I had originally planned to post a "blockbuster 300th blog post blogtacular" a couple of weeks ago, but things kind of got out of control.  For one thing, I got kind of carried away with my article on Emma Goldman and I didn't want to wait to post it.  So "Notes on Emma Goldman" was really the 300th posting for greeklish.org and this was just fine, I guess.  But then came Dayton's Hurricane Ike Blackout of 2008 and we ended up cleaning up storm damage and sitting in the dark without power for four days.  It could have been worse, but it was no fun at all.  Incidentally, the complete failure of all our aquarium filters and air pump resulted in the loss of all of our pet goldfish.  Longtime readers wil recall our fish were the topic of much discussion a few years back.  No worries, though...We have rebuilt the aquarium into a tropical tank now and we're hoping for another good run with the new batch of fish.
portrait
Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya
From a set entitled
"Heroes of the Soviet Union,"
dated 1973.

So, onward and upward with our 301st blog article spectacular!  To celebrate this landmark event, we are launching several new pages and sections, including some big additions to our Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya archive.  This particular section is visited regularly by people from all around the world who want to learn about the struggle and sacrifice of the legendary Soviet heroine.  New to the section are two image galleries.  The "Posters and Paintings" gallery features images and information regarding Soviet-era depictions of Zoya.  Some of the images are items from my personal collection and one image is of a portrait owned by my good friend Randy Graham.  Thanks Randy!  We have also added a gallery called "Exhibits and Photographs" that features rare photographs and pictures of exhibits from the Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya Museum in Moscow.  These pictures and captions were provided by Nina Lebed, our friend from Russia.  Большое спасибо, once again, Nina!  Finally, a we've added another rare picture postcard to our "Post Card Gallery."  The post card is from a 1973 set entitled Heroes of the Soviet Union and in my opinion, the color portrait on this particular post card is one of the best depictions of Zoya I have ever seen.

Another of our new features is the "Recommended Reading" page, which will list some of my favorite works of all time.  The page is still under construction, but to kick it off, I have created a list of some recommended works on the topics of Marx and Marxism.  Since most of my reading and study over the past decade or so has involved Marxism and the radical left, I figured this was a good way to launch this particular page.  The banner image at the top of the page is a photo taken by my friend Kave Heydari during a recent visit to the Marx Memorial Library in London.  Thanks so much for the photo, Kave!

Finally, I have added a new list called "Favorite greeklish.org articles" to the left side of our main page.  The list features links to some of my favorite articles from the last 3½ years.  Some of these pieces were quite controversial, as you can well see by reviewing the "comments" sections for the respective posts.  Some of the articles are quirky or silly and a few of them are just pieces that I simply enjoyed writing.  If  you missed any of these the first time around, you might want to check them out.  Then again, if you've read them before, they could be worth yet another look.  

We really enjoy sharing the material at greeklish.org with all of our friends and family as well as the thousands of visitors around the world who happen upon our site each and every month.  Thanks to all our friends who have contributed photos, texts, and comments and thanks to all of our readers, from Russia, Greece, Iran, India, Pakistan and everywhere else all around the world!