Eva Zeisel is an important American designer. She also happened to be my next door neighbor. Over dinner, she recounted her 12-months in solitary confinement i

Eva Zeisel is an important American designer. She also happened to be my next door neighbor. Over dinner, she recounted her 12-months in solitary confinement in Siberia, for having protested against Stalin's regime. She has written a bit about this experience. She was 97 when I knew of her and even though she was ageing, her faculties were sharp (Extra Pepperoni is the only way to have a Slice, she said). I asked her what lessons from the Solitary confinement stayed with her. She said "The value of knowing that there was no yesterday and probably there will be no tomorrow. And somehow I need to resist the urge to use, the intentionally left behind blunt knife to cut my veins. And the value of dressing warm". I cannot even imagine what it must have been. She was some human. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Zeisel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Zeisel