Village Notes

In Russia, valenki are as near as you can get to the country's number-one footwear after regular leather boots.

In which the Rural Council takes up the case of “The Conduct of Nikolayev, N. N.”

When the district medic comes around, the stage is set for a skirmish between modern and traditional medicine.

“On Saturdays, smoke drifts over the village. The banyas are being heated.” Let’s go!

It is surprisingly simple (in certain circumstances) to mix up homebrew with other, less harmful things.

“Nikolayev hated the cat, wet socks, and his mother-in-law.”

One fine spring day, a new telephone appeared in the village of Chukhrai. A beautiful thing. But it connected to no one or no thing.

Columnist Laura Williams recounts in run-ins with the Russian health care system, village-style.

A crime is committed in Laura's village by some wandering gypsies. So her husband takes the law into his own hands...

Spring is the time for calves...

This modern tale of two hapless village drunks and their run-in with the Russian justice system could be taken out of Chekhov. But, sadly, it is non-fiction.