
Slova
The Birch’s Online Journal

The Cornerstone of Dissent: The Role of Theatre in the Velvet Revolution of Czechoslovakia
By Sarah Grace Seggerman
In this piece, Seggerman argues that Czech theaters shifted public opinion in favor of the Velvet Revolution, demonstrated the weakness of the regime, and provided the revolutionaries a forum in which to organize.

The Weight of Memory: Suffering, Survival, and the Human Spirit in Polish Literature
By Natalie Beltran, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Quiet Subversion, Overt Compliance: Critiquing Consumer Communism in Soviet Film
By Stan Vassilenko
This article examines how filmmakers communicated their moral concerns surrounding materialism through their movies while maintaining the party line.

Alexievich’s Secondhand Time and Ulitskaya’s The Kukotsky Enigma: Reconstructing Truth in Post-Soviet Literature
By Nicole Juzaitis
In this paper, Juzaitis argues that truth in post-Soviet literature is a multi-layered and evolving construct shaped by the interplay of subjective memory, emotional experience, and historical fact.

Russian Roulette: The Argument Against Sleepwalking into WWIII
By Tai Halpern
Responding to an op-ed by Jack Greenspan, Halpern argues that the United States should not underestimate the serious nuclear threat that Russia poses.

Double, double, toil and trouble: on self-consciousness in Dostoevsky’s The Double
By Pradz Sapre
An exploration of one of Dostoevsky’s classics, The Double.

The Role of Conspiracy Theories in Populist Politics: A Comparative Study of Georgia and Hungary
Paata Kaloiani
How have two leaders, Viktor Orbán in Hungary and Irakli Kobakhidze in Georgia, used conspiracy theories to further their political goals?

Rising in the Polls, Orban’s Challenger Sends Mixed Messages
By Jack Greenspan
Viktor Orban’s main challenger, Peter Magyar of the Tisza Party, has staked out a firmly anti-Orban stance. Observers, however, should not be fooled: Magyar is also a conservative.


The Western Assistance Disparity
The West’s preference for sending aid to the Baltics over the Balkans manifested itself in disparate outcomes, most notably in internet access.
By Luke Carter

Four Poems
Each poem is a certain memory that I associate with Ukraine; a sky riddled with stars and free of light pollution, shelves lined with symbols of wealth representing the American dream, and hymns that recall the religious roots of Slavic tradition.
By Bogdan Brunsh

The U.S.’ Indecision on Long-Range Strikes into Russia is Emblematic of a Larger Failure
United States hesitation to allow Ukraine to strike deeper into Russia is holding back Ukraine – and is unfortunately nothing new.
By Jack Greenspan



The Fate of Odysseus/Судьба Одиссея
By Noa Fay. Cover Image: Odysseus and Nausicaa by Valentin Serov, Wikimedia Commons