“I left Russia because I couldn’t stand it any longer. I wanted to leave Russia since I was ten years old, so I taught myself English,” said Katrina Harding, this afternoon as she took a break from working with her new husband at his glass blowing booth at the seventh annual Fine Craft Show, 120 Free Street, in downtown Portland.
Born in Rostov-on-Don, near the southern border of Russia close to Ukraine, she came to the United States four years ago – by herself and with no friends or family here.
Harding explained that there is a generational divide in Russia. The older generation supports everything that Putin does, including the War in Ukraine. Russians, including her father, Oleg know that Putin is corrupt. But everything in Russia is corrupt. It’s never ending bribery there. She belives that Putin is threatened by the lack of corruption in Ukraine. He doesn’t want the democracy that Ukrainians enjoy in Russia. “He will keep going as long as he’s alive. I have dreams of killing Putin,” she admited.
A straight A college student in Boston where she and her husband live, Katrina is about to graduate. She will decide soon whether to pursue a law degree or a Ph.D in child development.
“People here in the US have been so helpful to me. I’ve stayed here because people have treated me so well. I’ve been treated far better than I would have been treated at home. That’s because Russians have so little to share because they have so little. And that’s because of Putin’s corruption. Russians need to fight to survive,” the attractive Harding explained.
The oldest of six children, Harding said that most of her family, except for her mother a nurse, suppprts Putin’s corrupt policies. None of her family members speak a foreign language and none of them have ever traveled outside of Russia either she said. Her parents are divorced.
Before Katrina left our conversation to rejoin her husband at his booth at the Maine Craft Show, she confided that her father had called her from Russia in March. He said this was the last time she would ever hear from him. He was afraid that Americans would harm Katrina when they learned she was Russian. “I don’t hide my identity and everyone I know in Boston is aware of where I came from,” she said. “When I told him that I was being treated well by Americans, he didn’t believe me..” He said that Americans would eventually turn on me she added.
Harding does not like American food. She finds it “too heavy” and that “too many ingredients” are used. Toothpaste is too strong for her. At first it burned her mouth but she has gotten used to it. “Everything is of low quality in Russia.” she said. “I feel so American here that it is getting harder to remember what it was like in Russia.”
Alison Godburn is the new Executive Director of the Maine Crafts Association located in downtown Portland. She took over the position just several weeks ago. Formerly, she was with WGBH Public Radio, Boston, where she ran the business that made media accessible for the hearing impaired and blind. She has a BFA in print making.