In the last year and throes of the Soviet Union, I was strolling around Moscow with a university teacher whom I was interviewing. As we walked, on a bright blue September Sunday, I noticed that the people we passed were staring at me--lots of people, with a sort of scientific intensity. I asked my companion, Did I look so different from ordinary Russians that I stood out as an object of curiosity? She responded almost blithely, "You don't look afraid. Americans don't look afraid."
It was true, of course. And it was the first time I was made aware of this...
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