Events of 2009

NEW YORK Chapter events, which took place in 2009

Saturday, December 12, 2009, at 5 PM
How Christians should prepare for ChristmasWhat are we really waiting for?Lecture by Rev. Jan Czudek

Fr. Jan Czudek a priest of the diocese of Ostrava – Opava, Czech Republic. After eight years exacting work in Karviná and Bridlicná in Jeseníky bishop FrantiÅ¡ek Lobkowicz appointed him pastor for Czech people living in New York and in Washington, D.C. Saturday, December 5, at 6.30pmKotyza´s annual “Two Baritones”CHRISTMAS CONCERTStaring: Vladimír Chmelo, Stanislav Kotyza Pianist: Juraj FilasAfter the concert a traditional venison dinner will be served. The space in the BBLA Gallery is limited. Please R.S.V.P. by e-mail to svu.newyork@hotmail.com
Jacket and tie preferred. Entry fee $ 25.

Thursday, November 12, 2009, at 7 pm
How Best To View Old Cities. A lecture by Dr. Edward Toran

Friday November 6, 2009, at 6 pm
Anti-Aging Prevention.  A lecture by Dr. Jitka Horejsova

Friday, October 9, 2009 , at 7 PM
Entering The Mayan WorldWhile traveling through Guatemala up into the northern Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico and as far south as San Salvador Michael Veznik captured with his camera the beautiful landscape surrounded by majestic volcanos, picturesque crater-lakes and enigmatic Mayan ruins.  Michael also focused his camera on the native people,  many of whom are descendants of the once mighty Mayan civilization.

Friday, September 25, 2009 , at 8 PM
JAZZ CONCERT: LACO DECZI & CELULA NEW YORK

Sunday, September 13, 2009, at 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM
FROM POETRY INTO A SONG

(Poetry, music, vision and beyond)
Sunday afternoon with Carmela Tal  Baron and poetic friends – guest singers: Margaret Humphreys and Daralyn Jay who joined Carmela Tal Baron in her newly released CD “Not A Crash Landing”.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009, at 7:30 PM
HAPPY 168th BIRTHDAY ANTONIN DVORAK!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009, at 7:30 PM
MIXED BAG: OPEN MIKE 8 / POETRY READING

Saturday, June 27, 2009, at 3 PM
Czech Presidency of the European Union
A lecture by Alice Marie Svobodova, Czech Consul

Tusday, June 9, 2009, at 8 PM
Mixed Bag – Poetry Reading

Sunday, June 7, 2009 , at 7:30 PM
THE ESCAPES OF JOSEF BRYKS
A documentary film by Jan Novak and Pavel Palecek
A story of a Czech patriot, RAF pilot, holder of Order of the British Empire, and a prisoner in a concentration camp and a communist jail.

Sunday, May 31, 2009, at 11:00 AM
Read more in English on the FIELD TRIP TO BROOKLYN!
Read more – česky
In the Steps of Charlotte Garrigue Masaryk and Flower Communion
Living history, singing and lunch
First Unitarian Church, Pierrepont Street and Monroe Place, Brooklyn Heights

Friday, May 29, 2009 , at 7PM
GREENWAYS in CENTRAL EUROPE
A special presentation by Czech Tourism and Friends of Czech Greenways about greenways program, greenways trails and responsible sustainable tourism in Central Europe. Presented were PragueVienna Greenways, Amber Trail, Moravian Wine Trails and Green Bicycle Greenway. www.PragueViennaGreenways.org

Saturday, April 25, 2009, at 3 pm
ANTI-AGING
A lecture by Jitka Horejsova, MD
How to keep body and mind sharp through exercise and nutrition.

Sunday, April 26, 2009 , at 7:30 pm
Terezin Diary
A film by Zuzana Justman
A documentary film by a survivor of the Theresienstadt Jewish Ghetto during the WWII set up by the Nazis. It was in fact a holding camp before the transposts to concentration camps. Many important Jewsih composers and cultural figures passed through before their cruel demise. Saturday, April 18 at 3PM

OTA ULC
A welll known Czech publicist and globetrotter read from his amusing travel books and shared his adventures from his numerous jurneys around the globe. In Czech.

Friday, April 17, 2009, at 7 pm
An Opening of  Eugen Suchon Travelling Exhibition
Celebrating 100-year birth anniversary of this great Slovak composer.
In collaboration with Bohemian Benevolent & Literary Association, Consulate General of the Slovak Republic, Slovak American Cultural Center, New York

Tuesday, April 14, 2009, at 8 pm
Open Mike 5.
Poetry reading

Monday, March 30, 2009, at 7:30 PM
A TRIAL IN PRAGUE (2000, 83 min)
Screening of a documentary film by Zuzana Justman about the trial and its circumstances of the communist Rudolf Slansky in 1951.

Saturday, March 21, 2009, at 3 PM
HEALTH OF THE ROMANY MINORITY IN SLOVAKIA AND CENTRAL EUROPE [23]
A lecture by Prof. Vlado Simko, MD

Saturday, March 14, 2009, at 8 pm
Is Peace in the Middle East Possible?
A lecture by Consul General of the Czech Republic Eliska Zigova, PhD

Friday, March 13, 2009, at 8 pm
Open Mike 4 – Poetry Reading

Saturday, February 28, 2009, at 3 PM
The Holy Spies [Cerní a cernejší]
A film directed by Jan Novak
Produced by Pavel Palecek
A shocking documentary about the systematic liquidation of the Roman-Catholic Church in the years 1945 – 1989 by means of agents of the Czechoslovakian State Security Service, who penetrated into the structure of the Church as clergymen at home and abroad: mainly in Vienna, Austria, and the Vatican.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009, at 8 PM
OPEN MIKE 3 – Poetry Reading

Saturday, February 14,2009, at 3 PM
HISTORY OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE
A lecture by Prof. Josef Machac, MDThe emergence of the medical specialty of Nuclear Medicine parallels the Modern Age, beginning with the nearly concurrent discovery of radioactivity and of X-rays at the turn of the 20th century. The discovery and use of radioisotopes revolutionized the practice of medicine as diagnostic and therapeutic tools. Dr. Machac’s excellent presentation and lecture – upbeat and with touch of humor,followed the exciting path of discovery leading to today’s methods of diagnostic medical imaging that we all take for granted, such as PET/CT or SPECT/CT. Since it happened to be Valentine’s Day, the heart was the frequent subject for demonstrations of imaging technology. It was a lecture that made science fun!Josef Machac, since 1992 a director of Nuclear Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, is professor of radiology and medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine of New York University. His work combines diagnostic imaging, research, teaching and clinical medicine in the Department of Radiology and the Cardiovascular Institute. He has authored or co-authored numerous scientific papers and books. He is also a history buff, an avid life-long beekeeper, and a beer and wine maker.

Sunday, February 1, 2009 , at 7:30pm
NOW WE ARE FREE
A documentary film by Zuzana Justman
Screening was followed by a lively discussion on situation of Czech women and their view of feminism.

Saturday, January 24, 2009 , at 3PM
THE CURRENT FINANCIAL CRISIS
A lecture by Prof. Andrew Mazzone
The crisis has provided an opening.  Does it portend a German/Russian rapprochement, and a consequent new economic Drang nach Osten?
Andrew Mazzone teaches Economics at the Henry George School of Social Science. He was trained in neoclassical economics at Babson College and Marxist Political Economy at the New School of Social Research. Mr. Mazzone is a former CEO of the Perkin Elmer Corp., a fortune 500 company in the 1990’s, and is now a President of Xiom Corp., a public company active in plastic technology.

Tuesday, January 17, 2009, at 8 pm
Open Mike 2 / Poetry Reading

Sunday, January 11, 2009, at 7:30 pm
VOICES OF CHILDREN
A Film by Zuzana Justman

Saturday, January 10, 2009, at 3 pm
AMERICKE LISTY: the Past, Present, and Future
A talk by Peter Bisek, publisher
Americke Listy is a bi-weekly published in New York since 1964 for the Czech and Slovak community in the USA and distributed all over the world. Petr Bisek presented a brief overview of the Czech emigrant press in the USA and shared the story of how he and his wife Vera decided to continue in the work of the previous husband-wife team, the Svehlas, who published Americke Listy for 25 years since 1964. He talked about what it takes to publish an ethnic newspaper and raise a family at the same time. What are the sacrificies and satisfactions? What are the plans for future?

Aj lucka, lucka v Brooklynu, NY (May 31, 2009)

Je krasne nedelni­ rano. Pred kostelem First Unitarian Universalist Congregation na Pierrepont Street v Brooklyn Heights v newyorskem Brooklynu uz cekaji­ lide s kvetinami v ruce. Je mezi nimi take nase skupinka uceastnici se vyletu poradaneho SVU-NY. Dnes se zde totiz kona tzv. Kvetinova slavnost (Flower Communion), kterou poprve zavedl cesky unitar Norbert Capek v Praze. Kvetiny maji­ symbolizovat jedinecnost kazdeho cloveka. Tento kostel, jeden z 80 tisic v Brooklynu, ma historicke napojeni­ na predvalecne Ceskoslovensko. Do kongregace tohoto kostela totiz patrila Prvni dama Ceskoslovenska, Charlotte Garrique Masarykova, ktera se take v Brooklynu narodila.

Na poÅ™adu bohoslužby bylo kromÄ› skvÄ›lého hraní 16-leté varhanice Amalie Rinehartové, (J.S. Bach, A. Dvořák a Béla Bartók) take zpívání. Sopranistka Karen Geerová zazpívala česky Dvořákův žalm Hospodin je můj pastýř, a bÄ›hem kvÄ›tinového obÅ™adu kongregace s naší pomocí a za rytmického tleskání zpívala českou lidovou “Aj lúčka, lúčka Å¡iroká..” V čestinÄ›! Ačkoliv vÅ¡ichni z naší skupiny umíme česky, trochu jsme zadrhávali. Text písničky byl totiž v programu  pÅ™epsán foneticky a my mÄ›li problém rychle rozluÅ¡tit například: Te-che vo-daz ho-ra/ Chis-ta ye ya-ko-ya…

Rev. Patrick O’Neil představil naši skupinu a hlavně významného hosta rev. Josepha Ben-Davida, který se k nám přidal se svojí ženou Allison, přestože se předcházejícího dne vrátil z nemocnice. Jeho účast dodala celé akci zvláštní význam. Norbert Čapek byl totiž v Praze jeho mentorem. Přinesl s sebou fotografie z květinové slavnosti z roku 1930, jíž se jako mladík zúčastnil.

Po bohosluzbe nam historicka kostela ukazala fotografie s Charolottou Garrigue Masarykovou a Janem Masarykem, ktery zde promluvil v roce 1946.

Náš příjemný a  ducha obohacující výlet skončil procházkou po Brooklyn Promenade s uchvacujícím pohledem na Manhattan a chutným brunchem v populární restauraci Heights Café na Montague Street. Kam se vydá SVU-NY na výlet příště? Plánujeme turistický výšlap kolem řeky Hudsonu oslavijící své 400. výročí. Uvítáme vaše další nápady. Napište nám na svu.newyork@hotmail.com

Zuzana Halsey

Vi­ce informaci­ o Flower Communion najdete na webstrankach:
http://www.uua.org/documents/zottolireginald/flowercommunion.pdf

May 31, 2009 | FIELD TRIP TO BROOKLYN!

We visited the historic First Unitarian Church on Monroe Place in Brooklyn Heights, where Brooklyn-born Charlotte Garrigue (1850-1923), later the First Lady of new Czechoslovakia, was a very active member of the congregation.Her Unitarian faith and character had a singular influence on her adopted country. She was instrumental in developing close ties with the Czechoslovak Unitaria and cooperation with Norbert Capek, the founder of Czech Unitaria in Prague. Both her husband Tomas Masaryk and her son Jan spoke from this church’s pulpit. Her daughter Alice planned a stained glass window there in her memory. After World War II interrupted that plan, the women of the First Church in 1957 gave a clerestory window picturing Bohemian Reformer Jan Hus in memory of Charlotte Masaryk and in honor of John Howland Lathrop. Lathrop, the ninth minister of the First Church, headed a relief program in Czechoslovakia following World War II, which gave rise to the Unitarian Service Committee.

more about the Flower communion

We participated the Flower Communion which is held here every May in memory of Norbert Capek, who designed this flower ceremony for children before he perished in a concentration camp. Flowers and a CZECH folk song play a major role in this ceremony. We joined the congregation in singing “Aj lucka, lucka siroka…” IN CZECH! Later, we walked on the Brooklyn Promenade offering a stunning view of Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridge, and had lunch at the HeightCafe on Montague Str. It was a good day.