Dr. Filomena

Taking part in the Walk Along the Wire (photo: dr. fil)

I saw a quote today that struck home. It was simply too long to twit, so I decided to share it here. It’s nothing new, really, just well put. Slovenia turned 19 years young a few days ago, but – not for the first time – its birthday party was tarnished by purportedly patriotic groups expressing their disapproval of the ‘gay element’ in the Slovene society by vandalizing a gay café.

“Patriotism is proud of a country’s virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country’s virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, “the greatest”, but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is.”

Sydney J. Harris, journalist and author (1917-1986)

Now while there may not be any obvious links between nationalism and the attacks, it is more than bothersome that these groups are using the Slovene Statehood Day as if to award their criminal activities some higher purpose. It is, however, even more bothersome that some people/political parties seem convinced that too much attention is paid to such transgressions. Once you’ve seen a person with a degree in Philosophy argue on National Television that an unprovoked dog attack on a human being calls for an equal attention of the public and the authorities as a violent attack of Neo-nazis on the gay community, you may not have seen it all, but have come close.

It is more than obvious that 1/ the municipal elections are nearing by the day and that 2/ the proposed new Family Code (more in Everyone Needs a Family by Mr. P) will be one of the hot topics. Those who oppose what I consider progressive solutions in the Code are quick to claim that they do so in the name of protecting the Nation and securing its future. A twitch in my left toe tells me that this coming autumn may be hotter than the summer.

As Slovenia celebrates its 19th birthday today, I decided to bake a cake for the occasion. The last time I baked a real cake was probably just about 19 years ago, so this seemed even more appropriate.  After, err, a bit of work, it’s ready to be taken out and shared with my colleagues here in Luxembourg. Many thanks to Huferka for the inspiration and tips. You are my role model when it comes to cakes!

Here goes nothing:

This is a double chocolate cake filled with whipped cream and sour cherries, topped with chocolate and then coloured whipped cream.

Before:

After:

Update: The cake didn’t just well, draw attention, but was actually delicious as well. Huferka’s recipe warmly recommended. It was dubbed “Črni Kal” (via Schwarzwald).

Slovenian forward Nejc Pečnik’s ankle broken by Clint Dempsey.
(Source: Žurnal 24)

My Google alerts e-mails set to to send me links to interesting online articles pertaining to Slovenia have been filled with a single topic for the past few days. One could call it an analysis of the USA-Slovenia football match, but one could just easily summarize it as a long-winded American whine over the draw. This made for an interesting read the first day. Possibly. Now it’s just becoming annoying and very unlike what I imagine the American spirit to be. Call me naive.

The articles focus on the allegedly “stolen” match and on the third US goal being disallowed unjustly. Of course, none seem to mention that the US team played roughly throughout the ninetysome minutes, seemingly confusing real football with the American type thereof, or possibly rugby with certain elements of wrestling. None mention the fact that the US players got away with a lot while half the Slovenian team seemed to be given a yellow card. And I have yet to see a note to the effect that Slovenian forward Pečnik’s ankle was broken by one the the American players. I just read a headline that spells “Pečnik breaks ankle”. He didn’t break his ankle by tripping down a staircase. He had ample help. And not even a simple foul was called.

Look guys, this is sports. The Slovenian team did a great job in the first half-time. The US team did a great job in the second half-time by proving both psychologically and physically well-prepared. The whole thing was rough and the goal scored during a wrestling match in the penalty box was disallowed by the referee. His decision stands.

Now for crying out loud, would you stop whining, admit that the Slovenians played well and focus on the next match. Preferably on how to play real football and not on how to break the opposite team’s players’ bones.

Živčki, živčki, živčki (foto: dr. fil, New York)

Zadnje čase v avtomobilu najraje poslušam radio France Culture. V studiu se pogovarjajo o najrazličnejših temah, avtorji predstavljajo svoja dela, potekajo obsežni intervjuji. Zelo drugačen in zelo zanimiv program, čeprav priznam, da včasih zapaše preklopiti na postajo z glasbo. Dokler tam ne spregovorijo.

No in tako sem v preteklih tednih poslušala razglabljanja o vsem mogočem in se marsikaj naučila. O razvoju ponapoleonske Evrope, o izlivu nafte v Mehiškem zalivu, o šolskem sistemu, o politiki predsednika Obame, včeraj zjutraj pa nekaj malega o psihologiji/sociologiji nogometne mrzlice.

Poslušala sem o “futmaniji” in o “futfobiji”. Pa o tem, da je denar pokvaril svetost igre. Nekoč je bilo drugače, fantje so igrali s srcem. Nastopali so kot ekipa, srce jim je bilo isti ritem. Zdaj igrajo za denar. Nič drugega jih ne zanima in gledalci to občutijo. Nekoč so navijači dihali s svojimi ljubljenci, živo občutili njihovo razpoloženje in ob koncu tekme doživljali katarzo. Ob spremenjenih razmerah ta katarza ni več mogoča. Pravi radio France Culture.

Oddaja me je spomnila, da sem marca pozabila sestaviti zapis po navodilih egiptovskega taksista v New Yorku. Beseda je dala besedo in od vprašanja “od kod pa sta” smo kaj hitro prešli na nogomet. Gospodu alžirska reprezentanca ni preveč pri srcu, kar je razumljivo glede na to, da je v kvalifikacijah za svetovno prvenstvo izločila Egipt. Razgreta čustva so povzročila nasilna obračunavanja med navijači obeh ekip v štirih državah.

Vrli taksist se je med vožnjo obrnil nazaj in z vso resnostjo dejal:

“Zagotovo imata kakšen blog. Ko prideta domov, napišita, da bodo vsi vedeli. Alžirce poraziš tako, da jim požreš živce. Vaši fantje naj jim ne dajo miru. Ko se jih poloti nervoza, se ne znajo več umiriti in je konec zanje. To je vaša pot do zmage. Ostanite trdni in jih psihično izčrpajte. Ves Egipt bo navijal za vas!”

Sicer ne vem, kako nasprotni ekipi požreš živce, ampak izpolnjujem obljubo in, zdaj tudi kot vestna članica fejsbukline skupine Nogomet za punce, objavljam taksistov nasvet. Prav tako ne vem, koliko denarja “pravi slovenski žrebci” (nzp press) dobijo za svoje reprezentančne nastope, se mi pa dozdeva, da znesek ni tolikšen, da bi preprečeval katarzo navijačev ob njihovem uspehu.

Naprej!

(foto: dr. fil)

Pogrešam tvoj nasmeh
Pogrešam tvojo žalost
Pogrešam tvoj objem
Pogrešam tvoj poljub
Pogrešam tvoj obup
Pogrešam tvoj pronicljivi um
Pogrešam tvojo preprostost
Pogrešam tvojo ustvarjalnost
Pogrešam tvojo neizmerno toplino

Potopim se v spomine
Vse pride, vse mine
Ampak ko mi je res hudo
Te najdem
Ne gledaš name od tam zgoraj
Ne oglašaš se mi od tam spodaj
Slišim te
Čutim te
Jasno
V sebi

Rada te imam
Ena sama

Oh, kako sem si te zaželela. Kazalo je, da mi bo zmanjkalo časa. Saj veš, kako je. Spet sem pozno odšla iz službe. Mislila sem nate, ko sem se usedla v mikrico in z upanjem v prsih oddrvela iz garaže. Vse se je zarotilo proti nama. Ulil se je dež, na Charlottinem mostu sem se stežka prebila mimo avtomobilov, ki se nista mogla izogniti prebližnjemu srečanju. Pri Cactusu je mikrica utripajočega srca in smernih kazalcev čakala na sumljivo počrtkanem mestu, gologlava sem se pognala skozi naliv, težkega srca a ne da bi trenila planila mimo iztegnjenih rok beračice in vstopila. Ko sem te prijela v roke, se mi je topilo srce. Odnesla sem te domov in občudovala barve, ki jih je nate narisalo sonce, tvoj sladkobni vonj me je očaral. Skupaj sva bili le kratek čas in kmalu te bom pozabila, ampak bilo je lepo, dokler je trajalo. Hvala za vse.

K pisanju tega posta se spravljam že nekaj tednov. Arbitražni sporazum je kompleksna tema, o kateri so svoje mnenje prek kamerami, mikrofoni, na papirju ali na internetu izrekli že malodane vsi Slovenci. Nekateri bolj argumentirano kot drugi. Nekateri popolnoma brez argumentov in samo na podlagi svojih čustev ali političnih ambicij. Prav neverjetno je, kako lahko isto, ne predolgo besedilo, ljudje berejo na tako različne načine. Še težje razumljivo se zdi, da nekaterim utemeljenim argumentom ne uspe prodreti do zavesti sicer razumnih, bistrih in razgledanih ljudi nasprotnega mnenja. Blokada v glavi?

Nekaj je gotovo. Nihče ne ve natančno, kakšna bo rešitev, ki jo bo ponudilo arbitražno razsodišče. Vsi, ki smo prebrali arbitražni sporazum, pa vemo, v kakšnih okvirih jo bo moralo določiti. In menim, da je dani okvir za Slovenijo ugoden. Nihče od nasprotnikov sporazuma mi še ni uspel razložiti, kakšen je po njihovem mnenju neteritorialen stik Slovenije z odprtim morjem. Naj še tako tuhtam, mi ne pride na misel nobena druga možnost, da se Slovenija stika z odprtim morjem, kot da to stori s svojim morjem. Triglav se ne zdi pripravljen prepogniti katerega od svojih vrhov tako daleč proti jugu.

Staroste našega naroda, kot sta Bučar in Pahor, spoštujem. Spoštujem jih zaradi tega, kar so storili v preteklosti in ker so, kakršni so. Ampak to ne pomeni, da slepo sledim njihovim razmišljanjem. Tudi oni niso slepo sledili razmišljanju kogar koli. Prebrala in poslušala sem argumente obeh strani in glasovala po lastni presoji. Za.