Just a heads-up that many stories I’ve written here – especially in the past two years – are now in “private mode,” so no one can see them except me. Why? I’m in the process of switching my entire web site to a new design, reworking the photos, layout, etc., and that takes time. It’s … Continue reading
How to spend a winter Saturday in Seattle? With Uzbek journalists, of course! Too much fun!! Continue reading
From my summer visit to Wisconsin, quintessentially beautiful in every season. (click on photo for caption/backstory) Continue reading
I don’t usually post stories or videos that I create at work on my personal web sites, but I do like this Russian one, “Moscow in Photos: 12 Reasons Why We Love Red Square and the Kremlin,” published today. Continue reading
When my employer sent me to Siberia, it wasn’t punishment at all. It was a “once-in-a-lifetime” $25,000 train ticket on the Trans-Siberian Railway, creating on-the-fly videos and stories and unforgettable memories along the way. Continue reading
Born and raised in Montana, Wisconsin became my home in my teen and college years – a place of enduring beauty and seasons. Continue reading
Wisconsin Thanksgiving: Grateful to be with my mom, say thanks to my 7th-grade teacher, Mr. Armbrecht, and return to my teenaged haunts: a lighthouse, and Lake Michigan. Continue reading
Five years ago this week I was exploring Silk Roads and back roads of Central Asia. Officially I was with the Seattle-Tashkent Sister City Association, an invited member of its 35th anniversary delegation. Continue reading
I can’t get no satisfaction. I grew up wanting more, and why not? It was my culture. Even the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger wailed dissatisfaction over a girl dissatisfied with him. But why? Blame it on TV… Continue reading
I’M NOT TURKISH, I don’t speak Turkish (much), and I don’t have ties to anything Turkish in the U.S.A. Yet when the plane touches down at Istanbul’s airport – my eighth trip so far – my heart still flutters as if it’s the first time: Continue reading
{Note: I wrote this on the flight to his funeral, after my dad died February 18, 2012.} Arthur Holter Born: Montana. Died: Wisconsin. Forever Home: Montana. May the circle be unbroken. My dad loved road trips. He died talking about them. There it is: that corded telephone. Dad was chatting with my older sister … Continue reading
February 18, 2012. A year, how can it be? Gone.
We, his children, dig his grave and bury him – our father. Continue reading
What’s in a name? These days, it’s not Leningrad, anymore. It’s not the USSR, anymore. And my “‘Baby Lenin”‘ pin isn’t worn anymore, but rather a sought-after relic for collectors. Change in St. Petersburg is the real name of the game: mind-boggling change. Continue reading
Dog bones and Thanksgiving–what’s the connection? It’s the meatiness of solid relationships – not wispy, virtual ones – that are most satisfying… Continue reading
Soviet military veteran joins others in a May Day parade honoring their service… service of a bygone era… Continue reading
Growing up in Montana, Good Friday was an often snowy, three-hour noontime service, “Seven Last Words From the Cross.” We got the day off from elementary school for such religious things back then. (Yes, I lived in ancient times.) Impressionable, I’d shed a tear as our Lutheran pastor whispered those first words from the cross: “Father, forgive them…” … Continue reading
My dad died suddenly a few weeks after all this happened. It turned out to be my last story for him, my last gift to him…. a lasting gift.
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While working for ABC News in Moscow, Russia I found this refreshing non-news: life goes on. Continue reading
“SOCIAL UPHEAVAL MEANS SOUP KITCHENS, STRUGGLES FOR SOME RUSSIANS”(First published in The Seattle Times, 05/08/1994) [My note, years later: I like this story as a reflection of the times, showing the resilience of Russia’s elderly struggling to adapt to changes, even as they wondered where their next meal would come from. I later volunteered at … Continue reading
By 1994, Helen Holter had been to the Soviet Union 10 times – living, studying, and working there. This time, she reflects on the stunning changes that have opened her heart, once again, to this country and its people. Continue reading
