Yesterday, my beloved grandmother Emma Bruk died of #COVID19. Born in 1934, she did what most people of her generation couldn't do: she lived life on her own terms, without compromising her ideals or hopes, with an inner freedom that seems impossible for her era.
She was a cardiologist and many of her patients became her lifelong friends. Even after she retired at 77, she kept treating anyone who needed her help. She saw every concert, every exhibit, every play, followed the news, went to protests. (In 1991, she manned the barricades.)
"Moscow won't be the same without her," a friend said. And it's true. I can't imagine a city or a world without her endless energy, irrepressible optimism, her curiosity, and her lectures on Russian history, which, in her opinion, I did not understand. I can't believe she's gone.
A fuller tribute here. facebook.com/julia.ioffe.9/…

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More from @juliaioffe

10 Nov
This is the clearest argument I’ve heard from the right: you undermined Trump’s legitimacy for 4 years, therefore we do not have to grant your guy legitimacy. 1/
But there is a big difference between the rhetoric of a party out out power, and the actions of the party in power, refusing to relinquish the power it lost in a free and fair election. 2/
The problem of Trump’s lack of legitimacy did not stem from an a priori decision of all Dems not to see him as legitimate, though such a contingent did exist. It came from winning in the EC but losing by 3m votes, and US intel community concluding Russia had tried to help him. 3/
Read 6 tweets
20 Sep
Today marks 6 weeks since I came down with #COVID19, so here's an update (thread).

The good news is that I'm no longer actively sick or contagious (according to the pulmonologist I saw a couple days ago).

1/
The bad news is that I have post-viral damage: partially collapsed lungs (bibasilar atelectasis) and reactive airway disease.

The good news is that both sound scarier than they are and are both reversible, hopefully without too much scarring.

2/
The bad news is that it'll take weeks or even months to get back to normal. Normal for me, a healthy 37-yo, was breezing through a 2-hour spin class. Now, I get winded going up the stairs in my house.

The good news is that every day feels better than the last.

3/
Read 6 tweets
20 Aug
🚨🚨🚨Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny is in a hospital and unconscious, his team says he was poisoned.🚨🚨🚨
There's still a lot we don't know. But: last year, Navalny was poisoned in jail. Three years ago, government-backed thugs sprayed him with "brilliant green," which resulted in a chemical burn to one of his eyes. bbc.com/news/world-eur…
For years, Navalny has been exposing the corruption of Vladimir Putin and everyone around him. For doing this work, Navalny has always had a target on his back. Yet he persisted. In 2018, ran for president of Russia, mounting a sophisticated, grass roots, American-style campaign.
Read 4 tweets
4 Jul
On this July Fourth, I am thinking about immigrants, people like my parents who came to the United States seeking freedom from persecution and a better life for their children. 1/
I would argue that no one buys into the myth of America like immigrants, who often know little of the reality and the history they’re also buying into—especially if, like my parents, they’re coming from a closed, totalitarian country cut off from the world. 2/
They really believe in the ideals of America as set out on paper—and in America’s advertisements of itself abroad. Immigrants react differently when confronted with the reality, with the dark and not always heroic history of the place. 3/
Read 7 tweets
23 Jun
Protestors in Washington, D.C. tearing down a statue of Andrew Jackson, the president responsible for the Trail of Tears and a hero to President Trump. Video courtesy of ⁦⁦@jonathanchase_
More video
Protestors have been tear gassed. More video from @jonathanchase_ who is on the ground
Read 4 tweets
31 May
Fellow white people, just because you don’t understand or haven’t seen it or experienced it personally, doesn’t mean it isn’t real. After 2016, everyone raced to read “Hillbilly Elegy” to understand disgruntled white people who voted for Trump. Are you doing the same now?
Are you reading Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, Zoe’s Neale Hurston? Are you reading the autobiographies or Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X and working your way through this list? chipublib.bibliocommons.com/list/share/204…
Are you going to seek out black history museums when the lockdown is lifted? Are you following @MsPackyetti @jbouie @AdamSerwer @JamilSmith @nhannahjones @JoyAnnReid @Travon and many other amazing black voices on this platform?
Read 5 tweets

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