There were some interesting documentary films and movies, but the bulk of programming was, at least for me, not so entertaining. We laughed a lot, sitting there in New York watching these reports. The "failures" of the West were routinely reported on and chalked up to uncontrolled avarice and a general lack of morality. Vremya, the nightly news show, was what we most wanted to watch. I volunteered to come in and watch and record the main programs on the VCR. I'd finished the most advanced language courses, so this was a gift for me: the living language, what the people of the U.S.S.R. Russian-language students were encouraged to go watch, and that was where I got my first images of Soviet Central Asia. The Harriman Institute received live Soviet TV's First Channel. Most likely because I watched a lot of Soviet television. When one of the male team members (our team was always three women, three men) could not go to the third game, Stephan asked me to fill in. Which is why I didn't go the first two times the Columbia University team went to Moscow to play What? Where? When? To his credit, he considered many factors when choosing. Stephan's initiative was responsible for this opportunity, so Stephan picked who would go. So he sent word to Stephan in New York that Columbia University could send a team to play his game show. It had become an "international" game show. There was a team from Bulgaria and from Poland. He had already expanded his show beyond teams from the U.S.S.R. Stephan's request made it to Vladimir Voroshilov, who was the host - the voice, really - of Что? Где? Когда? (What? Where? When?), the most popular television game show in the Soviet Union and to this day a popular show on Russian television. He wrote to Gosteleradio, the Soviet Union's state broadcaster, to learn more about Soviet television game shows. One student from the Harriman Institute, Stephan (I'm generally only going to use people's first names in this), was writing a paper on Soviet television - specifically, game shows. Soviet authorities knew about the Harriman Institute, so it was a natural point of contact between and Soviet and U.S. For a while, he and Nathaniel Knight were playing guitar on the floor of the Harriman Institute. Boris Grebenshikov, who was already a well-known musician/rocker in the U.S.S.R., showed up. I remember being at a Christmas party at Columbia University's Harriman Institute (then) for the Advanced Study of the Soviet Union. to visit the United States or for Americans to visit the U.S.S.R., but exchange programs thrived at this time, providing new opportunities for mutual visits. It still was not easy for citizens of the U.S.S.R.
![steel ocean game soviet steel ocean game soviet](https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/390670/ss_3f8f56089e948500afa5c0978a79296e7e3ca9f6.1920x1080.jpg)
Perestroika and glasnost were watchwords and there was a thaw in ties with Cold War foes, including the United States. In 1988, Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms were well under way in the Soviet Union. There's an anniversary coming up - four anniversaries, actually - of something that happened 30 years ago.īut perhaps this is a good time to tell this story anyway, considering the current state of relations between the United States and Russia. Some of you are probably thinking, "What the heck is this Burhan Beg?"