Russia, U.S.: LJ User Drugoi in NYC · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

LJ user drugoi‘s post with beautiful photos from Manhattan (RUS) is currently listed as the Russian blogosphere's most popular one at Yandex Blogs portal. There are over 400 comments so far to this item by one of the most popular and prolific Russian bloggers, and here's a quick, almost random selection of just a couple of them:
lamirka:
How cool! Too bad I don't have photos like these ones ( I looked at yours and recalled the feeling of [being inside] an anthill and of freedom at the same time. Thank you.
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tutushka:
Thank you ) It suddenly occurred to me that I've never actually seen such truly positive pictures of Moscow and its residents. I wish I could.
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andreybar:
Great shots. New York does differ so much from the rest of America.
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rustex:
THANKS! A great series. Allowed me to feel the spirit of the City again. [New York] isn't that simple – it's not easy to get a sense of it. And you've managed to do it. […]
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anywayblue:
New York used to be my only friend when I lived there for three years. I understood then why there were so many lonely people there – they could afford it – because they had this city.
LJ user drugoi also jotted down some notes (RUS) on the Russian-language blogosphere conference that he attended on Friday, Oct. 17, at Columbia University School of Journalism (for more information about the event – Russia Online: Mapping the Russian-Language Blogosphere and Participatory Internet – click on this link and and enter username: russiaonline and password: columbia):
[…] Spent the whole day yesterday at a conference organized by Columbia University and Harvard. Americans are studying the Russian blogosphere, among others, and have summoned the insiders capable of sharing their knowledge on the subject. Serezha Kuznetsov (aka [LJ user] skuzn) talked about “do you remember how it all began,” Ellen Rutten spoke about online literature research, mentioning the [“podonki language“] as one of [Runet]'s cultural phenomena, but overall, the discussion focused mainly on politics, of course. Of the things that were interesting, there was Floriana Fossato‘s report on the failures of Russian online political projects, and sociologist Olessia Koltsova recounted the story of the attempts to rescue the [European University at St. Petersburg]. The folks got excited, an interesting discussion took off, though I was a little surprised by the seriousness with which some people treat such civil actions, of the kind that were taking place when the [European University at St. Petersburg] got shut down. In Russia, such events are effective only when they are reinforced at the level of personal connections in the so-called “corridors of power.” If the dean hadn't been involved in “telephone” work then, no signature lists, no LJ communities or street actions would have helped. If they had been serious about shutting [the institution] down, they would have done it. […]