As Latvia is a member of NATO, and NATO is ever deeper involved in Middle East Wars, perhaps also contributing in creating one in Syria; moreover, as the Latvian government appears to be in full support of such an involvement; and as almost every day brings fresh news of a war “slouching to be born”, there ought to be a site where English speaking ‘ordinary’ Latvians can contribute their thoughts and share links not only on the Palestinian question as at another post, but share comments on the Middle East as a whole.
Here a contribution from RT: http://rt.com/news/eu-rebels-syria-humanitarian-131/
]]>“Parliamentary amendment to the Citizenship Law Subcommittee on Tuesday, March 19, concluded its work on amendments to the Law on Citizenship, and agreed to move to the Legal Affairs Committee in the third final reading.”
It appears that the bill is one step closer to Law.
]]>This has been an incredible year of star athletes performing in the college lever of NCAA sports – perhaps the riches field I have ever seen. As I continued to dig I found an endless array of new athletes popping up across the college scene and although my usual spring focus has been Track & Field and Crew – I was frankly blown away by the tennis and yes, even golf competitors from Latvia participating at various levels in the college ranks. But what really speaks volumes is the pursuit that these kids have for getting their college degree while letting athletics leverage that goal – they truly fit the old creed of Scholar Athlete. Enjoy! And if you are aware of any athlete I am leaving out, please let me know.
TRACK & FIELD
Besides numerous qualifications of some fine athletes for the NCAA Outdoor East and West Regionals last weekend, immediate congratulations should go to several outstanding performances earlier this year at the NCAA Division I - 2013 Indoor Championships at Fayetteville Arkansas on March 8-9.
Leading the group is Agata Strausa who finished 3rd in the One Mile Run. Her time was 4:36.91 behind the winning time of 4:29. Agata is a junior at Florida State and this is my first notice of her running. From what I can find, she also qualified for the NCAA Finals last year. She has listed times for running 3,000 meters and 3,000 M Steeplechase and is a member of the team’s Distance Medley Relay. As of last weekend, Agata has the #3 qualifying time for the East Regional NCCAs this weekend in Greensboro, NC. Below is a nice link to a video interview with her:
Last week senior Mara Griva of the University of Nebraska was honored by the Big Ten coaches as the Conference Field Athlete of the Year after repeating the long and triple jump titles at the 2013 Big Ten Outdoor Conference Championships. She finished first in the long jump with a season-best leap of 20-9 (6.32) and took first in the triple jump with a leap of 43-5 ¼ (13.24). Griva ranks 17th in the long jump and is #5 in the nation in the triple jump. This qualifies her for both events at the Western Regionals at the University of Texas this weekend. Earlier this year at the Indoor NCAA Championships she placed 10th in the triple jump with 12.9M or 42’4” and got 10th in the Long Jump with 6.08M or 19’11 ½”. She is from Ventspils and has earned seven All-American recognitions during her career at Nebraska. This last weekend, she won both the long jump and triple jump at the highly regarded Drake Relays. Last year she hit the national spot light as a sophomore, claiming four Big 12 titles and earning four All-America honors. Her list of results is excellent and well stated on the Nebraska Track & Field website for your examination. Mara’s best in Latvia has been 3rd in both events at the Latvian National Championships. Couple links below show nice pictures of her winning the Drake Relays this weekend. I also caught a good interview of her on TV last weekend which should be the next link below. (she is the second interviewee on this tape)
http://www.huskers.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?id=772350&db_oem_id=100
http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=207445364
http://bigstory.ap.org/photo/mara-griva
Also, her Nebraska team mate, Janis Leitis took 4th in the triple jump at the same meet Big 10 Conference meet qualifying him for the Western Regionals on May 23-25 at the University of Texas in Austin. He also appears to have qualified for the 200M as a #21 seed with a time of 21.1. Earlier this season he had a long jump which placed him with the 7th best jump in this year’s NCAA outdoor season at 25”9 1/2” or 7.86 M. And, in February at the NCAA Division I 2013 Indoor Championships, Janis, a senior, earned two 9th place finishes in both the Long Jump - 7.73M or 25’ 4 ½” and in the Triple Jump with a distance of 15.78 M or 51’ 9 ¼”. Leitis also helps the Nebraska men’s 4x400 meter relay team. He has good sprint times having an indoor personal best of 6.92 in the 60 meters and 21.43 in the 200 meters and 46.71 in the 400 meters. He has also earned All-America honors in both jumping events.
Janis competed at the 2012 London Olympics, recording a time of 46.41 in the 400 meters advancing to the quarterfinals. He won the 2009 European U23 (under 23 years) long jump title with a mark of 25-11. Janis is the son of Eriks Leitis and is a nutrition and health sciences major at Nebraska. An interesting tidbit in one article states that Mara Griva and Janis Leitis have been dating couple for several years. Please see nice link on personal article written about Janis in Omaha.
]]>... I penned the follow Email to Mr. Brodsky ...
I am greatly disappointed regarding your posts that Latvians represent the resurgence of Nazism, beginning with a lack of understanding of basic history, which is that the Latvian Legion (Waffen SS) were both conscripted and formed after the Holocaust took its tragic toll in Latvia. The Legion were only “guilty” of fighting against the Soviet re-invasion. Recall that Latvians lived under a year of brutal Soviet occupation before Hitler invaded the USSR. The Waffen-SS had nothing to do with the true criminal collaborators of the Nazis, such as Arajs Commando. Indeed, American authorities declared the Latvian Legion innocent after a lengthy post-war investigation.
Even the Wikipedia article on World Without Nazism recognizes its origin as an agent of the interests of the Russian state. That starts with Russia coopting anti-Nazism to denounce Baltic anti-Sovietism as Nazism. Anti- anti-fascist liberator = pro-fascist = Nazi.
Your pontificating from a position of utter ignorance plays into Russian state propaganda. You care nothing about smearing an entire people who only wish that the rest of the world spend just an iota of energy to learn history as to simply denounce Latvians as resurgent Nazis. I respectfully suggest you learn something about history before you call people Nazis.
Peters Vecrumba
Ashamed to be a life-long New Yorker
Brodsky was a long time Congressional member from New York. Mounting a strong offense against this sort of Latvians are Nazism resurgent diatribe is long overdue. Russia has now fully co-opted anti-Nazism worldwide to continue its attack on Latvia and is bringing its act to Washington. Time to wake up. It’s not enough that those who know, know better.
Admittedly woke up on the cranky side of the bed this morning, but even the happy side wouldn’t have tempered the calumny to be heaped upon this sort of hateful ignorance.
]]>Irēna
]]>Scroll down to Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil.
]]>St. Johnš Church in Toronto runs a used bookstore at Camp Saulaine, all work is ONLY volunteer, all books are donated and all donations go to support the camp]
The film is in Latvian ( a scant amount of Russian- has subtitles in Latvian), 75 minutes long, covering 6 interviews with adults who were deported to Siberia as children or adolescents. They tell their very heart-felt stories. Much footage of Siberia, of how these folks are trying to cope, how they now live in Latvia ( also footage of a yearly get-together in Ikskile)
Very moving.
We would ask for $15 plus postage . depending where you need it mailed. We can mail anywhere. Check or MO would be made out to St. Johns Latvian Lutheran Chrch: Saulaine Bookstore
stivrins at hotmail dot com
http://www.campsaulaine.com