Antonina talks about her work as deputy director in a village school and her job as a deputy at the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. I was born in 1947. My story is similar to that of my contemporaries. I graduated from Kalmyk Pedagogical Institute in 1969 and went to work in the village of Peschanyi where I was straight away appointed deputy director for teaching and educational work due to shortage of staff. I worked there for 13 years. I liked my work, but in 1979 I received an offer to become a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, because as they said to me, I met all the requirements. Then it was like that – once the party decided on something, it had to be fulfilled. I became a deputy from Priyutnenskiy and Iki-Burulskiy rayons and I sat on the Commission for Education, Science and Culture. Back then we had a different system where deputies were engaged in solving actual problems. All was done through deputies. As a result, we built two schools in two villages. In the mid-1980s, the state stopped financing the construction of cultural facilities. I went to Moscow to talk to the State Planning Committee about the importance of such projects. Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Tikhonov, signed a document saying that it was necessary to continue building cultural centres across the country. Many people also approached me regarding personal matters. As a deputy, I met with the writer Chingiz Aitmatov. Although the system did not allow everyone to put their talents to use, some overcame difficulties and served as exemplars.