If you wake up every morning with existential dread about the state of the world and carry that around with you all day, every day, this newsletter is for you.
If you are a happy person who generally thinks anything is possible and things are going swimmingly, you probably won’t enjoy my ramblings, but you are certainly welcome, if only to get a better idea of how the rest of us live.
I was born in 1976 in Toronto to a Canadian mother and Yugoslav father. In the early 1980s, we moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, where I grew up, attending public school and spending most of my free time at the swimming pool. I graduated in 1998 from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where I majored in International Economics and learned to speak Russian. After a year on Wall St as an investment banking analyst, in 1999, I quit my job and bought a one-way ticket to Moscow. I arrived with two suitcases and the fearlessness of a 23 year old. It was the best decision I ever made.
I stayed in Russia for nearly eight years, working in a variety of roles, from investment banking to investor relations and oil and gas. I also did an extremely brief stint in Belgrade, Serbia, before quickly realizing that my heart was in Russia. Another brief one year stint (see a pattern?) at Harvard Business School’s MBA program class of 2006, which also was, as they say in corporate America, “not a great fit for me”.
In 2008, I marred an Austrian, with very little idea of Austrian history or culture or tradition…you get the idea. I didn’t speak any German. I took German classes for about four days in London, and quit. My German is grammatically incorrect, nearly fluent in terms of comprehension, and self-taught. I call it Billa Deutsch. It works for me. It embarrasses my husband and kids.
We lived for many years in London, and have been in Vienna, Austria since 2013. I am a stay-at-home-mom (god I despise that term but it’s the truth) to three kids aged 15, 13, and 11. I do a teeny tiny bit of freelance translation from Russian to English and editing of English texts written by non-native speakers, but really, I haven’t held a proper corporate job since 2007 and my resume is now not even worth the paper it’s printed on.
A few years ago, I started tweeting, after having lurked on Twitter for years, using the platform to follow journalists whose work I admired. I have built up a little following of people interested in reading my hot takes on Austria’s collision course in English, as well as on covid and Russia and whatever else is on my mind that day. I’m also interested in the Balkans, Belarus, books, and sharing which podcasts I’m listening to (I listen to a lot of podcasts; they are the perfect format for my introvert self).
So what will my newsletter be about? Current events, politics, economics, our response to the covid pandemic, education, the rise of authoritarianism and the dying days of democracy as we know it. A lot of it will be an inside view on what’s happening here in central Europe from an American perspective. I’ve been abroad for more than two decades, but my cultural compass remains on the other side of the Atlantic. A special part of me will always be in Moscow, my most favorite city on earth. And in Montenegro, the only place I’m truly happy in summer. In another life, I will split my time between both places forever.
I promise to try and keep Weight of the World readable and not too long and most importantly, honest. To the truth, to myself, and to you, the reader.
How often will you publish?
As a middle-aged mom of three recently self-diagnosed as having ADHD (thank you TikTok), I need structure. My goal will be to write for one hour every morning once I get the rest of my family out the door.
Until now, I have been pretty active on Twitter, sharing interesting stories from the regions I’m watching, and tweeting about topics I’m most interested in at this inflection point in our world’s development. I can’t even bring myself to call it progress, because in many ways it feels like we are moving backwards, sometimes awfully quickly.
Initially, I will aim to publish every morning M-F, sharing the most interesting stories and links to content I think is relevant to better understanding this moment we find ourselves in.
On weekends, I’ll try to take a step back from the day to day and write on specific topics I’m carrying around with me in my head. It may get personal at times. I am a feeler, a highly emotional person who can’t always be like teflon. I can only promise honesty and an openness for constructive criticism and dialogue.
I am going to hit send now to commit myself to this daily exercise and attempt to present my thoughts and findings in some kind of organized fashion. This will initially be a free newsletter.
Thanks for coming along for the ride and happy new year! C наступающим!
Let’s hope like hell 2022 will not be anything like 2021.
It is rainy and gloomy here in NYC today--although the spring sparrows are still chirping outside my window even in the rain and grey pallor of the day. I thought it would be a good idea to go back and catch up on all your posts; this one written on my birthday last year.