This is @Sasha and her most valuable project to date:
A book. But a book is not simply a lot of words or a pile of paper. It is memories, emotions, worldviews, and a lot of work to put them all together. Her book is a story that spans over 15 years. But these years are hardly what most people experience on this planet.
She was born in Russia but at age 8 had to move to the United States and deal with a new world. New language, new culture, new people; her mom, her bother, and some pets. Her father went back to Russia, and that affected her a lot.
A mountain of changes to absorb as a kid which led her to a world of drugs and anger.
She details these struggles which at times feel like hard to believe stories - a 17 year old girl selling drugs in New York, crazy mushr
... show more
This is @Sasha and her most valuable project to date:
A book. But a book is not simply a lot of words or a pile of paper. It is memories, emotions, worldviews, and a lot of work to put them all together. Her book is a story that spans over 15 years. But these years are hardly what most people experience on this planet.
She was born in Russia but at age 8 had to move to the United States and deal with a new world. New language, new culture, new people; her mom, her bother, and some pets. Her father went back to Russia, and that affected her a lot.
A mountain of changes to absorb as a kid which led her to a world of drugs and anger.
She details these struggles which at times feel like hard to believe stories - a 17 year old girl selling drugs in New York, crazy mushroom trips and adventurous thefts.
But she managed to pull herself together and change her life for the better. She was not impressed by the imaginary borders humans create and call countries, so she went on flying like a free bird :). From Canada to Mexico, Australia to Europe, Russia to Thailand. 15 years of adventures with almost no money. Because money won't stop Small Sasha :).
A way to discover the world and yourself.
When you get to experience so many cultures and places, you can understand much better what humans are, and what makes them who they are.
The places she saw and the people she met are extraordinarily described in the book, in a way that you feel like you are there. No photos needed. You'll laugh, wonder, or feel uncomfortable reading some of her uncensored experiences.
It is a galaxy of stories that she had to put together using notes from the past, photos, and her own memories stored in the mushy pile of cells we call the brain.
She managed to compile this massive story in a way that it is super fun to follow, but also to get a feeling of how she grew a mind in all of these years.
That mental growth and her experiences, made her realize how fucked up this society is and how much we are destroying this environment and the creatures in it.
She started to volunteer for some organizations over the years, eventually getting closer to the project I made, TROM. And so here we are, a book later, spending our lives together.
I cannot describe how wonderful this book is, how emotional and funny. So much fun, but also a lot of reality check for many people who are going to have their values challenged.
She crafted this book so much, that at times you feel like Carl Sagan, David Attenborough and George Carlin contributed to the book :).
A wonderful read! A massive CONGRATULATIONS to Sasha for the immense work she put into this. I know too well how for the past 4 years she worked so much on this book that it almost put our relationship under a big question mark. I never saw anyone putting so much effort into anything. It was too intense!
But now it is OVER. Finally! I thought I will never see this happen. Wow!
After so many years of work, and almost no money, she is putting the book for free on her website bigworldsmallsasha.com/ in digital format, despite us not having much money to make a life for ourselves on this planet. But of course, if you want to support her (us) you can buy the physical copy too. Or donate if you can.
I helped design the entire cover and I am quite proud of it :).
Go read it! I know I will read it again. This time the physical copy, in a hammock somewhere in nature.
Sasha you fucking did ti!
PS: The book was made with trade-free software. LibreOffice, Krita, Inkscape.
Wow thank you @Tio This is too nice, I don't even know what to say :) Thank you again for putting up with everything. It was a lot, I know. And thank you for helping me so much, I couldn't have done it without you ❤️
“Big World Small Sasha” is a true story detailing my years of traveling continuously on a shoestring budget—from Hawaii to Siberia, from New Zealand to Nicaragua, and many places in between—couchsurfing, hitchhiking, and budgeting every way possible. The book also describes my reckless childhood years, my growth as a human being, and my growing awareness of our global world and global problems.
It is primarily a memoir, but it is also full of facts about our world, and criticism of our society.
It is hard for me to describe how much work I put into this book, I can only say that it is 470 pages long, it has been my main project for the past five years, and it took nearly all my strength and energy to write, edit, format, design, and publish this book.
It is also a deeply personal story, and telling it broke me down several times, put
... show more
Hey guys! Just want to tell you that my book has FINALLY been published!
“Big World Small Sasha” is a true story detailing my years of traveling continuously on a shoestring budget—from Hawaii to Siberia, from New Zealand to Nicaragua, and many places in between—couchsurfing, hitchhiking, and budgeting every way possible. The book also describes my reckless childhood years, my growth as a human being, and my growing awareness of our global world and global problems.
It is primarily a memoir, but it is also full of facts about our world, and criticism of our society.
It is hard for me to describe how much work I put into this book, I can only say that it is 470 pages long, it has been my main project for the past five years, and it took nearly all my strength and energy to write, edit, format, design, and publish this book.
It is also a deeply personal story, and telling it broke me down several times, put me on an emotional roller coaster, and eventually burned me out entirely. This is why it took me so long to release it, and why I haven't written any blogs in a while.
Now, however, I am ready to let it go—and I am very happy to share it.
There is a PDF that you can download for free, or read directly on my website, and there are also some options to buy a paperback copy.
Thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout my seemingly-never-ending writing endeavor. And a big special thanks to @Tio and @Roma . I don’t think I could have done it without you. Thank you, thank you, thank you! 🙏🙏🙏😊😊😊
Wooaa! This day has come! 🥳 My sincere and heartfelt congrats to you, Sasha! Amazing work! I am touched and pleased to help you out on the way, full of bumps and obstacles, it seems 😉 As one of a few who was honored though not to read entirely, but to get familiar with a few chapters of this magnificent book, I can only say that it is 100% must read and must become an unique shiny gem of somebody's book shelf or eBook collection 😌 At least mine - for sure 😄
You want to see how kids entertainment looks like in a trade-based society? Here: Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV videoneat.com/documentaries/26…
Kids being abused in many ways in order to make money - for themselves, for others (mostly), for advertisers, etc..
Part 5 will be released in a few days time and it will be available on VIdeoNeat.
I don't know why I still care about this society at all.
This organization was "featured" in the TROM II documentary. They are doing a fantastic work - they feed the ones that need to be fed. That's all they do. And now 7 of their volunteers systematically murdered by the tribe of Israel. (source)
Russia destroying big chunks of Ukraine, Israel leveling Gaza, and I bet Trump will become president again. How's China doing? Still enslaving the Uyghurs? Navalny dead?
Fucking terrible world.
Trying to stay away from these sort of news, but it is hard to. They are everywhere.
I'll try to reorganize my brain this month and star to film for the new TROM video series. Will see how that works ;).
This project argues that trade is the origin of most problems: from climate change to slavery, waste and pollution, corruption, crime, you name it. And if we understand the cause, we have a chance ...
Un plan d’urgence pour tous les services publics du 93
En 1998, un vaste mouvement de contestation associant parents, profs et élèves avait gagné un plan d’urgence. Vingt-cinq ans plus tard, la Seine-Saint-Denis reste un des départements les plus sous-équipés au regard de sa population. Ne laissons pas faire, réclamons nos droits !
En 1998 les enseignants et les parents mais aussi de nombreux lycéens de Seine-Saint-Denis menèrent trois mois de mobilisations et de grèves sous le slogan : « On veut des moyens, on n’est pas des moins que rien ». Le résultat fut extraordinaire : 3 000 embauches d’enseignants et 5 000 « emplois jeunes », créations de normes particulières sur les effectifs par classes et pour les écoles les plus en di
Un plan d’urgence pour tous les services publics du 93
En 1998, un vaste mouvement de contestation associant parents, profs et élèves avait gagné un plan d’urgence. Vingt-cinq ans plus tard, la Seine-Saint-Denis reste un des départements les plus sous-équipés au regard de sa population. Ne laissons pas faire, réclamons nos droits !
En 1998 les enseignants et les parents mais aussi de nombreux lycéens de Seine-Saint-Denis menèrent trois mois de mobilisations et de grèves sous le slogan : « On veut des moyens, on n’est pas des moins que rien ». Le résultat fut extraordinaire : 3 000 embauches d’enseignants et 5 000 « emplois jeunes », créations de normes particulières sur les effectifs par classes et pour les écoles les plus en difficultés, 5 milliards accordés pour la rénovation des bâtiments…
Quand la population s'exprime
La lutte fut menée par une « Coordination des établissements en grève » qui fonctionnait en assemblée générale en présence des responsables syndicaux enseignants et des parents d’élèves de la FCPE. Le mouvement en cours peut produire des résultats identiques !
Mais l’État et les gouvernements successifs n’ont pas laissé se dégrader que l’école de notre département. Tout le système de santé est délabré : hôpital, Ehpad, santé mentale, centres de santé municipaux… Il manque des milliers de professionnels et des dizaines de structures d’accueil.
Transports publics sous dimensionnés
Dans les transports en commun nous souffrons quotidiennement du délabrement des réseaux et des horaires inadaptés. Les travaux qui s’éternisent pour ouvrir de nouvelles lignes créent des difficultés incompréhensibles et, avec la densification de population voulue par les pouvoirs locaux et les promoteurs immobiliers, nous savons déjà qu’ils seront insuffisants au moment de leur mise en service.
Dans le logement enfin, l’arnaque des plans de rénovation urbaine est désormais sous les yeux de tous : destruction massive de logements sociaux, construction de copropriétés déjà dégradées et densification délirante en grignotant les peu d’espaces verts qui étaient pourtant nos seuls espoirs pour lutter contre le réchauffement climatique et les canicules urbaines.
Le capitalisme voilà l'ennemi !
Nous refusons de vivre dans un ghetto géant. Nous voulons une réindustrialisation pour de vrais emplois et de vrais salaires : assez de précarité et de jobs au rabais. Nous voulons la reconstruction d’espaces agricoles de proximité plutôt que de nouvelles chaînes de hard discount qui nous vendent des aliments industriels importés de toute la planète.
Sasha
in reply to Tio • •like this
Tio and Roma like this.