Reykjavík Grapevine - 04.04.2008, Blaðsíða 4

04 | Reykjavík Grapevine | Issue 04 2008 | Letters
Dear ladies and gentlemen,
a friend told me Iceland girls look like fairies. Do they?
Kindest regards,

Yacine Azzouz
Dear Azzouz,
Do you mean fairies as in gay, or fairies as in the tooth fairy?
Editor
Re: fairies
as the nice little flying fairies like kylie minogue in moulin
rouge.
Azzouz
Dear Azzouz,
No, Icelandic women look like the Leprechaun. Whoever told
you otherwise was lying.
Editor.
Dear Grapevine ,
I was recently in Iceland, about two months ago visiting fam-
ily. It had been many years since I had been there last, so I
was able to see the country of my birth with fresh eyes.
Much of Reykjavik looks like a dilapitated ghetto, filthy
streets , marred with graffiti, and now the pond that has been
a place of family enjoyment for many generations has gone
to hell too. Aluminum smelters are cropping up everywhere.
Iceland has long been admired by other cultures as a place
that is “special” far different from the rest of the world, a cer-
tain uncorrupted innocence. Now it is loosing all of that, rap-
idly, because of greed, neglect and bad decisions.
I am half Icelandic and half American I grew up half
the time in Iceland, back and forth throughout the years.
People boast of how great it is there...maybe these are the
ones that are too young to remember, or have not been there
long enough to TRULY remember how really great it WAS.
And I am not just speaking for my generation. I was born
1961, it’s all the generations that proceeded me, because
like in true Icelandic fashion, you hear from your relatives
all the stories about what happened in previous generations,
it was good really good, and it was nothing like what’s going
on now. Something is horribly wrong. Iceland is beautiful,
but now she is more like a beautiful woman with a venereal
disease, prostituting her own children, and that disease is
beginning to show.
This new generation needs to look back to the older
generation and reconnect to the values and standards
that made our country great. Yes, progress is good, but it
needs to be selective and wisely thought out as we are a
small country and a small population and a bad thing can
turn really bad very quickly. I hope people wake up quickly
before it is too late.

Natalie Cota Garcia
Dear Natalie,
I don’t know if what you are describing is an exclusively Ice-
landic phenomenon. In the words of one of my mentors: things
are tough all over. But certainly, there is every reason to reflect
on the state of our country and the ways in which we have
chosen to conduct our daily business here. But c’mon: “like
a beautiful woman with a venereal disease, prostituting her
own children.” That’s a little harsh, don’t you think? I’ve never
met a mother who prostituted her children who deserved to
be put down like that by being compared to Iceland. That’s
just cold.
Editor.
Re: Björk in China
Isn´t it ironic that artists have to do the jobs, we hired politi-
cians for ?!
A very brave move.
Thank you very much.
C.Lehmann
Dear C. Lehman
What I find even more ironic is politicians doing the job we
hired artists to do. Like making a mockery of democracy and
putting on absurdist plays in the halls of Parliament.
Editor
Hey there,
great site - thank goodness it is in English!!
coming over to Iceland this summer and I love Pall Oscar.
Wondering if he would be in concert at all the first two weeks
in July??? I can not find this info anywhere on line in eng-
lish.

Thanks for your help. So-o looking forward to my visit.
Janet
Dear Janet,
I don’t know Páll Óskar’s plans for July, but here’s hoping he
sees this and schedules something for you.
Editor
Dear Grapevine,
I worked at Keflavik Airport during that quiet recess between
WWII and Korea War. Iceland, then, was a pristine wonder-
land for avid trout and salmon fishing devotees. Enjoyed
myself (early 30s) with rod and reel along some of southern
Icland’s best rivers and lakes. Also, of course, enjoyed (im-
mensly) the after hours dining and DANCING venues, includ-
ing one of the best European style hotels I had visited....the
BORG.
Is the Hotel Borg still around to make world travellers
welcome?
Is the charm and beauty of the Iceland femine gender
still visible.......even to an in-his-late 80s widower whose eye-
sight has not failed him?
Thinking back, is a forte of mine these days, and the
days seem pleasant-er when I can think of the townsquare-
like greenary near the Borg and the Althing buildings where
I once strolled in the long evenings of June’s midnight sun.

Jack Doyle
Once a navigator with the Keflavik Air Rescue Unit (civilian
aviation) of the very early 50’s.
Bless
Dear Jack,
It has been a while, hasn’t it? Borgin is still around, although it
no longer hosts dances. The rivers and the lakes are still here.
Some of them have been dammed, but it will cost you an arm
and a leg to fish in the others. Some of the females you associ-
ated with at the time are still around. They have retained all
their charm, but I am afraid that age has affected their good
looks somewhat. Which is a shame, because the new batch of
Iceland females looks like leprechauns.
Editor
Sour Grapes
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