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Entries from May 31st, 2006

Domnului Presedinte Traian Basescu – Scrisoarea proprietarilor abuziv deposedati de regimul comunist totalitar

May 31st, 2006 · Comments Off on Domnului Presedinte Traian Basescu – Scrisoarea proprietarilor abuziv deposedati de regimul comunist totalitar · Diaspora, International Media, PEOPLE

Persedinte Traian Basescu presedinte@presidency.ro si copii la Adriana Saftoiu asaftoiu@presidency.ro Gabriel-Cristian Piscociu procetatean@presidency.ro CPP cpp@romhome.ro Domnului Traian Basescu Presedintele României Palatul Cotroceni, Strada Geniului nr. 1-3 Sector 5 Bucuresti Bucuresti, 26 mai 2006 Stimate Domnule Presedinte, Asociatia Proprietarilor Deposedati Abuziv de Stat (APDAS), Comitetul pentru Proprietatea Privata (CPP), Asociatia Franceza pentru Apararea Dreptului de Proprietate […]

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Poetry: Constantin ROMAN (XXVII) – Smaranda, In Memoriam Smaranda Braescu (1897-1948)

May 29th, 2006 · Comments Off on Poetry: Constantin ROMAN (XXVII) – Smaranda, In Memoriam Smaranda Braescu (1897-1948) · Books, PEOPLE, Poetry, Translations

SMARANDA BRAESCU s-a nascut intr-o familie de tarani moldoveni din judetul Barlad. A fost parasutista, pilot, campioana europeana la parasutism (1931) si mondiala (in 1932, cu recordul de 7.200m la Sacramento, SUA). Pentru acest record Braescu a fost investita cu Crucea de aur “Virtutea Aeronautica”. In 1932 a stabilit primul record de traversare a Marii Mediterane in 6 ore 10 minute, strabatand distanta de 1100 Km, intre Roma si Tripoli, in propriul sau avion de tip Milles Hawk. Desi in Statele Unite i s-au oferit contracte lucrative Braescu a preferat sa se intoarca in Romania refuzand sa exploateze gloria de campioana in scopuri comerciale.
In timpul raboiului a fost activa ca pilot in celebra “Escadrila Alba” pe frontul de Rasarit si apoi pe frontul de Vest in Transilvania, Ungaria si Cehoslovacia.

Smaranda Braescu – Romanian Pioneer Pilot & Parachutist
Smaranda Braescu – Romanian Pioneer Pilot & Parachutist

Protestul transmis de Braescu Natiunilor Unite si Comandamentului Aliat din Romania demascand alegerile masluite din 1946 i-au atras urmarirea de catre politia politica a regimului Petru Groza. In continuare Braescu a activat in rezistenta anti-comunista, dar in 1948 a fost internata grav bolnava de cancer intr-un spital din Cluj. Aici a decedat in urma interventiei chirurgicale si a fost ingropata sub numele conspirativ de Maria Popescu. Totusi, la putin timp Securitatea a interogat si arestat toate persoanele implicate inclusiv medicii care au ingrijit-o la spital.

Dar ura administratiei comuniste a urmarit-o pe eroina noastra pana si in locul ei de veci, “unde nu este nici durere nici suspin” asa cum ne asigura ortodoxia noastra. In anul 1970 mormantul Smarandei Braescu, ingropata sub numele conspirativ de Maria Popescu a fost vandut unei alte familii si ori si ce urma a existentei acestei femei-erou din cimitirul central sin Cluj a disparut. Prin acest act s-a consfiintit conspiratia tacerii impuse de regimul comunist.

Dupa caderea regimului totalitar memoria eroului pilot Smaranda Braescu a fost reabiltata si mai multe strazi din Romania ii poarta numele, iar prin decretul prezidential din 1996, batalionul de parasutisti 498 a primit “drapelul de lupta Smaranda Braescu”: prea putin, prea tarziu!

“SMARANDA”

Smaranda, unde esti?
Te-ai avantat in zboruri printre nori
Din ceruri coborat-ai ca un fulg
Peste Ocean, cantata indelung
Urale ti-au adus de-atatea ori.

N-ai vrut onoruri si nici bani mai multi
Cinstit-ai vrut sa stai printre Romani
Si te-ai intors atunci la noi in munti…
Cu “Escadrila Alba” ai rapus
Dusmani din Rasarit si din Apus.

In ’46 cand s-au masluit
Alegerile suflul ti-au taiat
Ca bunii tai cu jalba in protap
Mai-marilor de-atuncea te-ai jelit
Dar soarta ta fugar-ai fost sa fii.

Din talcul vietii tale ti-a fost dat
Sa nu renunti la lupta nici de cum
Cu fruntea-n sus sa mergi pe-acelasi drum
Cand boala floarea vietii ti-a curmat
Si-n groapa zaci sub nume de-mprumut.

N-au fost nici popi, nici rude, nici parinti
O candela sa-ti puna pe mormant
Nici vesnici pomeniri, pomeni sau sfinti
Nu s-au aflat s-aline trupul tau
De cine-ai fost sa sufle vre-un cuvant.

Dar pilda ta n-a fost intr-un zadar
Acum ca roata vietii s-a rotit
Si patru zeci de ani trecut-au, chiar
O strada cu-al tau nume in sfarsit
Te va slavi atata cum mai stim.

Constantin ROMAN
Londra, Mai, 2006

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Read more about Smaranda Braescu in:

Blouse Roumaine – The Unsung Voices of Romanian Women

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“Defying the Idiocracy” – Cambridge and Romanian Memoirs

May 24th, 2006 · Comments Off on “Defying the Idiocracy” – Cambridge and Romanian Memoirs · Books, Diaspora, PEOPLE, Reviews, Translations

“Defying the Idiocracy” Constantin ROMAN SYNOPSIS The world from which Constantin ROMAN emerges, is blurring gently through the lens of time. Once landed on the British Isles, the faraway country which he left behind is thoroughly destroyed by the bulldozers of Ceausescu’s cultural revolution and its ruins remain behind hostile frontiers. Being shipwrecked on a […]

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“Sfidarea idiocratiei” Traducere din Engleza a cartii “Continental Drift” de Constantin ROMAN

May 20th, 2006 · Comments Off on “Sfidarea idiocratiei” Traducere din Engleza a cartii “Continental Drift” de Constantin ROMAN · Books, PEOPLE, Reviews

“SFIDAREA IDIOCRATIEI ” Constantin ROMAN Traducere din limba Engleza a cartii “Continetal drift, Colliding Continents, Coverging Cultures”, institute of Physics publishing, Bristol & Philadelphia, 2000, ISBN 07503 0686 6 Universul din care provine Constantin ROMAN este estompat de sita vremii. Odata ajuns in Anglia, meleagurile lasate in urma sunt distruse de sistematizarea revolutiei culturale ale […]

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IZMENELILE PROFESORULUI IZMENETZKY JUNIOR

May 15th, 2006 · Comments Off on IZMENELILE PROFESORULUI IZMENETZKY JUNIOR · Diary, Diaspora, OPINION, PEOPLE

Izmenelile Profesorului Izmenetzky Junior (sau: “Vrei, nu vrei, bea Grigore aghiazma!) Pentru acei cititori care mai ar avea inca dubii asupra originii mioritice al numelui Profesorului Izmenetzky, trebuie sa-i asigur dintr-un inceput ca este un patronim perfect respectabil si neaos Romanesc. Pentru aceasta mai bine sa ne referim la dictionarul etimologic al regretatului Alexandru Cioranescu […]

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Poetry in Translation (XXIX – XXXIII): Flavia TEOC (b. 1971) – Five Poems

May 15th, 2006 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (XXIX – XXXIII): Flavia TEOC (b. 1971) – Five Poems · PEOPLE, Poetry, Translations

THE SONG OF THE HAMSTER’S COAT

As of today
You are free to go downtown.
The trees’ green tops
Will bend like grass blades
The hot shoulder of the beautiful woman
Is only a passing idol
You, brown hamsters,
You will soon learn this thing
Like all real men do.

CANTECUL HAINEI DE HARCIOG

De azi
Aveti voie sa iesiti in oras.
Varfurile verzi ale copacilor
Se vor apleca asemeni firului de iarba
Umarul cald al femeii frumoase
E doar un idol de-o clipa
Voi, harciogii bruni
Veti invata acest lucru
Ca toti barbatii adevarati.

END OF SUMMER

The sleepy summer presses in its palm
My old cup of tea
With a chipped rim.
August is almost ancient
With his short-sighted eyes fixed on the hot
Brew, while its thoughts are already chasing
The hunt in the polar plains.
The sleepy summer could hardly
Suppress a yawn, as wide as the Blue
Sea.
From now on, thinking of herself,
She will be less talkative.

SFARSIT DE VARA

Somnoroasa vara strange-n palme
Ceasca mea de ceai
Cu buza plesnita.
August e aproape batran
Si-a fixat ochii miopi in licoarea
Fierbinte, dar gandul lui a inceput
Vanatoarea la poluri.
Somnoroasa vara abia si-a
Oprit un cascat, mare cat golful
Albastru.
Vorbind despre sine, de-acum
N-o sa mai fie atat de guraliva.

SUNDAY

It’s nine o’clock
The well-fed cat will fall asleep
Under the red sun.

Afternoon is a fragile realm
The block of butter is melting
In the hot pan.

At seven in the evening, I will bathe
In the pool of my chest my heavy face
Sulphur-like flaxen, lone as the mist.

At ten I say my prayers.
But till tomorrow
All will be forsaken.

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Orpheus never turned up for tea – considering a painting by Janet CREE (1910-1992)

May 13th, 2006 · Comments Off on Orpheus never turned up for tea – considering a painting by Janet CREE (1910-1992) · Art Exhibitions, PEOPLE

Orpheus never turned up for tea Looking at a painting by Janet Cree (1910-1992) ————————————————- There is an instant fascination which this painting on panel offers the neophyte, as he identifies himself without any difficulty to the main personage – a scantily clad youth playing an antique harp, surrounded by a bevy of entranced females, […]

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Constantin ROMAN: “Blouse Roumaine” Extras (I) – ROMANCE la LONDRA

May 6th, 2006 · Comments Off on Constantin ROMAN: “Blouse Roumaine” Extras (I) – ROMANCE la LONDRA · Books, Diaspora, PEOPLE

CONFLUENTE CULTURALE ANGLO-ROMANE (I) – ROMANCELE LA LONDRA Cand trecea pe la Londra, Hotelul Savoy din Mayfair, era uneori resedinta Martei Bibescu, care consemna in jurnalul ei: “Regele mi-a intrerupt visarea cu un mesaj de bun-venit – dar refuz sa fiu deranjata”. Personajul acesta era George al V-lea, varul reginei Maria…Ei, cu o sotie atat […]

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