fun parts aren’t the only thing capturing my attention, because to me even the depressing, lonely parts seem a step up from my own life.

I have lived in the country for many years, but every inch of my love for it is nothing compared to the passionate way Tolstoy describes Levin’s provincial life and the way he deals with it all. There’s a story about how Levin joins his muzhiks in the fields and helps them with the mowing, which is told so fervently and realistic that you can almost feel the high grass swaying against your own body.

All the love affairs also feel like they’re happening in the now, every single one at the same time, every affair with the same intensity. From the unlucky romantic choices Anna Arkadyevna (Karenina) makes throughout the story (and believe me, they are very unlucky and unfortunate ones), to the emotional and heartfelt search for love present in Kitty’s life, but which is also very pressing in Levin’s life, Vronsky’s, and Dolly’s. Even the coldhearted Aleksei Alexandrovich, Anna’s husband, gets a sympathy vote once every so chapter.

What do I want to say with all of this? Nothing in particular, just that Anna Karenina is truly one of the best literary works of all time. It’s not only the engaging story that elevates it to majestical height, the way it all is structured is also above anything else. The many chapters, combined with the fact that it all is packed into eight overwhelming parts, keep the interest alive and give you room to breath between mind blowing paragraphs, full of eventful and magical happenings.

I don’t believe in spirituality, religion, God, that human beings aren’t the same as animals, in dieting, that all obesity is wrong, or that lanky figures are. I don’t consider people to have souls, transmittable through years and generations, and as such do not believe in reincarnation, ghosts, the undead, spirits, that people can talk with the dead, or even that you can be more than just dead. The grim reaper doesn’t exist, the devil, Jesus Christ, angels, Jupiter, Neptune, Diana and Ceres, also not.

There is only universe beyond the universe, we are all part of science, not spirituality, we are here on earth to be born, life and die, nothing more, no higher power has ever stood above all existence, not in the past, not now, not in the future, not ever. Karma doesn’t exist, yin and yang are nothing more than irrational overgeneralisations of a scientific balance, there is no original sin, or any sin at all. There is only the definition people have bound up “good” and “wrong” in, no such thing as “good” and “wrong” truly exists. Read More »

Yes.

The United Nations is a great organisation, providing a diplomatic backbone to the world and all its problems. But 63 years after its foundation, the platform has become corrupt, badly organised, without any real enforcement powers, and with a reputation in shambles. Kofi Annan, the most renowned Secretary-General, a title he shares with Dag Hammarskjöld, knew this, tried to reform, but was met with skepticism, protests from member states, and the complexity of international politics.

Does the United Nations really matter in todays political playing field? It may have a grand representation in the arts and culture (UNESCO), the care of children (UNICEF), supplying food for the poor (WFP), and providing healthcare around the world (WHO), but it has less of an importance in world politics, or at least less than it should have. Read More »

As every night, he firmly closed the door behind him. The darkness of the corridor had frustrated him in the beginning, but now that he had gotten used to it, the void became one of his pleasures. Blindly wondering through the hallway, touching the walls, the furniture, the ends and beginnings of doors, he maneuvered towards the end, his heartbeat increasing with every step. If he had made it without falling, or even tripping, disappointment would fill his soul, the empty achievement of trivia replacing his anxious pleasure. Tonight was the same as always.

Once inside the room, he lit just one candle, near the arching windows that looked, angrily, towards the winterwonderland across the street. A black kettle he quickly placed upon the stove and, waiting for the water, he rested in the velvet chair his uncle had given him. Its original navy colour had gone bleek, the rough snow, rain and dirt from his army jacket had created wounds in the gentle fabric. Read More »

To organise the mess that is my mind, I keep a little black book (an actual one) with me and scribble random thoughts in it. Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes you get things like this: “laissez-faire, status quo, self improvement.” Don’t know why I wrote it down, what the connection between the three was, or why I should even care.

The following makes sense though, at least to me. Coming back from my first class of English literature, in a response to something my drama professor told us, I wrote down some random thoughts about religion. They aren’t complete thoughts, and not every one is supported by an argument within the note, but that’s why they’re “thoughts” and not “statements.” Originally wanted to merge it all into a story, but they are too unrelated for one coherent post. So, I will just present you the notes. Read More »

Of all news sources available in the world, I appreciate and value The New York Times the most. Their reporting is accurate, follows my own ethnical and social principles, and the overall quality of the Times keeps it at the top of the industry.

For California Proposition 8, or “Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry Act,” I have no appreciation, it being beyond offensive, discriminative and ignorant in all its “family value” glory. It would destroy (not in legal terms) the decision made by the California Supreme Court, which turned California into the second American state to allow same-sex marriages — “marriages for all.” Is this the seventeenth century, people?

Luckily, the Times agrees with the responsible, sensible and intelligent part of our society, who all oppose Prop 8. As counter argument they present the following: “The proponents of Proposition 8 make the familiar claim that legalizing same-sex marriage undercuts marriage between men and women. But thousands of gay and lesbian couples have been married in California since the May ruling and marriage remains intact.” And so it is. The situation is nothing more plainly and to the point than that.

Thank you, Times! It’s a shame you have to do it in the first place, but it’s much appreciated.

The New York Times, “Preserving California’s Constitution”