Reykjavík Grapevine - 13.07.2007, Blaðsíða 3

04_RVK_GV_ISSUE 10_007_LETTERS
Dear Editor,
As the genealogical consultant in summer residence
here at the Icelandic Emigration Center at Hofs s, I
was very impresed with the article on genealogy that
appeared recently in The Grapevine. It was especially
well researched and balanced, and acknowledged the
limitations of any database - which is something few
people understand. My compliments to the writer.
Further to that, it occured to me that readers of The
Grapevine might be interested in a new exhibit we have
here at the Emigration Center, which turns the usual
story of emigration on its head and challenges many of
the long accepted cliches about the emigrants and their
experiences in North America. In short, it s an example
of how photography, as an historical resource, can afford
many insights that are not found in books or scholarly
papers, let alone sensationalist documentaries.
Regards,
Nelson Gerrard (genealogical consultant, Icelandic Emig-
ration Center, Hofs s)
Dear Nelson,
Thank you for your encouraging words. I agree that Ian
Watson did an excellent job with a complex subject.
But I don’t know what clichés you are talking about.
Veni, vidi, vici; that’s it. We came to America and we
conquered. You probably have the photos to prove it,
right? And, I am not sure how this relates to anything
else, but it probably does, or not. Today, I received a
phone call from a man who lives in Martha’s Vineyard in
Massachusetts, and he told me a remarkable story about
a stone that supposedly has Leif Eiriksson’s inscription
on it. True story. OK, so this probably bears no relation
to the Icelandic Emigration Center, but I thought it was
important.
Editor
Dear Editor,
I have just spent 4 days in Iceland and, quite frankly,
your country blew me away. Iceland is, quite simply, as
different as you could get to our own country of South
Africa. Needless to say, we have become full-on brand
ambassadors for Iceland since we returned home.
Now, this is a long shot, but we lost our Sony Cy-
bershot digital camera somewhere between Eden in
Hveragerdi and the Gullfoss & Geysir Express bus (Iceland
Excursions). Neither Eden nor the bus company have
found anything so I thought I’d see if you could help.
Perhaps you could mention it in your letters page and,
who knows ??? Maybe some kind soul found the camera
and handed it in somewhere.
We lost all our pics of our trip to Iceland so am pretty
desperate to get it back.
Thanks for your time... and I really enjoyed your
publication. It’s very unique in that you cater for the
tourist without making us feel like tourists (if that makes
any sense.)
Regards,
John Walls
Cape Town, South Africa
Dear John,
I hope someone found your camera. If someone did,
please drop me a line. In the meantime, you always have
the option to subscribe to the Grapevine. We have a lot of
photos each issue. I have never lost a camera, but I once
lost a mobile phone with a camera device. It turns out it
was in a parking lot and somebody drove their car over
it. That was pretty hard to take. The phone was ruined.
I know how you feel. Obviously, it is not comparable to
your situation. I was not on vacation and most of the
photos located on the phone were of me, and some of
them might even have been jeopardizing, so perhaps
it was just as well. But, you know, I’m just saying… If
anybody found a camera somewhere around Eden, let
us know. We will get it back to John.
Editor’s note: Last issue, we made two unfortunate
mistakes. (We probably made a lot more mistakes, but
these are the only two I am ready to cop to.) In our letters
section, we accidentally cut out the name of the person
who wrote the open letter to City Council member Gísli
Marteinn Baldursson in regards to his answers in a pre-
vious article in the Grapevine on public transport. That
was my mistake entirely. The letter was not anonymous
like it appeared to be. The writer of the letter was Ben
Frost, a resident of Reykjavík and frequent (or formerly
frequent anyway) user of Reykjavík’s public transportation
system. I would like to apologise to Ben for that.
The other mistake also regards an artist. I did a
little write up on Hrafn Gunnlaugsson’s Viking movie
The Raven Flies. I used the name the Revenge of the
Barbarians for the film. Apparently, that name was only
used to market the film in the US. Everywhere else, here
included, it goes by the name The Raven Flies in English.
So, if you have been walking around Reykjavík in search
of a copy of the Revenge of the Barbarians, you probably
did not find it. But maybe you should now try again, and
this time you could even use the correct name. Again, I
apologise to Gunnlaugsson for that unfortunate error.
Sour Grapes
Say your piece, voice your opinion, send your letters to letters@grapevine.is.
Now, this is a long shot, but we
lost our Sony Cybershot digi-
tal camera somewhere between
Eden in Hveragerdi and the
Gullfoss & Geysir Express bus
(Iceland Excursions). Neither
Eden nor the bus company have
found anything so I thought I’d
see if you could help.
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