Veliko srce Hrvatice tjesi ocajnike New Orleansa

UGLEDNA agencija Reuters objavila je toplu ljudsku pricu iz New Orleansa, grada duhova i leseva, vezanu uz hrvatsku obitelj Cvitanovic koja se odlucila pomoci u nevolji svojim sugradjanima i besplatno im omoguciti ono najpotrebnije, hranu i vodu.

Grad je potpuno devastiran, leseva ima posvuda, sto najbolje ilustrira slucaj zene cije je mrtvo tijelo tjednima lezalo na ulici. Njeno tijelo je nabreklo i jako se izoblicilo, no vlasti su ga tjedan dana ignorirale sporo evakuirajuci prezivjele.

Izbjeglicki kampovi postali su mjesta silovanja, ubojstava i pljacki. Mnogi su izgubili sve, a najvise nedostaju osnovne potrepstine poput hrane i vode.

Restoran s morskim specijalitetima Drago u ulici Arnoult, poznat kao jedan od najboljih ribljih restorana u gradu i okolici, ponudio je preostalim gradjanima New Orleansa pogodjenog uraganom Katrina besplatnu hranu za sve koji to zele.

Nakon sto je pred vise od tjedan dana uragan poharao grad velicine Zagreba, hrvatska obitelj Cvitanovic otvorila je svoj restoran kako bi servirala tople obroke piletine i tjestenine uz pitku vodu, sto je ovih dana pravi luksuz u gradu.

"Odlucili smo da cemo servirati hranu tako dugo koliko ce trajati nase zalihe, vjerojatno dok ne podijelimo hrane u iznosu od 20,000 dolara." - izjavila je vlasnica restorana Klara Cvitanovic, a prenosi Reuters.

Gospodja Cvitanovic ima 66 godina, a iz Hrvatske je "trbuhom za kruhom" otisla kao vrlo mlada djevojka.

"Da budem iskrena, zivjela sam americki san i sad im se imam priliku oduziti" - dodala je Hrvatica velika srca.

Pomoc u kriticnim trenucima najvise se cijeni, a kad se vec americke vlasti ne brinu za svoje gradjane, moraju to ciniti sami. Prepusteni su sami sebi i ako si nece medjusobno pomagati, uz sve sto su do sada izgubili, ostaje im jos jedino ostaviti svoje zivote u gradu uzasa.
 

Reuters
 

Croatia's Ljubicic Wins Tourney in France

Sunday, October 9, 2005
METZ, France

Third-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia beat sixth-seeded Gael Monfils of France 7-6 (7), 6-0 to win the Open de Moselle on Sunday. Ljubicic won his first final of the year after losing his previous four — three to Roger Federer at Doha, Rotterdam and Dubai, and one to Joachim Johansson at Marseille. The 19-year-old Monfils missed the chance to clinch his second title of the year after winning on clay in Sopot, Poland. The pair had never previously met on the ATP Tour, and Ljubicic's win improved him to 42-18 overall this season.


http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/10/09/sports/s075159D17.DTL


Ljubicic ends four-year title drought in Metz
Sun Oct 9, 2005 3:41 PM BST


METZ, France, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic beat local favourite Gael Monfils 7-6 6-0 in the Metz Open final on Sunday to clinch his first ATP title in four years.

The towering Ljubicic, whose last tour success came in Lyon in 2001, stepped up a gear after a tight first set, relying on his trademark booming serves to take control.

The 19-year-old Monfils, the former junior number one, failed to claim the second title of his career after winning in August in Sopot, Poland.

The powerful Frenchman held his nerve at first but collapsed after losing the first set in a tie break.

Ljubicic, who will be one of Croatia's trump cards in their Davis Cup final against Slovakia in December, was playing his fifth final of the season.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=tennisNews&storyID=URI:urn:newsml:reuters.com:20051009:MTFH13890_2005-10-09_14-41-34_L09270724:1

Freedom form Despair & Weapons of Mass Deception

in International Documentary Association Awards

Freedom form Despair: Directed by Brenda Brkusic, Music by Nenad Bach
Weapons of Mass Deception: Directed by Danny Schechter, Music by Nenad Bach

The 21 Annual IDA Awards Gala Benefit

Eastman Kodak
Friday, December 9th, 2005

Where: Directors Guild of America--West
7920 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90046

Doors open at 6:30 pm
Program begins at 8:00 pm

Award Categories Include:
- Career Achievement Award
- Preservation & Scholarship Award
- Donnet Award
- IDA'S Distinguished Documentary Achievement Awards in the categories of Feature, Short, Limited Series, Continuing Series, the IDA/ABCNEWS VideoSource Award, the IDA/Pare Lorentz Award and the IDA/David L. Wolper Student Documentary Achievement Award

See the IDA Award winning films at DocuFest on Saturday, December 10, 2005,
at the

Eastman Kodak Building
6700 Santa Monica Blvd
Hollywood, CA

9:00 am to Midnight

The IDA Awards, presented annually to recognize and honor distinguished achievement in documentary production.
http://www.documentary.org/programs/awards.php
 
Dear Nenad,

Good news! A list of International Documentary Association Award nominees at the following link includes Freedom form Despair, March of the Penguins, Murderball, Weapons of Mass Deception, among others.

http://www.documentary.org/programs/awards.php

Freedom from Despair is nominated for a David L. Wolper Student Documentary Achievement Award and is being considered for a Donnet Award by invitation from the IDA Board of Directors.

I hope you can save the date (December 9th, 2005) and maybe attend the awards gala at the Director's Guild with the Freedom from Despair team!

The film is also playing this Saturday in the Westwood Int'l Film Festival at 4:30 pm. www.freedomfromdespair.com  or www.westwoodfilmfestival.com  for more info.

I hope all is well for you. Thanks for your help!

Brenda
 

Concise History of the World

Forum
National Geographic Society
1145 17th St. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036-4688 Oct. 5, 2005

Dear Editor:

I am writing to you in regard to the introduction of the National Geographic's "Concise History of the World". If it is as "concise" and correct as your description of former Yugoslavia in the February 2000 issue of the National Geographic magazine, in which on the map under the heading "Serbs" it said that Serbs settled in the seventh century into what is now Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia .. you will be making the same mistake again, besides a number of other mistakes that occurred in that article. You could have simply looked up under "Slavs" in the Encyclopedia Britannica, ed. 1970, vol. 20, which correctly states that "On the territory of modern Yugoslavia the first Slavic kingdom was Croatia". When Croatians voiced their complaints at that time, the truth was ignored by answering that the National Geographic stands by its experts. Wonder who those "experts" are?

Facts are, the Croatians, not Serbs, settled in the seventh century in the area that is still to this day Croatia and was a kingdom from the tenth to the twelfth century. Only upon the death of the heirless last king did Croatia enter a "Personal Union" with the king of Hungary. Unfortunately things went
downhill ever since for Croatia, becoming ruled by other nations, until it finally became independent again in 1991.

Sincerely,

Hilda M. Foley

Hilda M Foley
American Croatian Assn. of So. California
13272 Orange Knoll
North Tustin, CA 92705
714 832-0289
 
 

• Rogosic swam La Manche (45 km) in 2004 at the age of 63! For this he needed 11 hours and 27 minutes. His name was written in the 'Gold book of La Manche' as the first Croatian and the oldest man to do so.
• In the summer 2005 he swam almost 1,000 km along Croatian coast (from Savudrija to Rt Ostro in Konavle) in less than two months, at the age of 64! Also, this is the ultra-marathon swimming world record (880 km in 222 hours, in 57 etapes in less than 58 days).

CROATIA

Overview of History, Culture, and Science

main menu

LJUBO THE SAINT

CROATIA IN DAVIS CUP FINAL - an inspiration to CROATIAN JUNIORS
 

By Katarina Tepesh

New York, September 26, 2005 – Ivan Ljubicic, ranked 15 best tennis player in the world, has taken Croatia to the Davis Cup final almost single-handedly. “I do realize that winning nine points out of nine is fantastic. I just want to bring Davis Cup to Croatia. We’ve got one more match to go against Slovakia in December and I hope we won’t stop here because the road has been very long and very rough,” said Ljubicic.

His five-set victory over Andy Roddick in California during March gave Croatia a 3-1 lead in that tie, while against Romania he came to the rescue by beating Victor Hanescu after Ancic had been beaten in five-sets by Andrei Pavel. This weekend, Ljubicic beat powerful Russian team of Mikhail Youzhny to level the tie at 1-1 on Friday after Davydenko had earlier beaten Ancic, then teamed up with Ancic on Saturday to beat Dmitry Tursunov and Igor Andreev.

Ljubicic is the biggest news in Croatia right now. He knocked off from front pages Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, President of Croatia Mesic and Croatian Foreign Affairs and European Integration Minister Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, who is visiting Washington.

Croatians have been celebrating since Sunday. As soon as Ljubicic won, the 5,000 people in the sports hall in Split, burst out screaming, “Ljubo, Ljubo.” and singing “Veceras je Nasa Festa” and “Necemo Doma do Zore.” Speakers blasted, “We are the Champions.”

Imagine what an inspiration reaching the first Davis Cup Final will be for the Croatian Juniors recently playing at the US Open 2005. One of the boys below will one day took over to carry on historic event. Which one will it be?

The high hopes are on MARIN CILIC, who was born on 9/28/1988 in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Ranked No. 2 among Juniors, Cilic at age 16, provides high quality tennis, already attracting hundreds of spectators. In Boys’ Singles Cilic convincingly defeated McClune in First Round with easy 6-2, 6-2; Spencer in Second Round with 7-6, 6-4 and Kirillov 7-6, 6-4 in Third Round; Cilic lost in Quarterfinals to No. 7 Chardy, in two out of three sets 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Cilic did less well in Boy’s Doubles partnering with Tristan Farron. They lost in the Second Round, with Cilic having great difficulty keeping the focus on doubles play. He behaved as if he was forced to play doubles. Day before, in preparation for the US Open 2005, Cilic was seen practicing with his mentor and idol, Ivan Ljubicic.


ANTONIO VEIC was born 2/18/1988. He reached Second Round in Singles and First Round in Doubles. Feisty Veic competes with his heart and soul. Since playing last year at the US Open Juniors, 17-year-old Veic suffered an accident during a soccer game. He broke his left leg in two places.

LUKA BELIC was born 10/14/1988. A latecomer to US Open 2005, who at age 16 did not submit any personal info or a photo, Luka is coached by former tennis player and FED CUP Croatian coach Goran Prpic. In Boys’ Singles, Luka managed to reach the Second Round, while in Boys’ Doubles Luka partnered with Antonio Veic and lost in First Round.

NIKOLA MEKTIC lost in the First Round in Boys’ Singles, but played exceptionally well in Boys’ Doubles with his partner, 17-year-old Ivan Sergeyev from Ukraine. The two managed to reach the Quarterfinals.

PETAR JELENIC, was born 6/13/1987 and is ranked No. 11 among Juniors. He lost in the First Round in Boys’ Singles to Vitulli 6-4, 1-6, 6-1, due to anger and bad temper. Grabbing his private parts and shouting obscenities is not the way to play gentlemen’s tennis. 18-year-old Jelenic displayed total disrespect towards tennis officials as well as making hateful remarks towards his white opponent from Kenya, who had an enthusiastic support from a large group of mostly black boys and girls.

The status in Croatia for Junior Girls’ tennis players is pretty good. But that is on paper only! In reality, the training and financial support is at its worst for girls. No Croatian Junior girls participated at the US Open 2005.

Favoritism, politics and who is your daddy still plays a large part in Croatian tennis. For example, Ivan Ljubicic and Marin Cilic, both born in Bosnia & Herzegovina requested and received tremendous financial support as well as training. Even Mario Ancic, whose father owns a chain of supermarkets, received all out support. Whereas, Zagreb born Ivo Karlovic, Karolina Sprem from Varazdin and Ivana Lisjak from Cakovec, have not received any financial support from the Croatian tennis association or Croatian government. Their tennis career is financed privately, mostly from their families.



Case in point is MARINA ERAKOVIC who was born on 3/6/1988 in Split, Croatia. When Marina was four years old, her family, father Mladen and mother Ljiljana, moved to New Zealand. Marina, now 17 years old, lives in Auckland and represents New Zealand. She has one sister Djurdjica Julia. Marina plays right-handed with double handed backhand. She began playing tennis at age 6 and is coached by Chris Lewis. Marina’s ambition in tennis is to be No. 1. She adores tennis player Monica Seles and her hobbies include reading and soccer. At the US Open 2005, Marina was ranked No. 6 in Girls’ Singles. She successfully competed and won in Quarterfinals. During Semifinals against Victoria Azarenka ranked No.1, Marina was forced to retire due to an injury. She also played Girls’ Doubles with Victoria. They won until Semifinals, when medical assistance was called and the game stopped.
 

Searching for Kostanich family origins and history

Hi my name is Jim and I was adopted and all I can find out so far is my biological family, Name is Kostanich, is that they originated somewhere on the Dalmatian Coast and some have said that the name is quite prolific around a place called Dverenk. If there is anyone out there can shed more light on this subject I would be most appreciative.

James Cawdron (Kostanich)
2/46 Bainbridge Close
Chisholm ACT 2904
Australia

Ph: 02 61614890
Mob: 0408 214890
Jim.cawdron@homemail.com.au 
 

Prva emisija 'Domovina u srcu' naisla na veliki odaziv

Hrvatski radio Vukovar krenuo je s velikim radijskim projektom u zblizavanju i upoznavanju iseljene Hrvatske u cijelom svijetu s Domovinom. zelja je kroz serijal emisija predstaviti rad radijskih postaja, klubova i uspjesnih pojedinaca, te na taj nacin doprinijeti boljem upoznavanju slusatelja sa zivotom u iseljenistvu u razlicitim dijelovima svijeta. Nakon sto su prvi gosti bili hrvatski veleposlanik u svicarskoj Mladen Andrlic, te Miro Grabovac, slusatelji su vec u prvoj emisiji mogli vise saznati o zivotu Hrvata u dalekoj Tasmaniji od novinara Davorina Perovica, a o svojim uspjesima u glazbenom svijetu u Americi govorio je Nenad Bach.

Emisija ide utorkom uzivo od 20 do 22 sata, dok ce repriza emisije biti emitirana subotom (iako je ranije bio planiran termin petkom) od 3,55 do 5,55 po srednjoeuropskom vremenu. Na taj ce se nacin, na prijedlog slusatelja, omoguciti Hrvatima u dalekoj Australiji da u subotnje poslijepodne mogu slusati ovu emisiju. Buduci je u planu suradjivati sa svim dijelovima svijeta, neki ce razgovori ici uzivo dok ce se drugi, zbog vremenskih razlika, ranije snimiti.Teme razgovora su neiscrpne, a rijeci ce biti o zivotnim temama iz djelokruga rada ustanove ili pojedinca, te cemo slusatelje upoznati s nacinom zivota u pojedinoj zemlji, govorit cemo o pracenju kulturnih, gospodarskih, sportskih i drugih dogadjanja, te cemo predstaviti zanimljive dogadjaje i ljude. Kroz tople ljudske price s 'obicnim' ljudima, radnicima saznat cemo i kako zive uspjesni poslovni Hrvati, kako uspijevaju glazbenici i koliko rade kulturno umjetnicka drustva ili sportasi…Redovitim slusateljima programa Hrvatskog radija Vukovar i citateljima Vukovarskih novina dobro su poznate frekvencije radija:
107,2 zatim 104,1 te 95,4. Za ocekivati je da ce 500 – tinjak redovitih posjetitelja internet stranica na adresi www.hrv.hr  vrlo skoro povecati jer se cjelokupni program moze slusati 24 sata dnevno. Tijekom emisije i slusatelji se mogu ukljuciti u emisiju, a nekima od njih ispunjava se glazbena zelja tijekom emisije, ili nakon Vijesti  HRV-a u 22 sata. Ne treba smetnuti s uma i zelju da se kroz ove emisije obnove rodbinske ili prijateljske veze pokidane tijekom Domovinskoga rata ili nakon njega. Za kontakte (i tijekom emisije) otvorena je mail adresa:domovina@hrv.hr , a za glasovne  pozdrave koji ce se snimati petkom od 8 do 10 sati bit ce otvoren telefon (0038532) 450-458.
 

V.Benic
 

Zagreb Folk Ensemble Will Perform at the Warner Grand Theater in San Pedro

San Pedro, CA – In an unprecedented show of unity, all the Croatian organizations, Croatian American Hall, Croatian Cultural Center of Greater Los Angeles and the Dalmatian American Hall, in San Pedro have come together to host a world renowned Croatian folk group, Zagrebacki Folklorni Ansambl Dr. Ivana Ivancana on October 2nd 2005. From its very beginning in May 1945, the Zagreb Folk Ensemble, Dr. Ivan Ivancan (The Youth Cultural and Artistic Society 'JoĹža Vlahović' at that time) was dedicated to performing artistically choreographed and arranged regional folk dances and songs of Croatia. All spectacular elements or stylized elements were avoided to maintain the purity and beauty of this precious folkloric tradition. The program includes a stunning selection of different national costumes that are always authentic in every detail. The musical instruments are as lovingly chosen and authenticated as the costumes.
The continuing high quality of the ensemble has resulted in many travels and performances to almost all important festivals and competitions in the world. The sum total of all the medals won during competitions makes the ZFDE the most awarded Croatian folklore ensemble. One should bear in mind that all the prizes were won for the dances, songs and music representing true Croatian folklore.
The greatest strength of the ensemble are the two-hour concerts where the concept, beauty and the value of the choreography, songs, instrumental music and technical performance and the stature and the youth of the ensemble comes to its full bloom. All these things make their performance impressive and artistically superior. Their ability to perform such shows many times in a row is a mark of top performers. Come join us on October 2nd for this fantastic show of our beautiful Croatian Culture at the historic Warner Grand in San Pedro at
3pm! Immediately following the show at the Warner Grand, there will be a dinner at the Dalmatian-American Hall. ... click here to see the flyer 

www.lacroatian.com