Cool Hand Luke is my favorite film. The unrepentant Luke is locked in the work house, his mother comes to visit. She sucks the smoke from a cigarette and tells him God’s honest truth, that she’s always loved Luke more than his brother. The way it is, you see, sometimes you just, just have a feelin’ for a child…

The way it is, I felt little for most of my students in Russia. Many of them misbehaved terribly, others were unpleasant miniature humans who I imagined would one day heighten into full-sized unpleasant humans. But not Polina…

Polina had personality and a rare smile that I took pleasure in drawing out. She never did anything the first time I asked her, but always the second. Not being a parent I’m allowed to choose favorites; I choose Polina.