Abandoned Love

"I can see the turning of the key.
I've been deceived by the clown inside of me."
Bob Dylan

I feel deceived. An Iranian official on March 7th said American journalist Roxana Saberi would be released "soon" from prison. We're coming up on a week now. The international community of journalists is finally starting to get worked up about this. Roxana needs to know that she's not been abandoned.

In other news, I got an email from Vera Savko. She works for the American consulate in St. Petersburg, Russia. She was inquiring as to my interest in a return trip. Last year I went for a week to speak to a group of small market Russian television journalists. It was a wonderful experience.

My hotel was directly across from the Hermitage. I did a fair amount of sight-seeing as it seemed that my schedule of "things to do there" for the consulate shrank upon my arrival. I got to tour two of the city's TV stations. One was cramped but modern. It's a private all news channel. The other was housed in this huge Soviet era building with massive studios and a lot of outdated equipment. But it was very professional.

The private channel wants some guidance on managing their operations. The staff is very young and their top manager comes from a print background. It would be a two week adventure. I think I've got a lot of planning to do in a short amount of time. It could be very interesting if I end up doing this.

Ironically the trip could wrap around my plan vacation to Riga, Latvia to visit the Czarina's hometown. I'm already getting tired just thinking about it.