Articles written by Maria K.

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About me - Maria K.

I am a first-generation Russian-Ukrainian immigrant. I was born and raised in Zaporozhye, Ukraine and came to the United States as an impressionable 19-year-old exchange student in 1994. I earned my Bachelors and Masters degrees in Mechanical Engineering

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Relationships & Family > Friendship Issues & Advice The difference between good and toxic friends: 1 of 43

"Now I have moved and I've kept on moving, Proved the points that I needed proving, Lost the friends that I needed losing,. Found others on the way" - Dougie MacLean, Caledonia Every single success and leadership coach out there (including Jack Canfield, John Maxwell and Shad Helmstetter) says that in order to achieve your d...
Society & Lifestyle > Lifestyles The most stylish cities around the world: 1 of 21

Paris definitely takes the prize as far as style is concerned. One of the things I love most about Parisians is that they dress for themselves. They would never show up in public looking like crap, just because they are going to work and they hate their job so much, they want to look bad out of sheer spite. They prefer to lo...
Politics, News & Issues > Political & Economic Theory Understanding communism: 2 of 30

The topic of communism seems to come up quite often for me due to the fact that I grew up in the former Soviet Union, and many people ask me what it was like. What surprises me most is how many misconceptions there are about what communism is, and how long-lived and persistent those misconceptions are. What we had in the for...
Creative Writing > Memoirs Testimonies: Life after miscarriage: 1 of 14

I have been pregnant twice... In one year... For nine weeks each time... Had everything gone according to plan, I could have been halfway through a pregnancy and well on my way to a baby. Unfortunately, something went wrong in both cases, and the fetus died sometime between weeks six and eight. Miscarriage at any stage of pr...
Religion & Spirituality > Self-Awareness & Realization Stop making excuses!: 2 of 26

I started this as a response to someone's e-mail and then decided that maybe I need to share this with more than just one person. After all, I am sure many people can relate. This person is not in the best place in life right now: a lousy job, lots of debt, a failed marriage - the works. What killed me was a statement that t...
Politics, News & Issues > Economic News Commentary: Gas prices: 2 of 25

I am sure you have all seen them - chain e-mails promoting "gas outs" to reduce gas prices (not buying gas on May 15) and boycotting gas companies that use foreign oil (while only buying gas from the "good" companies that supposedly do not use foreign oil). You would think that in our information age people would at least bo...
Relationships & Family > Married Life Who should lead the family.: 1 of 11

Leading a family is a job. If we approach the question from that standpoint, then the answer will become clear: family leadership should not be determined by tradition, or by faith, or by values. It should be determined by the family members' ability to lead. A family leader should be the person best suited for the job. A fa...
Religion & Spirituality > Spiritual Life Living life with optimism: Why life is more than just "death and taxes": 2 of 19

It is amazing the things one can learn from a tragedy! Our little two-year old corgi mix Houdini (Dini) died in an awful and unpredictable way (she was trying to get out of her crate at the boarding facility, where she and Maggie were staying while Gerry and I were traveling to Dallas, caught her collar and suffocated), but ...
Society & Lifestyle > Ethnicity & Gender (Other) Are gay rights issues parallel or different from race-related civil rights in the US?: 2 of 18

To those who stated that gay rights issues are different from race-related civil rights issues, I would like to point out the formulation of the question: are the ISSUES different or parallel? Not the process, not the course their struggle took, not the ways in which these issues came up, but the issues themselves. And to th...
Travel > New York Destinations Travel destinations: New York City: 2 of 14

I do not understand New York City. Mind you, that doesn't mean I dislike it. This place has many of the same elements I adore so much about Paris: tightly-knit neighborhoods, great food, interesting street vendors, incredible museums and theatres and awesome architecture. It does, however, lack the leisurely, laid-back atmos...