The process of creating this piece was perhaps the most uncomfortable and unfamiliar experience I've subjected myself to (in terms of writing, at least). I was tasked with sleuthing out a piece of my writing which had been completed for some time, rejuvenating the content, and presenting the the concept in a totally different way to a totally different audience than originally intended. While it was an uncomfortable prompt, the completion of this assignment was one of the more enjoyable tasks I've taken on. 

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I settled on reworking a research paper written for a Russian political science class which focused on the systemic reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union. This subject in its natural form, a form in which I excel, is quite dry. No one would tell you otherwise. Lots of political science writing embodies this form. The downfall of emotionally detached research is that it is impersonal, uninteresting to those not already engaged in the subject, and hard to

read without yawning. 

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In an effort to correct these issues, and also to challenge myself, I decided to explain the fall of the Soviet Union from a more intimate perspective. A factory worker named Alexei lives through the tumultuous revolution in my piece, witnessing the effect of the collapse on the average Soviet man. I readily confess that I have not written much material of this sort in the past, but my attempt at doing so in this piece was thoroughly enjoyable, if quite difficult.

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Just below this description, you will find links to the original paper I reworked, an early draft of my concept for repurposing, and the final product. To send feedback or ask questions, click the "Contact" button above.