On Canovals' Blog you will encounter Croatian and other music that I like, along with the Psalms, some Croatian Bajka, and fairytales from other lands. I also write about other topics that intrigue me and I hope will interest you too. Dobrodosli! Welcome! Enjoy! Uživati!
Funny, its a day like today when you can see how many of us there are down here at the end of the world. The Amerikanski are all somewhere eating turkey and whatever. Its a holiday and we are either in our usual holes in the ground working or somewhere else working. I decided I wanted something warm to eat. There's only one place open on the holiday around here. Guess where? Jup! Coffee, cheese danish, and a samitch of cheese and bacon of turkey. Don't even ask what language in which I ordered. :) Starbucks came though just fine today. (Hmmm, samitch - that's teksikanski for sandwich on engleski).
The call from the daughter I mentioned last blog? Turned out to be a mass text message to the whole family so she didn't have to mess with any of us. She was too busy to answer the phone when I called her back. Sigh. But she did better than the others, none of the rest of them called or texted. Funny how that bothers me less and less these days.
I remember the first Bozic after Carole died. That soon will have been six Bozic past. The service at the church concluded. I locked up the building and realized that I was alone. Easter was the same. All the holidays were the same. Even when I made sure that I had showered before I came to church it was the same. The children didn't call then either. For years, other people who came into my life made excuses not to be around me on holidays too. It got to the point that when people put on their supercilious smiles and wished me "Merry Christmas" that I snarled "bah! humbug!" somewhere deep inside of me where no one could see.
I went away and cooked my own Christmas eve and Veliki Petak fish and kupus according to the season and the Grinch did what he did in private for himself by himself. I did not realize at the time how many of my brothers and sisters were around me. By brothers and sisters, I do not mean my parent's children. When Jesus brothers and sisters (ok, I suppose they were half-brothers etc.) came accusing Him of being insane, Jesus motioned his hand around the room and said "these are my brothers and my sisters." As it turns out, I have rather a lot of really nice brothers and sisters whom my parents never knew. And me, the Grinch, I am not alone any more and so today on Amerikanski Dan Hvala I am thankful indeed.
First of all, CJ's dogs are "babysitting" me this afternoon as the sun slips out of sight. One is right under my desk. I can hear him when he scratches. Another talks to me if I take too long clicking another song to play.
Still another has been laying quietly near my feet for a good while. We listened to "Second Waltz - Dmitri Shostokovic" for a while and when we finished that playlist we moved on down the line. Right now we are listening to "Breze" performed by Irena Vrčkovic. Next up is Vrčkovic with Pidži singing Tam dol na ravnem polju. Pidži enjoys a bit of fame in the central Teksas area because they've heard him on the radio and some lucky folk have seen him in person.
You really didn't think that Pidži took Teksikanski music back to Slovenija did you? If you thought that, the joke is on you. You've read already here where I've discussed the origins of Tejano music, yes? You've read how that influenced the rest of the music of the region and you read about the "Commanches" in Blanco County, yes? Jup. You got it, the whole blooming Texas music scene is dominated by music with Slavic origins, hi hi :) If you happen to be an "Anglo" Texan reading this,,, go to YouTube and watch Irena and Pidži and the band work out "Tam dol na ravnem polju."
If you have your "languages" ear turned on, no "po noci" in the song most assuredly does not mean the same as "panoche" on španski jezik. The slovenijan expression means "by night" more or less, and the spanoljski means, ummmpf something a bit more crude, yet the root meaning is still something "by night." Hmmmmm so who is going to pop up and give me a reasonable explanation how this non-hispanic heterographic homophone arrived into Mexican Spanish? Ummmm. Gotcha didn't I?
Ok, one of the doggies has just put in her request for Vesna Maria, so we're going to listen to her for a while now.
Today was Vesna Maria's birthday. Sretan rođendan Vesna Maria! We all need to remember the date so she really knows how many friends she has out here next year. Hi hi, I see at least two pages of birthday congratulations on her page over on FaceBook. She is a wonderful performer with a wonderful voice. CJ and I both love to watch her and listen to her voice.
Someday when I think the time is right I am going to ask a certain question and if the answer is right, and if I've won the lottery by that time, I wouldn't mind a bit if Momir and Vesna Maria flew over and sang something like "Tri palme na otoku srece" at a special occaision after that. That would just about make the celebration extra fino. Sigh. If I win the lottery. Anyway, me and the doggies have them on YouTube and we can dream.
Somewhere in one of Patria's songs they say that "a man without dreams is like the heavens without stars." I believe that and so as long as my sky has stars in it I refuse to not dream. Another song I would like Vesna Maria and Momir to do on that day is "Ljubav." Momir knows why. It has something to do with the video sash958 made with Vesna Maria and Momir doing this song. Momir, what do you think? Should I say why this song is so important to me? Or should that just be one of those things that goes to the grave with me?
Another random trip into linguistics. Mariachi. A truely Mexican word. Please explain its Spanish construction for me if you can. You can not, can you? I didn't think so. Mariacke. Slavic. Polish. And no this did not arrive with Napoleon. As I've shown you elsewhere, we Slavs have been arriving in North America in a steady stream since the 1500s. Just 'cause we didn't raise a flag and build an empire doesn't mean we weren't here. We were. We are. Marian musicians in certain cathedrals. Trumpets sound the hours in Krakova and in Warsaw. Hmmmmm. Originally these were church musicians not from the indiginous culture, in Mexico banished from the church into the streets and to this day allowed to perform religious works only at the Shrine of Guadalupe, or perhaps Christmas Eve in certain show cathedrals or in the streets. The priests have taught the mariachi they cannot to play in church. Do you wonder at the anti-clerical feelings in the North of Mexico? Religion was banned from church. Ufffff !!!!! What a concept ...
There was once a wedding at which I had certian duties. The bride's father is a mariachi. He had written a song especially for his daughter's wedding but he was sure his group could not sing in church. Hi hi hi hi hi, that's exactly where that sung was first heard. In Church. I insisted, and they played the man's song for his daughter inside the church in front of the altar. Viva la revolucion!!!! Bog i Hrvati!!! Dios y la gente!!! God and the people! Oh dear, I am a bit radical I'm afraid.
Oh my, here we are, me and the doggies, listening to Vesna Maria sing "Alaj mi je veceras po voji" along with Djerdan - now this is a recording that thrills my heart.
Now here is CJ, and she really thrills my heart.
pa,
do sljedeći put, blagoslov - until next time, blessings,
Today when the typical older Amerikanski hears the word "rocket" the image that comes to his mind is about Niel Armstrong on the moon. His parents thought about "Buck Rogers" in the fictionalized stories about things that were yet to come in that time. In the 1960's in America there was a lot of talk about Werner Von Braun from Hitler's V2 rocket program who was now assisting the Americans in their "race for space."
Again, what comes to the mind of Amerikanski is words to his national hymn. O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
At the words "The rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air" there is moisture in the eyes of many patriotic Americans. In school the American is taught about how the Chinese supposedly invented rockets. There used to be a mention that Marco Polo brought this technology to the West, but of course there is no mention that Marco Polo was Croatian. Sigh.
There might be some mention about how the British attempted to use rockets in the 18th century. Of course their rockets were ineffective weren't they? The Americans won against them - right? So the school books skip ahead to the rockets of the invincible American military of the present time. There's little mention of William Congreve whose work was behind "the rockets' red glare" in the hymn.
The American never hears about Kazimierz Siemienowicz. I suppose its because his name is too long and too difficult to spell. I will be the first to admit that Казімір Семяновіч is much easier to spell in Belarusian than in Polish. The man literally wrote the book on rocketry in 1650. His "Artis Magnae Artilleriae pars prima" stood as the basic artillery manual for the next two hundred years.
Siemienowicz provided the standard designs for creating rockets, fireballs, and other pyrotechnic devices. It discussed for the first time the idea of applying a reactive technique to artillery. It contains a large chapter on caliber, construction, production and properties of rockets including multistage rockets, batteries of rockets, and rockets with delta wing stabilizers.
What on earth does Siemienowicz have to do with American Veteran's Day, Canadian Day of Remembrance, oh and by the way, Polish Independence Day on 11 November. Why would a Croat, especially a Texas Croat care about any of this?
The year was 1673. The game was on! The grad was Khotyn. Poland versus Ottomans. The odds are on an Ottoman victory. The Turks had won the year before. The Ottomans were invincible. They brought 120 of the most technologically advanced cannons to the battle at Khotyn. Jan Sobieski brought Siemienowicz and his rockets. The Ottoman's lost. Sobieski and Siemienowicz beat them again the next year at Vienna and the Ottoman's were forever excluded from Slovakia and Hungary. Croatia began to arise again. Poland began to recover from the Khmelnytsky disaster and the harsh period of the Swedish disaster during which Poland lost about one third of her population. The red glare of Siemienowicz rockets vaulted the Lion of Lechistan (as the Turks called Jan Sobieski) to the throne of Poland.
For a time Poland's fortunes were much much better. There were major advances toward democracy and Polish officers assisted the Americans in their struggle against monarchy. In that time Poland promulgated one of the world's first written constitutions, a document Potemkin derisively dismissed as "a contagion of democracy." The autocrats of Europe couldn't stand such a contagion. Armies marched and Poland began another long night of foreign domination.
According to many historians Poland ceased to exist then until 1918. Are they correct? I submit to you that these historians are incorrect. Poland existed, but where?
"Oh sure," you say, "Poland existed in the hearts and minds of the Polish people scattered around everywhere and in the hearts and minds of the Polish people under foreign rule." Yup. True enough. But there is more to the story than just that.
Let's start with Felix Wardzinski. One man. A soldier. A Polish soldier. A soldier in an army defeated by the Prussians and defeated by the Russians. A soldier in an army totally crushed. A soldier on the run for his life, Felix Wardzinski crossed the border into Galicia which at that time was controlled by the Hapsburg empire.
If the Hapsburg government had been faced with just one Felix Wardzinski that would have been the end of the story. Felix would have found a job and he would have settled down in his new homeland. That was not the case however, there were a lot of Felix Wardzinskis who crossed into Galicia.
Examine this scenario with me. Let's step inside the brain of the Austrian Crown for a moment. All these Felix Wardzinskis form up their units again inside Austrian territory and continue to strike at the foreign armies occupying their homeland. The Prussians use this as an excuse to strike at Galicia, or the Russians come to stop the raids into the territory they occupy. Either way, the Austro-Hungarian empire loses. The Hapsburg family has just lost Mexico in the Mexican revolution of 1825. Further loses to the family are ~ shudder ~ unthinkable.
The Austrians could just shoot these men and be done with it. That would set the Polish population in Galicia on edge. Galicia, Slovakia, Bohemia, Moravia, Czechy and - God forbid - Croatia might rise up. In short, the Austrian Crown might be left with only Austria. All that disaster over Felix Wardzinski, a defeated soldier, who may have had no idea he could be that important to the rise and fall of nations.
There is a way out for the Triple Crown. (What? You thought the "Triple Crown" was a horse race in Kentucky? Ha! Austria - Hungaria - Croatia, that's the Triple Crown.) There's a simple way out. "Felix, brate moj, where you want to go buddy?" The Triple Crown offered to furnish transportation to any place in the world these men might want to go as long as it was away from any where they could cause trouble to the Empire. "By the way, brate, there is a little thing going on in Teksas. A professional soldier might be appreciated there just now."
Problem solved!! The potential source of grief to the Austrian Crown is on his way to give grief to the Mexicans. Serves them right for breaking away from Hapsburg hegemony! Ha! A brilliant stroke!
Felix was on a boat from Austria to New York in a heartbeat. Ok ok, in as many heartbeats as it took to get Felix from Galicia to the nearest Austrian seaport. So now you are looking at a map and you are asking me where Austria had a seaport. Sigh. That's the same question my son-in-law asked me once. Slovenija, Istria, and Dalmacija were under the Triple Crown dear friend so Austria had a lot of access to the sea.
From New York, Felix found his way to New Orleans where he and a lot of other Felixes were met by a recruiter for the Teksas army which was being formed.
There were already Polski in Teksas. Napoleon had attempted to establish a French colony about where Liberty, Texas is now. The textbooks tell you that the French failed and that they withdrew. Yeah. That's true. The French officials withdrew. The colonists remained.
Simon Wiess was among those colonists. Simon was Polish. Simon was Jewish. Simon hooked up with my father's family and their little business about the Trinity River about which they were a long time discarding. I've already told part of that story elsewhere. Simon was a merchant, a trader. This Polish Jew knew all the roads, all the oxcart trails all the paths and all the waterways of any kind in eastern Texas. Like a true viking he knew how to use them too.
The sort of person who think Jews are all supposed sitting in their counting houses counting out their money are going to have trouble with this story. That kind of person will have difficulty with the picture of a Polish Jew in a coonskin hat, a hunting knife in his belt and a rifle on his shoulder sweaty from walking through the breeze-less forests in the weltering 100+ degree East Texas spring/summer/fall. This, however, is the true picture of Simon Wiess, a frontiersman and pioneer in Texas. We will come back to his role in the matter at hand in a few moments.
19th century Bosnia
19th century Texas
After the battle of the Alamo, the Teksikanski fought the Mexican centrist army at Goliad. Does the flag used by one regiment of the Refugio volunteers remind you of a familiar "Bosnian" ensign? It should. The Texas Hrvati were quietly out in force. They were not alone. Michael Dembinski, Michael Debicki, Francis Petrussewicz, Adolph Petrussewicz, John Kornicky, Joseph Schrusnecki and a lot of others fresh from Poland were right beside them.
Again they lost. Santa Ana gave Colonel Jose Nicolas de la Portilla orders to execute the prisoners. Today there is a monument to Colonel Fannin on that location. The Mexicans attempted to cover up the matter by burning the bodies and burning the records, so its not an easy task to find who all these heros were.
General Sam Houston continued to recruit and train an army to fight Santa Ana. They withdrew toward eastern Texas with Santa Ana in pursuit. Santa Ana's supply lines grew longer and longer and his troops suffered more and more. The soldiers under Sam Houston fared much better. At every river crossing they were met with fresh food, clothing, equipment, and other supplies brought by Simon Wiess.
There came a day when Santa Ana's troops were essentially cut off. They were resting, resting as much as a hungry army being devoured by hordes of mosquitoes can rest. Frederick Lemsky brought his flute to the front with him. Felix Wardzinski was there too in the Teksas army. The Teksikans struck up the tune "Come to the Bower" and began to "drill" right in front of their opposition. The Meksikans were entertained by the Teksikans in their rough clothing as they slouched into formation. No one payed any attention to the cannon which were being brought forward behind the ragged appearing group.
When they were at nearly point blank range, the Teksas army suddenly revealed how well trained and how professional they were. Instantly they stepped aside from the cannon. They formed a straight line with their rifles to their shoulders.
The cannon fired.
The rifles fired.
The shout went up "Zapamiętaj Goliad!" as the Polish army with bayonets fixed streamed across the Mexican position and drove them into the swamp where the alligators had a feast that day. That day the proud Polish army was vindicated as it vanquished tyranny. All the seething anger at Santa Ana for the murder of their brothers at Goliad flashed and flamed with a furious ferocity. All the pent-up anger they had for the Prussian Kaiser and for the Russian Czar burned fiercely for eighteen intense minutes during which the entire Mexican army was utterly destroyed. Felix Wardzinski has the satisfaction of being present when Santa Ana was captured.
Oh dear! Oh dear!! Now I've done it! I was supposed to say all on english "The shout went up 'Remember Goliad" as the Texas army with bayonets fixed .... Oh dear! What have I done? Well now, I told you Poland didn't cease to exist and I asked you "but where?" Here it was, a piece of Poland existed right here in plain view in Texas. Jeszcze Polska nie umarła!
What happened to the Polish soldiers who survived the war? Some of them melted quietly into the Slavic corners of Texas and went about the business of living. Some of them had other adventures. Last Sunday I had breakfast with the great-grandson of one of them. My friend's surname sounds Hispanic. What of it? He is proud of his ancestor who came from so far away bring liberty to this land.
What happened to Simon Wiess? One of his descendants married into a branch of my mother's family. Am I Jewish? Nope. Am I Polish? Nope. Am I proud of my shirt-sleeve relative who was both? Yup. Perhaps more of this story will be another adventure for another time.
In the video I made for this year, I used "Texas Our Texas," the traditional and now legal National Hymn of Texas along with the Polish National Hymn. The school books for the young people in Texas make no mention of these heroes from Poland who came at just the right time. I thought they should be honored. From their blood the flowers of freedom sprang.
The words to "Texas, Our Texas," written by William J. Marsh and Gladys Yoakum Wrightare:
Texas, Our Texas! all hail the mighty State!
Texas, Our Texas! so wonderful so great!
Boldest and grandest, withstanding ev'ry test
O Empire wide and glorious, you stand supremely blest.
(ref)
Texas, O Texas! your freeborn single star,
Sends out its radiance to nations near and far,
Emblem of Freedom! it set our hearts aglow,
With thoughts of San Jacinto and glorious Alamo.
(ref)
Texas, dear Texas! from tyrant grip now free,
Shines forth in splendor, your star of destiny!
Mother of heroes, we come your children true,
Proclaiming our allegiance, our faith, our love for you.
ref: God bless you Texas! And keep you brave and strong,
That you may grow in power and worth, throughout the ages long.
God bless you Texas! And keep you brave and strong, That you may grow in power and worth, throughout the ages long.
The Polish National Hymn: Mazurek Dąbrowskiego - Dąbrowski's Mazurka, also called Pieśń Legionów Polskich we Włoszech Song of the Polish Legions in Italy or Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła Poland has not yet perished :
Jeszcze Polska nie umarła,
Kiedy my żyjemy
Co nam obca moc wydarła,
Szablą odbijemy.
Marsz, marsz, Dąbrowski Do Polski z ziemi włoskiej Za twoim przewodem Złączym się z narodem
Jak Czarniecki do Poznania
Wracał się przez morze
Dla ojczyzny ratowaniaPo szwedzkim rozbiorze.
Marsz, marsz...
Przejdziem Wisłę, przejdziem Wartę
Będziem Polakami
Dał nam przykład Bonaparte
Jak zwyciężac mamy
Marsz, marsz...
Niemiec, Moskal nie osiędzie,
Gdy jąwszy pałasza,
Hasłem wszystkich zgoda będzie
I ojczyzna nasza
Marsz, marsz...
Już tam ojciec do swej BasiMówi zapłakany
Słuchaj jeno, pono nasi
Biją w tarabany
Marsz, marsz...
Na to wszystkich jedne głosy
Dosyć tej niewoli
Mamy racławickie kosy
Kościuszkę Bóg pozwoli.
on english this is: Poland has not yet died,
So long as we still live.
What the alien power has seized from us,
We shall recapture with a sabre. March, march, Dąbrowski,
To Poland from the Italian land.
Under your command
We shall rejoin the nation.
Like Czarniecki to Poznań
Returned across the sea
To save his homeland
After the Swedish occupation. March, march...
We'll cross the Vistula and the Warta,
We shall be Polish.
Bonaparte has given us the example
Of how we should prevail. March, march...
The German nor the Muscovite will settle
When, with a backsword in hand,
"Concord" will be everybody's watchword
And so will be our fatherland. March, march...
A father, in tears,
Says to his Basia
Listen, our boys are said
To be beating the tarabans.
March, march...
All exclaim in unison,
"Enough of this slavery!"
We've got the scythes of Racławice,
God will give us Kościuszko.
Texas is not the only North American nation who should give thanks to God for Poland. The Americans also should give thanks to God for Kościuszko who so greatly assisted in their revolution.
hrabrivojnici izkrvi slobodecvijet
do sljedeći put, blagoslov - until next time, blessings,
The duo Václav a Eva Ševčíkovi are successful Czech musical performers whose repertoire consists largely of older music including dechovka, folk, country, pop, and so forth which have long been popular among Czechs. Besides their own compositions, they also sing Christmas Carols and music from Croatia.
Václav was born 6 December 1953 in Brno. At the present they live in Blansko about 19 miles north of Brno. There one may find a statue commemorating the Battle of Zborov on 2 July 1917 in which the Czech Legions appeared for the first time. I once lived in a Texas town named for this town in Moravia. Blanco, Texas is not named for the Spanish word "white", as some people suppose, but after Blansko from which its founders came to Texas. I have fond memories of the town. Kind of makes Václav and Eva seem a bit like vicarious kids from my own backyard.
Eva and Vasek's CD "Jadranska," which they sang with Inga was released in 2003. Some critics accuse the couple of low musical and artistic quality but their fans and their financial success tells altogether a different story.
Krásné s tebou žít (Life with you is beautiful) is a romantic song based on "Vela Luka" made famous by Oliver Dragojević who was himself a native of Vela Luka. One place on the internet bills Vela Luka as the town made famous by the romantic song. "Vela Luka" is actually based on a song by Ahlert, "Where the blue of the night meets the gold of the day," made famous by Bing Crosby (whose wife was native to West Columbia, Texas which is where the Conoco Phillips refinery at Sweeny isn't). Ahlert's song in turn was based on "Amenecer glorioso" (Glorious Morning)an earlier work by C.A. Blackstone who between the mid 1800's to the mid 1900s. In any of the forms which the song has taken it has remained beautiful and romantic.
All day today I have been feeling a romantic glow light all around and so here for you is a touch of my feelings.
Everyone is opposed to racism, except, of course, avowed racists. So the Mexicans complain that the Texas policeman is being racist when he asks for a "Brown" person to show his papers. This gets a little funny when the policeman's name is something like Sanchez and he himself is "Brown."
No one seems to notice that this is working the other way around and always has. I can not tell you how many times in my life that Mexican law enforcement has demanded to see my papers. Joe's girlfriend is an illegal immigrant and she has never been asked to show her papers. Why has she not been required to show her papers? She lives in Mexico and she is "Brown." The Mexican authorities assume that because she is "Brown" she is Mexican. Racism? You bet it is.
Speaking of that wench, if you are a woman, maybe you better just stay out of my way today. I'm ticked off. For those of you using Google Translator that does not mean there is an insect biting me today. Nor does it have anything to do with the "ticking" in a mattress, or the tick tock of a clock. It means I am jako grumpy upset and if you don't like it go stick a rubber hose up your nose or be really extra soft and sweet around me for a few days. Ladies, you probably ought to be ticked off about that wench too. She did all of you ladies a mighty diservice.
The wedding was set for 1600 today. Alejandra called at 1530 to tell Joe the wedding was off. Now understand this, she called on an American cell phone which is inoperative past el puente in Mexico. She was on this side granica u Teksasu when she called. In fact she was only a few blocks away. I didn't mention it, but this is the third time she has walked away from him at the Altar.
So perhaps that was a wedding which shouldn't have happened anyway. Da, istina, for sure true. What can I say?
I think she wanted a nice boyfriend to pay her some attention. He was a feather in her cap, an honest respectable gentle man, and a gentleman too, besides being a caballero, but she is unwilling to actually invest emotionally in their relationship. Funny how so many women want a man to be faithful to them while they don't invest themselves and their emotions with him. Those are dangerous games ladies. It will work for awhile, but there are limits. Yes, its even worse if you lie to the fellow "oh I love you! Yes, I'll marry you! blah blah blah blah blah blah." Its almost funny how the woman almost always acts betrayed and disappointed when the man wanders on.
I suppose there are plenty of men who do the same thing. Jebote kopilad! Kuja! Shame on all of you. You make it awfully hard on the men and women who just want to love and be loved. May your mothers walk backwards blindfolded in the dark, knee deep in slimy mud along the riverbank looking for you for eternity.
Joe told her "since you can't commit and you cannot keep your commitment you have to understand that the first woman who shows interest in me will get a piece of my action and you have nothing to say about it."
I'm probably in trouble enough for writing this much so I'll shut my yap now. No I don't think any one is going to like what I've just written so don't feel obligated to "like" it. In case you are wondering - yes I'm weeping my heart out for my friend today. This should not have happened to such a decent man as my friend Joe.
do sljedeći put, blagoslov - until next time, blessings,
I remember the day it was time for me to report to the U.S. Air Force induction depot. That was so very long ago. I knew there was quite a trip ahead of me to the training base so I had some reading material in my pockets: a New Testament, and "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin.
"The Fire Next Time" is really two essays - "My Dungeon Shook — Letter to my Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of Emancipation," and "Down At The Cross — Letter from a Region of My Mind." In the book, Baldwin says “A vast amount of the Negro problem is the white man’s profound desire not to be judged by those who are not white, not to be seen as he is." That rang a bell with me.
We've talked before about how it could be dangerous in those days to admit one's Croatian ancestry. I could easily substitute in my head the words "A vast amount of the Croat problem is the anglo's profound desire not to be judged by those who are not anglo, not to be seen as he is." Hmmmm, different but similar life experiences.
Baldwin also said "We are controlled by our confusion, far more than we know, and the American dream has therefore become something much more closely resembling a nightmare, on the private, domestic, and international levels. Privately, we cannot stand our lives and dare not examine them; domestically, we take no responsibility for (and no pride in) what goes on in our country; and, internationally for many millions of people, we are an unmitigated disaster." I didn't see that as a "Black" issue, but a wide spread issue becoming woven deep into the fabric of the country.
I was almost finished with the book when the bus arrived at the training facility. The sergeant was Black and he was so very courteous at first. "Empty your pockets please gentlemen," the man said, so I did. Everyone did. Men who had brought pocket knives and such were promptly relieved of those things. The sergeant stopped and looked at my New Testament and my James Baldwin book and a frown furrowed on his forehead. He looked me up and down. "I'll have to take these," he said, "You are a thinker and that's not allowed here," and that was that.
A line from the song "Oh Mary don't you weep, don't you mourn" was the source of the title of Baldwin's book.
God gave Moses the rainbow sign
No more water, but fire next time. The title of his first essay came from another couplet The very moment I thought I was lost
The dungeon shook and the chains fell off.
I was familiar with the song because me and my friends we sang the song in the fields and in the churches. The choir at Riverside Baptist over on Wheeler Avenue in Houston, Texas could really belt it out all swaying with the music and everything.
Oh Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn
Oh Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn.
Pharoah's army got drownded
Oh Mary don't you weep.
If I could I surely would
Stand on the rock where Moses stood.
Pharoah's army got drownded
Oh Mary don't you weep.
Mary wore three links of chain
Every link was Jesus' name.
Pharoah's army got drownded
Oh Mary don't you weep.
One of these nights about 12 o' clock
This old worlds going to reel and rock.
Pharoah's army got drownded
Oh Mary don't you weep.
God told Moses what to do
To lead the Hebrew children through.
Pharoah's army got drownded
Oh Mary don't you weep.
Moses stood on the red sea shore
Smotin' the water with a two by four.
Pharoah's army got drownded
Oh Mary don't you weep.
God gave Moses the rainbow sign
No more water, but fire next time. Pharoah's army got drownded
Oh Mary don't you weep.
Mary wore three links of chain
Every link was Jesus name.
Pharoah's army got drownded
Oh Mary don't you weep.
The very moment I thought I was lost
The dungeon shook and the chains fell off. Pharoah's army got drownded
Oh Mary don't you weep.
Anyway, "The Fire Next Time" came to mind today when the Texas Forest Service revealed this morning that as of today 3.8 million acres of land had been burned so far in the fires in Texas this year. Let's work out what this means. Montenegro has about 3.4 million acres. More land in Texas has been burned away than a whole country. Croatia has a little over 13 million acres so a space equivalent to thirty six per cent of Croatia has been burned away in Texas. That's about thirteen percent of Serbia including the Vojvodinja which has been burned away. If you just look at the Vojvodinija by itself that's about 60 percent of that place up in smoke and its a space about half the size of Bosnia or Kosovo more or less. Got the picture? The fires in Texas have burned vast areas this year.Pick a Balkan country - any Balkan country and fires of this magnitude would have be devastating. Aren't you glad I didn't pick Cheech and Chong's "Up in Smoke" to illustrate my thoughts and feelings about all this? Here is some one's version of "Mary Don't You Weep"
do sljedeći put, blagoslov - until next time, blessings,
As for me, I doubt that I should much look forward to such an epitaph, yet there it is: On je mrtav. Hvala Bogu.
There is a small fact most Croatians who live in Croatia do not know. Perhaps most Croatians in the world don't know this either. Most Croatians do not live within the borders of Croatia. We probably never have. There are rather a lot of us and the greater number live in North America, especially in the United States. Dear reader, if you are not Croatian, the chances are that you have met one of us. If you go to church at all you know some of our music. Bach was one one of us. He was a Croat - a Croat in the diaspora. Earlier, in another blog, I related my response to the Croatian Embassy noting that " identifying one-self as Croatian, could be dangerous, not only in Yugoslavia, but even in the United States." Until perhaps a decade or so after Croatia became independent, for the most part, we remained silent and invisible. There was often a price to pay if you did not keep your mouth tightly sealed. None-the-less Croatia is dear to us. It is Home.
And, as much as Hrvatska is Home, so is Texas, so is San Francisco, so is New Orleans, so is Madison, so is Seattle, and so is the United States - home. We see little, if any, conflict in that matter. For the Croatian-Texan, the notion is easy to see. Alone, unique among the States of the United States, the proper manner in which to fly the red, white, and blue of the Texas flag is side by side as an equal nation with the red, white, and blue of the United States flag. Teksikans serve in the United States military and see no problem with that.
Now that you have a glimmer of understanding about that, bear in mind that several administrations in Washington past, the Federal Bureau of Investigations uncovered a plot for an "insurrection in Texas" and promptly dispatched a horde of armed agents to to deal with the matter probably as efficiently as they had dealt with such a matter earlier near Waco resulting in the deaths of women and children. As much as Texans did not like what was going on in the compound in Waco, when the children died we felt mighty grim. Just don't go killing our babies. Just don't. We don't like it none. When the matter of this "insurrection" came up, the Governor of Texas requested that the FBI withdraw and let him handle the matter. I believe what the Governor said was something like "Go 'way, go way fast," and they went away fast. They had crossed that invisible boundary line into the sovereign business of the State of Texas. The Governor sent a single unarmed ranger up to the hills to talk to the old man who was at the helm of the "insurrection." The fellows drunk some whiskey and they drunk some coffee. Don't go tellin' me that I should have written "the fellows drank ,,," Unh uh, they drunk it. Trust me, they drunk it and they threw the tin cans they drunk out of into the camp fire and the matter was settled. It used to be that pert near every one's pickup truck had a "Republic of Texas" bumper sticker. Now you can't find those bumper stickers no more, dang it! Even so, the red, the white, and blue flies side by side with the red, the white, and the blue. That's how it is.
We Croatian - Americans have in our hearts the red, the white, and the blue flying side by side with the red and the white and the blue. We stand at attention when the "Star Spangled Banner" is played and a tear might leak from our eyes while we sing it. We stand at attention when the Lijepa naša domovino is played and a tear might leak from our eyes while we sing it. God help us if there is ever an important soccer match between the Croatian team and the American team. The whole stadium would probably cheer for both sides all during the game. Can you imagine the noise?
In the first session of the 102 Congress, on September 19, 1991, Mr. D'Amato, Mr. Dole, Mr. Glenn, Mr. Pell, Mr. Gore, Mr. Nickles, Mr. Pressler, Mr. Riegle, and Mr. Seymour introduced a bill into the Senate of the United states entitled "To restrict United States assistance for Serbia or any part of Yugoslavia controlled by Serbia until certain conditions are met, and for other purposes."
The bill cites:
"The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) In 1990, the republics of Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, and Bosnia-Hercegovina held free and fair elections.
(2) In 1990, the republics of Serbia and Montenegro held elections which were not free and fair.
...
(4) Since the Declaration of Independence by the Republic of Slovenia on June 25, 1991, more than 100 people have been killed, including civilians, by the Serbian-controlled Yugoslav federal army.
(5) Since the Declaration of Independence by the Republic of Croatia on June 25, 1991, more than 500 people have been killed, including many innocent civilians, by the Serbian-controlled Yugoslav federal army and Serbian guerrillas.
(6) The Serbian-controlled Yugoslav federal army is actively using both ground and air forces in Croatia to attack the citizens that they are constitutionally bound to protect.
(11) The Serbian-controlled Yugoslav army's invasion into Croatia constitutes an illegal effort to alter the borders of Yugoslavia by force.
(12) The leaders of the Serbian republic and the Serbian-controlled Yugoslav army are pressing an unacceptable agenda in an effort to hold onto power and privilege."
The bill was was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations where it mouldered for a long long time. We wondered why the American government didn't seem to mind that thousands of Croatian men, women, and children were being slaughtered and that did create a conflict in our hearts because our lady who wears a blue skirt and red blouse with a white sash and her children are dear to us. Don't go killing our babies. We don't like it. We don't like it none.
The answer is simply that "Lawerence of Serbia" was at work. According to Wikipedia "Lawrence Sidney Eagleburger (August 1, 1930 – June 4, 2011)[2] was an American statesman and former career diplomat, who served briefly as the United States Secretary of State under President George H. W. Bush. Previously, he had served in lesser capacities under Presidents Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. Eagleburger is the only career Foreign Service Officer to have served as the United States Secretary of State." Under Nixon he was assistant to Henry Kissenger. Under Carter he was ambassador to Yugoslavia. He was advisor to Bush for south east European matters. When Eagleburger denied that Serbian paramilitaries and the Yugoslav National Army had committed atrocities in the breakaway republic of Croatia, the European Press nicknamed him Lawrence of Serbia.
Lawerence of Serbia also served on the International Commission on Holocaust Insurances Claims. According to Jweekly.com which covers Jewish matters in the San Francisco area, on June 8, 2001, Waxman, congressman from Los Angeles said the commission was poorly managed. Lots of money was flowing, but not to the survivors of the Holocaust.
Does it surprise you to know that Eagleburger, Brent Scowcroft and former Ambassadors to Belgrade John Scanlon, along with Ambassador Warren Zimmerman spoke Serbian among each other in US Security Council meetings? Does it surprise you that Eagleburger knew Slobodan Milošević when Milosevic was still a banker? House Banking Committe Chairman Henry Gonzales from Texas, pointed out the connections between Eagleburger and the Serbs. First there is Ljubljanska Banka, and Global Motors/Yugo of America, a subsidiary of the Yugoslav arms maker Zavodi Crvena Zastava on whose boards Eagleburger served and, acting as a consultant for them was compensated millions of dollars. Milošević tells us that he became friends with his buddy Eagleburger while he served on the board of Beobanka in Belgrade. Now does it surprise you to learn that Eagleburger testified against the bi-partisan bill introduced into the Senate?
Does it surprise you that this same fellow wrote in the Washington Times on 8 December 2008 "We believe U.S. policy on Kosovo must be re-examined without delay, and we urge the Bush administration to make it clear that pending the results of such re-examination it would withhold recognition of a Kosovo independence declaration and discourage Kosovo’s Albanians from taking that step." I was ambivalent toward the Kosovo Albanians until I read who was opposing it. Now I know and now I pray that God help my brothers in Kosovo to achieve their dreams of freedom. The Amerikanski press often portrays the Kosovo matter as a conflict between Muslim Albanians and Christian Serbs. This year I met a Christian Albanian who lives in Great Britain so guess what? This is not about some wild haired jihad after all, is it? Croatian troops are in Kosovo as part of the NATO force there. I have a video on YouTube honoring Croatian forces who served in Afghanistan. Several comments on my video wonder why Croatian soldiers are somewhere not Croatian. When I first read those comments I understood them as being simply xenophobic like many Americans were during the Viet Nam matter. I went back in the wee hours this very morning and looked at those comments again, at who wrote them, and now I understand. Do I have to spell it out or do you understand too?
Eagleburger claimed to be a "moderate" Republican. Some Teksikan Republican commented one time that "moderate" usually means they do not believe anything. Lawrence of Serbia seems not to have believed in anything but his bank account.
Because of Eagleburger, the Americans did not step in decisively to assist Croatia until after the massacres at Vukovar, until after the massacres at Srebenica, until after the siege of Dubrovnik and other atrocities came to light. If he were yet alive, I would say that Eagleburger should stand trial for the deaths of all these people - hundreds of thousands of them, but alas, he is dead. Lawrence of Serbia is dead. On je mrtav. Hvala Bogu.
do sljedeći put, blagoslov - until next time, blessings,
On faceBook there's a page called "You're Probably From Wharton, Tx..." Those of us who have any connection to the town can drag up old memories and say something briefly to others. Its amazing the viewpoints and memories that wind up there. Nearly all happy nostalgic things. For the most part we were a happy bunch. Maybe we didn't have sense enough not to be happy, but that's how we were. So many have come through the schools and gone on to other places. The younger ones have different memories from the older folk. Funny, we older folk used to be the young folk.
Sigh, jedno davno i daleko daleko, another long ago and far away thing.
Here's one conversaton from "You're Probably From Wharton, Tx..." Even though all the remarks here were made out in public, the speakers may not have anticipated just how public their remarks were going to be, so I've xxx'd out the names for the sake of a modicum of privacy.
XXXXXX Football. Current Tiger Stadium, the field at the Jr. High, and the (now gone) field at WCJC. Did WHS play home games on any other fields? Like · · Unsubscribe · 13 hours ago YYYYYY likes this.
YYYYYY Wow, I hadn't thought about field at WCJC in long time. My sister was cheerleader there and for wrestling fans "Stone Cold" Steve Austin played football at WCJC as well.... 12 hours ago · Like
ZZZZZZ It's been so long now, refresh my memory on exactly where the WCJC Pioneer stadium was located. I went to games but I'm foggy on the locale. 10 hours ago · Like
XXXXXX It was on the WCJC campus, in a field just behind the buildings. In the early 60's, they decided to build more offices or classrooms or something and needed the room. That's when the high school had to begin playing their games at the Jr. High, which had been the high school. Around 1970, they built the current Tiger Stadium. When the games were at the Jr. High, there was not enough seating. So the band had to set up chairs in concert formation near one end of the visitors' side. We couldn't even see most of the game. 4 hours ago · Like
ME pioneer stadium was still there in 'xx/yy ,, don't know after that, I was gone a good long time about an hour ago · Like
XXXXXX Yes, that's right. I can remember the cheerleaders dancing to Julida Polka on the sidelines. 33 minutes ago · Unlike · 1 person
ME you betcha !!! were you in the band in those days?
XXXXXX Some of the best times of my high school. Percussion. Graduated 'XX.
Oh dear, and there followed a few messages behind the scenes in which XXXXXX remembered my dad and XXXXX reminded me about a mother who taught Geometry. I wanted so hard to please that dear lady because she had always been so kind to me and she worked to hard to help me get it, but I was such a flat liner back then ,,, and for that, after I got out of the Air Force, God sentenced me to about 25 years hard labor at a job in which one of my functions lay at the intersection of Plane and Solid Geometry. No one has any idea how many times I thought of Mama Rock or how many times I begged God's forgiveness for failing her. But God was relentless in His punishment. It took me about 10 years, but I got to the point where I could look at a truckload of logs and know, just know, how much veneer and how much lumber that load would produce. I got to the point where I could gaze out upon a sawmill floor and tell you accurately how much was stacked out there and I could look at an aerial photo and tell you fairly accurately how much timber was standing on a particular plot. Maybe Mama Rock would have finally been proud of me, but I never could do the math. That's a job for the accountants, God bless them, or these days for my computer. I still have a problem with math.
In the band, XXXXX was percussion. I was a few years ahead. I played clarinet, and we both have the same memory: "the cheerleaders dancing to Julida Polka on the sidelines." Some Friday nights over in Pioneer Stadium you might have thought the Julida was our school fight song as often as the band struck up that song. Oh heavens, our side of the stadium would sound out along with the band. You knew we were there! So many people knew all the words back in those days.
I put this song over on CANOVALS on YouTube back on November 4, 2010. It hasn't been one of my most watched videos, but a good number of folk from Czech Republic, Slovakia, as well as Texas and the United States seem to have enjoyed it as well as a few folks from all over Europe and even from far away India. Even Hrvati from Australia were singing along with the song.
Maybe you noticed we've switched back and forth between spellings for the song "JULAJDA" vs Julida. Hej, so a Hrvat has a Czech Song on his Hrvat pages. Ok, it's Teksikanski Czech anyway. Hej hej, that's just how it is, don't worry about it. The song was and is part of our lives and maybe always will be. Play it at my memorial service when the time comes, will you please?
Dennis Svatek, once one of "The Dance Hall Boys" from Texczechpolka on YouTube and were kind enough to allow me to use their recording of the song. Dennis lived next door to Wharton in Boling for part of his life. I used to listen to this recording onKULP - EL CAMPO when they played it as I was passing through at the right time of day.
Someday I will make another video to go with this song. It deserves a better video than I knew how to make at the time . It was meant a bit as a dream sequence going by to youthful days. The little mouse all tucked in and sleepy - that's me. Maijka moja used to love to sing this to me. Hej, its a happy song and it passed for a lullaby in our house. Dear Mom. I liked the turtle playing the keyboard in the video - if keyboards had existed back then that's about how Mom might have looked with her kerchief on her head playing. Yes, XXXXX, I was remembering our cheerleaders. I hope they don't mind that I used the dancing mice to represent them. :)
Here are the words - sing along with Dennis as you watch the video:
Ten panský kočí, má modré oči, On se mě vyptáva, kde já spím v noci.
R.: Julajda, Julajda, já mám tě ráda, Julajda, Julajda, já tě ráda mám.
A já spím sama na naší půdě, Žádný tam za mnou vylézt nemůže.
Čtyři tam lezli, jeden tam zůstal, Jak jsi se, Pepičku, jak jsi se vyspal.
Já jsem se vyspal, ale jen málo, Mně se tam něco hezkého zdálo.
On English these words are approximately: The carriage driver, he has blue eyes,
He is asking me where am I sleeping at night.
R.:
Julida, Julida, I like you,
Julida, Julida, you I like.
And I sleep by myself in our attic,
Nobody can climb up there to see me.
Four of them climbed there, one stayed there,
How did you, Joe, how did you sleep.
I slept, but only a little,
I was dreaming about something nice.
Now you just must understand these are not the words we sang when we sang this on english - "I got the honey if you got the money" was how the refrain went on english.
What's funny is the song was probably first sung on polish or on english. It was written by Walter Solek, the Polish - American song writer / radio polka show host. Solek was with the Krakowska Orchestra organized by his brother Henry, with which he recorded on the RCA Victor label. Julida was his first major hit after World War II with Columbia Records. It vaulted him to the top of the charts in the polka scene for a number of years. His motto, Bringing people together through music!" helped him compete with Elvis and the Beatles. A member of St. Stanislaus Church, Solek's seventy-five year career in music ended in 2005.
Just a few minutes ago I found out that my friend from High School is gone. His family has kindly allowed me to dedicate this little video to Bob McCulloch who was a good friend and one of the smartest guys I ever knew. I swiped this photo from his sister's FaceBook page with her permission. Except for the mustache, that's the same smile Bob had in high school all those years ago.
Bob McCulloch
JULAJDA POLKA
do sljedeći put, blagoslov - until next time, blessings,
