By Roger Light
I am occasionally given the pleasure of interviewing someone who has done what I dearly hope to do someday: become a successful professional involved in interesting cultural projects. Susan Hartman has done this with flying colors-the colors are red, white and blue and red and gold. Susan is co-director of Connect US- USSR.
Driving to Connect US-USSR on East Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis, I couldn’t imagine being any further from Soviet culture. Everything around me was Midwest Americana to a “T”: the Mississippi River, the convenience stores, the auto repair shops. Once inside Susan’s office, however, my perspective was dramatically altered. I found myself surrounded by works of Soviet art. Small, yet intricately detailed porcelain sculptures, vases, tea sets and serving items of all kinds adorned every surface of the room. Despite the splendid distractions, I managed to ascertain at least a sketch of how Susan arrived at her present position.
After receiving a Master’s degree in Family Social Science, Susan began working for Family and Children Services. Troubled by the high rate of recidivism among the abusers in the domestic abuse program, Susan became instrumental in developing domestic abuse programs that emphasized learning alternative, constructive interactions.
“It’s important to teach re-placement behaviors that are non-violent-it isn’t enough to simply say ‘don’t do this’.” In 1983, Susan received an M.A. in Counseling from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.
Susan made her first trip to the Soviet Union with her good friend Paula DeCosse and their children in 1984. (prior to Glasnost and Perestroika). By the time they returned, each had started what would become an enduring connection between their professional lives in America and the lives of professionals in the Soviet Union.
In 1984 they joined forces to create the non-profit organization Connect US-USSR. Susan’s first project with the Soviet Union was the Symposium on Family in the US and USSR. “Although this was still prior to Glasnost, people were willing to develop family projects.” Countless exchange projects have followed. Since 1984, Connect has grown from an all-volunteer organization to a professional agency with a four-person staff in Minnesota and staff in the Soviet Union.
The last thing I asked Susan was to tell me about one of her favorite memories concerning her work with the Soviet Union. She pointed to a series of photographs of mountain landscapes and told me about flying by helicopter into the Altai Mountains to visit a farm village.
“Landing on a farm in the mountains where people hadn’t seen Americans since World War 11 – staying with an extended family and breaking new ground with them was tremendous – I would say that epitomizes the mission that we seek to accomplish.”