News : Rita Guenther Shares Experiences made possible by Vinton Residents

Rita Guenther (pictured with Dave and Sue Gates) shared her Russian experiences made possible because of Vinton residents

It was probably just a trip to visit mom, but when mom is part of the Kiwanis club you get drafted to share your experiences with the group. So that's what Rita Guenther who now works at The National Academies in Washington D.C. did.

When Guenther began her Russian language lessons in the 1990s they were conducted through a program called "Telelink." She said that her Russian classes were in part thanks to Willie Nelson's effort to raise funding for farmers which in turn also benefitted her. She was among the first students to take the course through a program provided with the coordination of the City of Vinton, Vinton-Shellsburg Schools, Kirkwood College, and the Cedar Rapids School District. Cedar Rapids provided a teacher who was able to teach 10 different satellite schools in the rural areas through the program.

During the farm crisis, there was an effort to help farmers transition to other employment. As a result, the State of Iowa invested in satellite centers giving community colleges grants to invest in the equipment needed to hold the long-distance communication through the use of televisions and microphones at the time.

Kirkwood came to Vinton because it was offering an external portable classroom that was located in the back of the old high school. The trailer sat empty during the day because the farmers were working. The decision was made to let high school students use the classrooms during the day and the adults could use it in the evening for educational classes.

Guenther said that her career can be attributed to "all of the investments that so many people in Vinton and elsewhere made in my education, These people made my career possible. It all really started here in Vinton." She first went to Russia as an exchange student in her junior year of high school, in April of 1992, three months after the end of the Soviet Union. The eight girls and four boys who made the trip went to the English School Number 1 located in southern Russia. She said at the time it was a big deal to come from Vinton to Red Square, so she took a picture of her foot on Red Square, (and no it's not actually red). She explained that the root word for "red" and "beautiful" are the same.

During the trip, she explained that "We were like celebrities because they didn't have as many Americans in Russia at the time. In fact," she said they could only stay for such a short time "because our presence in the school was such a disruption that the other kids weren't really studying or paying attention. We had to have our own cafeteria hour because when we were in the cafeteria other kids wouldn't eat."  

Guenther explained that in her job in Washington D.C. they use what they call "science diplomacy". When communication between the countries breaks down and politicians can't talk to each other, they are able to find something in science that they can agree on and begin working together from there. Using technical dialogue the experts in the sciences use in engineering and medicine give common ground to the countries. A lot of her job she said is listening effectively, partnering equitably, and engaging fully with our counterparts around the world.  The organization is able to work on a quiet off-the-record basis to try to help increase understanding and as a result reduced threats and increase security.

"One of the questions I often get is, is my work classified?" she said. It is not. She said that she chose not to pursue a security clearance so that she would have the ability to speak freely and be open and never have anyone wonder what she was doing in any room. However, at the National Academy of Sciences, some of her colleagues do classified work. "We always tell the public everything we do so you can find out what we're doing."  You may not know all of the details of what they're doing she explained, "we don't share what we've learned inside of those meetings." but they try to be as open as they can. Her organization exists she said to help the U.S. government increase, in their field, the security of the United States and the security of broader institutions.  She said that they work on every kind of thing you can imagine in her career. 

She shared a bit about contemporary Russia, explaining that Putin has influenced most of everything you see in Russia since his election in 2000. She shared a cartoon that showed a TV set with a bucket in front of it, with Russia Today, their propaganda channel on it. It showed brains that had been washed and hanging on a clothesline.  The TV says, "Wow! These brains are easy to wash!" She also talked about seeing a lot of glitz, but it was all fake. She talked about a restaurant that had a fake front on it, but inside it wasn't anything like it looked. She said the same was true of high-end stores. The outside looks glamourous but the inside is not. She said that at the time she visited they opened a Mcdonald's and it had a line that was 4-5 hours long but that is no longer there today. Thanks to the path she said that Putin is on.

She was asked about what her colleagues in Russia know about the war in Ukraine and how much she is able to communicate with them about what she knows. She explained that there are large cities and rural less populated areas and that the areas outside the city have trouble getting direct information. Mostly because they don't interact with people who travel a lot, and might know about what's happening. She explained that outside of the cities, people don't have the money to have internet access and computers, usually, they depend on newspapers. Age is also another issue. The younger folks understand technology, using VPNs and other workarounds like the Chinese do to get information and access sites that are blocked through Moscow. 

Another issue making communication difficult is being able to pay for it. Because of the war, credit card companies that are associated with any bank that is sanctioned, limit the ability of her friends and their ability to pay. Their colleagues in Russia used to set up the Zoom meetings, and it was a point of pride for them. They had the huge Zoom package with no limits. After the war, they had to ask her to set the meeting up because they didn't have the means to pay for it. 

Guenther explained that most of the people that are in their loop of communication, already understand the reality of the war. The challenge she said, is in reaching the remainder of the population who doesn't have this access. Most people who have relatives in Russia say that it's hard to even address the topic because they just believe what they're told and so it leads to family fights, and hard feelings so they just don't talk about it. 

She was asked about the situation with Brittney Griner. She said that Putin's Russia is a very conservative Russia when it comes to religious and social standpoints. She explained that there have been things that the country clamps down on, as you'd expect, but then there are things that are absurd. One of those areas is sexual identity, sexual orientation, race, and ethnicity. Because of Griner's identity, Guenther felt that it made her more vulnerable, and a way for Russia to make an example of her. She said that anyone traveling in Russia is more vulnerable. There is a theory that whoever was in charge of protecting the team was in on it, so there is the belief that there was some corruption.

She closed by thanking the residents of Vinton again, saying, "If you hadn't been forward-thinking if you hadn't been investing in young people back then, young folks like me could not have gone on and then been able to come back and share with you. So thank you to this amazing town. Thank you for all of your hard work "