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Slovenian Heritage Weekend - Nov 2008

Slovenian Heritage Weekend (click here for a larger image)

In November members and friends gathered at the Appalachian Mountain Club's Mohican Outdoor Center in Blairstown, NJ for a Slovenian Heritage Weekend. It was a great success!

We hope everyone enjoyed reading the article on our event in the Jan/Feb issues of Zarja but in case you missed it the highlights of the weekend were hiking, traditional folk dance workshop, basic Slovene language lessons and kifli (nut butterhorn cookies) making demonstration. There were authentic Slovenian culinary delights, including roast pork loin, potatoes and sauerkraut, tifa, liptavski sir, walnut potica, terragon potica and gibanica. Dinner was preceded by tasting from a selection of both red and white Slovenian wines. Evening entertainment included a choice of piano playing and singing with some of the 'locals' and screening of Vesna (1953), one of the most popular and much loved classic Slovenian films.

Thanks to everyone who participated but especially Lynn and Ria for the original idea and extensive and detailed planning! Thanks also to Mia Branc for the fabulous meal, Mike Dalton and Tanya McCabe of the AMC for all their help in getting the weekend organized, Emil Gaspari of TriWines for his generous donation of Slovenian wines and organic pumpkin seed oil, Alfonz Polajner for making the trip to teach the dances, Maria Skrilec for her gibanica and the samples of her cherries infused with slivovitz!

To view full gallery of photos please visit Branch 93 Picasa web page. For additional photos click here.
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Meeting the President and the First Lady of Slovenia

SWUA Branch 93 members with
First Lady Barbara Türk and Consul General Alenka Ravnik
and President Danilo Türk
(click here for a larger image)

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Summer 2008

Dinner with Mirjam at Djerdan

Branch 93 members have gathered several times this summer.

There was a nice turnout for A Night in Slovenia, a National Geographic Traveler reception/concert at the end of May in New York's Town Hall. The event was attended by a mix of Slovenians, Slovenian-Americans and those who either know about or were curious about Slovenia. The food and wine stations were beautifully set-up at the Millennium Hotel, as part of the pre-concert wine tasting and food sampling event. The concert featured the best of Slovenia's contemporary music talent in rock, jazz and folk, including an internationally known Slovenian band Laibach.

Ria (Polajner) Whitmire and Lynn Zalokar attended a Slovenian Independence Day event (speakers and luncheon) in Bethlehem, PA in June. Dr. Zvone ˇigon, Slovenia's Consul General in Cleveland, spoke at the event and thanked individuals, as well as members of various Slovenian organizations, because we "act as ambassadors on behalf of Slovenia".

Mirjam Hladnik, a former branch 93 member back in Ljubljana, was in Cleveland, OH in June to screen the documentary 100% Slovenian. There were over 200 attendees (a standing room only crowd)! The documentary was first shown in the U.S./NYC in November of 2005 (for details see branch event report "100% Slovenian premiers in New York to rave reviews"). Mirjam visited NYC after Cleveland and a few members/friends met up with her at Djerdan (a Balkans restaurant in Midtown).

Branch 93 members were notified of At the Crossroads: Slovenian Cinema, Slovenian Film Festival in NYC July 16-22. A diverse program of Slovenians films (sub-titled in English), which over the years have become an increasingly familiar presence at international film festivals, offered an opportunity to hear the Slovenian language and to see Slovenia and Slovenians on screen. Members and friends in the area attended the screenings independently.

The Sound of One Hand Clapping by Richard Flanagan was passed among members as part of our books initiative. It's a dazzling novel of war, family, migration, and the search for new beginnings. It's set in Tasmania and is the story of a Slovenian immigrant family after WWII. This book is available at most public libraries, bookstores and online bookstores, but contact Lynn Zalokar if you want to borrow the book.
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Spring 2008

Members gather for movie viewing and discussion

It's been a busy spring for Branch 93. Seven members and friends met for afternoon tea at the Washington Square Hotel to celebrate Kulturni Dan (Slovenian Day of Culture) on February 9. In March, a few members hiked with the Appalachian Mountain Club through the Rockefeller Preserve in Sleepy Hollow, NY.

In April, we resumed our ongoing film series when nine members and friends met to view the 1961 Slovenian movie Ples v de˛ju (Dance in the Rain). Jacqui Stewart, SWUA member from San Francisco who was visiting New York, also attended the screening and wrote the following review:
For me the strongest features of the film "Ples v de˛ju" are that it is beautifully photographed and that it gives a view into an era that offers fewer and fewer remaining vestiges. The black and white photography endows the film with a starkness and sense of defenselessness against fate, accentuated by unrelenting rains. The contrast between spare living accommodations and the lively dining room scenes suggests the marked differences between the loneliness and congeniality afforded by each. Even the otherwise lavish quarters of an actress take on a bleak feeling of hopelessness in the last scene. Ljubljana life in those times revolved around the river. Glimpses of the natural surroundings seem to enliven those few images with a green overlay.
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The Slovenian Women's Union of America
(Slovenska ˇenska Zveza Amerike)
Click here to join SWUA

*SWUA Branch 93 NYC*

unites women of Slovenian descent living in the New York City area. We hold regular meetings to provide resources, communication, and foster friendships in honor of our cultural heritage.
Men are welcome to join and participate too!


Members are invited to join:

Yahoo group

WATCH 100% Slovenian (Americanke)!

Ljubljana featured in NYT Travel Section

New York Times Travel Section, July 31, 2005
In Ljubljana, the Old Europe and
the New Are Still in Balance

(click on the image for the link to the article)

Slovenia featured in NY Post

New York Post Travel Section, March 16, 2004
(click on the image for the link to the article)

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