Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.03.2009, Page 3

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Lögberg-Heimskringla • 1. mars 2009 • 3
Government of Iceland
ScholarShIp
North American students studying language and
literature are invited to apply for a Scholarship
to study Icelandic language and literature at the
University of Iceland in Reykjavík for the 2009 - 2010 term.
The scholarship is approximately $7,700.00 CAD.
For application forms and further information please contact:
Gwen Grattan
Executive Secretary
IcElandIc natIonal lEaGuE of n/a
#103 - 94 1st ave, Gimli, MB, canada R0c 1B1
Phone: 204-642-5897 fax: 204-642-9382
Email: inl@mts.net
deadline for submissions of all application material is
Wednesday, March 13, 2009
After initially refusing to do so, Icelandic Central Bank governor Eiríkur
Gudnason announced he will
resign his position on the first
of June, and, for the emergen-
cy relief he provided to a man
who had been crushed between
two cars, an electrician named
Magnús Thór Óskarsson was
named First Aid Person of 2008
by the Icelandic Red Cross. An
unemployed traveling Icelan-
dic baker appeared in Gimli,
Manitoba looking for work.
An Icelandic company has
invented a machine that mea-
sures the flexibility of the hu-
man spine, and the Dalai Lama
will give a presentation on the
value of life and happiness
in Iceland this summer. A re-
nowned American restaurant
reviewer heaped praise on sev-
eral Icelandic eateries, reserv-
ing particular approbation for
the horse filets, while in Iceland
an Independence Party MP de-
clared the new state-run banks
“adrift.”
Billions of krónur were
spent on establishing heating,
sewage and electricity infra-
structure in Reykjavík neigh-
bourhoods which may never
be inhabited, and Icelandic car
dealerships, which together
employ 2000 people across the
country, are facing “operational
difficulties.” A man was ar-
rested in the recent “Pigeon Hut
Murder Case.”
An Icelander who once
dated former Spice Girl Mel B
accused her of having sexual
Alzheimer’s, and an Icelandic
game development company
has released a new digital di-
version for Apple’s iPhone.
Two men were overcome by the
gases released from a trawler
full of decomposing fish, but
were pulled to safety before it
was too late. Icelandic artists
and filmmakers Ásdís Sif Gun-
narsdóttir and Ingibjörg Mag-
nadóttir are debuting their new
feature length project, Háver-
uleiki, at the Northern Wave
International Film Festival in
Grundarfjördur, West Iceland;
and 100 million krónur will be
spent to support Iceland’s tour-
ist industry.
Norfolk club holds Þorrablót
The Icelandic Association of Virginia held their 2009 Þorrablót on Saturday, Febru-ary 7, in Norfolk, Virginia. This was the
23rd such event in the club’s history, and, as in
previous years, it was very well-attended. In
fact it was sold out. Over 220 people crowded
into the hall to enjoy traditional Icelandic deli-
cacies of all sorts.
The association was incorporated in 1986, and
has over 250 active members. Its motto is “Vi-
kings Forever!” They can be reached by emailing
hamptonroads@icelandicassociationvirginia.org.
“City for the Future”
in Iceland
A young woman in the United States has been participating in a com-
petition to design a ‘City for the
Future’ with her school. Aman-
da Miller and her friends at
Kutztown Area Middle School
in Kutztown, Pennsylvania
have set their futuristic city,
Vetnibörg, in southwest Iceland
in the year 2203.
Vetnibörg is powered by
hydrogen, heated by geother-
mal energy and has long since
recovered from the current eco-
nomic crisis.
Having won the regional
competition heats, the team
from Kutztown Middle School
was to travel to Washington
D.C. from 14-19 February to
compete in the national final of
the National Engineer’s Week
Future City Competition.
A fascinating essay on
the project can be read at
http://www.icenews.is/index.
php/2009/02/10/vetniborg-es-
say/.
Reprinted with permission
from IceNews.is.
Settlement Center wins award
Iceland’s first lady, Dorrit Moussaieff, presented the Settlement Center in Bor-
garnes, west Iceland, with the
2009 Eyrarrós award at the
presidential residence Bessas-
tadir on February 10. The award
is granted to cultural projects
outside the capital region.
Minister of Education and
Culture Katrín Jakobsdóttir was
also present at the ceremony,
Fréttabladid reports.
The selection committee
concluded that despite its young
age, the Settlement Center has
become an important part of
Iceland’s culture by presenting
the settlement of Iceland and the
Icelandic Sagas in an original
manner.
The center was deemed suc-
cessful in combining education,
information distribution and en-
tertainment and this combina-
tion has been well received by
both Icelandic and foreign visi-
tors.
Kjartan Ragnarsson and
Sigrídur Margrét Gudmunds-
dóttir received the award on
behalf of the Settlement Center,
ISK 1.5 million (USD 13,000,
EUR 10,000), a trophy designed
by Steinunn Thórarinsdóttir and
plane tickets with Air Iceland.
Reprinted with permission
from IcelandReview.com.
To the editor,
Julie and I spent a 4-day
weekend in Winnipeg at the
end of January to visit our
own family as well as at-
tend Ljósanótt. This gave us a
chance to pay tribute to Gordon
Reykdal and Don Johnson for
their ongoing generous dona-
tions to Lögberg-Heimskringla
as well as many other Icelan-
dic groups and cultural events
that are recipients of Don and
Gord’s support. The oral acco-
lades were lengthy, but some
of the history of these benefac-
tors may have been missed as
time was running out.
I got a call from L-H a few
years ago that emphasized the
need to get money to the Win-
nipeg Foundation to support
the paper before the year-end
deadline. The request included
a suggestion to contact Gord
about $100,000 that had been
pledged for a four-year period.
I was able to catch Gord during
his vacation, and he considered
this plea very quickly, setting
the process in motion to trans-
fer the funds to my account on
behalf of L-H. My own banker
was rather suspicious of the
sudden bonanza, but I assured
him that the money would be
moving rapidly to the L-H ac-
count. Gord has attended previ-
ous Ljósanótt celebrations, and
has continued with his pledge
of free rent for L-H, as well as
inspiring others to match funds.
The financial drive was a suc-
cess, particularly with Gord’s
example and the contributions
of many people across our Ice-
landic community.
Norðurljós hosted the 2003
INL of NA Convention, and
the club executive was worried
about raising enough money to
cover expenses. One of the ven-
tures included selling ads in our
magazine, UNITY, which was
passed out to club members and
convention registrants. Gord had
encouraged us to prepare a first-
class publication and quietly
promised to pick up any short-
age of finds. It was fortunate
that the publication effort was
financially independent, but the
comfort of having a safety net
was considerable. This is just
one example of Gord’s placing
his time and resources in sup-
port of a multitude of Icelan-
dic cultural projects across the
country, continent, and stretch-
ing out to Iceland.
When the Leifur Eiriksson
Club hosted the INL Conven-
tion in 2008, Gord pledged 200
subscriptions for seniors’ fa-
cilities, increasing the paper’s
readership as well as bringing
news of the Icelandic commu-
nity to our elders who were part
of the contribution to Canada’s
cultural richness. This was a
decision that Gord reached
quickly, with the gift lasting
until May 2009. Don Johnson
and Arni Thorsteinsson have
each promised 1/3 of a succes-
sive year’s subscription gift,
and we need to secure funding
for the final 1/3. I will be can-
vassing in the Selkirk and Ash-
ern areas when I attend the INL
Convention in Gimli. Gord has
been supremely generous, but
many others in our community
may also be fortunate to have
funds to donate as well.
We need new subscrib-
ers for L-H, since it is vital to
have a large readership base,
not just the comfort of ac-
cumulated funds for our big
campaigns. Some people have
purchased subscriptions of 5,
6, or 7 persons over the last few
years, including siblings, chil-
dren, grandchildren, aunts and
uncles, and friends and neigh-
bours. Some of those who have
received the gift have then en-
rolled on their own, setting up
a ripple effect of more subscrib-
ers. Many of our members can
afford to buy a few extra sub-
scriptions, and in a social group
where many have been blessed
with affluence far beyond the
dreams of our migrating pio-
neer ancestors, the gift of Ice-
landic heritage and culture may
far outweigh the usual material
gifts for birthdays or Christmas.
Please give some thought to this
idea, and just appreciate the ef-
ficiency of getting much of your
shopping done in a few minutes,
and with one payment. We can
all take some responsibility for
the financial health of L-H, not
just depend on a few very gen-
erous donors.
This is a big challenge to all
who are connected to the Ice-
landic culture by descent and by
appreciation of the heritage. We
certainly thank the stalwart do-
nors such as Dr. Ken Thorlak-
son, Gord Reykdal, Don John-
son, and Irene Eggertson, as
well as hosts of others who have
contributed their time, talents,
and other resources. The volun-
teers and staff of L-H also give
generously to the success of the
paper, going the extra disatance
time and again. My great-uncle,
Stefan Einarson, was editor of
Heimskringla for many years,
and I am sure he continues a
guardian watch from above,
and appreciating the ongoing
UNITY in all things Icelandic
is a recipe for preservation of
our culture.

Walter Sopher
Edmonton, AB