When you want to learn Croatian in Los Angeles, the Beverly Hills Lingual Institute could be your choice.

List of Diaspora or Croatian Studies Programs around the US needed for Croatian literature in a Writing and Literature course

I am hoping that you will be able to provide me with a list of Diaspora or Croatian Studies Programs around the US so that I can contact as many people as possible. You can reach me by writing to gladys@acmt.hr  Thank you for your interest in this project.

AMERICAN COLLEGE OF
MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY
Ćira Carića 4
20000 Dubrovnik, Hrvatska
Tel: (020) 435-555
Fax: (020) 435-577
E-mail: american.college@acmt.hr

January 24, 2005
Ante Cuvalo – Editor
Association for Croatian Studies
cuv@netzero.com

Dear Mr. Cuvalo

I am a professor at the American College of Management and Technology in Dubrovnik, Croatia. ACMT is a subsidiary of Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester NY. Your name was given to me by our Dean, Don Hudspeth. I am working on a project to bring Croatian Literature in translation to North American College Students. In my 40 years of teaching, I have read Indian, Asian, Hispanic,
French, German, and Russian authors in translation, but I have never been aware of seeing a Croatian author in an American classroom. I would like to change that, and I need your help.

I am currently teaching Croatian literature in a Writing and Literature course to first year students at RIT, and writing teaching modules for other professors to teach this literature. It is my hope that by contacting Diaspora and Universities that teach Slavic Studies, that I will find a few professors who are interested in trying out some of the modules in their classrooms and who are willing to provide some feedback so
that I can revise the modules and make them more widely available.

I must, at this point make a disclaimer. I am not a Croatian, and despite 3 years of research and help from many people, I cannot for a single instant claim that I can bring an in-depth understanding to this enormously rich literature full of historical and philosophical references and innuendos and carrying centuries of complex cultural heritage. But, this is a start, and because of my classes, some young Americans who had never heard of Croatia are now anxious to visit, and to meet the Croatian people. When the project is complete and the copyright issues have been resolved, hopefully, the literature itself will be available electronically to anyone who wants to read it.

The American students who attend ACMT go there because they and their parents want them to experience the culture of their ancestors. Many of them speak very little Croatian. Wouldn’t it be wonderful for young Croatian-Americans to be able to read Brlic- Mazuranic and Marulic and Drzic and Krleza and Gundulic and Kamov as well as the rich literature of the war for independence, literature like “Lament
Over Europe,� (which my students find uncomfortably applicable to the US today) and new contemporary writers?

Through this project, over 200 poems, short stories, essays and plays have been scanned into the library reserve system at RIT for my students because the literature is out of print or not available for students to buy as classroom texts. A data base has been developed with over 300 entries which will enable Professors and others who are interested to search by author, title, genre, or the time period when the author was living. The entries contain publication information and the names of the translators where available.

The 50 minute Lesson Plans for professors are complete with PowerPoint presentations where applicable, assignments, and internet sources for historical and other references made in the text of the stories . The Lesson Plans which are available in the prototype are: Introduction to Croatia, Introduction to Literature; Introduction to the Novel and Short Story; Introduction to Political and Historical Short Stories and
Essays. The lesson plans for the readings I choose for this demonstration are: “The Dead Wood,â€? “Reminiscences of the Lord,â€? “The Library,â€? “Lament Over Europeâ€? and “The Chronicler’s Sin.â€? Everything the teacher and students will need will be available electronically through the Croatian Literature website.

A few of my colleagues in the US and a few of my students have questioned why they should read Croatian Literature. For me, Literature is a vehicle for stepping into a mind, a place, or a culture with which I am unfamiliar. Through my American literature course, my Croatian students have gained enormous insight into the American culture, awareness which helps override the TV and movie images they receive. Reading one or two pieces of literature is like the one day in Paris travel tour. Focusing on the literature of one previously unknown culture is like the 10 day tour of Paris. For American students, this deeper look at Croatia destroys the perceptions that Croatia is somewhere in Siberia with no heat or electricity; it also chips away at American ethnocentricity, and because one cannot approach Croatian literature
without some awareness of history (included in the lesson plans), students are exposed to European history up close and personal. While I don’t test them on history, I hold out the hope that some of it sticks. Most of my American students are engineering and Information Technology majors, and insofar as the Liberal Arts are intended to broaden their interest and awareness, this course hits its mark. I have
numerous anecdotes to show how those students who are open to the experience broaden their awareness.

All of my colleagues at ACMT and my contacts in various government ministries and at the National Library in Zagreb are very excited about this project and are being very helpful to me. The people who recently attended a conference presentation I gave at NYCEA are also enthusiastic and interested in trying out some of the modules. I hope that you will examine the demo and also become excited about the
prospect of putting Croatian Literature into North American classrooms. I hope that you will take the next step of sending this information to someone who might use one or more of these modules or that you yourself will contact me to let me know that you have an interest in this project. I will be asking people who participate in the project to evaluate the modules so that modifications can be made before they are
finalized.

I am hoping that you will be able to provide me with a list of Diaspora or Croatian Studies Programs around the US so that I can contact as many people as possible. You can reach me by writing to gladys@acmt.hr  Thank you for your interest in this project.

You can access the prototype with the following protocol:
Go to www.acmt.hr
Click on faculty resources
Click on Croatian Literature in Trnsl.

This prototype is intended for the purposes of demonstration. There about 30 more modules that need to be completed. In a couple of weeks, password protection will be added. You will told on the website how to get the password if you wish to participate in the project.


If you wish to learn more about the American College of Management and Technology, go to www.acmt.hr or contact:
Drazenka Franic
Marketing & College Relations
Tel: +385 20 435-555
Fax: +385 20 435-577

For more information about Rochester Institute of Technology, go towww.rit.edu

Best Regards

Professor Gladys Winkworth

AMERICAN COLLEGE OF
MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY
Ćira Carića 4
20000 Dubrovnik, Hrvatska
Tel: (020) 435-555
Fax: (020) 435-577
E-mail: american.college@acmt.hr

April 01 -- April 07, 2005

Cinema Croatia

Retrospective of Croatian Films @ American Cinematheque
in Los Angeles

For all the details please go to our web site:

www.CinemaCroatia.com


Check your (snail) mail for:
American Cinematheque Brochure and Cinema Croatia postcard.
If you don't receive any of the above within two weeks, send us your address
for future mailings.


April 1 - 7, 2005 at the Aero and Egyptian Theatre
 

Since the 1960's, Croatian cinema has combined a haunting, angry, often savagely-bleak outcry against political and personal repression with humor, lyricism and tenderness born of constant conflict and adversity. While a great deal of attention has been focused on classic Czech, Polish or Hungarian cinema, relatively little attention has been paid to Croatia - an almost criminal oversight, since by any definition,
directors such as Vatroslav Mimica (An Event) and Krsto Papic (Handcuffs) belong on a short list of modern Central European masters.

In December 2000, the American Cinematheque and CAMEO presented “Wednesdays In Croatia,â€? the first comprehensive overview of Croatian cinema ever mounted on the West Coast. As a long-overdue follow-up to that series, “Cinema Croatia â€? features current Croatian filmmakers as well as acknowledged classics of Croatian cinema; in-person appearances by director Branko Ivanda (The Horseman),
producer Branko Lustig (Schindler's List, Gladiator, An Event) and actor Goran Visnjic (ER, Spartacus, The Long Dark Night) and much more!

series compiled by:
Dennis Bartok, Branko Lustig, Matko B. Malinger and Gwen Deglise
presented by:
American Cinematheque & CAMEO
(Croatian Art, Media & Entertainment Organization)

sponsored by:
Croatian Ministry of Culture
Consulate General of Croatia in Los Angeles
Croatian National Tourist Board

Pascal singing in Vrbanj

Linguistically It all started with the word cult (=service to God) and culture (=creation, preserving manhood’s spiritual and material creation). Commonly In ancient civilizations - both were created with service to God and around the actual service, although as history progressed circumstances continued in a more emphasized way, occasionally in a closer interaction, then separating, eventually distancing from one another. In pascal singing in Vrbanj on the island of Hvar - throughout the whole island and along our coastline - a specific service to God and spiritual culture has developed since the Middle Ages. This is emphasized through the Christian pascal heritage, which is common in the Mediterranean circles, which throughout the whole of Europe tells us of the beauty of interaction. It was created from believers and material sacral signs and symbols, in a touching way in a vocal form celebrates liturgical texts in the Great week. Near Hvar, Stari grad, Vrboska, Jelsa and Vrbanj, both the cult and culture are extended. Vrbanj itself is an agricultural area, while the other mentioned towns are more urban. Because of this we can conclude that the pascal singing in Vrbanj is more authentic. For centuries the local population has loved and admired such texture -because Catholics on Hvar have preserved and nurtured this pascal texture. Ethnologists and musicians have paid special attention to this spiritual singing, starting from the collectors of customs from the 19th century, A. I. Caric, musician B. Sokol between the two world wars, all up to the living musician Ljubo StipiĹĄic. Miki Bratanic not only nurtures Vrbanj's pascal heritage but also records it. M. Bratanic has decided to present just one source of pascal service in the final three days in the Great week in Vrbanj. This version is full length and contains melodies, which have not been released to date, which is why this version is so treasured. These melodies are no longer even sung in mass ceremonies. Due to the norms of the Second Vatican Council a large proportion of the texts have been changed and when this was combined with the heads of church choirs which did not appreciate the essence of pascal singing, then the true richness was lost. Even though not everything that is old is necessarily worth while, we can definitely say that when pascal heritage is in question that 'older the better' is the case (Luke 5, 39). In M. Bratantc's records of 26 melodies, which are on this CD, the first collection of pascal melodies is from one Hvar parish. Vrbanj's parish priest and himself an excellent singer father Branimir Marinovic has always seen the need to maintain this form of cultural heritage.

This CD not only contains the evangelical passages which during the Great week are celebrated in services, but truly contain great and Holy days within the Great week which were once part of services and today cannot be heard. In Bratanic's recordings we can hear the preserved liturgical voice, which the biblical translator Franciscan Petar VlaĹĄic would say is the feeling for the old1. He also knew how to create the relation between the voice of the cult and linguistic culture in our cultural circle. Most of all, we have an ethno-musical recording where we can see the interaction of the cult of service to God and a local culture. This CD truly enriches our vocabulary for pascal heritage, and gives me great pleasure that it has been compiled.

Father Bernard in Skunca.

House of Cards crumbling.

Who will judge Carla del Ponte?

What will be her sentence?

How do you punish people who abuse their position of power?

How about all of the sentences together !

As below. This is potentially devastating for Del
Ponte. Not only does the Slovak PM apparently say he
is not convinced by her, this commission will make its
own mind up - and not rely on her info. Regardless of
outcome, this in itself damaging to Del Ponte's
credibility. Let alone if it decides against her.

Brian

Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda
said he was personally not convinced by the
previous reports of the chief ICTY prosecutor Carla
del Ponte, adding that to his view, she sounded as if
she was "punishing Croatia".

EU to send monitoring team to Croatia
23.03.2005 - 17:18 CET | By Lucia Kubosova
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – In a bid to keep an eye on
Croatia's progress themselves, EU leaders have decided
to set up a special taskforce to monitor Zagreb's
co-operation with the UN tribunal in The Hague.

The move comes after member states on 16 March decided
to postpone opening EU membership talks with Croatia
after a majority of governments felt themselves
unconvinced as to whether the country was fully
co-operating with the International Criminal Tribunal
for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

The new team will take on board officials from the
current and future EU presidency countries –
Luxembourg, the UK and Austria - as well as the
European Commission and the EU foreign policy chief,
Javier Solana.

The Luxembourg Presidency is supposed to work out
details of the concrete tasks of the working group,
which is expected to release its evaluation report
about Zagreb’s progress in May.

Reacting to the proposal, Croat Prime Minister Ivo
Sanader welcomed the move saying "it is good for my
country to exploit the momentum."

He added "We will provide all which is required from
us to prove we are ready to co-operate with the
Tribunal".

Not a precedent
The monitoring team is to make its own judgment on
Croatia’s dealings with the UN tribunal.

EU foreign ministers will then study the conclusions
of the document and act accordingly – should there be
a positive outcome, member states could decide to
launch the negotiations with Croatia even before the
next scheduled summit of the European leaders in June.


Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg Prime Minister,
pointed out that the member states are not trying to
undermine the Commission and its role in monitoring EU
hopefuls and their readiness to start the EU talks.

"This particular case should not be viewed as a
precedent model for the future enlargements," Mr
Juncker told journalists after the European Council on
Wednesday 23 March.

Challenging The Hague?
The decision on future developments between the EU and
Croatia was not originally on the EU spring summit’s
agenda.

However, Austria and Slovakia were supported by some
other leaders in their initiative to put on the table
a draft for a new instrument to evaluate Zagreb’s
action towards the Hague.

"The crucial added value of the taskforce is that the
member states themselves will be finally involved in
judging to what extent Croatia is actually
co-operating with the Tribunal," said Slovak Prime
Minister Mikulas Dzurinda.

He said he was personally not convinced by the
previous reports of the chief ICTY prosecutor Carla
del Ponte, adding that to his view, she sounded as if
she was "punishing Croatia".

"Our initiative is not some kind of oath of loyalty
towards Croatia, but an attempt to clarify the vague
definitions of what it really means to prove 'full
co-operation' with the Tribunal, and mainly to make
certain that the judgment is not up to one single
person," pointed out Mr Dzurinda.

According to diplomatic sources, an increasing number
of member states showed clear support for a more
pro-active EU approach towards Zagreb during the
two-day summit.

Also, it has been suggested that some countries – such
as the UK – will be under more pressure to share the
information to which they had previously referred when
suggesting that Croatia was not co-operating
sufficiently.

The plan to set up an EU monitoring team for Croatia
is in line with similar proposals by MEPs. The
European Parliament's foreign committee recently sent
a letter to the Luxembourg presidency supporting such
a move.

But while MEPs also asked for negotiations to start in
the meantime and be halted if proof of lack of
co-operation is found by the EU monitoring group,
member states were apparently reluctant to move so
fast.

KOMARICA: INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY SHARES BLAME FOR THE BRUTAL WAR IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA
22.03.2005

BANJA LUKA, Mar 22 (FENA) – The international community is accomplice in the brutal war in the former Yugoslavia, and after the war it often continues punishing the victims, especially refugees and displaced persons, and rewarding those who had exiled them – said the
bishop of Banja Luka, Franjo Komarica, during a meeting with the Irish ambassador for Slovenia, Croatia and BiH, Gerald Ansbro.

Bishop Komarica argumented that with concrete dates, places of meeting and names of his collocutors during the war and after, who clearly gave him to understand that the war had been planned long before and waged in an organized manner and that the so called big powers
were squaring accounts with each other at the expense of innocent people whom they misused for their selfish interests.

As the KTA reports, Komarica stressed the devastating fact that practically the Croats as the domicile people and the Catholic Church are no more in the Republika Srpska, and all this with the knowledge and acquiescence of the "humane" Europe and America. "I cannot accept", bishop Komarica is quoted as saying, "the allegation of a larger number of my collocutors from the international community that I and my people are to blame because we are Catholic, because we are Croats and because we want to stay in BiH."

"I am well aware that the international community has failed in BiH, and Ireland as its member admits its failure" – said Ansbro and expressed the readiness of his country to help reconciliation and healing of wounds.

(Fena) jk

http://www.fena.ba/uk/vijest.html?fena_id=FMO82577&rubrika=ES

Croatia - Great Britain
 

Overview of historical relations - a sketch
Darko Zubrinic, 2004.

GENERAL

It is interesting that King Richard the Lion-Hearted (1157-1199) sojourned in Zadar (and not in Dubrovnik as it has been believed). Also Henry of Lancaster, the future King Henry IV, visited Zadar and Dubrovnik during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1392 and 1393. See [Mardesic], p. 134-135.

Interesting impressions about the Croats can be seen in ``The Journey'' written by Thomas Watkins, published in London in 1792 (second edition in 1794). He praises Croatian soldiers (Esclavonian soldiers) and sailors. He was enthralled by the beauty of Dubrovnik, its hospitality, competent administration, high level of education and scholarship found among many of its inhabitants. He also cited some of the verses that the Durbovnik poets addressed to him as a guest. Talking about inhabitants of Dalmatia, he stated that they are ``in their attire and manners not unlike highland Scots - bold, honest, simple and so incured to inclement weather that even now, when the snow is 4 inches high, some of them (as I can see from my window) spend the night round a small fire in the open'' (see [Mardesic], p. 186).

It is interesting that Thomas Fink from the University of Cambridge defended his doctaral thesis in physics dealing with - ties! Also a recent monograph has been issued devoted to various applications of ties in science: The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie: The Science and Aesthetics of Tie Knots, by Thomas Fink Yong Mao Fourth Estate: 1999.

Croatian soldiers served in many European armies since the seventeenth century. So in the French army in the 17th century, during the reign of Louis XIII, there was a cavalry composed exclusively of the Croats, called Royal - Cravate, which existed in the period of 1664-1789. These soldiers gave the world something that is today inavoidable in fashion: the tie, called la cravate by the French and by the Germans die Krawatte - the expression was coined from the Croatian name, and mentioned for the first time in 1651. The name entered also

http://croatianhistory.net/etf/brit.html
 

CLASES DE IDIOMA INGLES
en : Centro Croata - Buenos Aires
Lugones 4936, Capital.

Dictadas por el profesor de InglĂŠs
de origen croata Dean Ermano Vivoda

Si Usted sabe Inglés y hace mucho no lo practica o necesita ejercitarlo para viajar o simplemente quiere ampliar sus horizontes culturales, ésta es su oportunidad…

Si Usted no sabe Inglés, no lo dude, ésta es su oportunidad…

Si tiene dudas al respecto, no dude …

ComunĂ­quese al tel. 4566-3166 o al
15-4198-9422

Hope to hear from you soon.
Dean.

deanghi@fibertel.com.ar

Intermediate level informal conversation group will meet once a week

Uci Hrvatski kod mene !

Intermediate level informal conversation group will meet once a week at my
East Village apartment to speak, and be corrected by a native speaker/ teacher who will
also lend us further skills in grammar, etc.

Beginning in April, we will meet once a week in the evening or sunday
afternoon. The cost will be very reasonable, and dependent upon participation.

If at all interested, please respond to Natalie Rodic:
brokenopenheart@yahoo.com . Or 917.495.8612. Tell me your level of
speaking, and schedule preference.