VIKTOR DONOVAN: 2015

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

FOR THE LOVE OF CATS

There are many places on the net that offer artists and designers possibilities to create and sell their work.

Here are some of my cat designs from a company called Redbubble:

CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS!

Here are all my REDBUBBLE products.
Here are all my PRINT ALL OVER ME DESIGNS

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

HALLOWEEN IN SWEDEN -- A RECENT IMPORT

Halloween came to Sweden only twenty years ago and the celebration has grown every year. This year, the amusement park LISEBERG in Gothenburg must have bought every pumpin in the land and arranged them very artistically all over the park. From having grown up without Halloween, this is certainly a change.

One of the bronze sculptures and a scary Halloween scarecrow.

Liseberg was once a private estate owned by the English Nonnen family who moved to Gothenburg in 1809.

Carl Milles "Triton" with Halloween smoke

Fantastisc effect!

Liseberg will soon open for Christmas and then it will be transformed with all the lights. But it is wonderful in the summer too of course.

Friday, October 23, 2015

AGEISM IN SWEDEN

Not quite so wonderful
Sweden has an excellent reputation abroad as a very liberal country but is not so well known for its culture of ageism (the stereotyping of, and discrimination against individuals or groups on the basis of their age).

In Sweden you cannot escape your age

In Sweden your age is pretty much stamped on your forehead all through your life. The "Swedish Social Security number" ( personnummer) is constructed of your birthday and four more digits. Whatever you do in Sweden, like applying for a job, your age is immediately apparent in your "personnummer". In America it is not allowed to ask a person's age during a job interview. in Sweden it is always done. There it is inescapable.

In the telephone directory, there it is, the telephone number and the birthdate, whether you requested it or not. Newspapers and TV always refer to people as "the 42 year old victim" the age is always there. Age defines one in Sweden.

Not many old people in government

In the Swedish parliament only 8 of the 349 members are over 65. Compare that to America where many in Congress are over 80. Hillary Clinton would never have a chance as a politician in Sweden at 68. In the Social Democratic party manifesto, they want 25 % of the candidates to be under 35, but there is no such wishful percentage for any other age group. In Sweden we worship the young, but if you are young in Sweden, best hurry up, after 35 you are no longer considered "young and promising".

The optimal (young )age 21-35

As I read a few articles and essays on age discrimination in Sweden, it appears that many of the writers have concluded that the optimal age for Swedish workers is between 21 and 35 (Maria Scherer). After that it is downhill. By 40-50 it seems definitely over for Swedes, writes a blogger with experience from both America and Sweden.

Out you go - at 67

Unlike the US, where people often work until they are 80 or more, Sweden, being heavily unionised, has strict rules about retirement age. People here usually retire at 65 but one can work until 67 (by law) but after that’s it pretty much the end for most. There is an attitude that old people should leave space for the young to enter the job market. With lowered pensions, people now need to work past 67. But it is not easy.

Disgruntled baby boomers

Everyone is not happy with this, including the handsome and vital TV anchorman Claes Elfsberg who has expressed the opinion that people should be allowed to work past 67. He was let go from his regular steady employment at 67 (silly he thinks) but he negotiated that he could continue work as freelancer with his own production company.

Stefan Sauk, a Swedish actor thinks that Swedes are far too much fixated on people’s age, to the point that he (during an interview with i NEWS 55 a new website for the elderly run by retired journalists) said “Sweden is one of the world’s most age-facistic countries.” There is a lot to what he said. Politicians especially have a tendency to view old people as a costly burden to society.

The old need not apply

This paralyzing age prejudice prevents employers in many cases from hiring anyone over 50. A 50 year old person is actually less likely to be absent from work than a younger person with children. With the generous paternity leave rules, a young employee can be absent for over a year with each child when a substitute would need to be hired. For many years, after the child is born, the parent can be absent whenever the child is ill, or has to go to the doctor, and so on. The work day might be interrupted with a call from the child care center telling the parent to fetch the ill child. All this is allowed by law and the parents get generous pay from the government for all these absences. Other employees must pitch in, of course. These are known facts, yet many employers still shun well qualified people because they are above 50. The age prejudice is so deep that the Swedish nation needs serious re-programming.

Reduced pensions
The Swedish age prejudice at the workplace is unfortunate, but it is even more unfortunate when politicians, ingrained with this prejudice, start trimming the budget and identify elderly Swedes as the perfect target group to save money. It started with the pensions.
The pension system in Sweden was reformed several years ago. It was jointly decided and passed in parliament by all the political parties but the people never really understood. They were never told what the outcome would be, namely lowered pensions. Unlike the American Social Security system that has funds in government bonds, Sweden depends on revenue from the current year’s taxes. Depending on the economy, pensions can go up or down every year. So far they have gone down only, even during “good economy” years. American pensioners see their Social Security entitlements go up almost every year according to the cost-of-living index. Swedes are not nearly so lucky.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

CALIFORNIA DROUGHT -- Some planting suggestions from Gothenburg in Sweden?

When people in California read my new book A GARDEN IN GOTHENBURG they all commented on the succulents and cacti in some of my photos. Of course we bring them in for the winter, but they might still useful planting suggestions for Californians who dig up their lawns in order to plants drought-resistent plants.

OLD TEXTILE MILL IN GOTHENBURG

Göteborgs Remfabrik (Gothenburg Belting Works) is a small weaving mill equipped wit specialised looms for the production of heavy woven belting for industrial purposes such as power transmission and conveyance.The mill was established in 1891, but the present three-storey building dates from 1900 The texts come from here,

There are 35 looms, almost all of which were supplied by Robert Hall & Sons, Bury, England.

In 1914 electricity displaced steam power, and since then the whole environment remains largely unchanged. This is what makes the mill so interesting.

Today Göteborgs Remfabrik is a designated national building monument. The preservation order even includes all the machinery. It is owned by the City authorities but the technical operation of the mill and visits are in the hands of a voluntary preservation society (Föreningen Göteborgs Remfabrik).

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)