Lucy Moore's blog

To Kosovo and back

Lucy Moore — Mon, 28 May 2007 06:39:43 -0500

“Remember, if you get into trouble, just yell, ‘Živela Srbija.’ It’s better to go out with a bang,” a friend of mine remarked in jest as I left his apartment on my way to the station to catch a bus down to Kosovo. “I would tell you ‘lepo se provedi,’” his roommate added with a wink, “but I know you’re going to Priština.”

Quite honestly, I was nervous about the trip. Since my arrival last fall I had wanted to see the province I had heard so much about, and an Albanian friend in Priština had extended an open invitation, but the occasional reports over the last six months or so of bombed UN or OSCE vehicles troubled me a bit, as did the idea of my unnecessary American presence further complicating an already precarious situation. But when three American students called me to say they were heading down to Kosovo two weeks ago, I decided to join them.

dalje

Backwards or Brainwashed?

Lucy Moore — Mon, 14 May 2007 09:15:37 -0500

My roommate hates political correctness. Hates it. She says its unnatural, pointless, and, if anything, just serves as a status symbol in the unnecessary contest of who can be the most culturally sensitive.

“It’s like the word gypsy,” she said, trying to explain to me her distain for pc speak. “For a while everyone used gypsy, ‘Gypsy this and gypsy that.’ Then suddenly you can’t say gypsy any more, you have to say Roma. And if you say gypsy you’re a racist. Everyone looks at you like you’re terrible. But everyone is still saying the same things in the end.”

dalje

Beli Dvor

Lucy Moore — Fri, 04 May 2007 03:35:23 -0500

The Royal FamilyPerhaps it’s because I was raised in a country that prides itself on a foundation of long-severed monarchial ties, but I just don’t get the concept of a royal family. After all, what good are they really for other than filling the pages of tabloids and taking up desirable real estate in their respective capital cities?

dalje

Guilt

Lucy Moore — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 04:57:49 -0500

I’m done with former-communist urbanism. I’m sick of it.

At least that’s what I decided after spending a day in Skopje last week. As I walked around town I couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was that I disliked so strongly. I had been warned that Skopje had more than its fair share of communist period architecture due to the 1963 earthquake that, in addition to killing over 1,000 people, destroyed much of the city, leaving room for a disproportionate number of the geometrically peculiar, concrete beauties that now dot urban landscapes throughout the former Yugoslavia. Despite the earthquake, Skopje’s riverbank is still dominated by the low roofs and cobblestone streets of the jumbled Turkish čaršija. But this discordant blend of concrete and cobblestone could also define the architectural style of Sarajevo or Novi Pazar, both towns I greatly enjoyed.

dalje

“Ancient ethnic hatreds”, Novi Pazar style

Lucy Moore — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 09:50:34 -0500

Novi PazarThat the Balkans is a land whose past cannot be distinguished from its present, whose history is an active and even dominant force in its current social and political climate, is a common cliché perpetuated by a good number of foreign journalists to the region.

Take for example the widely read American travel writer Robert Kaplan. In his bestselling travel journal Balkan Ghosts, a book praised by the New York Times and read by Bill Clinton, Kaplan flecks his travel accounts with references to the region’s dark, bloody past, trumpeting the notion that the region will never be at peace because of the innate “ancient ethnic hatreds” of its people. He even goes so far as to inaccurately label the region the birthplace of nationalism. Calling Southern Serbia a “sanctum of dogma, mysticism, and savage beauty,” he writes that only there, “national life was lived. Only from here could it ever emerge.”

dalje

Is the only thing we have to fear really fear itself?

Lucy Moore — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 08:52:52 -0600

Warden NoticeThe US embassy should consider a job on the sly as event coordinator for Serbian nationalists. Every time the nationalists gather for a demonstration, the embassy sends me and every other American citizen in Serbia an email entitled "Warden Notice" informing us of the protest's date, time and location.

dalje

Visa Woes

Lucy Moore — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 06:14:11 -0600

Perhaps because I am a foreigner, travel restrictions have emerged as a repeated theme in my conversations with the people I meet here. I’ve heard rants about the endless visa lines. I’ve listened to complaints about the limited number of countries worldwide that allow citizens of Serbia to enter without a visa. (Interestingly, I've been told that Andorra is one of that limited number, but may as well not be as it is has no airport and is therefore no more than a landlocked, visa-free island in a sea of Schengen neighbors.) And I’ve even fielded drunken marriage proposals on the premise that I, a key to a green card, could then take the “suitor” with me when I return to the States.

dalje

Proud to be an American?

Lucy Moore — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 05:29:08 -0600

Sunday night, despite my Belgrade locale, I found myself audience to two separate performances of the American National Anthem: the first by Laibach at its SKC concert, and the second by Billy Joel, broadcasted live from the pinnacle of American sport culture - the Super Bowl.

Needless to say, the two renditions could not have been more opposite. For over twenty years now Laibach has toed the anti-establishment line, while the Super Bowl, by definition, is a celebration of the establishment. Yet after viewing the two performances, I found that Billy Joel’s heartfelt, patriotic version, tweaked by CBS, did more to send home Laibach’s message than did any of the Slovenian band’s ominous warnings and sinister imagery.

dalje

My First Slava

Lucy Moore — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 06:42:09 -0600

St. JovanSaturday evening I found myself one step closer to "understanding Serbia": I attended my first slava.

When I first came to Belgrade, the whole slava thing was somewhat of a mystery. Every so often a friend would mention that he or she wouldn't be free that evening because of a slava, making reference only to the copious amounts of food and drink that would be consumed, and then would move on to the next topic at hand with no further explanation.

dalje

CNN Moments

Lucy Moore — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 06:52:08 -0600

Larry King Live goes to commercial, and a map of Europe appears on the television screen. The outline of Serbia glows red against the unmarked, gray continent. The frame zooms in on the small country, then cuts to images of monasteries, happy crowds of people, and low lit naturescapes. As the advertisement comes to an end, the audience is left with the parting slogan, "Serbia: Moments to Remember." This is one of Serbia's two new self-promotional commercials, which was aired for the first time last week on CNN and will continue to run for the next few months. (see Dejan Bizinger's last blog entry http://blog.b92.net/node/3746 for YouTube links).

dalje