“Being the Queen is not all about singing, and being a diva is not all about singing. It has much to do with your service to people. And your social contributions.”
Aretha Franklin (March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018).
Seventeen years ago, ice rinks in Kazakhstan were only opened in the winter, because they were all outdoors. And let me tell you, it gets pretty cold in Kazakhstan in the winter. That’s one reason why we have lots and lots of real snow. Eventually, the first shopping mall in Kazakhstan was built, and included an indoor skating rink. For the first time, we didn’t have to wear snowsuits to practice ice skating. In those first years, I didn’t even have competition ice skates. I had a pair of old side skates with no support at all for jumps. To make them better, my Dad cut plastic water bottles in half, and attached them to each side so I could actually do jumps. Then, at age 8, I attended my first international competition in Omsk, Russia. It took us 3 days to get there by train. I was still wearing my plastic water bottle skates, I trained in a shopping mall, and I had little to no professional coaching. Yet, there I was competing in the qualifying round. I remember being amazed to even be there. But I also remember being ashamed of my skates, commpared to the Russian kids’ skates. And guess what? I won the competition, and the rest as they say is history. This is a long way to explain why Almaty 2022 is important to me and for Kazakhstan. Today is not seventeen years ago, but we still need better resources to develop our young athletes. So, why am I telling you all of this? Why is my story important? It is important because it is a real example of what our country can achieve in winter sports and what the whole region is capable of if we have the right resources and opportunities. That is the reason I agreed to participate in this campaign. I am not here for myself. I’m already living my Olympic dream. I am here for thousands of young Kazakh athletes dreaming their own Olympic dreams. And I am also here for that little kid out there, alone, skating around somewhere on a frozen lake, with skates supported by plastic water bottles.
– was an incredible chef and writer beloved by so many
– very open about his struggles with drug use and abuse as well as depression, and in testimonials from fans used to encourage people he met in their struggles to get clean
– an outspoken and passionate advocate for the “me too” movement, to the point where he penned an essay highlighting the horrible treatment of women in the food industry and his own failings and regrets in that regard for not speaking out against it sooner
– frequently challenged western views on the countries and places he visited; one of the clearest examples i can think of was an episode of parts unknown set in iran where the highlight was the normalcy of the lives of people who live there – he went bowling with them, for example, and spent an hour calling out the bizarre westernized views of iran and it’s people as tragic, war-torn and oppressed.
– spent so much time focusing on the people in the places he visited. he ate at their homes, in their backyards, anywhere they would like him to, as much (if not more) as he did at fine dining restaurants. he was generous and kind, and the show was never about “poverty porn” but rather about showing that these are real people, with real lives just like ours, and treated them with respect and graciousness.
– was an outspoken trump-hater particularly when it came to immigration rights, discussing the impact that mexican immigrants had on his love of cooking and his desire to be a chef.
– someone asked what tony would cook for trump & kim jong un if he was asked to cater their meeting and he said “hemlock”.
– a friend of obama’s, having dined with him many times before; when someone asked if he would do the same with trump tony said: “Absolutely f—ing not. I’ve been a New Yorker most of my life… I would give the same answer that I would have given 10 years ago, when he was just as loathsome.”
in short he was a beautiful and inspirational person and i sincerely hope this side of him is remembered just as much as the tragedy of his passing.
Steel Phoenix Studios 