Kazan

In 1961, movie and theater director Elia Kazan created, in script-like form, a story about a poor Greek lad whose goal in life was coming to America. Published as "America, America," it was the first in a four-A series that also comprises "The Anatolian," "The Arrangement" and now "Beyond the Aegean," all about the adventures of Stavros Topouzoglou.Time, of course, has passed; "Aegean" begins in 1919, and Stavros is 42. In this book, he's going home -- not to Greece but to Anatolia, the western extension of Asia Minor, which then had been under Turkish dominion for centuries.

Moscow. -- FBI Director Louis Freeh spoke forcefully here last week about organized crime, but I wasn't around to hear him because at the moment of his address I was standing in a dim, scuffed, smelly police station on the second floor of the Kazan Railway Terminal.Mr. Freeh was worrying about international drug-running and even nuclear smuggling. I was worrying about getting my wallet back.He was trying to draw the big picture. I was dealing with organized crime the way most Muscovites see it -- on the street, up close and personal.

Ten, count 'em. Ten. Years that is, logged in residence by the Baltimore Film Forum at the Baltimore Museum of Art. And in celebration of this decade of symbiosis the forum, which is 24 years old chronologically, will hold a little celebration at the museum at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday."

KAZAN, Russia -- A subtle, dicey and possibly devastating round of sparring began here yesterday, in the capital of the world's newest sovereign state, a historic city that is a muddy, fanciful, decrepit amalgam of East and West.Tatarstan, by voting for sovereignty over the weekend, has set in motion a contest of wills that will have consequences for all of Russia. It is a contest complicated by the number of players uneasily eyeing one another.Once there were only Tatars, the northernmost Muslim people, who ran everything.

Karan, Tatarstan -- THIS IS the place where "Russia" now falls apart or stays together. This is the next act in the endless melodrama of the death of communism. This is . . . where? Well, let me back up a few steppes.Moscow -- the hated "center" or, as some of its former peoples colorfully call it, the "black hole" -- still considers Tatarstan to be an autonomous republic that is part of Russia. But Tatarstan, as declared unanimously by its own parliament on Aug. 30, 1990, says it is an independent state.

If you want a uniquely local holiday treat, consider taking part in the annual Christmas Lights Parade of Yachts in Annapolis Harbor and Spa Creek, set for Saturday, Dec. 15.It's an event that will bring a smile to even the toughest, most hard-bitten Scrooge and is guaranteed to delight everyone else.Event chairwoman Yvonne Kazan of the sponsoring Eastport Yacht Club said there is still some space left inside the fleet maximum of 60 boats.Kazan said additional applicants are welcome, although entries must be in before the mandatory Dec. 13 skippers meeting.