Q&A With Married Authors Joann and Jim Mead

G. Wayne Miller:
Congratulations on the publication of your memoir, Married in Moscow: A Red-Hot Memoir in Cold War Times. We’ll get into it momentarily but first, please tell us about yourselves.

Thank you, Wayne. We had so much fun writing our memoir. Try writing with your spouse if you really want to test your marriage.

In August of 1979, we met in Moscow. Jim was hired by the British Embassy and Joann by the American Embassy. We were new teachers at the Anglo-American School in Moscow, the Soviet Union. We’ve lived and worked in four countries ranging from A to Z: America (USA), London, England (UK), Moscow, Russia (back in the USSR), and Zimbabwe (Africa). We now live in East Greenwich, Rhode Island.

JIM: Ironically, Joann lived about 10 miles away from me when she taught in London at an American School. I was born in Wimbledon. My interests run the gamut from geography to avant-garde electronic music and tennis. These interests appear in our Moscow story. With a PhD in education, I taught every grade from Kindergarten to College. I moved to technology but still in education.

JOANN: Born in Santa Monica, California, I taught biology and other sciences in the US and overseas. Later in life, I transitioned to medicine and research where I wrote academic articles about disasters and weapons of mass destruction. When I entered the strange world of biotech, it inspired me to write novels about the underlying crimes of genetic design. I love taking photographs. You will see quite a few in our story.

GWM:
You’ve certainly led quite the life! Let’s dive into Married in Moscow. Can you give us an overview?

This brief overview is from the back cover of our book:

“On a hot August day at a Moscow airport, a mad Englishman arrives in a heavy sheepskin coat—carrying his guitar. A California wild child, who doesn’t follow rules, takes illegal photos and travels to areas “closed to foreigners”. Both are new teachers at the Anglo-American School in Moscow in 1979. And both have a lot to learn. They tell their story in two different voices.”

GWM:
You write that Jim, a “mad Englishman,” and Joann, a “California wild child,” were teachers at the Anglo-American School in Moscow. Was that the first time you met?

We first met in Moscow in the summer of 1979 at an American Embassy tour of the Moscow Metro. We were the only two people who showed up.

JIM: I told Joann that I made wristwatches go backward and break. She must think it’s a bit odd. I am always on guard that I might recite Monty Python sketches or do the “silly walks” sketch.

JOANN: No, it was not love at first sight. And no, I would never date another teacher, especially one I would be working with. The American Embassy “social coordinator” was the modern-day equivalent of a dating app. I was single and new to Moscow, so she gave my telephone number to a few single men at the embassy. Really!

GWM:
You were in Moscow from 1979 to 1981, which of course was a historic time for Russia. The Cold War was continuing. Tell us about what you witnessed then.

The world around us was rapidly changing. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and the US and UK boycotted the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics. Our summer jobs with NBC ferrying film crews around disappeared. The US Embassy hostage crisis in Tehran brought Joann and a bus full of kids—the sons and daughters of diplomats and royalty—perilously close to the Iranian border.

Read the rest of the interview on Ocean State Stories. Editor’s note: The Meads live in East Greenwich. This interview was conducted by email.