Almost Famous!

I came across a newspaper article from 1972 that was written shortly after Sergei Kourdakov’s arrival in the United States.  I had already met Sergei and the memories of the day Mr. Logie showed me that newspaper article still made me smile.  I recall Mr. Logie breezing through the office as he gently tossed a newspaper on my desk.  “Here, you have to read this article about Sergei.  They even mentioned us in the story.  We’re famous!” he chuckled.  Mr. Logie had a big grin on his face as he tried to keep from laughing.  In an instant he was gone, leaving me to wonder what was in the article.  He sort of reminded me of a gentle tornado, a whirlwind of activity, always stirring things up—but in a good way.  I quietly sat at my desk and read the article about Sergei.  A small portion of that story is below:

* * *

Soviet Defector Gives Impressions of Life in West

August 11, 1972

By Raymond J. McHugh

Chief, Washington Bureau, Copley News Service

Kourdakov has had almost a year to size up life in the West since he leaped overboard from a Soviet trawler in a north Pacific storm last Sept. 3 [1971], and swam to asylum in Canada’s British Columbia.

“My first impression in Canada and now in the United States is how rich everyone is.

. . . here you have it all and you take it for granted.” [Sergei Kourdakov]

Kourdakov, a tall, handsome youth of 21 who looks like he could compete for a Hollywood role, is outspoken about antiwar demonstrators in the United States and the tolerant attitudes of the American and Canadian governments toward political leftists.

Kourdakov also is scheduled for more intensive English language courses to prepare him for North American television and radio appearances.  And he is working with two collaborators on a book that will be published in 1973.

His English is still heavily accented and he slips into errors of grammar and syntax, but he has remarkably little difficulty communicating.

“You should have seen him talking to my secretary,” joked one Washington official.

* * *

When I read that last, single sentence regarding Sergei having no problems communicating with a secretary, I burst out laughing.  I took the paper and went in search of Mr. Logie.  When I handed him the newspaper I questioned, “And you are the Washington official quoted in this news article?”

“Yes,” Mr. Logie replied, “I am.  And you are the secretary I was referring to.”