History’s Mysteries: The Romanov Mystery
While watching the old Anastasia movie with my best friend today, we stumbled upon the numerous conspiracy theories, Anastasia impersonators, and of course, Rasputin stories. After my interest was OFFICIALLY peaked, i began intensive research into the Romanov history. Now although i have always known that most conspiracy theories are bologna, this one seems legitimate. Being the history buff that i am, i knew that it was not actually Anastasia who was suspected to be alive, but her sister Maria (depending on which source you’re going to listen to). What i didn’t know was that their brother, Alexei, also had a missing body. When i looked at the MULTIPLE stories of Romanov children impersonators (which were always Maria and Anastasia, Maria and Alexei, Anastasia and Alexei or just one of them by themselves conveniently enough), i started to notice that the stories almost ALWAYS revolved around these 3 children. Though i was easily able to discount several of the impersonators, such as Anna Anderson, and other women who claimed to be Anastasia, some of the stories gave me serious doubts about the validity of the “DNA testing” done on a few of the bodies found at the mass grave near where the Romanov family was imprisoned. Firstly, it is still in debate whether it was Anastasia or Maria’s body found next to Alexei’s (away from the rest of the family), even AFTER several DNA tests. Furthermore, even though there are conflicting accounts, there is no way anyone other than the guards there could have known that those 3 were the last 3 to “die” in their family. There are even reports that as their bodies were being carried away, that Anastasia and Maria woke up screaming (though they were brutally murdered again). This brings the question to light as why ONLY Anastasia, Maria and Alexei have stories about their survival, as opposed to their sisters Tatiana and Olga. Why did neither have even ONE story of their survival. Furthermore, there are several accounts of people helping a “young boy and girl [who appears to have been his sister] escape.” There are accounts of a soldier helping Anastasia escape, another one where Anastasia is caught at a train station and executed and another yet where Anastasia and Maria run away to a convent in the Ural Mountain until they died.
I have picked the people who, if anyone’s story is true, i believe theirs is. The first is for Anastasia. If anyone is Anastasia (and its not the nun in the Ural Mountains) then i believe it to be Eleonora Albertova Krüger, who in fact insisted she was not royalty, but many things pointed to her being royalty, along with her brother “George”, such as the fact that she had a dog named Maron, not a normal name for the Polish she claimed to be though she was originally registered as a Russian; Maron being an anagram for Roman for Romanov. Not only did she and her brother both have an uncanny resemblance to Anastasia and Alexei, but she was also fluent in multiple languages and told her students stories of beautiful palaces she had lived in. George and Nora also refused to admit they were siblings, even though he seemed to come to meet her out of the blue. Furthermore, he had tuberculosis, which can apparently have symptoms similar to that of hemophilia. For me, Suzanna Catharina de Graaff, was discredited by the mere fact that Anna Anderson, a known psychotic woman, identified her as her sister. Though somewhat unfair to make this judgment, it stands (plus her arguments didn’t even make sense).
If George is not Alexei, then i am convinced it would have had to have been Eugene Nicolaievich Ivanoff, who had such similarities to Alexei, that it would have been almost impossible to replicate (such as he knew how to sew as well as was fluent in several languages and of Russian descent). He was also a hemophiliac.
For Tatiana we have Larissa Feodorovna Tudor, who herself never claimed to be of royal descent but had an unexpected amount of wealth upon her death (possibly from the diamonds sewn into her dress upon escape?), and her conflicting information (like what age she actually was at her death (27, 28, or 29)), and the fact that there was actually no immigrant with her name who entered the country (was she snuck in? that would make sense). She also had an uncanny resemblance to the Grand Duchess.
Finally, for Olga we have Marga Boodts, we have simply because at least 5 relatives identified her undeniably as Olga and even gave her financial aid and housed her. I hold family recognition at the highest level which fuels most of my argument for her. Unfortunately, one of her supporters was also a strong supporter of Anderson, which slightly discredits her but not enough with all her other supporters.
With Maria there didn’t seem to be any credible impostors, though i’m sure there are several unknown and credible ones.
In conclusion, although the bodies of all the Romanovs’ were found, there has been doubt for almost 100 years that they really died, and with all these rumors that sprouted up simultaneously and without anyone having been able to know that there were TWO bodies missing, it seems possible that some of the Romanovs did manage to escape. In fact, my own theory is that whatever siblings escaped, their bodies were replaced with a close relative of theirs, which would have tested out with DNA. With Alexei, they may have pronounced that it was him simply on the fact that the DNA was similar and that they knew the remains were of a boy of approximately 12-15 years old (not enough proof if you ask me). Until each of these individuals DNA is tested against Romanov blood, i personally, will never been 100% sure if there are any remaining Romanovs.
The Barbary Lion
Alrighty! We have another post on a critically endangered animal! This one, the Barbary Lion, has been extinct in the wild since 1922!!! How some poor animal goes that long without any public notices or any activism is beyond me! This creature is simply astounding! It was originally found in Northern Africa, but serious hunting of this up to 600 lbs for males and 400 lbs for females creature endangered the creature to the point where the last one was shot in the Atlas mountains in Africa in 1922. Fortunately, though previously though extinct, several of these majestic creatures have popped up in zoos and circuses around the world. Unfortunately, there is some dispute as to whether these lions are pure-breeds or not.
An organization called WildLink, has teamed up with Oxford University to create a project called the Barbary Lion Project, where they will take these half-breed lions and selectively breed them to bring the Barbary Lion back! It sounds complicated and somewhat horrible, but I assure you that the animal rights activist in me finds that it’s more important to bring back a species if there is a possibility over anything else!
The program has been somewhat a success. Recently, six Barbary lions were released to Aquila Private Game Reserve in South Africa, two hours from Cape Town, to restore the Cape lion. As of March of 2010, two cubs of a Barbary lion couple have been moved to the Texas zoo in the city of Victoria.
But WildLink has become unavailable and the project is on hold until funds can be raised!!!! If you would like to donate, email “SaveTheLions@aol.com” OR go to this website: http://www.bigcatrescue.org/donate.php.
Activism at the Front!
In an effort to continue my…efforts…i am starting a new section! This section is going to talk about a less than commonly known endangered species (as opposed to the ocelot and siberian tiger, though they are not any less important), in an attempt to renovate interest and gain support! 😀 Hopefully, this will allow people to see the huge amount of not only animals, but plants as well, that will die without help! I’m not going to ask you to donate at all, but i will place a link that will LET you donate if there is one, if you so wish, though most can be accessed through the WWF or the World Wildlife Fund 🙂
Our first animal is the Socorro Dove, which i personally find adorable. It has been extinct in the wild since 1972!!! There are less than 100 left, even in captivity, and it is a native to Socorro Island, an island south of Baja California. On October 30, 2006, the Socorro Dove was successfully bred at London Zoo. The bird was named “Arnie”, after Arnold Schwarzenegger, with reference to his famous line “I’ll be back” (on Socorro Island). However when Arnie was sexed he turned out to be a she. It is hoped that the descendants of Arnie and her relatives can someday soon be reintroduced into the wild.
Hopefully, this type of article generates some interest! If you have any suggestion at all, about anything, please, feel free to let me know! Thanks readers!
Intelligent Politicians
the intelligent politician…does it exist anymore? After hearing Michael Steele’s comments the other day on “America didn’t choose to go into the [Afghanistan] War; Obama did”, i’m not so sure anymore. It seems that people don’t care about their political system anymore; “Hey, if it sucks, i can’t do anything about it , but somebody should!”. Unfortunately, that kind of “winning” attitude just doesn’t help. Many years ago, people used to vote on the representative for ANY position not based on WHO they were, or what their party was, but what their platform was. Now it seems that any Tom, Dick, and Harry can get into a Senate seat, or a Governor’s seat, and nobody could care the less. With George Bush (cause the FIRST term wasn’t bad enough) and now Michael Steele, it seems that it doesn’t matter who the hell is running the country, as long as the party of their choice has the majority. I’m sure that not even 30% of Americans would be able to name the first 4 successors to the presidency, forget the platform that each REPRESENTATIVE (not the party) has. People seem to also have forgotten that a representative and their party are not synonymous. Sure, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is a republican, but we all know better. Yet, he was elected almost based solely on the fact that he WAS a republican (not to say there’s anything wrong with republicans)!
My point is essentially that i suppose that representatives can only be as intelligent as those they represent and if those they represent include people who say that “Obama started the Afghanistan war” …well then, it seems there is no hope for America after all. HOWEVER, this should not be the case, as the constitution clearly states that the Electoral College representative may override the vote of their region (another thing that needs to change) if they feel it appropriate. To do that, they should have concerns not of their party but of the nation, and they need to be intelligent to do that. What does it look like when the chairman of the GOP makes a statement as erroneous and clearly uninformed comment like this?
To summarize, it would seem that the ideal of an intelligent politician is becoming just that – an ideal. And if this continues, there will be even MORE of a reason for the rest of the world to call us the stupidest nation on the planet.
How it all began…
As i mentioned in my bio, this website/blog was set up to define the “opinions of the new age student”. Of course, i’m not over-generalizing and saying that everyone my age has the same opinion as me. In fact, this site was established as a response to the adults of today who misunderstand the youth of today, either by saying that we don’t work as hard as they did, aren’t as intelligent as their generation, or even that all we do is sit in front of the t.v. all day, not doing anything constructive with our lives. However, it is in my strong opinion that if anything, the youth of today are MORE aware of their world than the youth of yester-year, albeit it in different ways. With different issues and different technologies present in the world today, today’s youth approach problems that may have been handled one way (i.e. petitions against a law by going door-to-door) in ways more appropriate to our time (i.e. facebook-ing or emailing the petition to everyone we know and making it a chain mail). With the utilization of all this technology, although it does require us to “sit on our butts” most of the day, it is by no means unproductive. Why, just yesterday, i received an IM informing me that a child had been kidnapped by a vehicle with the description and license number. Within literal minutes, i received another text informing the kidnapper had been apprehended. This would not have been at all possible if the world did not utilize the technology available at their fingertips. And for all you parents you insist that your children text too much, have you ever considered half of those texts are related to homework assignments, important events (like when to show up to a college orientation) or even these child-abduction texts? “Back in the day”, if you forgot to do your homework, with no cell phones, you would have to call the house phone, but who calls after 9 in an effort to not disturb the rest of the family? Homework = failed.
At any rate, in a side rant about technologies, i meant to say that it is imperative that not only the adults of today understand that kids today aren’t uninformed idiots AND that we DO NOT share your opinions on everything (as opposed to whether the internet is beneficial or not, we know argue which ways the internet is most useful (internet banking versus. online classes)), but that even the youth of today open it mind to new opinions whether they be a republican listening to democratic views or vice versa. For the more informed a person is on the other side of the argument, the more affirmatively they can decide which side they agree with. And of course, this blog will hopefully point out the problems we have today, such as the racism article earlier or the politician article i will be presenting next. Either way, i hope this article effectively conveyed what i hope to gain from this blog, and that you, as the audience will continue to support my efforts! Thank you readers!
The Man, the marvel, the Racist: Racism still in action
A while back, I decided i wanted to start writing a blog in my continual efforts to make a difference in the world. However, i was completely clueless as to where to start off, or even what to write about. However, while i was doing my daily Facebook surfing today, i stumbled upon an article my cousin had put up in her status. This article (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1999416,00.html) written by the enlightened Joel Stein, was a “humor” article, discussing his days of youth where he, as a child (though i wouldn’t be surprised about what he does today) would steal from various stores (claiming now that “There is an entire generation of white children in Edison who have nowhere to learn crime”) and yell at several Indians that they should “go home to India”. I find myself a fun-loving and accepting person, but this man’s opinions and views border on neo-Nazism, complaining about samosas and how Indians think that all “white people look old”. This man hits the epitome of blatant racism. In the day and age we live in today, and in the melting-pot of a country we live in, I’m surprised that Time even allowed this article to be published and didn’t see any problems with it before.
This article’s ONLY saving grace is that Kal Penn wrote an actually humorous rebuttal (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kal-penn/the-hilarious-xenophobia_b_634264.html).
Honestly, as the daughter of immigrant parents, i find this article truly offensive, with a capital O. Stein at one point wonders why so many Indians chose to populate Edison, New Jersey, his hometown, and asks “Were they from some Indian state that got made fun of by all the other Indian states and didn’t want to give up that feeling? Are the malls in India that bad? Did we accidentally keep numbering our parkway exits all the way to Mumbai?”. I know for a fact that India is a difficult place to live, with sometimes freezing weather in the winter and 120 degree heat in the summer, with incredible amounts of poverty and a system so corrupt, that even the native residents become frustrated. His prodding of malls and making fun of one of the oldest religions on the planet only further proves that this man is a pig-headed, racist, and one that nobody should put up with. Luckily, several organizations, such as SAALT, have rebelled against the article.
The author claims that his article was only meant to provide humor, but personally, i find it completely lacking taste and absolutely humorless.
There is an entire generation of white children in Edison who have nowhere to learn crime.
The Opinions of a New Age Student 