When I was 13 years old and living in Dallas Texas, I recall going to see White Nights, the movie in which Baryshnikov, the ballet dancer ends up on a flight that lands in Russia. I think he has to outrun the local authorities because he is wanted there for changing sides a few years earlier… I recall it being a great movie – so much so that I briefly considered dancing around the parking lot of the theater – but quickly stepped into the 7Eleven on Spring Valley road and bought a Slurpee. I may have played a game of Ms. PacMan or DigDug too, I don’t recall.

Anyway, years later as a college student I joined an organization (YUSSR) running Jewish summer camps in Russia (and various other former Soviet Union countries). The first time I went to Russia we arrived in early June and I recall the white nights – when the sun barely sets in St. Petersburg. The experience of sitting by the Finnish bay and watching the sun set and almost immediately reappear was mind-boggling.

So when I noticed the date was June 21st I couldn’t help but recall White Nights on the Finnish bay outside Zelinagorsk .

This is pretty funny – but probably only if you were in Russia leading a summer camp…