A Privilege

New Watson Twins album is coming in June! I really love them. When they sing with Jenny lewis, it is good, but I like them by themselves the best. I found out where I'm going to be living this summer... Hillsboro! I am excited. Now I just need to find a job. There are a ton of really cool internships that I wish I could do. Too bad they don't pay actual money!

I've been reading a lot about communism during WWII and the aftermath in Eastern Germany. Quite interesting stuff, I had no idea what went on behind the scenes in the making of the German Democratic Republic (actually communist) and how the introduction of communism into Germany was being planned in the Soviet Union even before WWII was lost by the Nazis. I find communism quite interesting, not that I'm interested in becoming a communist, but it just seems like the history of communism has been so hush-hush here in the United States, for fear of it taking hold here. If Americans had been able to see what communism was really like in Soviet Russia, they probably wouldn't have thought of it so highly after WWII.

I'm very curious what went on behind the "iron curtain" and in Soviet Russia. Some things really shocked me. I didn't really realize what Stalin did, his influences on the common people, and all of the propaganda romanticizing communism. His policies caused a famine in Ukraine, that nowadays is referred to as a genocide of the Ukrainian people. Over 20 countries recognize it as a genocide, but I've never heard of this until now. Stalin killed more people than the Nazis did in the holocaust. It seems like everyone keeps quiet on this topic. Oh history, so interesting.

Side note: I'm so thankful I live in America. We like to complain a lot about our country, but it is a really great country to live in. When looking at history, I am once again reminded of what a privilege it is to live here. A lot of people made sacrifices so we could live the way we do today.