VIKTOR DONOVAN: October 2011

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Saturday, October 22, 2011

The dahlias were beautiful and vibrant one day and gone the next. The frost. The poor dears thought they were in their native Central America and the flowering would go on a lot longer. But no. Sweden is on the same latitude as Alaska and Siberia, and the Gulf Stream does make our climate temperate, but when the frost comes, it is the end for the frost sensitive plants such as dahlias, beans and potatoes.
But it was fun having you dear dahlia friends. See you next year. I will dig up your tubers and keep you safe over the winter and plant you in the spring when there is absolutely no danger of frost. Then we will have some more floral fun all summer long. Yes?

Monday, October 17, 2011

IKEA LOVE AFFAIR

An article this month in THE NEW YORKER confirms the fascination people feel for IKEA - what other company lowers prices when possible? They could pocket the profit instead of passing it on to you. And the prices are already low to begin with. But no, IKEA wants YOU to benefit from the saving they have made. It is a clever marketing device drawing attention to the lowered price, thus binding the IKEA-smitten customer ever closer.

What I like about IKEA is that they do not pretend that their products are all made in Sweden. Instead they always, very honestly show in what country the product is made: China, Vietnam, india,Thailand, Poland and Turkey these are countries you see very often these days. Very few products are made in Sweden, some plastic coat hangers and napkins, that is all I have seen recently. I have some cups and saucers from 1981 that say "Made in Sweden". Those were the days. No more. Too expensive.

When you buy a stainless colander at IKEA one cannot help being impressed at the logistics of it all. Fifty years ago, simply put, every country had their own manufacturers making colanders for their own market. Now IKEA has one factory making uniform colanders (at the lowest price possible) for the entire world. If you don't think that impressive, what is? Machine production makes it possible for IKEA to mass produce colanders for everyone in the world, but there was once a product produced by IKEA many years ago that was not machine made.

IKEA once sold hand painted Swedish Folk Art figures.The label said "Made in Sri Lanka", no doubt the cheapest place to have them produced. The Sri Lankan artists must have had some samples to copy. And they did a very good job too. The figures in Swedish folk costumes looked lovely and vibrant with all the details perfectly copied. They varied somewhat from artist to artist, but they looked perfectly Swedish. With one exception -- it was not intended, only a natural instinct and nothing they reflected on: the noses. They looked much more Sri Lankan than Swedish and that is a wonderful, unintended message from these artists who probably would have preferred to express themselves creatively in some other way, but had to mass copy these figures for probably a very low but nevertheless welcome wage.

OCCUPY ART

In years to come, there will probably be plenty of books and films produced about the OCCUPY movement of 2011, perhaps looking back nostalgically and romantically - the way people today look back on Woodstock of 1969.

Attention will no doubt be given to the Art produced by the Occupy movement -- the many free posters donated to the movement by various artists. See all posters here. Maybe art collectors should be downloading them while they are still free?

Saturday, October 8, 2011

A STREETCAR NAMED DAVID

In Tennesse Williams' play "A Streetcar Named Desire", the street car is called just that, Desire, but a street car named David? Well, you have to go to Gothenburg, Sweden for an explanation to that one.

The people of Gothenburg love their trams so much that each tram has been given a name -- names of famous people. That is why you can find a tram called David Carnegie there. And who was David Carnegie you might ask. That question could have a local historian talk for hours about David Carnegie and the many other Scottish immigrants to Gothenburg but a preface from "Scots in Sweden" sums it up pretty well. Read here.

Some more info about David Carnegie here and here.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

THE PEOPLE'S MICROPHONE

An interesting aspect of the Occupy Wall Street protest now spreading across the US, is the people's microphone. Due to city regulations, the protestors are not allowed to use bullhorns or loud speakers, so the protestors came up with a solution: The people around the speaker repeat every sentence as it occurs so all can hear. The speaker has to wait until the sentences are repeated by the group, and of course it takes longer to deliver the message, but the collective, ritualistic and evocative chanting quality of the repetition process, is strangely moving.

Listen to the people around Michael Moore repeat his message, sentence after sentence.

The protestors meet every evening and have developed their own democracy in dealing with various practical matters -- many American TV commentators have been moved and impressed by this.

The protestors have their own homepage and people from all over the world support them and send food to be delivered to them.

More info:
-Article from Chicago Sun-Times
-Many pictures from Flickr. New pictures added all the time. Slideshow.
-Article: "How the People's Mic Works"
-Keith Olbermann reads the first collective statement of Occupy Wall Street.

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NEW BOOK!

Much of human activity is centered around food. We think of food whether we’re hungry or not. We spend a great deal of time buying it. We take hours preparing it (well, some do). We talk about it. We read about it in cook books. We watch television when chefs talk about it (sometimes to excess). When we socialize, it is often centered around the communal intake of it. We give it as gifts. Food, we can’t escape it! Some people become keenly interested in preparing food for themselves and others; many have become what we call “good cooks”. Usually a degree of creativity is involved together with a keen interest to entertain and a need to take care of others, to be a good host. It is such people that one remembers, and that is how I got started on Food & Folk, remembering, for example that excellent couple, Beatrice and Clayburn La Force on their ranch in Alpine California. After that I just kept going.

MY HOMETOWN GOTHENBURG

A series of closeups (224 photos) of Gothenburg, Sweden. Language: English and Swedish.----- This book consists of a series of closeups of Gothenburg. It is no history book but, hopefully, it will generate some curiosity about our city. When you walk in a city like London you are struck by Britain’s colonial past and its enormous wealth which manifests itself in buildings and institutions all over the city. When you walk in “Little London” as Gothenburg is often called, one is keenly aware of its importance as the best fortified city in Northern Europe. Two forts still watch over it. Remnants of the seventeenth century wall, and the meandering moat are a reminder of the city’s military past. Positioned on the West coast of Sweden, Gothenburg was once a world leader in ship building and shipping and evolved naturally into a merchant’s city. The English and Scottish heritage here is very important. There are clues and traces everywhere. One has only to look.

A GARDEN IN MY HOMETOWN

A book in English and Swedish about the Garden Society of Gothenburg--TRÄDGÅRDSFÖRENINGEN -----The Garden Society of Gothenburg is one of the best preserved early 19th century parks in Europe. It is situated directly downtown, offering lovely walks in the park or in the shaded woodland areas along the canal/moat, waterfront. The garden recently went through a major renovation under the auspices of Ulf Nordfjell, the internationally known landscape designer. The aim was to bring the garden back to its old nineteenth century glory. Carpet bedding returned and five new woodland areas were designed by five international garden designers. A superb new rose park was added, a successful blending of historical roses and perennials.

Love letters from my Swedish grandfather Folke to my American grandmother Olga 1909 - 1961

My American grandmother, Olga, met my Swedish grandfather, Folke Jonsson, in Brussels in 1909. Olga was 18 and Folke, 23. They settled in Gothenburg and Särö, Sweden. Olga, being American, had her family in Florida, and Folke soon came to realize that if you marry a woman from another continent, and this woman is charmingly independent, innovative and brave, and has her own means to boot, she is bound to want to visit her native country some time -- or several times -- or more than several times. To Folke, a sensitive soul, the long separations were quite painful and he suffered till his darling Olga returned. He “talked” to her in his frequent letters. Olga saved all his letters, in their original envelopes, in neat little bundles held together with different coloured ribbons. They were a treasured lifelong testament of his love. Olga and Folke corresponded in English as Olga was American and preferred writing in English. Had my grandfather Folke married a Swedish woman who had stayed at home, there would not be this stack of his letters today. He never intended the letters to be shown to others, but more than one hundred years have passed since Folke wrote them to his darling Olga. I have enjoyed getting to know my grandfather in this manner and I think others, not only relatives, should also share that privilege.

A pictorial Companion to the letters in the book above: 150 pictures of Olga & Folke 1909-1978

NEW BOOK BY DONOVAN O'MALLEY

REVIEW: "...O'Malley continues to prove that he is one of the more important writers around, a writer who with every book brings into our lives some very strange, often exceedingly humorous, and now, frequently very lonely people. His ability to create language for each of his characters is sharp, well studied and written, and without belittling anyone he, in language, shows the difference between class, and education, and exposure. Likely that comes from his experience in writing plays where characters are alive and moving, but with his considerable literary skills he makes his written page people morph into real life folks. He is in top form here ... " Grady Harp, June 12 (Hall of Fame reviewer)

VIKTOR DONOVAN