Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.01.2008, Side 5

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Lögberg-Heimskringla • 15. janúar 2008 • 5
Dear Editor:
In your issue of Lögberg-
Heimskringla of 15 November
2007, an article on your front
page caught my eye, “Notes
for a New World Symphony.”
Mention was made of Helgi
Sigurður Helgason, who set-
tled in Seattle, WA.
I have just completed
translating (to English) my fa-
ther Dr. Valdimar J. Eylands’
autobiography, Úr Viðidal
til Vesturheims, and recalled
a reference he made to Mr.
Helgason. Perhaps Dr. Bjarki
Sveinbjörnsson would be in-
terested in what he had to say.
The paragraph on the top of
the page enclosed relates to a
case Judge Andres Danielsson
(a Húnvetningur) had to deal
with when a recalcitrant mo-
torist of Icelandic background
pretended not to understand
English traffic signs!
For Dr. Sveinbjörnsson, if
he is interested, I have an au-
tographed copy of some sheet
music of S.K. Hall. I will send
it to him, given an address.
Thank you.
I enjoy reading the paper
— the biweekly distribution is
a great idea and the contents
are excellent.
Thanks again,
Lilia (Eylands) Day
Keene, ON
Below is the excerpt from
Úr Viðidal til Vesturheims:
Minningar Dr. Valdimar Jons-
son Eylands prests í Vesturhei-
mi that was included with Lilia
Day’s letter.
... Skipaði nú vörður lagan-
na ökumanninum að fylgja sér
á skrifstofu friðdómarans, sem
var Andrés. Dómarinn hlustaði
á ákæruna, sem hér ætti við, en
sagði svo: ,,Ég dæmdi þig til at
taka lexíur í ensku þangað til
þú getur lesið orðið STOP.’’
Sigurður Helgason var
söngfræðingur og tónskáld,
sonur Helga Helgasonar sem
var þjóðkunnugt tónskáld á
sinni tíð, og fæddur í Reyk-
javík. Er ég kynntist Sigurði
var hann giftur sænskri konu,
sem hét Hildur Lindgren, en
hún var prýðileg söngkona
og hljómlistarfræðingur. Þau
hjón tóku bæði mikinn þátt
á tónmenntalíi Íslendinga á
Kyrrahafsströndinni um langt
árabil og voru mjög vinsæl og
vel metin af öllum sem þekktu
þau.
Á þeim arum sem ég átti
heima í Bellingham kynntist
ég þjóðræknisstarfi Vestur-
Íslendinga fyrst og áttaði mig
á því, hve innilega útfluttum
Íslendingum þótti vænt um Ís-
land og sinn íslenska mennin-
gararf; þeir vildu Íslandi í öllu
vel. Ég tók strax virkan þátt
í þessari starfsemi, einkum
íslenskukennslu ungmenna og
ýmiss konar samkomuhaldi,
sem lestrarfélög stóðu fyrir
hvert í sínum bæ eða sveit, og
í árssamkomum eða hátíðar-
höldum sveitarfélaga.
Á hverju ári var haldin
almenn skemmtisamkoma
fyrir Íslendinga á norðurhluta
Krrahafsstrandarinnar, en á
þeim slóðum eru þeir einkum
búsettir í Seattle, Bellingham,
Blaine og Point Roberts og
í Vancouver, British Colum-
bia. Ævinlega var vandað til
skemmtiskrár á þessum sam-
komum; fóru þær oftast fram í
júnímámuði of voru fjölsóttar.
Man ég eftir þessu fólki, sem
fengið var til ræðuhalds: Mar-
grét J. Benediktsson, kvenrét-
tindakonan góðkunna og út-
gefandi Freyju; Barða Skúla-
syni, víðkunnum ræðuskörung
of lögmanni frá Portland, Or-
egon; prófessor Richard Beck,
hinum þjóðkunna fræðimanni;
Sigurði Júlíusi Jóhannessyni
lækni frá Winnipeg; Hálfdáni
Thorlaksson deildarstóra við
Hudson Bay verslunina í Van-
couver; Halldóru Bjarnadóttur
ritstjóra frá Blönduósi og séra
Birni B. Jónssyni, D.D., presti
Fyrsta lútherska safnaðar í
Winnipeg, sem kom vestur
eitt árip á samt Ingiríði konu
sinni.
...the officer now com-
manded the driver to follow
him to the office of the jus-
tice of the peace, who was
Andrés. The judge listened to
the charge which is referred
to here, and then said, “I sen-
tence you to take lessons in
English until you can read the
word STOP.”
Sigurður Helgason was a
song specialist and composer,
the son of Helgi Helgason
who was a nationally known
composer in his own time,
and born in Reykjavík. When
I got to know Sigurður he was
married to a Swedish woman
named Hildur Lindgren; she
was a splendid singer and mu-
sic expert. They both took an
active part in the musical life of
Icelanders on the Pacific Coast
for a long time and were very
popular and highly thought of
by all who knew them.
At that time when I lived in
Bellingham I got to know the
patriotic work of the Icelan-
dic descendants first and took
note how deeply the Icelan-
dic immigrants loved Iceland
and their Icelandic cultural
heritage; they wished Iceland
well in all ways. I immediately
took an active role in this ac-
tivity, particularly Icelandic
language instruction for young
people and various kinds of
social occasions, which the
reading society insituted in
every community or area, and
in annual meetings or celebra-
tions of rural associations.
Every year there was held
a general social gathering
for Icelanders in the north-
ern part of the Pacific Coast;
in that generation they were
particularly settled in Seattle,
Bellingham, Blaine and Point
Roberts and in Vancouver,
British Columbia. The enter-
tainment at these get-togethers
was always carefully looked
after; they were most often
held in the month of June and
were attended by many. I re-
member these people, who
were brought to speak: Mar-
grét J. Benediktsson, well-
known women’s rights activist
and publisher of Freyja; Barða
Skúlason, respected orator
and lawyer from Portland, Or-
egon; professor Richard Beck,
the nationally known scholar;
Sigurður Júlíus Jóhannes-
son, a doctor from Winnipeg;
Hálfdán Thorlaksson, divi-
sion director with the Hudson
Bay store in Vancouver; Hall-
dóra Bjarnadóttir, editor from
Blönduós and Rev. Björn B.
Jónsson, D.D., pastor of the
First Lutheran congregation in
Winnipeg, who came west for
a year along with Ingiríður his
wife.
It’s the middle of January, and if this year’s like any that preceded it, it’s safe
to say most of us have already
abandoned our New Year’s res-
olutions. You know the kind:
“I will jog four times a
week and practice deep breath-
ing to reduce my anxiety.”
“I will give up carbs in fa-
vour of a strict raw-food diet.”
“I will read every issue
of the Lögberg-Heimskringla
from back to front, and learn
Icelandic so I can do the cross-
word puzzle.”
New Year’s resolutions
motivate us to reflect on our
lives and strive for more, but
more importantly, they take our
minds off the post-Christmas
blues that set in around Janu-
ary 4 or 5. Coupled with the
realization we must return to
work, comes:
• the imminent sugar crash no
doubt related to our polish-
ing off of all Auntie Runa’s
vínarterta, and
• the self-esteem crash that hits
upon the realization that all
those sugary goodies, gravy-
covered mashed potatoes,
multiple helpings of stuff-
ing, chocolate-covered cher-
ries and too much Bailey’s
or rum and eggnog, have
decided to loiter around our
waistlines causing our pants
to feel unusually tight.
These resolutions are meant
to take away from the guilt of
all that food you ingested and
help you back into those jeans
you love. But if you’re any-
thing like three quarters of the
population, you stopped jog-
ging January 5, you ordered a
full fat mocha and icing-heavy
carrot cake at Starbucks after
only three days of carrot juice
and unsalted tofu, and you are
now replacing your lofty re-
gimes with a tub of rocky road,
back-to-back Law and Order
reruns, and a soft, familiar spot
on the couch.
So let’s shift focus to some-
thing you can feel good about
for a while. Let’s talk about
what the women of the world
could do this year to make it a
better place for us all.
In no particular order, here
are four things that could be
done:
1. Heighten our criti-
cal thinking around media in-
formation. News reaches us
instantaneously from all over
the world, but nowadays blog-
gers add their own commen-
tary without necessarily having
any media training or firsthand
experience. Keep your head
about you and check the facts.
If we’re going to make changes
to foreign policies, or help end
violence, etc., we certainly
can’t take Larry King’s word at
face value.
2. Get serious about
women’s rights. While for so
long we’ve felt women finally
achieved equality in Canada,
the government is using that,
now, to make small changes
politically and socially to our
rights. We need to educate
ourselves on these changes,
how they’ll impact us going
forward, and what we can do
to maintain (and enhance) our
status nationally and around
the world.
Secondly, we can use our
awareness and the fact that we
live in a free country to help
women abroad who are, say,
being stoned to death for things
they didn’t do, having their
genitals mutilated by misogy-
nist, control-obsessed men, or
who are starving to death be-
cause they weren’t allowed an
education and are virtually un-
hirable. We are in a position to
help drastically. So let’s do it.
3. Recycle, carry cloth
bags to the grocery store, be-
come conscious consumers,
(you really, truly can do with-
out 25 pairs of shoes), walk or
bike to work and read up on
other ways to help reduce our
environmental impact.
4. Love and praise our-
selves daily, remember we are
beautiful and powerful beings,
and don’t let anyone tell us dif-
ferently. It was once said the
best love affair you’ll ever have
is with yourself, and that’s the
truth.
Heather Neale is a Van-
couver-based freelance writer
of Icelandic descent. She vis-
its her amma every summer at
Loni Beach.
IDEASDÓTTIR
A Woman’s Perspective
Heather Neale
Vancouver, BC