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Yes, the road to
Sapozhok. For me, the road began in May 1994, the first time I went
to Russia. It was that visit that caused me to fall in love with Russia
and caused me to want to return as frequently as possible. I was
fortunate to be able to return to Russia in May 1995. Both of those
trips were with a Russian Studies program associated with the University
of Central Arkansas and links to my activites related to those trips are
found elsewhere on my home page. In 1996, 1997, and 1998, however, I was not able to
return to Russia. For some reason, there was a decline in interest
among our student body and we could not generate enough interest to get
students to go. So, as I began to think about getting back to
Russia, I began to realize that the only way that I could travel to Russia
on a regular basis would be to find funding for research, teacher and
student exchanges, etc. At that point, beginning in 1997, I started
to write grant proposals in order to find money to go back to
Russia.
I had been reading James S. Gregory's book,
Russian Land,
Soviet People: A Geographical Approach to the U.S.S.R..
when I came
across a map entitled "Distribution of Settlement in the Ryazan
District." It was a map that showed the land use as it existed in
1955. That map is shown below. |
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I noticed in the map a
small village by the name of Sapozhok and the caption under the map said
it was in the Ryazan District. My next job was to find out actually
where Sapozhok was, because I thought that a great research project would
be to compare the 1955 land use in the area with land use as it existed in
1997 (that's when I started to think of the project). After
searching Russian atlases and finally an Internet atlas, I found Sapozhok
to be located southeast of Ryazan, Russia (see map at lower left). I then
wrote a proposal to the Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad Program in
an attempt to get back to Russia (it was later denied). I realized
that I needed to have contacts in Russia that could help and work with me
on this project so I searched the web for home pages of individuals in
Ryazan, Russia. |
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During my search I came
across Alexander Pribylov, a computer scientist at Ryazan State
Pedagogical University. I sent him an e-mail message and asked him
if he knew any geographers who would be interested in working with me on a
research project regarding land use change in the Ryazan Oblast. To
my surprise, he wrote back and said that his wife, Elena Biryukova was a
geographer. Elena and I immediately began to correspond about this
project and many others. She eventually led me to other topics more
related to her interests such as natural resource preservation, resource
management, protecting rare and endangered plants and animals, and park
management and preservation. Alexander (Sahsa) and Elena and their
little girl, Alona, are shown at the right. |
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Lena and I began to write
proposals together beginning in 1998 and I once again began to recruit
students for another trip to Russia in 1999. Well, 1999, turned out
to be a banner year for trips to Russia and getting grants funded.
First, I learned in March 1999 that I had received funding to take twelve
teachers to Ryazan as part of a Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad
Program.
Second, we were able to recruit enough students and others to take a group
to Moscow in May 1999. Third, while on that trip, I took three days
and went to Ryazan to visit Sasha and Lena and to make final preparations
for the Ryazan Seminar which would occur over five weeks in July and
August. That is when I first met Sasha and Lena - June 1999. Fourth,
in July and August 1999, the group of teachers and I went to Ryazan to
study and to work in a national park. That experience is described
from a link on my home page. Fifth, when I got home from
Ryazan, I soon learned that I had been funded by the International Research and Exchanges Board
(IREX) to
conduct demographic research in the Ryazan Oblast. That research
occurred in October 1999 and the experience can be found described on my
home page. So ended 1999, at least in terms of visits to Russia
(there were three).
In the fall of 1999, I submitted more proposals
in an attempt to get back to Russia. During the spring of 2000, all
of my proposals had been denied, but more students were interested in an
excursion to Russia so a trip to Moscow was plannned for May and early
June. We were just preparing to leave and one of my sons became ill,
and at his request, I stayed home. I thought a trip to Russia was
out for the year 2000. Yet, I did have an airline ticket and found
out that I could get a refund. I also learned that Ryazan State
Pedagogical University was hosting a multi-oblast conference on land use
in the Oka River Basin from September 2 through 10, 2000, so I wrote a
paper and made plans to attend. |
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