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University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, September 10, 1991
Soviets fear food shortage, hunger
The Associated Press
MOSCOW — Outside a subway station,
meager vegetable stands offer a pathetic selection: a wisp of garden radish, a few mushrooms, a corn cob.
An old woman clutches three precious carrots. At $2.75 a pound, she cannot afford more.
"You can see for yourself the way we live now. What can we expect in the winter?" asked the woman, Vera Nikolska.
Silayev has been charged by President Mikhail Gorbachev with running the economy in the absence of a Cabinet. He has to put in practice the concept of a single economic zone, an accord to bind together Soviet republic seeking independence or sovereignty.
As the first chill winds of fall hint at winter, thoughts turn to cold and hunger in this city of 9 million people. There is talk of shortages of sugar, potatoes, coal—fear backed by statistics and intensified by political turmoil.
"Our main concern is to provide the people with at least minimal food stuffs and mass consumption products to help them live through the winter," said Ivan Silayev, Russian prime minister.
Russia's situation is the most acute, but the Kremlin can no longer force the other republics to share food, and agreements among the republics are
no longer obeyed.
In the fields, rains are hampering the harvest and crops are rotting. Only 3 percent of the potato crop, the basic food for many Soviets, has been gathered on collective farms.
Food shortages occurred in the Soviet Union last winter despite an estimated harvest of 235 million tons of grain. This year, the U.S.Department of Agriculture is predicting a Soviet grain crop of only 190 million tons.
The bigger the crop, the more of it is lost due to poor handling and distribution, said Leonid Grigoriev of Moscow's Institute of World Econo-
"They lose up to half the vegetables.
You can cut off my hand if the overall loss is less than 30 percent," he said.
There are other concerns: the water systems in 15 Russian cities are reportedly near collapse; houses and heating systems are ill-prepared for winter; and only one-third of national needs have been fulfilled.
Lisa Pritykina, a 25-year-old Moscow resident with a 4-year-old son, said she fears winter. "I heard on the radio that many children were there," she said of her neighborhood.
Some people have turned to theft. Between Aug. 5 and Sept. 3, about 1,600 people have been caught stealing more than 33 tons of vegetables from farms near Moscow, the Moskovsky Komomoisets newspaper reported.
American Indian culture spotlighted
Kansan staff writer
Program features poetry, stories and songs
About 80 students came to Native American Night at Ellsworth Hall yesterday to listen to an hour of poetry, music and stories.
Members of the Native American Student Association presented the program and answered questions from the crowd.
Felice Dougherty, resident assistant at Ellsworth, helped plan the evening.
She said the event was planned as a celebration of American Indians and their cultures.
Carrie Cornelius, historian and secretary for the Native American Student Association, read the poems "Remember" by Joy Harjo and "A Winter's Tale."
Cornelius also told "A Coyote's Tale."
Cornelius said the tale was intended to teach self-respect and to illustrate the importance of keeping one's body sacred.
In that story, a coyote persuades a woman to give him her eyes.
David Skeeter, vice president of the association, played a flute he had made from white pine.
He said that in the American Indian culture, flutes were used during war times and in courting.
They are used in wars to announce a
type of attack or troop movement, Skeeter said.
He also said that a man would make a flute after he had met a beautiful woman.
"The man would fashion a flute with his beloved in mind, and then he would write a song for the person," Skeeter said.
After Skeeter played two songs, Caverly Smith, president of the association, answered students' questions.
Smith said that different tribes had arrivinglifestyles depending on where they lived.
He said he had lived in Dallas until he started junior high school. At that time, his parents moved to a Navajo reservation in Arizona.
"When I first got there, I was a total outcast and did not know the language," he said.
He said that he tries to return home for visits as often as possible.
But he said he eventually became accustomed to the lifestyle on the reservation.
Mark Chotimongkol, Dodge City freshman, said he learned a lot at the presentation.
"I thought it was really interesting and informative," he said.
Chotimongkol said he enjoyed the flute playing and learned about the history of the American Indian cultures.
Jennifer Hnstfruer / KANRAN
Carrie Cornelius tells "A Coyote's Tale" at Native American Night.
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