The Optimist

Author notes

Page 14

Kristen Gudsnuk

on April 19, 2009

New page, yay! I managed…
So finally, some sort of plot is happening! Aren't you excited?? THEY'RE HANDING OUT ILLEGAL DISSIDENT PUBLICATIONS!!! (more info next page… and a highly symbolic samizdat it is! it's called Samizdat Optimist, after all!!!)
And gee, guys, did you ever expect that you would be learning so much about Lithuanian politics & history?? Last page you found out that Russia had occupied Lithuania for 40 years. I'll tell you that Lithuania won independence on March 11, 1990. You also found out about Saint Kazimieras, and Grand Duke Gediminas. (I'll try to include Gediminas' Tower in a street scene panel sometime!!) And this foreign word– "Sajudis"– is another one of those "learny" things! The Sajudis were the political party that wanted independence from Russia. (Don't ask me how to pronounce any of these things– "Jadwiga" especially. I know that J sounds in Lithuanian are supposed to be "Y" sounds (ugh) and W sounds are probably like "V"s. But I pronounce it like it's spelled, out of habit!!)

Anyway, you're welcome for teaching you about random, random, randomness. I researched SO much for writing this story. I read like 30 pages (single-spaced, tiny margins, font size 6– I'm stingy) of articles from this time period, as well as historical data. I also went to various bookstores and libaries looking for books on Lithuanian history… and found NONE. I ended up looking through travel guides to Eastern Europe and gleaning together info about my homeland (lol gudsnuk– judsnukis [sic]). that's where I first encountered the term "samizdat"– no, not on the internets, but in a travel guide the size of a phone book.

well, this page looks a litttttle blurry, but it's cause max photographed it. :( boo max. jk luv u max.
my uncle is in DC this week! yaayyy!! we got tapas tonight. yum.

OOH OOH OOH!!!

ok, this time there really IS an incentive for voting.. I didn't get too lazy this time. here's the thing: vote for me, and Kazimieras will eat!! check out today's incentive to get the idea ;)

y gracias patoborrato por los comentarios en "El Optimista"~!