a Kind of Refugee

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Going to the US completely changed my sense of time. I brought the urgency of war with me and returned with a sense of continuity, stretching back to…
Larissa Babij
2
To the Ukrainian diaspora and Ukraine supporters abroad, whatever your reasons or persuasion: Please keep fighting, speaking publicly—and to each other…
Larissa Babij
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How does it feel to be back in the US? Kind of like being transported back in time and visiting my past. Only the people around me are still in their…
Larissa Babij
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At Newark Airport I ask a woman standing in front of a ticket machine if it’s for the Airtrain. She doesn’t respond. It’s been a long journey, maybe…
Larissa Babij
8
Every morning at 9 AM the Ukrainian Internet TV news stream holds a minute of silence. Marked out in solemn beats, it feels long. You can actually do a…
Larissa Babij
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Things move too slowly in Kyiv. I move too slowly in Kyiv. It’s not that I’m relaxed, things just take too long. The other night I went out for drinks…
Larissa Babij
4
Tuesday evening the courtyard, flanked by tall apartment buildings, rings with children’s voices. It’s a typical summer soundscape—except for when there…
Larissa Babij
4
I have talked to so many people over the past several months, people whom I never would have met in my former patterns and routines. These are my fellow…
Larissa Babij
3
Dear Readers, Friends, The past weeks have been full of activity. I recorded a video-address in English, sitting on the ruins of a hotel in Mykolaiv…
Larissa Babij
6
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It’s a good morning when you wake up to the sound of your alarm clock. Not like the other day, when I felt a light burst of air through the open window…
Larissa Babij
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War is a dirty affair. You don’t need to shoot a gun or have killed somebody with your own hands to be sullied by your participation in it. It is…
Larissa Babij
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Summer in southern Ukraine feels like a seaside resort: the soft evening air, water everywhere and those gray-green trees that the locals call “Southern…
Larissa Babij
4
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