Remembering Lenin, again and again

If you've ever visited a post-Soviet country, depending on which one I suppose, you've probably seen a proud statue of Lenin in the center of town.  For many tourists not from this part of the world it is most likely near impossible not to take a photo of a town's Lenin statue in contrast with today's surroundings.  In Bishkek, Lenin was stretching his hand to the American University in Central Asia, which the guidebooks love to point out.  During Ramadan, I saw a photograph of Simferopol's Lenin Square filled with praying Muslims.  And what kitsch-loving tourist can resist taking a photograph with Lenin?

These images seem so ironic at first glance, as you twist your mind back and forth to come up with the perfect explanation of how THIS IMAGE is the perfect image of the post-Soviet space.  Yet with time, even these images become commonplace.  It becomes second nature to "meet near Lenin," or give directions in relation to his memorial statue.

Alright, so that was my attempt to deconstruction my "western obsession" with Lenin photos... Now I can show you mine... Every time I walk past these young skate boarders hanging out at Lenin's feet, I just really wish one of them would pull some great skateboarding stunt so I could get a shot of them flying past this statue...

I mentioned this to a friend of mine here.  He looked at them and then commented, "Yes, unfortunately they aren't very good."