LAS VEGAS, NV-

My cousin and I are sitting on a kitchen windowsill, smoking. We’re seven.

Outside, Moscow is blooming. Inside, we’re extras in a WWII-themed flick called Sisters, or Girlfriends. I can’t remember for sure. In this scene two women argue about so many damn Gypsies running around town. It’s intense. My cousin and I are supposed be acting like we’re talking, smoking, laughing. We’re so excited we can barely do that.

One of the two women is a famous Soviet actress. She’s crying. We can’t help admiring her skills, but we’re actors, too. So, we talk and smile, and we make sure to smoke as much as possible during the scene, because our parents would break our fingers if we tried it for real. In the name of art, we light one cigarette after another.

(more…)

LAS VEGAS, NV-

With a delicate caress of the bow, the Gypsy violin begins its song. The Taborny Dance starts off slow, with a woman’s graceful hands and the froth of her emerald skirts. I watch the audience from my usual spot just behind the right curtain. When Rubina goes center stage, people lean forward in their wooden seats. Her cat-like eyes slant at the corners as she smiles down at the crowd, like a royal queen at her subjects. Most of the men in the band are either in love or in lust with her. At least that is what my grandmother, Ksenia says. She does not approve, but since Rubina is one of the most talented dancers, grandmother keeps her opinions to herself.

(more…)

LAS VEGAS, NV -

I moved to the States nineteen years ago, a year before USSR went extinct. Since then, I’ve been so busy morphing into an American version of my previous Gypsy-Armenian-Russian-Ukrainian-Mongolian self, that I have almost forgotten the old life.

Almost, but not quite.

(more…)

BOULDER, CO -

“Perdón,” I said, stepping aside to allow the strange woman to pass.  But when she blocked my way, I blinked at her.   Around us, crowds of people scattered in all directions beneath the Giralda minaret looming high above.  My head began to spin and I felt disoriented.  I needed to sit down.

(more…)