Old Babes

Alexeyeva in the snow maiden outfit she got busted in New Year's Eve

Everyone knew the sentence for crimes against the state: seven years in a penal camp and five years in exile. On her way into K.G.B. headquarters, Ms. Alexeyeva would stop to buy a ham sandwich, an éclair and an orange. These were delicacies in the 1970s, even for the investigator, who was headed for a lunch of gray cutlets. Halfway through, Ms. Alexeyeva would unwrap her lunch and lay it out on the table.

“They reacted very nervously when they started to smell ham,” she said with a sweet smile. “Then I would start eating the orange, and the aroma would start dissipating through the room.” The effect was reliably hypnotic.

“That’s how I amused myself,” she said. “It was a way to play on his nerves.”

( 82-year-old Soviet dissident Lyudmila M. Alexeyeva )

MLK Jr.'s Birthday

I'm going to write Bob Moses a card that just says, You're my hero.


Dr. Robert P. Moses
The Algebra Project, Inc.
99 Bishop Allen Drive
Cambridge, MA 02139