Slovenian Meets Louie

Hilarious to see this on one of my favorite shows! So random.

Meanwhile Elsewhere in Slavland....

BBC tells the unfortunate tale of Gaitana, this year's Eurovision representative from Ukraine.

 The right-wing Freedom Party attacked the ground-breaking selection of a Gaitana - who is half Congolese - to represent Ukraine. "Millions of people who will be watching will see that Ukraine is represented by a person who does not belong to our race," said Yuri Syrotyuk, whose party is preparing to contest the parliamentary elections later this year. 


 "The vision of Ukraine as a country located somewhere in remote Africa will take root," he added. Oh, European right wing, you never fail me with the absurd soundbites.

Where are ya?

Cute track Kje si Lubi? (Where are you, Lubi?") from Slovenian band Manouche (via Europopped blog)

Full Circle - Manhattan to Ljubljana and back again!

New York has kept me wildly busy, more busy than I could have ever imagined. I wear many different hats working with many different organizations, but one of the jobs I recently took on is as contributing Blogger for Slovenian - American startup Zemanta. Last week posted my first piece; it is an interview I did with my boss, Tin Dizdarevic. Incidentally, Tin, who was born and grew up in Slovenia and Serbia until he was a teenager, first met me when he was visiting family in Slovenia last year, and the reason he knew of me is because of this very blog. Full circle, huh?

Click the pic above to read the interview!

Why don't more people live in liveable cities?

Great piece from kottke.org a blog "about the liberal arts 2.0"..

I brought up a similar point in a piece I wrote last year.


image by Andreja Brulc

Why Don't More People Live in Livable Cities?

Those lists of most liveable cities...why don't any of the vibrant big cities of the world ever make the list? Because the lists don't take into account many important reasons why people choose to live in a certain place.

I spoke to Joel Kotkin, a professor of urban development, and asked him about these surveys. "I've been to Copenhagen," (Monocle's Number 2) he tells me "and it's cute. But frankly, on the second day, I was wondering what to do." So, if the results aren't to his liking, what does he suggest? "We need to ask, what makes a city great? If your idea of a great city is restful, orderly, clean, then that's fine. You can go live in a gated community. These kinds of cities are what is called 'productive resorts'. Descartes, writing about 17th-century Amsterdam, said that a great city should be 'an inventory of the possible'. I like that description."

Joel Garreau, the US urban academic and author, agrees. "These lists are journalistic catnip. Fun to read and look at the pictures but I find the liveable cities lists intellectually on a par with People magazine's 'sexiest people' lists."

Ricky Burdett, who founded the London School of Economics' Cities Programme, says: "These surveys always come up with a list where no one would want to live. One wants to live in places which are large and complex, where you don't know everyone and you don't always know what's going to happen next. Cities are places of opportunity but also of conflict, but where you can find safety in a crowd.

"We also have to acknowledge that these cities that come top of the polls also don't have any poor people," he adds. And that, it seems to me, touches on the big issue. Richard G Wilkinson and Kate Pickett's hugely influential book The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better (2009) seems to present an obvious truth -- that places where the differential in income between the wealthiest and the poorest is smallest tend to engender a sense of satisfaction and well-being. But while it may be socially desirable, that kind of comfort doesn't necessarily make for vibrancy or dynamism. If everybody is where they want to be, no one is going anywhere.

(via stellar and many emails)

Update: That Decartes quote above? He never said it.

Brainy, Bigmouthed, and Black....by the Brooklyn Bridge

St. Cyril Slovenian church in NYC's East Village

Noticing a lag in this blog, the Powers That Be have elected to send me on long-term assignment to perhaps the most exciting city in the world -- NYC. I will try to keep you posted as to any of my experiences, things I read about, and goings-on that pertain to race, culture, Slovenians and/or other Slavs here, at home, and abroad.

Stay tuned.

Meanwhile elsewhere in Slavland...#3

a view on the way to Prague Castle - 2009

While you're waiting for this blog to maybe one day come back to life, I strongly suggest you turn your attention to my fellow African-American sister in Slavland, Ms. Tinu a.k.a. Black Girl in Prague, who has just done something I've been DYING to do for ages...she started a podcast! Her first interview is with Prague-based American expat jazz singer Lee Davison and is sharp, smart, and funny. Just like her*!

Don't just sit there, click over!

*She's also a gorgeous girl, so y'all gotta start sending around the petition for her to add a v-cast component ;)

Meanwhile elsewhere in Slavland...#2

I have other things I should be posting about and I hope I will find to do so in the next few weeks. But for now, I though I'd better post about this since people will undoubtedly be emailing me about this all day.

(Via The Times) Nigerian-born Polish citizen, John Godson, becomes Poland's first black MP



Congratulations to Mr. Godson and Powodzenia!

Wait! What? A Brother IS Mayor in Slovenia?!

As the conclusion to our ongoing posts "Wait! What? A Brother Running For Mayor in Slovenia?!" (1, 2). I just want to report to you what the UK newspaper The Guardian has already splayed across their own pages....

DR. PETER BOSSMAN IS THE FIRST BLACK MAYOR IN SLOVENIA!!!!



As he said on BBC World Service this morning, "It will take some time to see if there will be any real change."

All who know me, know that I'm not holding my breath. I'm just celebrating.

Sara Rajh, architect

Just came across another fascinating young Afro-Slovenian.

This lovely woman is Sara Rajh, a Ghanaian-Slovenian architect who enjoys the richness of her Hungarian, Slovenian, and Ghanaian heritages.


Sara Rajh with her husband, the academic sculptor Jürgen Rajh - photo credit

She was raised in northeastern Slovenia and now calls the Austrian town of Graz her home, but still works on projects in Slovenia and with family and associates in Ghana. Among her many endeavours has been: the establishment of a Slovenian association in Graz (which already had quite a large Slovenian population), working on the local radio station, organizing fund-raising exhibitions of Ghanaian jewelry/artistry, and developing an eco-farm in northeastern Slovenia (one of the most economically depressed regions in the country). All this from a woman that the article (Slovenian-language only) describes as "a true little miracle in a Slovenian countryside where no one had ever seen a dark-skinned person up close before."* Bravo and best wishes to you Ms. Rajh!


* As regular readers may have already noted, there is a lack of tact here, especially as regards race.

Yucky Tricks

A weekend or so ago, The Captain's mom, The Captain, and I went down to a family vineyard in the Dolenjska region where she's from. From what she told me, we were going down to have lunch and say hello to family members; she talked a LOT before we left but that was all the information she really gave. Off the back of that information, The Captain and I got dressed up smartly, loaded up the car, and left.



...so you can imagine how perturbed I was when we pulled up to the vineyard, got out of the car, and were handed buckets, scissors, and gloves. CapMama turned to us and was like "You guys have a change of clothes, right?" Steam blew out of my head and -- despite the fact that this happens all the time* -- it took everything I had to keep quiet and go with the flow.



I walked up the steep hill into the vineyard with my brand new ankle boots on, angered about the state of my new shoes and frightened I'd fall down the hill.



After leaning against a fence post for 15 minutes watching everyone else work, I finally decided to jump in and help pick some grapes. It was nasty work, as this year's mix of weather coupled with the neighboring vineyards bout with mold (the neighbour, who probably inherited the damn vineyard, refuses to come out and pick grapes anymore and just leaves them to rot year after year) meant that most of the grapes were either dried like raisins or totally moldy.



Our job was to knock away all the sour grapes and pick out the few decent looking ones. Messy, stinky, yucky work.



I ended up taking my shoes and socks off so I could get a grip on the ground and not slide down the hill.



It ended up being the best decision; though I did have to contend with pesky people walking past me every few minutes with admonishments and "concern" that I would catch cold (catching cold seems to be the worst fate that can befall you in this country, geez.)

Anyway, after an hour or two of this cruel punishment, at least I got a good meal (pictures to come)....and, of course, this little blog post.



*Slovenians have a bad habit of not giving you necessary information unless you explicity ask for it. Problem being that you don't know what you don't know. Frustration!

Update on Wait! What? A Brother Running For Mayor In Slovenia

Quick follow up to July's post Wait! What? A Brother Running For Mayor In Slovenia ....

According to news reports (Slovenian only), Slovenian-based Ghanaian doctor and politician Peter Bossman was in the lead with over 30% of votes after yesterday's election to become mayor of the lovely seaside town of Piran. The race will now go into run-offs against the current sitting mayor (who had just over 20%) of the vote. Here's hoping Dr. Bossman makes it all the way through and becomes the first black* mayor in Slovenia! Let's goooooo!

In further news, journalist Vlado Miheljak puts forth a more ambitious proposition..."Peter Bossman For President" and much mudslinging in the comments ensues! (Slovenian only)

*yes, say BLACK/črn not temnopolt/ "dark-skinned". Black comes in many shades (from light to dark) and is an experience, not just a state of melanin.

Venice Architecture Biennale 2010

The Captain and I made it over to Venice for the Architecture Biennale. Here are a few pics:









The Belgian pavilion was my favorite hands down. It was full of used interiors.


this was a work table surface that sat next to a copy machine


a big foam model of the city in the dutch pavilion


a big strange spanish toy sculpture thing


a detail shot


another detail shot






the cafeteria


the polish pavilion


the egyptian pavilion


the serbian pavilion, which happened to be full of a group of friendly young serbians








American pavilion






Czech and Slovak was lovely


the Canadian exhibition was an interactive manmade plastic forest

Three Whole Years

Today is the 3rd anniversary of my residence in Slovenia (of all places). Amazing where a little adventurousness, blind faith, love, perseverance (and a healthy helping of foolishness) can get you.

Call for proposals: Publication on "Integration beyond Migration"

(via Black Women in Europe Blog)


picture credit

Call for proposals: Publication on "Integration beyond Migration"

As a reflection of the debates in the Member States, the current EU debate on integration repeatedly combines the issues of migration and integration by maintaining a restrictive approach to integration policy focusing primarily on the integration of Third-Country Nationals. As a typical example, the 2004 EU Common Basic Principles on integration have been developed within the broader framework of the management of migration and its consequences, and therefore primarily concern migrants and Third-Country Nationals. However, people from a migrant background born in Europe or people from a European minority ethnic or religious background can no longer be considered as migrants as they are facing an entirely different set of challenges and hurdles in their integration process - many of which are certainly more akin to the integration/inclusion issues faced by specific economic classes of the majority community (in terms of poverty, underachievement in education, etc.). The linkages between anti-discrimination, integration and social inclusion therefore need to be rethought to develop a new approach to this policy area and enhance policy coherence. It is important that EU integration policies not only focus on new arrivals, but on the social inclusion of all migrants and minorities, irrespective of when they arrived in the EU.

Deadline 2o September 2010. More details here.

Irena Yebuah-Tiran

Picture credit

Not to turn this page into a Who's Who of Black Slovenians, but hey I think it can't hurt to show that the few black Slovenians and black people in Slovenia have done and can do remarkable things.

This vision of loveliness before you this time around is the lovely Ghanaian-Slovenian opera singer Irena Yebuah-Tiran.

Just the other day, someone mentioned to me that there was an old Ghanaian guy in Dolenjska who had settled down there and (much like every one else in Dolenjska) had started his own vineyard. A quick Google search led me to this 2004 story (Slovenian language only) on Mr. Robert Yebuah and then onwards to his talented and lovely daughter Irena. According to her website, Ms. Yebuah-Tiran has been training her voice since middle school and gained her Masters degree in Music from the prestigious Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and has performed in both Ljubljana, Vienna, and beyond.

Check out her music on her Myspace page here and cheer her on!


Picture credit

As they say in Ghana, ayekoo! (well done!)

Best of

Newsweek just came out with it's list of 100 Best Countries to live and Slovenia came in at 24. Congrats to Slovenia. The country is safe with a highly educated population and good life expectancy. No small accomplishment, of course.

That said, one has to interrogate how these lists are compiled and WHO praytell are they for? I don't think this list imagines that these conditions apply to just anyone who dropped out of the sky. It must be for the natives, most of whom are not going anywhere regardless of what this list says. I guess it would give them a boost of pride, which I guess is something. But what of the people that are looking at this list with an eye to moving to one of those countries? Can we get any glimpse into the life we would lead as an expat? Things such as access to services in multiple languages, the weather and environment, health care and social services, cultural events and resources, and importantly attitudes of natives towards newcomers/foreigners are what may be on the mind of a potential expat to that country. But I suppose that could be a hard thing to measure...Nonetheless in this globalised world, it would be nice to see one of those lists that gave more than a passing nod to the non-native's concerns and made this information useful rather than just a source of pride (or shame) for natives of the respective countries.

On a lighter note, the interactive tool is pretty neat on that site...check it out!

A Visit to the Volčji Potok Arboretum

Dog water fountain. Curious, since I never see water fountains for HUMANS.