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Entries from February 23rd, 2003

Domnikios & Tovaras – Constantin Roman

February 23rd, 2003 · Comments Off on Domnikios & Tovaras – Constantin Roman · Diaspora

“At the beginning there was Domn and Domn was God and God was King and the two were one and the same Creed and that Creed was called Domnikios, that is the God-King that ruled over Domnikia.”

Still, there is always something far more visceral that separates the Domnikios from the Tovaras: that is the “nouveau” appellation of the very name “Tovaras” – For the etymology of “Tovaras” was never Latin – but Slav and the Slavs appeared on these remote lands late, very late in the history of Domnikia. It is the Slavs who labelled the nameless under dogs – “Tovaras”, because they looked unprepossessing and so they called them ‘ “Tovaritch”. In fact, before the Slavs invaded Domnikia, the nameless sons of bitches were always shouted at with a short sharp “Hey, you” and the slaves would hurriedly grovel to their master. But now that their lands were run over and their attributes diminished, the Domnikios, who always spoke with a congenital lisp, pronounced and dictated that the under dogs should be called instead “Tovaras”, as a kind of grudging acceptance of the Slav intrusion in the feudal affairs of the Domnikian Principality.

And this is how all the troubles started, and all hell broke loose, as we were going to witness for ourselves in centuries-old civil wars between the Domnikios and the Tovaras, which were occasionally interspaced with short spells of hushed coexistence.

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“Writing in a Foreign Tongue” – Dumitru Tsepeneag

February 23rd, 2003 · Comments Off on “Writing in a Foreign Tongue” – Dumitru Tsepeneag · Diaspora, quotations, Translations

“The writer who is compelled to abandon its native tongue to replace it with a new one, is like the rank, without his gun, deserting his country, in a breathless flight, living a timeless nightmare. A deep wound, if there must be one. Some old sentences are still sticking to the flesh and once they […]

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POETRY IN TRANSLATION (XII): Dumitru Bacu (Vlach Poet) – “Grief”

February 23rd, 2003 · Comments Off on POETRY IN TRANSLATION (XII): Dumitru Bacu (Vlach Poet) – “Grief” · Diaspora, Poetry, Translations

“We do not grieve the wasted battles
Nor do we grieve the wounded chest
We grieve instead those arms in tatters,
Which cannot fight for want of rest.”

– – – – – – – – –
Note:
Dumitru Bacu, Political prisoner, Vlach Poet, Exile (“Pitesti”. Ed Atlantida, Bucharest,1991)
– – – – – – – – –
Translated from Romanian by:
Constantin Roman.

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POETRY IN TRANSLATION (XI): Rodica Draghincescu – “To Myself”

February 23rd, 2003 · Comments Off on POETRY IN TRANSLATION (XI): Rodica Draghincescu – “To Myself” · Diaspora, Poetry, Translations

POETRY IN TRANSLATION (I): Rodica Draghincescu – “To Myself”
At birth
I appeared
Already oppressed in an air cage..
How amazing, what riot of colours
A stupefied godmother!
Compassion drowned in tears
She had an indelible pen
And on her lips offered on credit
Hung a suspended smile
She gratified me with a scribbled digit
Which she marked, in consolation, on my back:
Girl, two kilos, odd number: thirty-nine
Strangled by the umbilical chord
Survival chance 26%, epidermal eruption
Talking to herself.’

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Portrait of the Danube Delta – Film Review

February 23rd, 2003 · Comments Off on Portrait of the Danube Delta – Film Review · Uncategorized

Blue Danube, Black Sea: a portrait of the Danube Delta By Paul Reddish Nature’s role call is impressive. As many as 500,000 wild geese, including all the world’s 60,000 or so red-breasted geese, the greatest congregation of pelicans outside of Africa, along with spoonbills, glossy ibis and another 300 species of birds. They all live […]

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Ancient Transylvanian Village under Imminent Threat

February 23rd, 2003 · Comments Off on Ancient Transylvanian Village under Imminent Threat · Uncategorized

[url=http://www.miningwatch.ca/]Mining Watch Canada:[/url] [b]Romanian villagers oppose Canadian gold mine at Rosia Montana[/b] (Ottawa, March 11, 2002) – A new citizens’ organization called Alburnus Major has been organized in Romania to oppose an open pit gold mine being promoted by Canadian company Gabriel Resources. They claim to represent 80% of the people living in Rosia Montana, […]

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Paunescu Controversy at St Andrews

February 22nd, 2003 · Comments Off on Paunescu Controversy at St Andrews · Uncategorized

by Jimmy Goldbergstein – The Glasgow Herald (Oct 2000) — – – – – – – – – – THE INCLUSION of a Romanian poet who had close links with former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu, sparked controversy at a recent St Andrews University poetry festival Romanian poet, Adrian Paunescu reading at the St Anza poetry […]

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Lucia Hossu-Longin

February 22nd, 2003 · Comments Off on Lucia Hossu-Longin · Uncategorized

“Memorialul Durerii”, a political TV Documentary series had been researched and produced for the Romanian TV by Lucia Hossu-Loghin. This is an epic story of Romania’s most notorious political prisons under Communism. Miss Hossu-Loghin had interviewed the survivors, or the families of those jailed, visited the sites where the crimes were perpetrated and even interviewed […]

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Getting Published in Romania

February 21st, 2003 · Comments Off on Getting Published in Romania · Uncategorized

We would like to know about your experiences of being published in Romania. Are you a Romanian living in Romania? or perhaps a member of the diaspora? Have you found your situation to be a help or a hinderance? and what channels have you tried to get your work published. Please send your comments to […]

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Carlos Zurutuza

February 21st, 2003 · Comments Off on Carlos Zurutuza · Uncategorized

==================================== VLACH Journal (2002) By Karlos Zurutuza, BA, MA Donostia – San Sebastian Basque Country, Spain =========================================== EDITOR’S NOTE: These are a series of impressions during an ethnographic survey of the Romanian-speaking peoples South of the Danube, in the Balkan peninsula, (Northern Greece, Macedonia and Albania), during the summer of 2002. Because of their spontaneity […]

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