Lögberg-Heimskringla - 22.10.1993, Qupperneq 1

Lögberg 1
eimskringia
The lcelandic Weekly
Lögberg Stofnaö 14. janúar 1888
Heimskringla Stofnaö 9. september 1886
Inside this week:
News from Wynyard...........................2
lcelandic studies are flourishing ..........3
The America Letter..........................4
So, who made the best cake..................5
Children's corner...........................7
107. Árgangur
107th Year
Publications Mail Registration No. 1667
Föstudagur 22. október 1993
Friday, 22 October 1993
Númer 36
Number 36
loelandic
News
83% of homes privateiy
owned
• Whatever the reason, lcelanders are
among the biggest "homebodies" in
the westem world and bóast an aston-
ishing 83% rate of private ownership of
dwelling space.
That figure far outdoes the 68%
level of private home ownership in the
UK and the 67% figure for Finland, with
rates at 60% in Norway, 51% in
Denmarkand only42% in Sweden.
Dwelling space rented out compris-
es only 10% of all abodes in lceland.
Mutton and beef are
World's purest
• Exports of lcelandíc mutton and
beef to the US market could get under
way in the next few weeks or months,
says the sole U$ certified purveyor of
Organic meat products.
Speaking in daily Morgunblaðið,
sheep farmer Michelle Da Via said
lcelandic lamb and beef were the
world's most natural.
Besides the absence of hormones
and drugs, lcelandic meat is so bless-
edly free of pesticídes and herbicides.
Neither meat produced in the US nor
New Zealand could match that purity,
Da Via said.

First for McDonald's
• Fast food will never be quite as
quick again following the wordless first
credit-card transaction in a McDonald's
testaurant.
According to a news release by VISA
lceland, a hungry Lára Ingadóttir pre-
sented her VISA card as a payment at
the newly opened golden arches in
Reykjavík on Friday, September 10.
McDonald's and Visa lceland have
signed a landmark agreement which
will allow the restaurant to accept cred-
't and debit cards as payment for
goods and services, marking the start
°f a new chapter in the history of both
companies.
This development is being closely
watched by McDonald's representa-
tives in other countries,
V Courtesy of News from lceland.
eep those
cards and
letters
coming...
by Tom Oleson
Letters — personal let-
ters such as you and
I might exchange,
the kind that might begin
with something like: “Dear
Jón; How are you? I am
fine. A mad hermit broke
into the house last night
and killed all the children.”
— are the journalism of the
common people, people
who can’t afford to own
newspapers and are lucky
enough not to have to
work for one.
They are also the stuff of
history and an important
part of the life that should
be kept safe and preserved
and passed on to future
generations.
That is the message
that Böðvar Guðmunds-
son brought to Winnipeg
last week in a lecture
delivered at the University
of Manitoba, sponsored
by the Department of
Lcelandic and now being
seriaLized in Lögberg-
Heimskringla.
Böðvar’s immediate
interest, as he explained in
an interview with L-H, is
what he calls the America
Letter, correspondence
between the people who
emigrated from Iceland to
the United States and
Canada in the late 19th
and early 20th century and
those whom they left
behind at home.
He is convinced — he
hopes — that there are
many of these squirrelled
away in attics and cellars
in old chests and boxes all
over North America. He
fears that they are in dan-
ger of being tossed out as
garbage when people die
or simply move from the
family house. If that hap-
pens, he says, an important
part of the historical record
is lost and can never be
replaced.
His lecture delivers his
message and contains
some fascinating examples
— informative, humorous,
moving — of the kind of
material these letters can
contain. They can be
pleading, boastful, com-
plaining or proud, or sim-
ply of everyday life. My
favorite from the examples
that he quotes is a letter
from an Icelander in
Winnipeg who has not
received any news from
home in more than a year,
saying: “I have been think-
ing that you might have
written to me, and the let-
ters must have sunk
together with the Titanic in
the ocean. They say that
there was a great loss of
letters.” As Böðvar points
out, the writer appears to
be more concerned about
the loss of the mail than
the loss of lives on the
Titanic, which does not
diminish his compassion
so much as it emphasizes
the importance that these
letters had in the lives of
people at that time. Today
we can simply pick up the
phone and call; at that time
there was only the letter.
It was the telephone
that all but killed the
art of letter writing and
eliminated an important
part of the historical record
— tele-
p h o n e
calls are
r a r e 1 y
recorded
and tran-
s c r i b e d
— but as Böðvar points
out, a recent addition to
telephone technology, the
fax, may, in at least a small
way replace part of it
because it involves people
communicating on paper,
even if it is via the tele-
phone.
Böðvar is an accom-
plished poet, novel-
ist and playwright
whose works are well-
known in Iceland. Married
to a Dane, he now makes
his home in Denmark, but
visits Iceland frequently.
He was at one time a
teacher — and,. according
to Við.ar Hreinsson, of the
Department of Icelandic
at the U of M, an inspira-
tional teacher. His lecture
in Winnipeg was part of a
continuing project of the
deþartment that brings
people to speak about mat-
ters pertaining to Icelandic
language, heritage and cul-
ture. These events are usu-
ally publicized in Lögberg-
Heimskringla and are
ajways more interesting
than they might seem
(L-H recently serialized a
lecture delivered by Daisy
Neijmann, of the Free
University of Amsterdam,
that offered some telling
insights into Icelandic-
Canadian literature) and
are often well-attended.
They are always worth the
effort it takes to attend.
Böövar Guömundsson
Böðvar Gudmundsson
is a genial and thoughtful
man with a kindly and
quick sense of humor, as
everyone who heard him
speak and then spoke to
him afterwards knows.
His message to us is sim-
ple, but important. The
letters of our parents and
grandparents are impor-
tant historical documents.
Don’t, when you are
housecleaning, throw
them out. Keep them, or
give them to an institu-
tion such as the Icelandic
library at the University of
Manitoba. And, he adds,
remember that your own
■ letters, if you are still
among those who write
them, are historical docu-
ments, too. Write them as
well as you can, as often
as you can, and keep the
replies from your corre-
spondents. They will be
invaluable to historians,
and they are the only
chance most of us will
ever have to become foot-
notes in the grand chroni-
cle of life.
he letters sub-
scribers send to L- •
H, whether angry
or happy, are also part of
history. We would like to
see a lot more of them
and you can be sure that,
since the paper is pre-
served forever, so will
your works.
T