XANDER BLAKELY
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FAQ 1. Explain why you decided to go to Siberia as a 21-year-old graduate? Opportunity. I believed that there was more opportunity to live intensely and to work gainfully in Siberia than in the increasingly sterile, suburban landscape of America. I had a degree in economics. The Soviet Union has just collapsed in what was the biggest economic event of the century, except, perhaps the original Bolshevik revolution. I wasn't going to sit on the sidelines while Russia's capitalist renaissance played itself out. Studying economic theory was a dismal pursuit at best, but living inside a continent-sized economic laboratory was often thrilling, occasionally heartbreaking, but always fascinating. The Russians have a saying, "If you want to drink champagne, you have to take risks." I risked a lot by going to Siberia, and I drank a lot of champagne, among other things. |
