Beware Facebook Users!

Internet Privacy Issues Threaten Our Freedom

By Jim Vail
Special Chicago News

In a country that values its freedom, why do we allow our communication nerve center to be under constant surveillance?

Kent Law Professor Lori Andrews has written a frightening account of how the government and corporations watch our every move on the social networks giving us no privacy. She proposes creating a Social Network Constitution, similar to the US Constitution, which gives us the right to protest our government, protect us from unlawful searches and give us the freedom of speech.

That freedom which we hold dear in the Constitution does not exist on the social networks we visit every day.

“Are social networks public or private,” Andrews writes in her book I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You Did. “If a woman invited 20 people into her home, the police would not be able to enter without a warrant based on probable cause. If her boss wasn’t invited to the party, he would not be permitted to eavesdrop electronically on the conversations there. But what if a woman has 20 Facebook friends? Is that a private gathering or a public one where any third party – from the cops to the boss – can use whatever the woman says against her?”

In the age of the internet, Big Brother is watching our every move and we the people have no legal document to protect us.

In 2011 when this book was first published, Facebook started sharing home addresses and cell phone numbers of its users with third-party websites, something most of its users would never consent to.

What people post has been used against them. Schools, employers, mortgage brokers, credit card companies and many other social institutions seek information from social networks in order to make judgements about people. For example, one college grad applied for a job with a major talent agency that canceled his interview because of a drinking photo on his website.

According to Andrews, judges have been granting opposing counsel’s requests for everything a person has posted on Facebook. In one case a disabled wife asked for spousal support in a divorce, but her husband convinced the court to admit her recent Match.com profile, showing an active lifestyle. The court denied her request for support.

Facebook’s eroding privacy policy is shown on a timeline. Facebook has gone from a private space for communication with a group of your choice to a platform where much of your information is public by default. It uses your private information to make lots of money and shares that information with the government when asked.

“The underlying structure of Facebook – the impression that you are speaking to only your friends – is what provides the impetus for people to provide more intimate, personal, and revealing details than have ever been shared on the Web,” Andrews writes. “People’s gut feeling that what they are posting is private is a belief that it is reasonable for society to protect under the right to privacy.”

Right now people do not receive adequate warning about the implications of posting on social networks or using the Web more generally. The lawyers write up those long notices we have to click to agree, but people don’t read or understand them.

“Even in our exhibitionist culture, people long for privacy.”

One survey in 2010 showed that younger adults tend to be more cautious with their online privacy than older ones.

The Social Network Constitution would mandate that the default setting on social networks should be that no one would have access to your information unless you specifically agree after adequate warnings about the implications of giving up your privacy in a particular online setting and adequate disclosure about who will be using that information and for what purposes.

The protection of anonymous posters is an interesting question. If free speech is to be encouraged, anonymity might be warranted, Andrews writes. But for a robust discussion, shouldn’t the identity matter in order to know who stands behind the comment. People write letters to the editor of the newspaper and they have to identify themselves. That is not the case online.

One person was posting numerous comments about court cases, sports and even the relatives of reporters. One post about the mental state of a relative of a reporter upset the editor, who looked up the email and linked the address to Judge Shirley Strickland. The judge sued the newspaper for $50 million for invading her privacy. It turned out that the judge, who posted comments about many of her cases, did not like the newspaper’s coverage of her courtroom. The reporter she attacked had quoted what she once told a woman who pled guilty to credit card fraud: find a man. “Men are easy,” the judge told the defendant. “You can sit at the bus stop, put on a short skirt, cross your legs and pick up 25. Ten of them will give you their money. It’s the truth … If you don’t pick up the first 10, then all you got to do is open your legs a little bit and cross them at the bottom and then they’ll stop.”

Eventually the judge dropped her lawsuit and settled with Advance Internet for an undisclosed sum. Advance Internet now blocks newspaper employees from accessing the email addresses of people who post. 

When Facebook introduced its facial recognition software to users worldwide, it silently enrolled all users in the program without their permission. There is no option in Facebook’s privacy preferences to prevent the collection of biometric data. But in Germany in 2012 Facebook had to promise to forgo using facial recognition software and delete previously used photo tag suggestions after the Germans said it violated EU and German laws by storing data without the express consent of users.

So why is Facebook allowed to do this here?

Is Facebook really our friend? Do we really want our every move to be recorded and used by whatever group is watching us? The Chinese government is building a massive network of hidden cameras and facial recognition software to monitor its citizens in public spaces. The US government wanted to do the same thing. When the Dept. of Homeland Security proposed initiating facial recognition technology in the US, it met such resistance that the program was scrapped. Fine, let Facebook do it.

In the European Union when a person’s personal data is collected, the parties responsible are required to inform the person who they are, why they collected it and for whom it was collected. Do we not want that here?

“In the digital age, let’s face it, there’s no money in doing the right thing. But as people begin to realize the risks of their posts being used against them, the demand for rights-protecting technologies and policies is growing.”

America, wake up! Let’s get this Social Constitution Network passed to protect our online freedoms as well! 

Keep Lakeview Open!

LET LAKEVIEW LEARNING CENTRE CONTINUE!

By Stephen Wilson

 

(Moscow, Russia) -- It is with great dismay and disbelief that I, and many other adult educators have learnt that 'The City Colleges of Chicago ' intends to close Lakeview Learning Centre by May 2017. They claim that the closure 'will help City colleges weather the storm', and save a few million dollars. But it sounds more like destructive rather than creative accounting!

 

Closing such a centre which provides at least a 1000 students with a free and accessible education system (for immigrants as well as offering a second chance to disadvantaged students) is not just a loss for Chicago. It represents a great loss to the World as well as the universal cause of Adult Education !

 

Lakeview Learning Centre is not just any college. It is something special.

 

It is a unique historical landmark of progressive education inspired by the Highlander Folk school In Tennessee and Jane Addams of Hull House, who was a prominent sociologist . Jane Addams was a great listener who argued

that teachers had to acknowledge the voice of experience of both adults and children . She stated that any education system should attempt to "give the child's own social experience a value''. She was part of a new radical way of doing sociology termed 'Symbolic Interactionism' which treated people not as mere data or objects of research but human beings with dignity. She eloquently argued that all people seek "an outlet for more kindness " and thought that sociology should become part of this quest.

 

Folklorists appreciated how the Highlander Folk School taught courses of 'square dancing' as well as the history of the working class.

 

The closure of Lakemore not only means a loss of teaching jobs and student places but it will kill a community !

 

But the attack on Lakemore Learning Centre also represents an assault on a great vision of education where people are not only offered a second chance and the hope of new opportunites . It is a vision of an education system which empowers people with the faith to construct a kinder, more

caring and improved society. In other words the good society dreamt by Martin Luther King and Jane Addams.

 

This threatened closure reminds me of the brief closure of Scotland's only Adult Education residential college during the 1980's . The college was also a historical landmark (a former Medieval abbey ) and unique because it was the only adult residential college where adults with few or no qualifications could study for free and even prepare for entry to universities. But the Tory government closed it as it 'deemed it too expensive '. However, Adult educators and students did not give up and launched an indefatigable campaign to reopen the college. And they won! Newbattle Abbey College in Scotland is now open and doing a great job again ! The Motto of the college was: " Sero Sed Serio', meaning 'Late but in Earnest'. What it means is that it is never too late for adults to learn or get a second chance.

 

We should be eager and earnest to defend Lakeview Learning Centre so that it is never too late for immigrants or other people to enter education!

Lakeview Closing?

Keep Lakeview Learning Center Open

MEDIA CONTACT:                                                                                                           George Roumbanis, PresidentAFSCME 3506, Adult Educators & Coordinators UnionCity Colleges of ChicagoPhone: 773-744-7603Email: afscme3506@gmail.com

CLOSING OF LAKEVIEW LEARNING CENTER: A WRIGLEYVILLE LANDMARK

A historic landmark of progressive education is being forced to close, less than a mile from Wrigley Field just as the Chicago Cubs play in the World Series for the first time in seven decades.

The City Colleges of Chicago announced on October 14th that Lakeview Learning Center, an off-campus program of Truman College, will close in May 2017. The community center has provided more than three generations of immigrants and working-class Chicagoans with free classes in English as a Second Language and GED high school equivalency. It has an important history in the Wrigleyville neighborhood that stretches back to 1972, when the program was originally named Universidad Popular (People’s University) by Latino activists in the city. Founding organizers of Lakeview Learning Center brought together their experiences with the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee and Jane Addams Hull House in Chicago to promote adult literacy.

Thousands of students have passed through the doors at 3310 North Clark Street and many of them have moved on to college educations or professions throughout the city. The 14,200 square foot facility was built by the Public Building Commission of Chicago in 1983. Today, Lakeview Learning Center continues to provide services to approximately 1,000 students per semester with free classes in the mornings, evenings, and on Saturdays. It is one of the longest ongoing, self-contained adult education programs in Illinois and a home away from home for many students. Current data shows that 61% of the students self-report being born outside of the U.S. Along with the LGBTQ Center on Halsted and the senior citizens Hattie-Callner Apartments, Lakeview Learning Center is an active site of diversity in the midst of Wrigleyville’s mass gentrification.

City Colleges of Chicago, which reported total net assets of $859 million in 2015, says it hopes to receive “between two and five million dollars for the Lakeview Learning Center location.” It announced that the center would be closed to “help City Colleges weather the state funding shortfall.” The closure comes at a time when millions of dollars are being invested in the Wrigleyville neighborhood by the Ricketts family to construct upscale restaurants, luxury hotels, and chain stores. The CTA also plans to spend a minimum of $570 million in the area to speed up Red and Brown Line trains by a few seconds. Meanwhile, independent stores and longtime homeowners in Wrigleyville are finding themselves priced out and pressured to relocate.

Responding to the closing, Lakeview Learning Center student leader Óscar Piña Morales says “I’m 21 and from Mexico. I’ve been studying here for two and a half years. This school changed my life. It’s a gift. You can’t put a price on this gift.” According to several teachers and activists who were present during the center’s early years, it is common knowledge that this specific property was given to City Colleges as a gift with the stipulation that it be used solely for educational purposes. AFSCME 3506, the union that represents the teachers and coordinators at Lakeview Learning Center, is currently searching for documentation on this claim.

To help keep Lakeview Learning Center open, the union is asking Chicagoans to write statements of support. Please send emails to:
*rlynnerup@ccc.edu (Rasmus Lynnerup, Executive Vice Chancellor – City Colleges of Chicago)
*hhodge1@ccc.edu (Hilary Hodge, Associate Vice Chancellor of Adult Education – City Colleges of Chicago)
*ward44@cityofchicago.org (Tom Tunney, Alderman of the 44th Ward)

All emails should also include a CC and be forwarded to:
*afscme3506@gmail.com (George Roumbanis, President of AFSCME 3506)

Ban Halloween?

BAN HALLOWEEN!

By Stephen Wilson

 

(Moscow, Russia) -- In recent days, a Russian politician , Yarloslav Mikhailov, is attempting to persuade law enforcement agencies to take strict measures to formally

 forbid Halloween. In fact, Mikhailov argues that the celebration of Halloween is already forbidden and it only remains for the legal authorities to punish the culprits under existing 'counter-terrorist public safety laws' which were previously introduced by Irina Yarovarya . He claims that people celebrating Halloween are making a mockery of the Russian Orthodox church by offending their religious beliefs. The supporters of this action regard Halloween 'as pure satanism disguised in costumes and performances'. Yarloslav Mikhailov , who is a leading persecutor of gays, regards Halloween as a 'religious ritual ' as well as an

attempt to worship the 'forces of satan'.

 

Mikhailov has already sent papers to the Procuracy General. However, there is only one snag. None of the officials can find the documents he sent them.

 

They are hidden under a never ending heap of legal documents.

 

There exists a second problem. Hardly anyone celebrates Halloween in Russia and even less do they participate in satanic cults where rituals are used. A Levada opinion poll found that only one in twenty Russians plan to celebrate Halloween. Most of this celebrating is innocuous . It involves

young people dressing up in fancy costumes not only of vampires, witches and zombies but often soldiers , Indians or cowboys. At the worst, those people might scare people but the main idea is not to worship satan but 'to have a good time'. It rather trivalises, banalises and often overshadows church prayers for the dead.

 

In Britain , the celebration is popular amongst young people who simply love to make pumpkin or turnip lanterns , tell ghost stories , go guising and dress up. The roots of this custom have been obscured. Although some anthropologists such as Sir James Fraser regard Halloween as having ancient roots dating back to the Celts, there is no hard evidence. However, if the custom of Halloween , Samhain , really dates back to the Celts, then in this case, it is a pagan, and not Satanic practice. In their legends and stories, the

Celts regarded this as a time when borders between the living and the dead became thin. The dead returned to haunt the living. The living would remain in doors , and offer careful hospitality to the dead by offering them warmth food and care. The dead were treated with reverence and respect because many Irish felt sorry for them . Those customs of 'feeding the dead' ,partially although not wholly , mirror Russian customs.

 

What is remarkable is that Russian politicians not only betray an ignorance of Halloween but even their own Russian Slavonic customs which they purport to defend.

 

In the old Arbat of Moscow, anti-Halloween activists gathered to protest against Halloween. The activists have been demanding a ban on the celebration of Halloween in schools and kindergartens in Russia. One man carried a placard declaring : " Paganism has no place in schools and kindergartens'. There is only one problem . Very few ,if any kindergarten actually celebrates Halloween. Teachers are already aware that celebrating such an occasion will only provoke unwanted conflict. No representative of Sorok Sorokov, the Orthodox movement which seeks to ban Halloween, has yet got round to naming particular Kindergartens or schools which celebrate Halloween. Maybe they 'll pick them out of a lucky bag.

  

Of course, there are some businessmen attempting to cash in on this occasion.

 

For example, at a shop in Sokol you can buy decorative pumpkins and lanterns and some restaurants invite their customers to a special Halloween dinner. None of this is worth taking seriously. 

 

A Russian teacher sent me a message saying : " Enjoy a Happy Samhain at the weekend". Yet I , and most Scottish adults don't celebrate this.

 

On the contrary, it is a time for remembering the dead by going to church to light candles for them. (if you are a Catholic or Orthodox believer).

 

One wonders what they will try and ban next ? Will they try and fine 'ghosts' for disturbing the living?

Ivan Grozny

IVAN THE TERRIBLE MONUMENT ERECTED!

By Stephen Wilson

Ivan the Terrible

 

(Moscow, Russia) -- A monument to Ivan the Terrible, depicting him gallantly holding the reins of a horse while holding up an Orthodox cross, has just been inaugurated in the city of Oryol. The monument received the blessing of the Patriarchy Kirill, the Ministry of Culture, some historians and artists . However, the erection of the monument provoked bitter anger and indignation from many local people as well as Russians much more familiar with the history of one of Russians real despots. The erection of the monument reveals a country which is deeply polarised by those who yearn for a return to an authoritarian strong man who rules by the iron hand and those who favour the right to freely express an opinion and agree to disagree.

 

This is not the first time attempts were made to rehabilitate Ivan the Terrible 's reputation. An English Physician , Dr Samuel Collins, of the late 17th century, who was the first person to publish Russian folk stories, collected some stories which presented Ivan the Terrible as a kind and generous tsar who protected the poor from the evil and oppressive Boyars. In one story he even teams up with a thief to rob

boyars. He turns out to be a generous, kind and just tsar .

 

During the time of Stalin, Ivan the Terrible was fully rehabilitated to such an extent the Russian film maker Sergei Eisenstein had to remake his film.

 

So how do Russians justify rehabilitating one of the worst tsars in history ?

 

After all, the tsar who ruled from 1547-to 1584, sacked Novgorod, killing a minimum of 3000 as well as massacring many people during his invasion of Siberia not to mention the opposition. Ivan the Terrible 's right -hand man , Malyuta Skuratov, strangled to death Philipp the second, the Metropolitan of Moscow in 1569. The terror of his Oprichnina , who charged around on horseback brandishing severed dogs' heads on brooms was often indiscriminate.

 

The answer is they play down Ivan the Terrible's atrocities and even excuse his deeds. So Ivan the Terrible's murder of his son becomes 'an accident', and the number of victims of Ivan the Terrible's wars are reduced. For example, when I spoke to an academic , Mairi Koroleva, she told me : "Demographers told me they had made a special study of the number of victims of Ivan the Terrible and claimed the losses were not as high as people previously thought. They told me that , he killed only 3000 people if you rely on accurate records. " 

Of course, if you omit many chronicles , eye-witness accounts and reports, and rely on what you dubiously regard as the only acceptable data you can come up with lower figures. Nevertheless, how can anyone simply casually refer to 3000 deaths as 'only 3000 figures? Don't those people have souls ?

 

Of course, many proponents consider those atrocities as irrelevant . The main point is that he made Russia strong again. According to an article recently published by Zaftra, October , number 42, (1194) ,Ivan the Terrible drove out

the Mongol occupants, defeated Astrakhan , seized Siberia and made Russian a sovereign nation. Concerning, his religious role, Ivan the Terrible built the first cathedral devoted to Basil the blessed, and inspired great art.

 

Aleksandr Prokhanov declared: ' The Tsar Ivan Vasilevitch opened the first printers, and published the first book . He initiated the first Zemskii sobor or assembly which kept a check on unlimted authority '.

 

This one-sided view indicates more about the prejudices of the proponents than what actually happened in Russian history. The facts are that by the end of Ivan the Terrible's reign, his country had been hugely devastated and depopulated as thousands of peasants fled the land to escape increased control. The results spelt disaster for agriculture . Stalin appears to have repeated rather than avoided Ivan the Terrible's mistake. So the result of Ivan the Terrible's policies was 'the Time of Troubles'. Russia almost

disintegrated ! This is the consensus of many western as well as Russian historians.

 

What is deeply disturbing is that if school textbooks are rewitten to impose an uncritical dogmatic view of history ! This has not yet happened. However, the new Minister of Education and Science is down on record making a public

statement where she condoned Stalin's purges. What we are witnessing is an attempted 'counter -history' where the facts have to fit with the acceptable state dogma and not 'offend' anyone. In other words , unpleasant facts must either vanish or learn to be more patriotic ! Small wonder historians are feeling anxious!

 

Who's Watching Us?

Do We Know Who is Watching Us and What We Are Doing?

By Jim Vail
Special to Mychinews.com

You know Facebook is big when the newly elected prime minister of England made an appointment to speak to Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s founder and head of a new state. They have mutual interests.

But those interests run contrary to what people here believe is a constitutionally protected fundamental right – Privacy!

The book “I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You Did” is a must read for all of us who are part of today’s internet world.

Kent Law School professor Lori Andrews, who is considered one of the country’s leading experts on cyberspace law, writes in her book that as we increasingly use the internet to work, shop and date, we are opening ourselves to intrusive privacy violations by employers, the police, and aggressive data-collection companies that sell our information to any and all takers.

Companies will reject candidates due to Google searches, robbers will use vacation postings to target homes to break into and lawyers will use social media to use against us in court, and the legal system isn’t protecting us. Judges have ruled against thousands of victims of privacy violations. In fact, our very democracy is in danger.

“Governments in democracies exist to protect their citizens and uphold their rights,” she writes. “Public health officials, like other government agents, are limited in the type of data they collect and publicize about citizens. Similarly, the police need probable cause and search warrants to collect evidence. Constitutional restrictions on governmental action apply. But what happens when state and federal agencies circumvent those rules by turning the job of evidence over to private citizens using social networks – or ask the social networks themselves for private information from people’s photos and posts? Should that evidence also be subjected to Constitutional constraints?”

Andrews proposes a Social Network Constitution to protect our privacy.

The book is a disturbing read into how our personal information is being used. She says Facebook is a nation that holds the cards, and its citizens have little recourse. Several federal laws that were created for the internet protect social networks from almost any liability so they cannot be sued for invasion of privacy, defamation or criminal acts based on people’s postings.

Social networks turn people’s private information into income streams, utilizing a “very sophisticated commercial surveillance system.” And to opt out is nearly impossible because of how they constructed cookies software that tracks everything you do on your computer. “But unless people’s rights are protected, social networks will serve to narrow people’s behavior and limit their opportunities, rather than expand them,” Andrews writes.

Behavioral advertising has proven very effective to sell products online, you being product No. 1. Facebook encourages people to reveal more intimate details about their lives by rewarding them with more “likes” and more attention from posts.

“Weblining” is the practice of denying people certain opportunities due to their online activities, such as using zip code information to charge someone a higher interest rate. This can also affect the information you read because browsers will tailor stories that you are interested in, possibly leaving out important information about the world. Celebrity gossip replaces world political events on your daily news feeds.

Andrews writes that today people are turning to state laws because the federal laws do not protect their privacy. For example, a woman installed spyware on her husband’s computer and the wife was found to have violated the Florida wiretap statute.

“So far, in the social network realm, little attention has been given to the rights of individuals.”

Andrews believes the Social Network Constitution can invigorate our cherished freedom of speech by guaranteeing the right to connect, which should not be abridged by concerns about intellectual property infringement or vague notions of national security (Wikileaks was exactly what the Founding Fathers said should be protected), and guaranteeing the right to anonymity that protects people’s right to express their opinions (people who protested online in Egypt were identified and imprisoned).    

Andrews noted that Finland bans employers from Googling applicants, while Germany is also considering a law that would stipulate that social networks are private spaces that employers, schools or other institutions should not have access to.

Next week we will feature the second part of our book review that will take a look at specific social network cases being challenged in the courts and how the outcomes affect us all.

Yoga & Stress

A RADICAL RETHINK YOGA INSTRUCTOR INTERVIEW

By Stephen Wilson

Second City teacher interviewed a Russian Yoga instructor Alesia

Losminskaya on questions concerning the nature of Yoga, how it

might help people cut stress in this chaotically bewildering world

of ceaseless change and her impression of her travels in India.

Before this , I had attained mixed responses on what constitutes

Yoga , from warnings that it was part of a dangerous religious cult , to

others who simply stated :"it kept them in good physical form ".

What is clear is that Yoga remains controversial in Russia . It is a discipline

which literary means 'to rein in on' or harness' mind and body. It appears

to have deep ancient roots stretching back 4000 years or more , linked to

the 'Great God ', Lord Shiva, who is often depicted in sculture and paintings

sitting calmly upon a tiger skin on Mt Kailasa or surrounded unperturbed in

a great fire.

Unlike many advocates of Yoga , Alesia does not indulge in hyperbole or

view Yoga as a panacea for all our troubles. On the contrary, she 'll point

out the discernible limitations as well as advantages.

Second city teacher

What is Yoga ? I mean is it a religion or philosophy ? Some Russians

have warned me it is part of a dangerous religious cult !

Alesia : Well I'm not a very religious person and not all Yoga teachers

go about reciting mantras at their lessons or say prayers to Shiva . My

mother , who is Catholic looks upon it as part of a negative religion.

Yes, there are some Yoga instructors who might chant mantras or are

Hindui . But Yoga is not a cult because no instructor forces their students

to pray or sing mantras . An Indian instructor even told Russians to stop

reciting mantras because the pronunciation was wrong and therefore

would not help their Yoga practise.

Second city teacher

Why did you begin Yoga ? Did you do it to cut down your weight ?

Alesia

Well, actually that was the initial reason. During my first pregnancy I

had put on a lot more weight. However, I don't like to tell my instructors

this or they will be disappointed and not impressed.

Second City Teacher

How long have you been doing Yoga ?

Alesia :

I have been doing it for ten years but took a break when I seriously

fractured my knee. The doctor x-rayed me and informed me I

needed a special operation to correct it. Since the operation would cost

100,000 rubles and I learnt that following the operations, patients had

to continue taking special injections, I decided to avoid this operation.

I could not afford it . The doctor warned me I could never do Yoga

again. So for a year and a half I stopped doing Yoga. Then, I began

to get better and even found I could run again as well as swim. So I

thought , if I can run again, why can't I do Yoga ? Of course, when I

feel pain in my knee , I resort to lighter exercises.

Second City Teacher .

How can Yoga cut the stress of Russian school teachers?

Alesia

Well, two of my students happen to be school teachers , and they were

going crazy with stress . They told me "I hate my job " and I saw this

psychological madness. I helped them to take more control of their

minds more -they could react to negative events and energy around

them with more composure and ease.So they could respond with more

control over a negative situation. The teachers later told me they felt

less stress and more in control over situations than before. Now they

can relax their bodies and they feel their minds are stronger. I hope

they have more patience with their school children . Yoga helps

people to make decisions and cope better with their situations.

Second City Teacher

What are the benefits of Yoga ?

Alesia

Generally speaking , if you practise Yoga and are not lazy. , you get

a stronger mind, body and health. You obtain more control over your

posture and breathing . You are also able to take control over emotions

and thoughts and how you react to negative people. For example, if

I come across a person running me down or making negative comments

I don't lash out but take it calmly. So it improves human relations with

people. Your learn not to indulge in negative gossip or speak foolishly.

I can also sleep just four hours a day so Yoga can change your life

style.

As for health, If I practice Yoga on a regular basis then I stop having colds.

I can't remember the last time I had a blocked nose ! When I practiced

Yoga every day I stopped falling ill. But if I only practice Yoga , twice a

week , then I get a cold and experience the usual problems of illness.

However, Yoga tends to make your spine longer and makes lifting

heavy weights as well as running more difficult. So you can't run as much

as you want.

Second City Teacher

Why is Yoga popular in Russia?

Alesia

I don't think it is popular in Russia. Okay, Vladimir Minaev (a colleague)

thinks it is popular in

Russia but I don't. It is not as popular as in America. Whereas we

tend to have maximum classes of up to 100 , their classes can rise to

200. And In India itself, Yoga is not popular. Most of the students who

enroll in classes are foreigners and very few Indians join the classes.

This is despite the fact the fees are far lower for Indians.

Paying for Yoga lessons might strike beginners as strange to many new

students when they encounter instructors. They don't appear to do

much formal teaching or instruction but tend to just observe students

and occasionally intervene to correct a student who is doing an action

incorrectly. For example, one instructor, just handed me pictures of

instructions on how to do so many Yoga postures and told me : "Go

ahead and do this " And I did this. This might seem strange to many

students who expected more direct action and supervision from

instructors.

Second City Teacher

Which school of Yoga do you belong to ?

Alesia

I belong to the traditional school called Ashtanga. Of course, now there

as many different new schools and styles. Alot of new schools resemble

acrobats rather than Yoga . But learning is not always easy. You can't

learn Yoga if you are lazy. Learning Yoga is hard practice. For example,

to begin with , learning not to be distracted by your problems and to

cleanse your minds of everyday worries and distractions is not easy.

It takes time for many people to learn to meditate .

Second City Teacher

You have visited Indian several times ? How did you find it ?

Alesia

I love the craziness about this country. The Indians do things in their

own way which is different from us. They drive differently from us,

on the left side of the road and at times zig-zag on the road from

one side to another. It was not difficult to get a scooter when I had

to translate my driving licence to a company. I just translated one word

' bike', and they immediately gave me a bike.

You need a lot of patience . When I was staying in a hotel I complained

that an electric current could be felt coming from the water in the

shower. Later, for many days, 8 workers were coming to and thro, trying

to fix it. They fixed it on the last day of my trip when I was leaving.

They eat differently from us. They will feed you not with a plate but hand

food to eat out of their palm ! Usually they are very tolerant in religious

matters and don't insist their religion is the best in the World.

Their attitude to women is different from Russia. A female who is less than

thirty has to ask permission to go to university from either their husband

or parents. I heard that Indian men don't like clever Indian women ! Then

Indian women are expected to cover their bare shoulders or upper arms.

So in many ways India can be a very conservative country.

They seem very childlike and do things spontaneously !