Dyeing eggs for Orthodox Easter in Bulgaria

I spent the morning dyeing and decorating eggs with my 33-year-old nephew and sister-in-law in Sofia for Orthodox Easter (which is this weekend). I learned a very cool trick with parsley leaves. You boil the egg in salt water and when it is ready you spread out a parsley leaf on the side of the egg. Then you wrap the egg with an old nylon stocking and secure it with a twisty tie. When you dip the egg in the dye you will get a negative image of the parsley which looks very cool. You let the eggs dry completely and then you cover them with a thin film of oil to make them look shiny. I had so much fun doing this!

Even more amazing blurbs for Red Valkyries!

“Until the late 20th century, you could pay close attention in school, graduate from a prestigious university with a degree in history and still never find out who Harriet Tubman was. Outrageous, right? But due to capitalist ideology and Cold War hangover, you could still do all that and never learn about Alexandra Kollontai or Inessa Armand, or any of history’s great Communist women. Kristen Ghodsee’s riveting account of these complicated, imperfect and inspiring lives is an outstanding corrective to our miseducation, one that’s long overdue.”
—Liza Featherstone

“Funny and politically illuminating, Ghodsee writes with the clear-sighted directness of the revolutionary women she describes. Women’s sexual, political and daily emancipation were the eye of the socialist storm for Kollantai, Krupskaya, Armand and Lagadinova. Ghodsee’s book breathes new life into their stories of how to create a world without patriarchy.”
—Elizabeth Armstrong, Smith College

“Kristen Ghodsee’s new book is a well-documented and immensely personal guide to the 20th-century East European socialist women’s movement. The author extracts from silence and saves from oblivion five women who have made an attempt to change not only their own, personal history, but also political, social and cultural history of women in Europe and worldwide. It is a story about a communist revolution in which women played a significant role, creating and implementing the project of a better world for all people. Reflections on the past are not, however, used to celebrate it nostalgically, but to draw conclusions for the future – how to act to build an alternative to the hegemony of capitalism and nationalism. This well-written, passionate story about the “red Valkyries” shows that socialism is not a song of the past, but still valid and long-awaited response to the challenges of the present world. Ghodsee argues that the history is not over, but rushes forward. Speeding up, however, it needs signposts to avoid falling into the abyss. The Red Valkyries will be perfect for this role.”
—Agnieszka Mrozik, Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences

And one more blurb from Grace Blakeley

“Red Valkyries is a fascinating alternative history of the feminist movement, told from the perspective of the east rather than the west. The women Ghodsee profiles are committed socialists who realise that women’s liberation is incompatible with capitalism, and who also frequently struggle against the centralisation of power within their own countries. Required reading for anyone seeking out an alternative to #girlboss feminism.”
— Grace Blakeley

More blurbs from Slavoj Zizek and Sheila Rowbotham!

“In our historical moment, quotas of women in power positions and correct manners or expressions are obfuscating the long historical link between feminism and radical politics. Ghodsee’s Red Valkyries is exactly the book needed to correct this misperception and help feminism to rejoin its radical past. The five figures analysed were fighters who pursued the feminist cause through their full engagement in revolutionary political struggle. Can we still imagine this, in our era obsessed with victimization?”
— Slavoj Zizek
“Written with clarity and zest, Red Valkyries is an illuminating introduction to the extraordinary lives of prominent socialist women in the Soviet Union and Bulgaria.”
— Sheila Rowbotham

The first blurb for Red Valkyries is in! →

I am so grateful to Jodi Dean for her kind and wonderful words!

“We’ve needed this book longer than we know: celebrating and learning from revolutionary socialist women, Red Valkyries gifts us with models essential to today’s struggles. Kristen Ghodsee breaks down the wall liberal feminism built in women’s history, bringing to life a vision of emancipation that continues to be worth fighting for.”
— Jodi Dean, author of Comrade

Longwood as the world burns

The anxiety provoked by the escalating war in Ukraine has got me trying to find some way to focus on the present. It was a beautiful early spring day on Wednesday, so a trip to the Longwood Gardens before I head back to Eastern Europe seemed just right. I needed to find some simplicity and peace among flowers.

How we can help Ukraine

Humanitarian Relief Organizations

International Rescue Committee: Providing support to displaced Ukrainian families in Poland

https://help.rescue.org/donate/ukraine-acq?ms=gs_p...

CARE: Providing food, water, and other necessities to Ukrainians fleeing violence

https://my.care.org/site/Donation2?df_id=31067&mfc...

Red Cross: Providing urgent humanitarian needs in Ukraine

https://www.icrc.org/en/donate/ukraine-b

Doctors Without Borders: Providing urgent medical and humanitarian needs in Ukraine

https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/secure/do...

World Central Kitchen: Feeding displaced Ukrainian families at the Polish border

https://donate.wck.org/give/236738/#!/donation/che...

Voices of Children: Aiding children and families in Ukraine, including providing assistance with evacuations

https://voices.org.ua/en/

This is just a sample of the many organizations involved in the response. Another fairly extensive list can be found here: https://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/ukraine-emerg...