Reykjavík Grapevine - 11.06.2004, Blaðsíða 5

At our party two weeks ago I spoke
to a Bulgarian girl who said that the
reason she initially wanted to come
to Iceland was that she had heard
it was very liberal, with a great gay
scene and the first female president.
After she came here, though, she has
been somewhat disappointed.
The gays are doing their
best, putting on a great show at Jón
Forseti, despite a cast member hav-
ing been beaten up by gay bashers
the night before (see p. 18). Bigotry?
There´s no such thing in Iceland.
It´s interesting that these days
the ambassadors here of the old
imperialist Anglo-Saxon powers of
Britain and the USA have dark skin.
The countries that once took up
the White Man´s Burden are now
being represented by blacks in the
whitest country in the world (much
admired as such by the Nazis). But
of course, we welcome people of
every colour and creed. Sure, when a
deal was reached with the Americans
in 1946 to station troops here, there
was a secret clause demanding that
no black soldiers come to Iceland.
Bigotry? There´s no such thing in
Iceland.
In the film Troy, Helen,
supposedly the most beautiful
woman in history, is portrayed by a
blonde, pale-skinned German. This
apart from the fact that the story is
set in the Eastern Mediterranean,
and Helen would no doubt have
had much darker features. The same
goes for Achilles, portrayed by the
no less blonde and fair skinned Brad
Pitt. Throughout history, heroes
of the ancient world, ( Jesus being a
case in point) have always had their
appearances changed to accord with
the ideals of the Northern European
peoples who write it.
For our cover, and linking
in with articles on women in Iceland
as well as 60 years of independence,
we decided to put on the cover a
picture of a woman wearing the
traditional costume. To counter
localised ideals of beauty, as well as
to embrace the multicultural society,
we decided to ask a black woman to
wear the costume. We thought this
was kinda nice. Little did we expect
the reaction. The lady who was go-
ing to lend us the costume withdrew
her offer upon hearing of who was
to wear it. Not because she didn´t
like the person in question, or had
ever met her before, but because she
was black. We then decided to rent a
costume. The answer was the same.
We asked the woman who owned
the rental whether she would refuse
a person point blank to rent a certain
costume on the basis of her colour,
to which she replied she would.
We had to go all the way
to Laugavatn and borrow a costume
from the Woman´s Association
there, who of course had no objec-
tion to the idea, to finally make
the shoot. The result is, as we had
hoped, a beautiful picture. If anyone
is offended, well…
On a lighter note, we also have a
new staff member, Beerman. He
won´t be around the office much,
but you´ll see him at the bar. These
days, as a practitioner of irrespon-
sible sex, he´s very worried about
the chlamydia epidemic that´s been
going round. Well, it´s a good thing
someone is, because the health
department sure isn’t. As mentioned
in the last issue of Grapevine, they
don´t think it necessary to keep
chemists open after midnight since
the only people that come there ask
for syringes and condoms. If helping
people to avoid life threatening dis-
eases such as hepatitis C and HIV, as
well as lesser evils such as chlamydia
and unwanted pregnancies is not
important then what, pray tell is?
TROUBLE IN PARADISE
by Valur Gunnarsson
Fjölmiðlafrumvarpið. There. I´ve said it. The F-word. Now, let
us never mention it again. At least not this issue. As we all get ready
now for the media not bringing up anything but the F-word for
most of the summer, we´ll be focusing on other aspects of the country.
And, quite apart from everything to do with the F-word, all is not
well in the state of Iceland.
EDITORIAL
Names?
Elizabeth Corcos (right) & Miriam
Stewenson (left)
Where are you from?
We’re both from England but I (Liz)
live and work in Munchen Germany
and I (Miriam) live in London.

Have you been here long?
For two days now and we’re going to
stay here four days total.
How do you like Iceland?
We love it! The people are friendly
and helpful and we feel safe here.
How do you not like Iceland?
It’s expensive!
How many people live in
Iceland?
288.000?
What’s your favorite spot in
Reykjavík?
Perlan! It’s a beautiful building, has
a good museum inside (Perlan saga
museum) and from it there’s a great
view over the city of Reykjavík.
Do you know who Björk is?
Yes.
Do you know who Ólafur
Ragnar Grímsson is?
...ehh... I saw that name today...
hmm.....could it be him who
founded Reykjavík.... or no!
He’s probably your president or
something.
Have you heard about the
current debate in Iceland?
Well we can remember three debates:
1. Iceland joining the EU, 2. That
hydro-electric project in the east of
Iceland and 3. Iceland’s decision to
start whaling again, that is a big issue
here isn’t it?
Have you tried any Icelandic
delicacies?
Well, we went to Tveir Fiskar
restaurant and ate fish. It was great!
Passing through
ON INGÓLFS
TORG SQUER
Eyou’ll find
us in the c
ity center
the
perfect
slice
300 IKR
each slice
also check ou
t
our great
pizza menu
K
Ö
-H
Ö
N
N
U
N
/
P
M
C
Tel. (+354)444 4000
N
O
N
N
I
O
G
M
A
N
N
I
YD
D
A
/
si
a.
is
N
M
1
2
3
3
9
16 hotels
around iceland