On family history, parenting, education, social issues and more
Author: Hettie D.
My name is Henrietta (Hettie) Dombrovskaya. I was born in Saint-Petersburg, Russian (actually, back then – Leningrad, USSR) in 1963, and immigrated to the United States in 1996.
I love Saint Petersburg, the city I was born and raised in, and I think it’s one of the most beautiful places in the world. Similarly (but differently) I love Chicago, and can’t imagine myself moving somewhere else in the observable future.
I have three children, Igor, Vlad and Anna, all adults living on their own, and one (so far) granddaughter Nadia. I also believe that my children are the best thing that happened in my life.
As for my professional life, I am working in the field of Information Technologies. When I was twenty, I’ve declared that the databases are the coolest thing invented and that I want to do them for the rest of my life. Thirty plus years later, I still believe it’s true, and still, believe that the databases are the best. These two statements together imply that I think a person can have it all, and indeed, I think so! Keep reading my journals to find out how I did it.
My feelings towards Independence Day are now more complex than they used to be. i am not ready for the in-depth analysis yet, but let me just say that I can understand people who do not want to celebrate this day. It does not mean that I do not want to celebrate – I do, and this day means a lot to me.
We do not have any Independence Day parades in Rogers Park, and we do not have official fireworks (although I can hear the illegal ones right now, and very loud!). Instead, my guests and I went to Millennium Park’s Independence Day Salute concert. I got us close-up seats, and it was amazing! I have gone to this concert every year since I moved to Rogers Park, and I love how Christopher Bell conducts them! My guests liked it as well 🙂
I will try to add more pictures tomorrow when there will be something in the media
I can’t believe it, but last Sunday was the first time I had breakfast outside this season! That’s mostly because I have breakfast at work most days, and also, I was away a lot, but still! One of my favorite things!
I didn’t go to the Pride Parade this year; instead, I went to Jarvis Square for Pride North. I thought I took a lot of pictures, but somehow, almost all of them ended up not-so-good-not-much-to-see. And in any case, the best thing I liked was an atmosphere, and people friendliness and a feeling of everybody celebrating diversity – – and this can’t be capture on film 🙂
I am sitting in Terminal 5 of ORD, waiting for my friends from Helsinki to arrive. I know that the aircraft landed more than twenty minutes ago, but nobody can tell how long is the security line.
I have a full fridge and places for five people to sleep, and that’s exciting – I didn’t have any international guests since pre-pandemic, and that will be the first time I have international guests since I moved to Rogers Park.
The first line from today’s WBEZ newsletter says:
It’s a fact we Chicagoans hold dear: No city summers better than ours.
Over the weekend, I watched the movie “Freedom Writers.” It’s a relatively old (or at least not so new) movie, and the events took place in the 1990s. For some reason, I had never heard about this movie, and even more interesting, the person who recommended it to me was not even American.
How I feel about this movie… It is very realistic in depicting the communications of troubled teens. I had never been to a class in a US high school, But I saw enough of these situations in the youth shelter. However, I have to sadly agree with the antagonist in the movie that this one unique experience is not a methodology that can be applied by any high school teacher. Another issue that the movie does not mention is the environment. No matter how good the teachers are, there is still the environment where these kids spend the rest of their time. Also, when they graduate from high school, that same environment won’t be necessarily supportive.
I know, and I always tell this to everyone who care to listen, that there is no universal solution for these problems, and that we can only do “one person at a time.” Still, it incredibly frustrating.
On Saturday, I saw the “Native Son” at the Lifeline theater. It was a very powerful performance; One-and-a half hours of breathtaking action. I really like this review from Evanston Round Table (and that’s where I found these pictures):
What does this play have in common with the Freedom Writers, is the sad fact the things didn’t change much since the events took place. I went to see this play with one of my Black friends, and when I told her how I felt she said:no, Black people have way more legal right now, they can defend themselves in the court. I said: but Black teens are still stopped for minor violations times more often than White teens – and she agreed.
Which is, circling back to the movie, the dead end : it’s not only about breaking the cycle of violence. It’s more about breaking the cycle in people’s heads.
Very long but useful article. I never know how to reply to the “no time to exercise” statements, so what they say, makes sense. I can second the paragraph about “exercise which does not feel like exercise.” It’s actually the best when you can do some real thing instead of working out in a gym. But again, as the article mentions, you still need to incorporate some strength training.
The City Council voted for the Noise Ordinance on June 12. When I was escorting on June 15, we were not sure how soon the sign would appear. It turned out that it was up just a week later! And as other escorts shared, it somewhat helped. They were quiet, even though the number of antis is gianormous.
I went escorting this morning even though I had another million things to do, but after I examined my schedule for the rest of summer, I realized I wouldn’t be able to escort until August 17. One of the fellow escorts took this picture of us under the new sign:
It is, indeed, a win, but we’ll see what will follow. Today, we talked a lot about the case that a Jewish Orthodox woman brought up this week. According to the Old Testament, life begins at birth, not at conception, so the court ruling goes against their believes.
Once again, we’ll see!
P.S. Noise ordinance is indeed against noise, not against anties, and it passed the City Council almost unanimously. The protected area is the whole perimeter of the clinic.
Continuing on the topic of appliances. When I moved in, the dishwasher was not working, but it could be repaired, so I didn’t shop for a new one. I made a couple of interesting discoveries after it was repaired, such as finding pieces of broken glass on the bottom, and way later, I found the cap of the rinsing liquid dispenser. The dishwasher door would not stay in the intermediate position and would always fall all the way horizontally, but the job of cleaning was performed fine, so I could live with it.
I really liked the dishwasher which Anna had in her house. The things I especially liked:
After the cycle is over, the door opens a small gap, so some air gets inside and helps the plastic surfaces to dry. I wash a lot of plastic containers, and I like the idea you do not need to additionally dry them when you unload a dishwasher.
I love the third rack! It has space for all of those “not fitting into” things, like cutlery, small lead, blender parts, etc.
I love that it operates so quietly that you can barely hear it
When I finally decided to get a new dishwasher a couple of months ago, I texted Anna to ask about her dishwasher brand. She didn’t reply right away, and I was already deeply in the process. Also, wanted to make sure that it would be delivered when Boris was in town and could be at home for delivery. Long story short, I went through several dozen models available in Lowes, looking for all of the above criteria. After I placed the order, Anna finally got back to me, and it turned out that I purchased the same one as she had :). It’s sad that only Samsung could check all the squares!
Later, I discovered one more exciting feature: the cycle auto-selection. This thing can actually figure out how dirty your dishes are and select the washing cycle accordingly!
I moved to Rogers Park three years and two months ago, and some of my friends might remember that there was not a single thing in this house that would work properly then. Since I didn’t have money to fix everything, I resorted to the bare minimum, and one thing which was a must, was a washer/dryer combo, because there was none. I do not know what the previous owners did with their machine, but the niche designated for the washer/dryer was empty.
I purchased a new one from Home Depot (because at that point, I didn’t realize it’s evilness). Since the day I bought it, it had a problem with the dryer handle – it was getting off easily, just when you pull the door with above-average force. Fortunately, it was equally easy to put it back.
This thing (the handle getting off) happened periodically, and there was no problem until about a month ago, when, out of blue, I could not put this handle back! After several unsuccessful attempts, I finally realized what the problem was: the little hooks which would get inside the door and secure that handle, were gone; just broke off.
As one would expect, that happened exactly after the warranty was over :), and I was unsure how I could possibly get it fixed (BTW, opening this door without a handle required two screwdrivers). Then, I decide to ask Grandfather Google, and discovered the website where I could find spare parts for pretty much anything. There, I found the replacement handle.
The price was completely unreasonable, but when you need something – you need it! So I ordered an paid $80 for the part and delivery. However, since it would arrive several days later, I decided to “temporarily” fix it with Gourilla Gue – and if worked!
Nov, even though the part arrived long time ago, I am reluctant to tear off this “DIY” fix…🤣
Hettie's Reflections 