The Turkish Gambit

Ah, the times they certainly are a changin'. All the blondes have black hair now; and dear God, emo glasses seem to be popping up all over. All the shaved-headed thugs have mullets now. 12 year-old girl students of mine have become 17-year-old party girls and then they've become 20 year old single mothers. The abandoned factories are all microbreweries and shopping malls.

A colleague at work asked me if I knew any strippers who might be interested in working in Turkey; some friend of his came to Russia, representing a night club in Turkey which was offering girls $1700 a month plus visa support and accomodation to do a bit of bikini go-go dancing. . .

And they couldn't find a single taker.

My former stripper girlfriend scoffed -- "We could make $1000 a night in Atlantic City."

Five or six years ago, you could have filled a C-130 cargo plane with girls with an offer like that. Not just the money -- the Turkey angle. It used to be the prime exit point for girls who wanted out of Russia. Of the five girls I hung around with in 2002, three of them married Turkish guys. . .

Some acquaintances doing summer volunteer work for the Red Cross.