ASF

SB

Newsletter December 2010

2010 Santa Lucia Bride Karina Jougla

In this issue:• HowNOTToRetire:TheWorldofPolitics• Scandinavian/UCSBEducationProgramoftheMonth• NorwegianconductordirectingSantaBarbaraSymphony• ASFSBAnnualHolidayPartyDec.5th• Scandinavianmovieofthemonth:Sebbe• WhySoManySwedesatSBCC?• VikingsofSolvang

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Do you remember summer?

Do you recall wondering what happened to it? I do! My relatives in Den-mark sometimes refer to such weather as a “green winter.” It seems to me we experienced that kind of summer!

Typically, our fall is begun with a “launch” event. This year, it was a presentation by Professor Apostolos

Athanasakis of UCSB and a former Vice President of ASF, focusing on Icelandic Sagas. As you know, Iceland is one of the 5 Nordic countries declaring its indepen-dence from Denmark at the end of the second World War. The Sagas or stokries constitute a significant part of Icelandic literature, mostly describing family life (and struggle) during the 10th and 11th Centuries. Lilli Tragos was kind enough to let us use her home for the marvelous gathering.

We have also committed ourselves to helping to par-tially sponsor a concert at the Granada Theater in Feb-ruary. The Norwegian conductor, Arild Remmereit, will be performing works from both Grieg and Shostakov-ich, and we plan to host a reception for him. The date is February 19, so stay tuned for further information.

We are, of course, looking forward to our Annual Christmas Party and Santa Lucia pageant, scheduled for December 5. Don’t worry about missing Santa Bar-bara’s Christmas parade as we deliberately scheduled our party so we would avoid that event. This is also one of our favorite fund raisers, complete with auction items, so don’t be shy in bidding! Our funds support our ability to provide ASF Scholarships in May!

This newsletter is being assembled by the wonderfully capable hands of Heidi Bergseteren. We could still use a bit of help with the newsletter, so if you are inter-ested, please call Peter Haslund (684-4810) to discuss how this might be done.

Letter from the president

MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of ASFSB is to promote international

understanding by preserving and sharing Scandinavian heritage

and culture with our community.

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Iwas perfectly content with mycareer as a retired professor. Ifound meaningful work as your

President and with a number ofother non-profit groups dedicatedto community involvement. It wasagreatlife!

Then,agroupofconcernedcitizensapproachedmetorunfortheSBCCBoard of Trustees. They had seri-ousconcernsaboutthefutureofthis“jewel” of California’s CommunityCollege system, and they urged metostandforelection.Atfirst,Iwasreluctant…butultimately,Isaidyes.

Why?

I think my immigrant experiencehad much to do with my answer.Like many of you, I am a natural-ized American citizen. I was borninDenmarkbutchosetobecomeanAmerican.Imadeaconsciouschoiceto become a citizen, so perhaps Itaketheresponsibilityof living inaparticipatory democracy especiallyseriously. I was asked to run, andultimately,Icouldn’tsay“no.”

There is another reason I chose torun. Having served on the facultyofSantaBarbaraCityCollegefor40years,Iampassionateaboutitsmis-sion -- helping the next generation

Peter Haslund and Helene Schneider

News

How NOT To Retire: The World of PoliticsPeter Haslund

learnabouttheworldsothattheycanbeproductivecitizensand,ulti-mately,enablethemtohelpyetanothergenerationdothesame.

Thisgoalhasneverbeenmore important. Welive inan increasinglyglobalizedsocietyinwhichyesterday’struth’sarebeingreplacedbynewrealities.Ourkidswillhavetolearnaboutthischangingsetofglobalcircumstancesiftheyaretosucceedinlife!

Along with these changing realities will come new ethical choices.Thankstotechnology,especiallytheinternet,peoplewithdifferentcul-turesandreligiousvalueswhooncelivedontheothersideoftheplanetwillnowbeliving“nextdoor.”Oureducationalsystemwillberequiredtohelpstudentslearnabouttheseculturessothatourdifferencescanbeembracedratherthanbeseenasacauseforfearandrejection.

Myjobwillnotbeeasy.IwasawareofthiswhenImadethedecisiontorun.Californiahasseriouseconomicproblems–inshort,thestateisbroke–andthereforeislikelytoallocatefewerresourcestoaccomplishmorethanever.AsIsaid…itwon’tbeeasybutI’lldomybest!

Haslund and supporters watching election results on Nov. 2

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Reservations:ASFSB P.O. Box 41502, Santa Barbara, CA 93140

Students can enroll to study for a se-mester or a year at the University ofCopenhagen (KU), one of Europe’sleadinguniversities.Located at four campus areas throughoutcentral Copenhagen, the university enrolls about 37,000 stu-dents, including some 1,100 international students. StudentscantakecoursesinEnglishinawidevarietyoffieldsalongsideDanish and international students.There are over 200 studyprogramsinmorethan100departmentsandresearchcenters,whichareorganizedineightfaculties(schools):HealthScienc-es, Humanities, Law, Life Sciences, Pharmaceutical Sciences,Science,SocialSciences,andTheology.KUisworkingtowardbecoming one of Europe’s most eco-friendly campuses and islocatedinwhatisrecognizedastheworld’sbestbikingcity.

Outside the classroom, students have access to Copenhagen’s full range of cultural activities, popular musicvenues,coffeehouses,clubs,andrestaurants.Offeringcharmingtownsquaresandmoderntrendsetting,it’snowonderthatCopenhagenisratedoneofthemostlivablecitiesintheworld!

ContacttheEAPprogramadvisor,KateMusselman(kate@eap.ucsb.edu),formoreinformation.

News

Scandinavian/UCSB Education Program of the Month

The American Scandinavian Foundation is proud to welcome and honor the world-renown Norwegian conductor, Arild Remmereit, direct-ing the S anta Barbara Symphony at the Grana-da on February 19, 2011, 8:00pm.

TheNewYorkTimes callsArildRemmereit “thehottest conductor you’ve never heard of.” ThischarismaticNorwegianmaestrohasdazzledcriticsthroughouttheU.S.andEurope.HisperformancewiththeUtahSymphony“senttheaudienceoutofthedoorsexhilarated,”accordingtotheSaltLakeTribune.Hisprogramincludestwoworksfromhisnative Norway: Edvard Grieg’s buoyant HolbergSuite and the cheerful, outgoing first symphonyofGrieg’sclosefriendJohanSvendsen.TheSantaBarbaraSymphony’sprincipalmusicians,NatashaKislenkoandJonLewiswillbesoloistsinShosta-kovich’s witty and sardonic Concerto for PianoandTrumpet.

Norwegian conductor directing Santa Barbara Symphony

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Announcements

ASFSB Annual Holiday Party Dec. 5th

HOLIDAY INN5650CalleReal,Goleta,CA93117

$45 Adults/$50 non members/$25 Students$10 Children Ages 5-12, Under 5 Free

5:30-6:30p.m.GlöggSpecial6:30p.m.SantaLuciaPageant7:00p.m.GourmetDinnerNoHostBar

Thebuffetwillfeature:cucumbersalad,goatcheese&toastedwalnutsalad,redcabbage,roastedturkeybreast,meatballs,bakedsweetpotatoesw/maplebutter,traditionalstuffingw/cornbread,greenbeancasserole,cookiesandrisal’amandew/cherry-raspberrysauce.

For reservations, call Heidi Poley at 681-0083 or by email at hwpoley@yahoo.com 

Hurry, first come, first served!

Scandinavian movie of the month - new from Sweden: SebbeDirectedbyBabakNajafi(2010).Ducttape,electricwires,trigger,explosives.Sebbeneverplannedonbuildingabomb,thingsjustturnedoutthatway.Sebbeisfifteenandliveswithhismotherinanapartmentthatismuch

toosmall.Hedoeshisbest.Heneverhitsback.Sebbeloveshismotherbecausehehasnootherchoice.

Sebbeescapestothejunkyard,andinhishands,deadthingscometolife.Hehasthepowertocreate.Hereheisfree,butalone.Hisdetachmentincreasesatthesamepacethathisworldshrinks,untilfinally,onedayheiscompletelyisolated,withoutanyoneexcepthismother.Whenshefailshim,allelsefails.83min.

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IT’SAMECCA:Whenregistra-tiontimecamearoundatSantaBarbara City College this fall,

people couldn’t help noticing allthe blond heads and Swedish ac-cents.

Whatwasthatallabout,somewon-dered? How did so many studentsfromasmallScandinaviancountrydecide to study here and not, forexample,Bakersfield?

One Scandinavian student I mettoldmethis:“Comingfromasmallcountry like Sweden, many youngpeople dream of going abroad tostudy.SBCCisoneofthecheapestschoolsforthemtoattend.Wearerequiredtotake12unitsminimumper semester.” (International stu-dentspay$203perunit,ontopofthenormal$26perunittuitionfee

thatCaliforniaresidentspay.)

“ManySwedesdecidetogothroughan organization which cooperateswith SBCC,” the student told me.Therefore, many Swedish studentsgoheretogetthebusiness/market-ingcertificatethatisbeingoffered.The climate alsoplays ahugepartand the fact that so many otherSwedes have been here before, sothey hear about it through family,friends,etc.

Certain classes can be transferredto Sweden, but very few of them.Whengoingthroughthisorganiza-tion, the classes are chosen for thestudents, and they’re guaranteedplaces in the required classes. Butmany Swedes come here just forone semester,only to take randomclasses. A lot of them only take

physicaleducationclasses,andviewthis more as a vacation. In thosecases, none of what they do herewillmatterbackinSweden.

“The Swedish government doesgive them money through some-thingcalledCSN.Theygetaround$2,000persemester.Theycanalsotake up student loans if they needadditionalmoney.”

Actually, the largest internationalstudentgroup is fromChina,with320,comparedwithSweden’s251,according to college spokeswomanJoanGalvan.Andatatimeofstatefunding cutbacks, thehigh tuitionthe students pay is extra incomethathelpsthecollegeofferagreatercourseselection,Galvansaid.They“donotdisplaceorcrowdout”thelocals,shesaid.“Newincomingin-ternationalstudentscannotregisteruntiltwoweekspriortothebegin-ningofthesemester,bywhichtimethe majority of our local studentshasalreadyregistered.

Why So Many Swedes at SBCC?Barney Brantingham , SB Independent October 21, 2010

THEY ARE AFTER THE BUSINESS/MARKETING CERTIFICATE

Community

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Community

All Vikings believe that whatever time we share, whatever money we donate, whatever under-standing we bring to those who need us, all becomes worthwhile when we read the heart-felt thank-you let-ters, when we see the happy young faces and when we receive the hugs of joy and grati-tude from those we help. What children cannot personally thank you for, they acknowledge with a much greater expression of love in our lives.

A Successful Charity With a Proud History

By Aggie Margolis, Contrubuting Writer, The Santa Ynez Valley

SolvangVikingCampwascharteredas abranchof theL.A.Vikings in1974 with a dozen local business-

men. Within 2 years, Viking CharitiesInc.wasborn as a corporation, andhassince operated as a separate entity. It isa social and philanthropic organizationdirectedatdoingcharitablework.

The Vikings are well known for theirsincerecommitmenttothespecialneedsofmedicallydisadvantagedchildrenandadults,andtomedicallyrelatedorganiza-tions within the Santa Barbara County.PartoftheproudVikingheritageisthatevery dollar donated to the Vikings isgiventocharity.

Vikings hold community-level fundrais-ers.Vikingshavepurchasedvans,wheel-chairs,medicalsupplies;theyhaverebuiltpersonalbathroomsforhandicappedac-cess,andfillmostsimilarappropriatere-quests. In some cases, the Vikings havefundedmajormedicalprocedures.SinceinceptionVikingCharitieshasraisedanddistributedmorethan$2milliontolocalindividualsandorganizationswithmedi-callyrelatedneeds.

VIKINGS OF SOLVANG

Community

Board Members elected for a two year term

ViennaChartrandPeterHaslundEinarHovind

ArtKvaasSusanneNagyGlenNeikirkHeidiPoley

CourtlinStokerLilliTragos

BrookeVanDerKarEllenZissler

PresidentPeter Haslund

Vice PresidentEllen Zissler

TreasurerHeidi Poley

Secretary Vienna Chartrand

ASFSB Board & Officers

ASFSBP.O. Box 41502, Santa Barbara, CA 93140

THE PROGRAM COMMITTEEHeidi Poley, Chair

Lilli TragosCindy HollandVibeke Einhorn

Ellen ZisslerHazel Oetjen

June Morrison

Scholarship CommitteeEinarHovind,ChairBrookeVanDerKar

ArtKvaas

OUTREACH COMMITTEESMembership

LilliTragos,ChairEvelyneHoudek

NewslettersPeter Haslund

Susan NagyHeidiBergseteren

PublicityEvelyneHoudek,Chair

EllenZissler

Web siteSusanneNagy

Young VikingsCourtlinStoker

ViennaChartrand