I don't have a disregard for my reader in humor pieces.
People in Russia adapt to misery by a deep, deep humor.
Everything in Russia is made of cement - phone booths, fence posts and light bulbs.
There's an idea of the Plains as the middle of nowhere, something to be contemptuous of. But it's really a heroic place.
Siberia is so big, it’s almost more an idea than a place
I only saw one English-speaking person all the way across Siberia.