Many interesting things are turning up in the Thresher photo files from the ’90s and ’00s. Today it’s Vladimir Putin, on campus in 2001 (that’s thirteen years ago if you’ve lost count) for a talk at the Baker Institute. The Thresher sent a couple of photographers–Konstantin and Renata according to the cursory labels. Most of the pictures from the actual event are competent but not especially interesting. They basically all look something like this, except sometimes Putin’s eyes are closed and sometimes they’re open:
What was eye-catching was Putin’s arrival at Rice, which was just a tad more spectacular than the usual discreet black town car pulling up to the Institute’s front door. Check out these nice images (and please note that I managed to get a horse in two days in a row):
I was frankly less interested in the remarks than in the spectacle, but I offer this without comment:
Bonus: Nothing tightens my stomach like seeing construction equipment in the parking lot but it was just maintenance. These guys were doing the chalking for new stripes and I was quite taken by the bright colors.
