Reykjavík Grapevine - 23.07.2004, Blaðsíða 5

101 REYKJAVÍK: THE CENTRE OF THE
UNIVERSE,
OF COURSE
by Valur Gunnarsson
Faroese master poet William Heinesen called Tórshavn, the
capital of the Faroes, the “ absolute centre of the universe,” to which
the Icelandic poet Hannes Pétursson added that it was far from him
to quarrel with Heinesen, but the centre of the universe is where you
were brought up and could never be anywhere else. To him, then,
the centre of the universe would be Sauðárkrókur. To me, it can
never be anything but 101 Reykjavík.
EDITORIAL
Playing chess and doing good
If you’ve never moved a pawn or
been check-mated, now may be the
time. Iceland’s champion chess club
has started up some projects which
go beyond the checkerboard and far
beyond Iceland.
Hrókurinn’s central pursuit is the
promotion of chess to children in
Iceland and many of their members
are distinguished masters. Last
year, one of the more prominent
members, Bosnian Ivan Sokolov,
mentioned the lack of a chess school
in Sarajevo, a city which produced
a team of European Champions
despite there being no formal school
there.
“I was interested in the city of Sa-
rajevo from my time as a journalist,
and in helping things develop there,”
Hrókurinn’s President Hrafn Jökuls-
son said. They were given financial
backing from the Foreign Ministry
in Iceland, and now 300 kids are ac-
tive in the Sarajevo chess school over
the course of a school year.
After that successful venture, the
next project was instinctive: to initi-
ate a similar scheme in Moldova,
the home country of Hrókurinn’s
colleague Victor Bologan. Bologan
is one of the top chess players in the
world and he has dreamed of open-
ing ten chess schools in Moldova.
He’d been looking for assistance and,
with financial backing secured in
Moldova, Hrókurinn joined forces to
begin the organisation of the project.
The country became part of the
Soviet Union after World War II,
but since 1991 has been an indepen-
dent republic. Russian forces have
remained in Moldova, however, to
defend Ukrainians and Russians who
have proclaimed a “Transnistria”
republic in the northern part of the
country. The economy faces numer-
ous hurdles, including exposure to
poor agricultural weather, higher fuel
prices and reluctance from foreign
investors.
Jökulsson emphasized that Moldova
is the poorest country in Europe, and
that the children’s lack of shoes and
clothing often keeps them from go-
ing outside, especially in wintertime.
“It’s easy to do something that really
matters there,” Jökulsson said of
their efforts in Moldova. They are
now beginning to collect dona-
tions of children’s shoes, and aim
to deliver the items near the end of
August.
So we get the easy part. Hrókurinn
has set it all up; all we have to do is
to bring the shoes.You may like to
try your chess skills as well. “Every-
one is welcome,” Jökulsson says, “we
are always there.”
You can bring donations to the
Hrókurinn headquarters at Skölatún
4. The hours of the headquarters are
9:30 - 17:00 Monday through Friday
and 13:00 -16:00 on Saturdays.
The centre of my world began at Sjafnargata,
and slowly expanded to the shop on the next cor-
ner, the Einar Jónsson Museum, Hallgrímskirkja
and one day all the way down to BSÍ bus stop.
The expansion went on to incorporate Britain,
Norway and would one day reach the far shores of
China.
These days, a cramped seat, a meal in a plastic
tray and a magazine is the distance between Rey-
kjavík and London or Copenhagen. It can almost
seem as if Iceland is just a stone’s throw from the
actual bright centre of the universe. It´s only when
exploring the more immediate surroundings, the
Faroe Islands and Greenland, that you really get
to appreciate the ridiculousness of living on this
piece of stilted lava in the North Atlantic. And
that to most people, 101 Reykjavík seems quite a
long way off from the centre of the universe. Or
anything at all.
In the past few weeks, I´ve been to both Green-
land and the Faroe Islands, and met people to
whom Kangerlusuuaq, Gata and yes, Heinesen’s
Tórshavn, seemed in their early childhood to be
all there was. It´s a shame how few Icelanders ever
visit our neighbours, most opting to go to the big
cities from where they can come back and impress
their friends and relatives with fashions and opin-
ions learnt from big city folk.
One of the most annoying traits of Icelanders is
their hunger for earthly goods, for keeping up with
the Joneses, of the constant need to impress oth-
ers. Perhaps this is something we have learnt on
our trips to big cities. Or perhaps this is just in the
nature of a farming society recently made rich.
“Progress,” said a wise man, “is getting it right.”
So in order to progress down the right path, we
need to learn the right things from the outside
world and let the wrong things be. Sadly, Iceland-
ers have a habit of doing it the other way around.
One good example of progress, however, has
been the attitude towards gays in this country.
Thirty years ago, when the first high profile gay
came out of the closet, his life was made so in-
tolerable he had to leave the country. Today, Gay
Pride is becoming one of the biggest family events
in the country. Some attitudes still need to change,
but a lot has been achieved, and on the 7th of
August we will have the opportunity to celebrate
it. Icelanders can deal with prejudice effectively. If
only they would always do so.
This editition of Grapevine sees it growing to 40
pages. The new and enlarged edition will however
be missed out on by our noble protectors on the
base. Authorities there have stopped distribution
of the paper to its troops. Is this because of criti-
cism of the Bush regime? Of American foreign
policy?
No, its because of an ad for a photo exhibition
showing a Finnish man’s penis. Apparently our
valiant heroes don´t like Finnish dongs dangled in
front of their troops.
They also didn´t like a very old picture of Bubbi
giving the finger next to the editorial. He´s been
trying to get them out of there for years. This may
be seen as an escalation.
Our paper has recently secured distribution in
the Westman Islands and won´t stop its expan-
sion there, but is moving on to the Faraoes. It has
also been decided to continue publication on a
monthly basis throughout the winter. I´ve said it
before, but we´re always looking for material. If
you have none to spare, at least you can do the ad
department a favour and take part in the readers
survey, to be found on our newly rehashed web-
page on www.grapevine.is
Tel. (+354)444 4000
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