MahaYuri

2005-11-23T19:48:00.000-08:00

CATEGORY: MY FAMILY
WHERE: Soviet Union
WHEN: 1941-44
AGE: Before my time.

My maternal grandfather was an illiterate, deaf-mute cobbler. During World War II my mother and her family where evacuated in trains from Kiev east toward Central Asia. My grandfather took with him his portable shoe repair kit. Because he was mute and could not advertise his services vocally, during stops he would set-up his kit, pick-up one of their own shoes and start fixing it. Within minutes people came to have their shoes fixed. Shoes, and specially soles, wear out fast during times like those. Because money was not a popular currency during war, he got paid with food. My mother said that thanks to her father’s skill and the tools of his trade, they ate well throughout the war.

She also described bombing of trains she was on, people running from a burning train, while german airplanes strafed them with machine guns.

2005-08-18T01:06:00.000-07:00

My plate is my canvas.

2005-08-18T00:51:00.000-07:00

My brother Mark took these shots in Sierra Nevada. One at sunrise, the other at sunset.

2005-08-13T19:06:00.000-07:00

CATEGORY: AUTO ACCIDENTS
WHERE: Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
WHEN: Daytime, Summer, 1990
AGE: 37 years old

The temperature was all the way into the 70’s. A major heat wave by Alaskan standards. I was feeling drowsy and decided to pull over to wake myself up. The next thing I became aware of was my Subaru Brat plummeting through bushes and small trees. And then there was a BIG tree. In my confusion I stepped on the gas pedal. Thank God I had a heavy brush guard on the front of the car. The tree was not hurt much.

My brain must have done some serious rock-n-roll inside the skull, because instead of staying with my mortally wounded chariot, I hitchhiked to the nearest town to call the police. By the time I got back, the state trooper was already having my car towed. They had to winch it up to the road. The trooper made jokes, I felt hurt by his attitude. He gave me a ticket.

PS: I had no serious injuries, but my Brat was totaled. When I asked the judge if I wasn't punished enough already, he reduced the amount of my ticket. I said: "But I didn’t hurt anybody." He said: "But you could have." I did not respond then, but later thought that if we punished people for what they might have done, everyone would be in prison.

2005-07-31T18:30:00.000-07:00

CATEGORY: AUTO ACCIDENTS
WHERE: Culver City, California
WHEN: Daytime, Summer, early 80’s
AGE: approx. 30 years old

The motorcycle was traveling at such speed, that by the time I saw it, it was too late. I stopped at a stop sign and was making a left turn when he hit me. He was a 15 year old boy, wearing only shorts and sandals. No helmet. No driver’s license. He borrowed the bike to go just a few blocks. The police later estimated his speed at 60-70 miles per hour. In a residential neighborhood. The front wheel of the bike hit my Datsun just a few inches behind driver’s seat. Lucky me. The rear door and the frame caved in. The boy flipped over my car and rolled on the pavement. I had to climb out through the passenger door. When police came I was mumbling: If only I did this, if only I did that. The cop suggested that I say nothing.

PS: Miraculously, the boy had only scraped his knees and elbows.

Some time later, the owner of the motorcycle called me and said: " When are you going to pay for my bike?" I said: "When you pay for my car." I never heard from him again.

I was still able to drive the Datsun and later sold it "as is" to a struggling actor.

2005-07-30T13:14:00.000-07:00

My dark side.
Photo taken by Rembrandt and Van Gogh.

2005-07-29T19:33:00.000-07:00

CATEGORY: AUTO ACCIDENTS
WHERE: Dallas, Texas
WHEN: Evening, Fall, 1975
AGE: 22 years old

The major intersection had only a YIELD sign. I was late for school and didn’t see it. I was driving my 1966 Chevy Chevelle and was probably speeding. I saw it coming, in slow motion. Loud noise of my squealing brakes. I broadsided a large black Cadillac. I wasn’t wearing a seat belt. My door was jammed and I had to force it open with my feet. My knee was in pain when I climbed out. I ran over to the Cadillac. The driver, a man, was sitting quietly. His wife was crying, also quietly. I asked him if she was O.K. He said: "It’s about something else. Our son died in an auto accident not long ago." I kept saying that I was sorry.

PS: There were no serious injuries. My Chevelle was totaled.

2005-07-26T16:16:00.000-07:00

Koviashuktok

an Arctic Coast Inuit (Eskimo) concept meaning:

"Full awareness of the present moment and place, with great joy and without desire"

2005-07-24T17:47:00.000-07:00

CATEGORY: ALMOST DIED
WHERE: Ukraine, USSR
WHEN: Daytime, Summer, 1963
AGE: 10 years old

I was in summer camp. One day we went to a local military base and they allowed older boys to shoot some rifles. I and some other boys were too young and had to satisfy ourselves with another kind of game. We competed for the newly ejected shell casings. The brass was flying all over the place, and in my zeal to pick-up one more, I jumped in front of a muzzle. The boy on the other end of that rifle pulled the trigger just as my head passed by. The bullet exploded out of the barrel inches above my hair.

PS: I was too preoccupied with my game to be afraid. The adults around me were terrified. I don’t remember what kind of punishment I received.

2005-07-21T01:12:00.000-07:00

CATEGORY: ALMOST DIED
WHERE: Near Hadera, Israel
WHEN: Daytime, Winter, 1972-73
AGE: 19 years old

The bomb exploded maybe 30 seconds before my bus pulled up to that rural station. I didn’t see the explosion, because the bus stop was around the right corner from the bus when it happened, trees blocking the view. I was the only passenger on that bus ready to get off there. I was standing up front, next to the driver, when he opened the door. We saw clouds of smoke and dust in the air. I said: "What happened?" The driver already guessed it: "A bomb just exploded." I stepped out of the bus and stood, looking around. The structure was concrete, just 2 walls, a roof and a bench, with an orange grove for a backdrop. No one was there. An agricultural repair yard across the road had people in it, looking at me.

I walked toward the Kibbutz, where I lived at the time.

PS: It was a time of peace in Israel. At the moment there was no Intifada (uprising), no war.

Next day the newspaper said that the bomb was small and amateurish. Only some orange trees were damaged. They speculated that it was done by young Arabs, trying to impress their elders. They timed the fuse for the arrival of my bus, but lucky for me, they timed it wrong by 30 seconds.

I did not have any strong feelings about it, one way or another.

2005-07-19T16:11:00.000-07:00

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

William Blake
(1757-1827) English poet, painter, engraver, and visionary.

2005-07-19T15:57:00.000-07:00

CATEGORY: ALMOST DIED
WHERE: Near river Dnepr, Kiev, Ukraine, USSR
WHEN: Night, Winter, 1965
AGE: 12 years old

I ran away from home. I did something at school and was busted. I was terrified of my father and didn’t want to face him. In the Soviet Union there were shortages of everything, including empty buildings, so I wandered the streets. In the evening I found myself walking by the river. It was always my favorite place to get away to. I passed by a bridge and a policeman eyed me with suspicion. I walked on. To nowhere. I was severely depressed. I stopped. I felt that I came to the end of my life. I made a 90 degree turn and walked into the woods. It was dark and very cold. The ground was covered with deep snow. I dropped my school bag and sat on it. I don’t remember what my thoughts were, but eventually I fell asleep.

A voice woke me up. It told me to get up and to walk out of the woods. I did what the voice to me to do.

PS: By the time I passed that policeman again, he had a description of a missing child. Me. My father didn’t beat me that time. My parents were too glad that I was alive.

I ran away from home a couple more times. With similar results.

2005-07-18T17:55:00.000-07:00

CATEGORY: ALMOST DIED
WHERE: Near Cordova, Prince William Sound, Alaska
WHEN: Evening, Summer, 1990
AGE: 36 years old

I was walking on a glacier. All of my companions, except one, were further ahead. The two of us came to a wall of ice blocks and he started climbing over it. I saw what appeared to be a large puddle of water at the end of this wall. The water was milky white, unknown depth. I decided to test it, to see if I could wade across it. I stuck my rubber booted foot in this puddle, slipped and discovered that it wasn’t a puddle. It was a small crevasse filled with melted water. The cold took my breath away, but that was a minor problem. While I was falling, I turned around and was now facing a slippery wall of ice. My boots and clothing quickly filled with water and I felt myself being pulled under. I yelled. My friend started climbing back to help me. By the time he got to me, I was already out.

My fingernails left deep furrows in ice. I don’t remember how I dragged myself out.

PS: My walking companion left to catch up to others. My teeth were chattering and I knew that I could die from hypothermia. I took off all my clothes, wrung them out, and stood, naked and shivering, trying to warm up in the last rays of the Sun. When it dipped behind the mountain range, I pulled on my wet clothes and jogged to our vehicle. It was locked. I spent my waiting time running around that SUV, occasionally looking at my blue hands. When my friends came back, they laughed. I couldn’t.

I spent that evening by a campfire, thinking warm thoughts.

2005-07-16T15:32:00.000-07:00

CATEGORY: ALMOST DIED
WHERE: Border between Soviet Union & Czechoslovakia ( 2 countries which no longer exist)
WHEN: Night, October, 1972
AGE: 19 years old

I was finally leaving Soviet Union. The train stopped at the customs building in Chop. All the families on the train were told to unload their possessions and take them to customs. The piles of luggage on the platform were enormous. My father told my mother that he was going to look for a cart. A minute later I said to her: "I’ll go help him". I ran to the end of the train standing opposite of ours, grabbed the train car for support and jumped off the platform onto the railroad tracks. As soon as my feet touched the ground I noticed that my hand just started moving toward my body. I heard my mother’s voice screaming my name. I realized that the train was moving and that I was about to die. I was standing with my back to the platform, which came up to my shoulders. There was no time to turn around and climb out. All these thoughts past through my mind in a fraction of a second.

The next thing I remember is me standing on the platform, with the train cars flying past, inches from my face.

I don’t know how I got back onto that platform.

PS: When the train started moving (without any notice or signal), one of our luggage trunks, which was leaning against it, slipped down off the platform and I had to hold my mother back from her desperate attempts to retrieve it. All the cars of that train passed by without hitting the trunk, except the last one. It was spectacular. The trunk flew high in the air, opened and spilled our precious possessions over the rails.

A thought crossed my mind that it could have been my body instead, a minute earlier.