The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 25, 1983, Page 3, Image 3
Experiences Russia
USC
By Bruce B. Ritchie
LENINGRAD, RSFSR, USSR ? The
baggage examiner in the Moscow airport
stared at the tightly packed handbag and
shook her head in disbelief. After unsuccessfully
trying to zip the bag back up, she
slid it to me, smiled politely and waved me
on.
I went to the Soviet Union as a member of
the University of Wisconsin-River Falls'
Soviet Mass Media tour, but rather than being
armed with an assortment of cameras and
recording equipment, I carried a conglomeration
of hats, T-shirts, buttons,
cigarettes ana music tapes tor Soviets my
age.
I wanted to meet and understand collegeaged
Soviets, but I was destined to leave
more perplexed than when I arrived.
IN PREPARATION for the trip, I read
books and articles about Soviet youth, but
their American authors were in their 30s or
40s.
1 was still young enough to mingle in and
see it first hand, I thought.
Armed with my bag of goodies, I first hit
the streets in Moscow looking for the hot
spots that would surely mark any city of
seven million. I passed small groups of teenagers
gathered outside my hotel, The
Kosmos, as I ventured downtown. It was just
nearing 11 p.m., but as I stopped to peer into
the cafes dotting the streets, I could see only
elderly ladies placing chairs on the tables.
Hn\/lp P.nntimiprl from nanfi 1
L/ U Jf ** r ?
The Supreme Court's statement said, "Desp
documented during this hearing, many of th
peared to result from a number of sources, b
election commission (sic) only.
"NOR DOES there appear to be any e
regularities were created by any person for an;
pose, with the effect that the election results w
or altered."
Doyle said he did not expect Holderman to
but he was appealing because "I want him (H
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It didn't take many more blocks to realize
the only thing moving in Moscow after 11
p.m. were the trolley cars and an occasional
soldier walking his beat.
Feeling puzzled, I strolled back to the hotel
via the Solkolniki Park. You couldn't stroll a
mile through Anytown, USA, I thought
without finding at least one bar open. And
Moscow is the largest city in a nation of 250
million.
AN ICY breeze in an otherwise calm night
rustled some bushes. I realized I had taken a
wrong turn and found myself in a remote
area of the park. Three figures were approaching
from the other direction, from the
shadows. I turned and walked quickly. "I
don't want to die in Moscow," I thought as I
found myself encircled.
"Americanski?" a voice behind me
questioned.
I turned and stared sternly at a Russian in
his late teens. He had stringy, dull brown
hair that flopped over one eye and reached
down to his collar. He wore white high-top
Converse shoes, blue jeans and a denim
jacket.
i17A _ t x unit i i i
uo you nave jeans 10 sen.' ne asKea.
IT WAS a question I would hear a half
dozen times every day for two weeks. I sighed
in relief.
I had no jeans to sell, but I played his
game. I told him I had a pair of new Levi's,
unwashed, for 100 rubles in my room.
o
>ite irregularities the codes apply as they are w
le problems ap- "If he upholds the Con
ut not from the disregarded and the Court c
whims. Why have a code if ;
vidence that ir- Doyle said.
? o >+? %!.?. nr?i J . rv i _ r
y pamcuiai pui- ine coae uoyie reiers 10 s
ere manipulated must ensure that all elections
just manner."
rule in his favor "SOME PEOPLE don't u
olderman) to say this," Doyle said. "They thin
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The three laughed and walked away.
The articles I read before leaving the U.S.
said jeans were going for $150 a pair in the
17 c c tj t >4 i : i r
vj.o.o.iv. i uiuu i uiuig any uctausc 1
couldn't afford them in America. Besides,
100 rubles could buy little. The clothes in
department store windows were usually out
of style, made of poor quality, expensive and
rarely available.
WE WERE warned about such encounters
in our tour information packets and by our
tour guides, Soviet and American, and a
former correspondent on our trip.
"The KGB will routinelv Dlace agents near
foreigners and set up illegal sales," said Jill
Dougherty, our American guide. "You may
not get in any trouble at all, but it's
something they have on you. If you were to
become involved suddenly with some
dissidents here, for example, they would
have an excuse to ask you to leave the country,"
she said.
Some offers smelled of KGB setups: Welldressed
men in their 30s approached
Americans in hotel lobbies, which had
restricted access, and asked to go to their
room to examine their wardrobe. "Do not be
alarmed," was their opening line, enough to
alarm anyone.
Nearly all teen-agers had an interest in
jeans, however, and anything else for that
matter.
UN A STKULJL througn uorky FarK, a
iiLtvu. nig iu gum up
irt's ruling, the code can be would underst
:an make decisions by its own dent Governir
you're not going to follow it?" "What I fin
in last year's
tates the Elections Commission sioner) and sc
are run in a "fair, equitable and problems hav<
If Holderm
nderstand the reason I'm doing the board of ti
If I am ? nnnr Inser and iust trv- that far
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neciia tour
Moscow amusement park, one could occasionally
see young Soviets with an Adidas
jacket or college T-shirt to match faded
denim and boots.
Uorky Park is a favorite place in Moscow
for young Russians to play the shooting
gallery with beebee rifles for 3 kopecks (5
cents), ride the ferris wheel or walk along the
scenic Moscow River. Little old ladies sold
meat pies or smoked herring from stands
while classical music trumpeted overhead.
Ice skating on the ponds was a cheap escape
from the crowded life of a one room
apartment.
There were reports of hidden rock 'n' roil
nightclubs in Moscow, but most teen-agers
shrugged cynically when questioned and said
the best places to go were our own hotel bars.
One unadvertised youth bar was
discovered by several group members venturing
down a side street in Leningrad. A long
line of teen-agers led to a building entrance
with flashing lights. My fellow journalists
said they were whisked to the front of the line
"because you are Americans." They paid a
two-ruble cover charge that included drinks.
TL- -1--1- - ' '
i iic ciuo was crowaea witn students and
sailors dancing to the music of the '70s pop
band, The Village People.
The author is a senior journalism major
who recently completed a trip to the Soviet
Union as a part of a mass media tour. This is
the first of a two-part series. The second part
will be published Wednesday.
the works, but I would hope that most students
and that what I'm trying to do is get them (Stuent)
within the code.
d amazing is that Student Government brought
elections commissioner, this year's (commis meone
from Student Affairs to ?av that
: existed all along."
an denies Doyle's appeal, Doyle can appeal to
rustees, but he said he probably wouldn't take it
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