Bauwelt

http://www.bauwelt.de/

A German title in our Yakutsk workshop wiki? There's a very good xplanation. You won't believe, as I hardly did when I read a message from Brigitte Schultz, Editor of Stadtbauwelt, last November 15, 2010.

To cut a long story short, "Bauwelt", "a Berlin based non-commercial architectural weekly magazine" (paper edition only), publishes "Stadtbauwelt" four times a year. It's a special issue on urban culture. In December they were going to publish an issue about "Modern Ghost Towns", "focussing on the different reasons – manmade and else – why towns are abandoned now or might be abandoned in the future".

A photo I had taken of Yakutsk from the air as we were approaching landing last March 20 (published in my Flickr page) caught their attention, so they were asking my permission "to publish it with an article on possible abandoned towns in 2100, as Jakutsk is said to be treatened by climate change, being built on permafrost soil which might melt".

Here's part of my reply that same day. It explains that I didn't give immediate permission, much less lightheartedly.

"... I must also admit that it feels very strange to maybe have it included in an issue about “Modern Ghost Towns”. Let me explain why. It was my first trip to Russia. I travelled 9000 kms on my own to give a 5-day workshop on Web 2.0 tools to English teachers from the Republic of Sahka/Yakutia. For that I'm considered "a very brave Portuguese lady".  :-)

I started falling in love with Yakutsk from the air, as the plane approached the airport. I was very warmly received by everyone from the very first moment. Everybody wanted to meet me and be my guides and hosts/hostesses. I fell in love with the people and the city, including its suburbs. Everything and everybody truly captivated me and hold a very special place in my heart. And I feel a very true sense of allegiance to all those who hosted me and made me feel truly at home.

Though I understand your reasons for wishing to include my photo in the "Modern Ghost Towns" issue of your magazine, I would like to first make sure that nothing negative or pejorative is said about Yakutsk and its people. For me, that would be a betrayal on my part to all those who exceeded my wildest expectations.

I know that this sounds very sentimental, but that's how I am. What I said above makes me think twice about giving my permission, though the idea honors me.

All in all, I would appreciate it if you could let me know that nothing "negative or pejorative" is included in the article, that only natural and man-made reasons will be focused, before I give you my permission.

One last detail that may be very relevant to you. The photo was taken with my iPhone - kind of surreptitiously -, so the resolution isn't as you'd like. It's 1600 x 1200. I have another one that I can also send..."

Brigitte gave me the guarantees I needed later that day.

"I can absolutely assure you that we will not write anything negative about Yakutsk! We have a series of pictures that deal with cities that are threatened, for different reasons. Some are threatened by desertification, some because of the rising sea levels, some because of a lack of population. Yakutsk is supposed to be our example of how the climate change threatens a city, because it is built on permafrost soil and will have a very serious problem when it gets warmer and the soil melts more than it does at the moment in the summer, as the Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar- and Sea-Science has prognosticated. Therefore, what we intend with the article is the opposite of „negative press“, as we want to call peoples attention to the fact that if global warming goes on like at the moment, we might lose towns or even big cities that are very dear to us."

After this introduction, which I consider important for all my dear friends in Yakutsk, here's an image of the article in German with my photo and name. (I received a copy of the magazine in the mail (snail mail!) on Jan 24,2011.) The English translation was made online with Yahoo Babel Fish and improved by me with my rusty knowledge of German from my college days and a German-English dictionary (3 Feb 2011).