From a mile high to a city built on a swamp.

Welcome friends, family and all you internet addicts who have navigated yourselves to my blog! This is where I will track my adventures through Russia on my Fulbright-funded year abroad. As for a note on the title- Samizdat refers to the process of self-published literature throughout the period of Soviet censorship in Russia. The word is made up of two components: "sam", which in Russian means "self" or "by oneself" and "izdat" a shortened version of the word izdatel'stvo meaning "publishing house". So samizdat can be translated into english as "self-published".
The Samizdat movement took form not only to pass along poetry but political ideas and art as well. In this way the movement is relevant to the project I am embarking on- to study the tradition of the Russian artist book from the period of the avant-garde through contemporary Russia. I'll post a condensed version of my project proposal next.

As for now- I've got plenty of packing left to do so I will hop on that as I fly out of here tomorrow at 2pm! au revior Denver.