Page 31 - ARUBA TODAY

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PEOPLE & ARTS Thursday 2 augusT 2018

My Life as a Spy under surveillance in communist Romania

By ALISON MUTLER friends and acquaintances apologized.
Associated Press to report on her. "The concept of spying is a
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) They feared she would cultural concept," Verdery
— Romanian secret police paint Romania in an unfa- believes, saying she began
agents eavesdropped on vorable light or could neg- to realize why people could
her, persuaded friends to atively impact Romania's have thought of her as a
snoop on her and filmed most favored nation status spy: she kept duplicate sets
her when she was in her un- with her reports. of notes that she locked in
derwear. Officers gave Verdery a va- a suitcase and then sent
Some 70 informants and riety of code names: "Vera," back to the United States in
spies kept tabs on Kather- ''Vanesa" and "Folklorista." a diplomatic pouch.
ine Verdery, now an an- TRYING TO RECONCILE AND Verdery doesn't name her
thropology professor at The UNDERSTAND informers, but pages from
Graduate Center of the Furious and depressed, her file that have appeared
City University of New York, Verdery set about trying to in Romanian media reveal
when she visited commu- understand and record on two former ministers among
nist Romania in the '70s and paper why she had been a her informants.
'80s as a postgraduate do- target, unwittingly inhabit- THE GHOST OF THE SECURI-
ing research on an anthro- ing a cloak-and-dagger TATE
pology thesis on Romanian world of betrayals and in- Unlike other former com-
village life. visible surveillance. munist countries, Romania
No other U.S. citizen was so "The default assumption hasn't reconciled the shad-
closely scrutinized by the was that I was a spy," she owy and corrosive effect
Securitate secret police of told The Associated Press the Securitate had on so-
communist leader Nicolae by telephone from Massa- ciety when informers kept
Ceausescu. This undated photo provided by Juan Carlos Arévalo shows chusetts. "Finding out my tabs on citizens and stifled
After the collapse of com- Katherine Verdery, an American anthropologist and professor. friends were involved work- dissent with informers infil-
munism in 1989, Verdery Associated Press ing with the secret police trated into every walk of
obtained her 2,781-page ... was an unwelcome sur- life.
dossier and transformed In the Cold War, Romania Verdery was initially "ap- prise." Observers say the old Secu-
the material into a 344- considered U.S. students palled, I was absolutely In her mission to make ritate network continues to
page book, "My Life as a sent to Romania on grants stunned. ... I couldn't be- sense of what had hap- function. "The Securitate is
Spy." to be Western agents, and lieve my eyes, the level of pened to her and gain an in business, active in politics
The book was recently Verdery did nothing to dis- surveillance was so much anthropological perspec- and in the press; it's as alive
translated into Romanian, pel this assumption when greater than anything I had tive, Verdery embarked on as it was before, and we
opening old wounds, but she inadvertently drove her anticipated or imagined." the laborious and fraught haven't healed yet," said
also challenging Roma- motorcycle onto a military Romanian Securitate task of returning to Roma- Armand Gosu, a political
nians to confront a dark base in the 1970s, although agents reported on her nia where she sought out, science teacher at the Uni-
chapter in their history. the officer in charge of spy- movements, sometimes 16 met, discussed and even- versity of Bucharest.
AN AMERICAN SPY? ing on her at that period fi- hours a day. Hotel recep- tually forgave former close But the publication of "My
A young and naive Ameri- nally concluded she wasn't tionists reported her where- friends and colleagues. Life as a Spy" in Romanian
can academic by her own involved in espionage ac- abouts, others broke into Some flatly denied keep- last month appears to be
admission, Verdery didn't tivities. her suitcase to access her ing tabs on her. Others had having a cathartic affect,
comprehend what her Discovering later that she notes, surreptitiously filmed died. One woman turned although some have criti-
questions and attempts to was erroneously consid- and bugged the places the tables, chiding Verdery cized her for not being "suf-
fit in looked like in Eastern ered a U.S. spy, potentially where she went and asked for making her become an ficiently judgmental." q
Europe. with Hungarian sympathies, — or twisted the arm — of informer. Only one person

Art of illusion: Face paint transforms

Serbian makeup pro

By DARKO VOJINOVIC al name Kika. resembling neck tattoos.
Associated Press Milosevic creates her vid- An outline colored in with
SMEDEREVO, Serbia (AP) eos, which have gotten mil- white becomes a mask
— It took Mirjana Milosevic lions of views, in a studio in that reveals hollowed-out
less than an hour to trans- her home in the central Ser- and sharp teeth.
form into a zombie. The bian town of Smederevo. A zombie is born.
Serbian makeup artist also There, in front of a dressing Her signature skin illusions
can turn into a skeleton or table and surrounded by take longer, Milosevic says.
a genie and make body mirrors, she picks the tools She puts in days of contem-
parts disappear. that will immerse her in a plation and planning, fol-
Milosevic, 36, has attracted new role. lowed by hours and hours In this Friday, July 27, 2018 photo, Serbian make-up artist
fans around the world for With makeup pencils, of work, to put a hollow in Mirjana Milosevic known professionally as 'Kika' paints her
the illusions she creates on brushes and face paints, her stomach or to appear face at her studio in Smederevo, Serbia.
and with her own body. Milosevic slowly creates without a head. Associated Press
She records the whole pro- an image that completely The artist says she always
cess and posts videos on changes her appearance. liked to draw, but never on drew on walls, tables and draw before I could walk,"
YouTube and social net- Flawless black lines appear paper. her legs and arms. Milosevic said.q
works under the profession- as contours, then symbols As a young girl, Milosevic "My parents say I learned to