27 June 2011. A Russian POV… The Miss Manito Ahbee Travelling Princess… This is the REAL DEAL

One of my fave Russian websites had this image of a lovely Native girl from Canada. 14-year-old Sage Speidel of the Lakota Nation, who’s the current Miss Manito Abhee Travelling Princess, wears traditional dress to celebrate the National Day of Indigenous people in Winnipeg MN CANADA. More than one million Canadians have indigenous ancestry, there are more than 600 First Nations governments in the Great White North. We Russians in North America can appreciate why the First Nations peoples love and cherish their cultures. We do too! It’s all one form or another of po-nashemu… “our thing”… nothing against outlanders, mind you, but there are things that only fellow members of our Narod, of our “family” understand… that’s something that Russians and Natives understand instinctively, on an unconscious level. Our hearts and hands are open… we’re ready to share what’s ours with others… but we REFUSE to assimilate, and that’s that. There’s no need to ape the homogenised society about us… our ways are ancient and true, we don’t wish to push them on anyone else, but we insist on our RIGHT to preserve them (including the use of our traditional languages in the proper venues). That, I believe is the true path to understanding and concord. All else is only coercion and condescension… there’s been too much of that in the past… it’s time to put it aside. There’s no call for us to adopt a parody of Anglo ways (let alone the godless and soulless consumerism now regnant in suburbia)… let’s keep our old ways alive (but not pickled in formaldehyde, if you please) and pass ’em on to our kids (so that they can pass ’em on, in turn, to theirs). May God bless it…

Here is a video of the girls dancing at the last selection of Miss Manito:

BMD

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27 June 2011. A Photo Essay. The Other Side of the Fence: The Féte Nationale de Sainte Jean Baptiste

24 June is the holyday of St John the Baptist on the Catholic calendar. Up in the Great White North, specifically, up in Québec, they really whoop it up… everybody gets a holiday off from work to celebrate. On a scale of one to ten, with “one” being a wimpy Mormon “dry” affair, to “ten” being a full-bore Russian “wet” extravaganza… this rates a full and unabridged “ten”, on a “Russian” level, for sure. The Quebeckers party just as hearty as we Russians do… it IS just as cold up there in the winter, after all. Watch out for the “caribou”… that’s cheap wine mixed with white likker. It’s got a KICK… trust me, I speak from personal experience (YOWZA! The morning after… let’s not go there). Here’s some more images of the fun:

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27 June 2011. RIA-Novosti Infographics. What Makes Russians Happy

25 June 2011

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/infographics/20110625/164727065.html

27 June 2011. A Progress Report on the Work on Vladyki Job’s Grave Site in Black Lick PA

The grave of Archbishop Job Osacky (1946-2009) in Black Lick PA

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I left in love, in laughter, and in truth; and wherever truth, love, and laughter abide, I’m there in spirit.

Bill Hicks

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A correspondent sent me the following (I edited out all personal information to preserve the anonymity of my interlocutor):

This past week, pavers were set around the grave, and the wooden cross is almost complete. Unfortunately, it wasn’t ready for the patronal feast of the parish, but within the next few weeks, we’ll install the cross after it comes from New Jersey to Pennsylvania. John Suchernick did an outstanding job on the carving, and it’s complete. He’s staining the wood now, sealing it against the elements. If a contractor needs to help set the metal boot in which the wooden cross will be set, it may lead to a delay. They don’t call them “independent” contractors for nothing… often, they promise to come on a set day and time, but never show. Therefore, we’ll just have to see how things progress. However, we hope to have the cross installed within the month. It may be too ambitious a goal, but we’ll see.

As for the pavers, they complement the tile design inside the church nicely. We’ll plant seasonal flowers in the soil over his body. Some of the proceeds of the Holy Supper book funded the purchase of the vigil light. I believe that Bishop Job would be pleased, but also he’d exclaim in the same breath that he wasn’t worthy of such an effort. When he was alive, I learned to ignore him when he spoke such words. Now, I’ll continue to ignore his voice. Once the cross is in, we’ll have to complete the final landscaping around the church. That will include bushes, river stones around the perimeter of the back of the church, a bench, and, God willing, a tree or two to shade the bench. As Bishop Job would say in that special voice he had, “Very nice!”

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

27 June 2011

Albany NY