Into the wild blue yonder
I met Dr. Olga Scarborough during the recent CARTA virtual conference. She presented a paper about using music in the classroom. That interested me because
I have had success with songs as teaching devices over the years. The other thing that interested me was that she teaches Russian at the US Air Force Academy, from which I graduated in 1964, in the sixth graduating class.
We corresponded briefly and Olga invited me to sit in on a couple of her third-year Russian sections. Despite my Luddite level of technology, Olga persisted and encouraged and it came together. I sent Olga some personal history and a few photos from the 1960s. There were 9 cadets in one section, 13 in the other. We spanned some 60 years of experience.
First Impressions
Immediately, I was stopped short to see how many women cadets there were in these sections. Women were first admitted to the Academy in the early 80s, but this was my first personal contact with them. And second, I was surprised that all the cadets but one wore civilian clothes. The ‘but one’ wore a flight suit. There were no blue uniforms.
Academy jargon
The jargon of the Academy does not transfer smoothly into Russian. What shall we call the cadets? Кадет seems logical, but in Russian it has some old, negative political connotations. Студент is true, but not completely so. The solution is to call them курсант, the name for someone who studies in a military school.
Translation of the Cadet Chapel is also problematic. In Russian, chapel translates as часовня, and a часовня is a modest wayside shrine. The solution is to refer to the Cadet Chapel as a храм – in Russian, a cathedral.
A class crest is an эмблема, and а class ring is not a кольцо, but a перстень. Olga taught me that a ring with a stone is properly referred to as a перстень.
English interference
One cadet aspired to be a пилот, overlooking the perfectly good and clearly descriptive Russian word лётчик. Another wanted to be a парашютист, overlooking десантник. I don't know the distinction between парашютист and десантник (civilian and military?), but the former clearly had English origins.
I have been railing against this business for a number of years, the trend of Russianized English words displacing perfectly good
Russian equivalents.
The meetings
I enjoyed the meetings immensely, and except for the points
I made above, they contained nothing that I had not met in classes before. We had heritage speakers; native speakers (quite a number!) of Russian and Polish; one student of Chechen origin whose family lived in Kazakhstan; one foreign student; and competency levels throughout the spectrum. Working with the photos I sent Olga, we were able to talk about growth in the Academy and changes in cadet life over the past 60 years.
Olga invited me to meet with these students again in the fall, and I accepted at once. They’ll be firsties then, on the last leg of their preparation for service.
Joe Liro
Professor Emeritus
Austin Community College
Life is still amazing and wonderful … during the pandemic
Some unexpected ways may change our life plans that we do not even think about. Despite all struggles that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to practically all aspects of our professional and personal lives, there are still benefits thanks to the extended use of Internet helping us stay connected with one another. Working remotely gave us a chance to meet with those who we would not be able to meet otherwise and learn from them.
When Professor Emeritus Liro responded to me with an inquire joke, if he could possibly be an USAFA cadet again, I was struck by the thought there could be an opportunity to build an imaginary bridge between two generations of cadets by utilizing online platforms.
Professor Liro seemed to like the idea to visit my third-year classes at USAFA remotely at the end of the spring 2021 semester and tell them more about his life experiences. After receiving a brief article and a few pictures from him, I shared them with my students and informed that they would be able to communicate with him soon, so they could think about their self-introductions and possible questions to ask the guest in Russian.
I was positive that such a way of communication would be beneficial for all of us, including the USAFA alumnus, current cadets and me, their instructor. We should cherish any piece of information that was relayed to us by people of different backgrounds and generations.
The cadets were really excited about the virtual visit of Professor Liro. Especially after having read the article about him and his life. They did prepare brief talks about their families, interests, future plans, and thoughtful questions. After spending some frustrating time figuring out how to handle some technical issues, Professor Liro and I agreed that our idea should be realized without fear. Technology would be favorable for us, and it was!
Cadet Feedback
In their reflective responses, the cadets mentioned that the conversation with the guest speaker helped them by providing context and examples from something other than class meetings and the textbook. Students were fascinated with his experience in several Slavic countries and his understanding of the cultural nuances between them. This fact helped them to respect the uniqueness of each country, especially before our summer immersion program in Latvia. Students also found Professor Liro’s description of the Trans-Siberian railroad to be interesting. Even knowing that Russian territory is huge, some of the students still did never previously considered how extensive the Trans-Siberian railroad must be and how landscapes vary along this famous route. One of the things they took away from communication with Professor Liro was that we never know when there might be a casual conversation with someone so influential such as Gorbachev, and being situationally aware of where we would be able to act accordingly in that respective cultural setting. Such interactive communication also helped them better understand Soviet/Russian history because Professor Liro lived there during the Cold War and was able to describe briefly what it was like, rather than them hearing about it through movies or books. Answering questions about cultural barriers, Professor Liro also emphasized how important the formal "you" form is in Russian.
Moreover, the cadets were amazed to find out that our guest had been a squadron commander at the time he was a cadet, and that Lance Sijan was his First Sergeant. Several cadets wrote that they always enjoyed when speakers who were graduates of the Air Force Academy may speak to cadets about their experiences. Cadets of the younger generation find it to be “very fulfilling to be able to maintain those connections to graduates that have come long before”. They loved Professor Liro’s discussion of the pictures he provided, as well as his story of his wedding, the “sabre arch,” and other stories shared. Some cadets realized that at times they forget that they could have various life opportunities after their military service as well. Discussions of our guest’s experience allowed young people to better understand differences of their native and foreign cultures. Students felt better moving forward with the Russian language and their ability to understand and follow conversations.
For the future, cadets expressed a desire to learn about Professor Liro’s experiences as a linguist and what sorts of things he did in other countries in more detail. They think it is important to understand the cultural and political impacts of the USSR era. They also would like to learn more about the smaller cultural intricacies in day-to-day life that textbooks tend to pass over.
Thus, our first pancake, i.e virtual meeting, was not lumpy. We wish Professor Liro many more healthy and happy years to come, and we are looking forward to hearing more lively stories from him in the near future!
Olga Scarborough
Assistant Professor of Russian
The U.S. Air Force Academy