Russia
6 Reasons to Celebrate Sochi
There may be no better place, writes Dave Hayton, for the world’s athletes to converge: “Should not the message of the Olympics be that you don’t have to be a Paris or a Los Angeles to host the games?”
About Suffering They Were Never Wrong
A dispatch from a Russian funeral: “The man cranked his car to life and backed out of the lot, grazing several mourners with his bumper.”
Epiphany on the Russia Express
Writer Dave Hayton thinks the 40-hour train ride from Makhachkala to Moscow is the world’s best travel experience. “Packed with diverse people all heading in the same direction,” he writes, “the train remains a harbinger of possibility.”
Stomping Grounds: Makhachkala
Where to go for vodka and disco in Dagestan’s capital: “In America we might shout when wea��re thrilled. In Makhachkala, they might shoot.”
‘The Narrative Found Me’
Photographer Diana Markosian on capturing a fast-changing Chechnya in pictures: “In today’s Chechnya, it is unusual to see boys and girls together for gym class. Gender segregation is becoming the norm.”
A Wedding Kidnapping in Dagestan
Dave Hayton on Makhachkala’s marriage rituals: “Western groomsmen don tuxedos and take photos. Here they carpool to the bridea��s village in hopes of kidnapping her.”
