via smashingmagazine.com => original post link
This is not a regular Smashing article. But these aren’t regular times either.
I was born and grew up in Minsk, Belarus. That’s where I spent nights playing Prince of Persia. That’s where I’d wait in front of a bakery nearby for the smell of freshly basked Narochansky bread. That’s also the place where our family went to peaceful protests on the streets, even then back in the 90s heavily suppressed by an armed regime with a brutal force.
I was surrounded by incredible friends from all over. Nobody cared if it was Belarus, Ukraine or Russia, or any other friendly countries in the world. We didn’t have much, but what we did have, we valued enormously. From the collections of wrapping paper of chocolates to huge snowballs we were building all together when it was freezing outside. I remember us reading dictionaries and encyclopedias together, discussing books in book clubs, playing hockey outside, dreaming about the bright future while looking at the sky, together.