Bridges - November 2010

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L I T H U A N I A N A M E R I C A N N E W S J O U R N A L

n o v e m b e r 2010

bridges


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BRIDGESLithuanian American News Journal

USPS 017131 Published 10 times per year(Jan./Feb. & Jul./Aug. combined).

Address of publication is:LAC, Inc./BRIDGES,

3906 Lakeview Dr., Racine, WI. 53403BRIDGES

is the official publication of theLithuanian American Community, Inc.

National Executive Board

2715 E. Allegheny Ave., Phila., PA 19134Tel: 800- 625 -1170Fax: 856-428-6014

E-mail: Lithuanian [email protected] Consultants

Jeanne Dorr EditorGema Kreivenas Art Director/ProductionRimas Gedeika Treasurer & Subscription Manager

Copyright 2010 Lithuanian American Community, Inc. All rightsreserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced without writ-

ten permission of the publisher. All statements & opinions, includingproduct claims, are those of the organization/advertiser makingthose statements or claims. The publisher does not adopt, or putforth, any such statement or claim as his own, & any such statementor claim does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the publisher.

Address all editorial correspondence to:BRIDGES

Jeanne Dorr4 Shrewsbury Yard,Riverton, NJ 08077-1038E-Mail: [email protected]

For subscription & advertising information,please contact:

LAC, Inc./BRIDGES,

Rimas Gedeika78 Mark Twain Dr.,Hamilton Sq., NJ 08690

Subscription rate is $20.00 annually, 2 full years for$38.00 (US Mail serviced subscribers). Subscriptionsto other addresses are (US $35.00), payable in ad-vance (US funds). Periodicals postage paid at Racine,WI & additional locations.

Contact us on the Internet at:http://www.lithuanian-american.org

Postmaster: Send any address correction &/or changes to:LAC, Inc./BRIDGES,

Rimas Gedeika78 Mark Twain Dr.,

Hamilton Sq., NJ 08690

c o n t e n t s

*Cover: The beautiful Antakalnis Cemetery in Vilnius.

Photo by Julie Skurdenis, Bronxville, NY.

Lithuanian-AmericanCommunity

CONTACT INFORMATION:

WEBSITE

WWW.L I THUAN IAN -AMER ICAN .ORGTELEPHONE

800-625-1170

in this issue

2 editorialLetter from the Editor

Jeanne Dorr

2 lac ChaptersThe Bostonand Seattle,

Lithuanians

4 embassy newsZYGIMANTASPAVILIONIS

New Ambassador ofthe Republic ofLithuania

5 reflectionsTurkey See,Turkey DoIna Bertulyte Bray

7 here at homeARISE/KELKIS

Anthony J. Shalna

8 culturalVytas JonasBaks ysMilda Richardson

9 reflectionsTHE LITHUANIANS

HOMEPart III

English translation andadaptationby Gloria OBrien

9 reflectionsAll Souls DayDanute BrazyteBindokiene

10 historyHistory of the17th LithuanianLancer RegimentHenry L. Gaidis

12 photo albumMosedis,Lithuania

15 educationLISS Heritage

Luke Murphy

16 reflectionsPart VIN THE DEATH-CAMPS &BANISHMENTREMINICENCESJONAS KREIVENAS

18 sportsThe Road toRacing inAmericaRimas Gedeika

21 calendar

T R I V I A QU E S T I O NNo.28

GoddessAuthor: Edward Shakalis

In Lithuanian mythology, who is known as thegoddess of destiny?

(a) Lada (b) Laima (c ) Gabija

Answer to Trivia on page 6


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It was spring in the early 1940s, war time inGerman-occupied Klaipeda. My parents lived on theoutskirts of that city, in Giruliai, a new developmentcarved out of the woods. But the 1939 occupation hadmade us local Lithuanians into foreigners, if not ene-mies, and since Eastern Europeans in the Nazi lexiconwere considered Untermenschen i.e. subhuman, theoppression was harsh.

By that time, World War II was raging on both the West-ern and Eastern fronts, draining Germany of manpowerand resources. The lack of food had become a majorproblem throughout the country, but for us non-Germans,the government-issued ration coupons barely providedenough to stay alive. Whatever the nationality, peoplehad to use all their ingenuity to supplement what wasofficially available. Meat in particular was scarce.Stores rarely carried it, and when they did it wasinstantaneously bought out.

Government policy or not, my younger brother and Iwere growing children and our bodies needed protein.It seemed that in my early years almost every diseaseever discovered had to try out what it could do to me.You name it, I had it: Diphtheria, Whooping Cough,Polio, TB, Measles, and a number of others. We wereboth skinny, frequently anemic. My mother worriedconstantly about our health, yet she could find no wayto get a bigger official meat allotment for us kids.

Then someone suggested a solution: Turkeys are easyto raise, she was told, and provide plenty of meat. Justbecause she had never raised these enormous birds be-fore - she was an elegant, beautiful city girl did notmean that she could not try. Thanks to her resourceful-ness, already there were geese, hens and a rooster wan-dering around in our yard, providing eggs and the veryoccasional roast. Adding a few turkeys should not beproblem.

But before we talk of turkeys, you might ask, why didntmy mother increase the size of the flock of hens orgeese? Government policy again: One was allowedonly a limited number of fowl of each kind. Once theflock exceeded the limit, you had to deliver a certainnumber of eggs and hens or geese to the governmentdistribution center. And to ensure that you complied, aninspector occasionally made a surprise visit, counted

your flock, and confiscated the overage. We neigh-borhood kids were given strict instructions by our par-

ents that, should we see this inspector (and we all knewwho he was), we were to immediately alert other kids.Then we were to dash home, grab a specific number ofhens, stuff them into the grain bin, and lock the lid. Thehens now would find themselves in fodder paradise,

happily and very quietly pecking away, and would besafely hidden until the danger passed.

Back to turkeys. To expand the diversity of her fowl,somewhere my mother acquired six turkey chicks. Nomother turkey to raise them? Never fear. A goose wouldfill the role just fine. After all, it was spring time and oneof our geese had just hatched her own goslings. Addinga few darker cooler chicks to her collection of yellowfluff balls should be no problem. And it wasnt. We kidswould laugh watching momma goose waddle ahead ofthe brood of cheeping hatchlings, with turkey chicks pre-tending to be goslings. Turkeys are notorious for their

stupidity.Goslings grew, turkey chicks grew. They bonded, and ina bunch moved merrily around the yard. All went wellas long as the sun was shining and we were home. Thefeeble-brained, half-grown turkey chicks, however, didnot realize since no one had taught them - that rainand puddles were detrimental to their health. In factwater could make them very sick, and that ignorancenearly did them in.

This is how it happened: One day, my mother went totown. Since it was summer and vacation time,my brother and I went along. The geese, the blended

goose family and the flock of hens, she left locked inthe yard so they would be safe from foxes who mightslink in from the woods across the road. The train wouldbring us back before dark.

We were still in the city when almost without warningthe sky turned black and dumped buckets of rain on us.We knew that at home some of our feathered live-stock, i.e. the hens and rooster instinctively would dashfor cover. But the geese, and mother goose and hergoslings in this deluge would feel in seventh heaven.Water on their feathers and puddles everywhere, whata chance to polish their swimming skills!

The turkeys, however, would be another story. Watchingthe clouds gathering, and no train scheduled to take ushome, my mother was almost frantic knowing whatmight happen to her precious turkey chicks.

When the train finally pulled into our station, we racedhome. I still vividly remember the six sopping teen-ageturkeys, with their dark tails drooping to the ground,standing on the edge of a huge puddle watching abunch of goslings frolicking in the muddy water.

r e f l e c t i o n sTurkey See,

Turkey DoIna Bertulyte Bray


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r e f l e c t i o n sNo doubt, there vanished my mothers visions of moundsof roast meat, nutritious soups, contentedly munchingchildren, and, of course, feathers for new pillows. Butthe look on her face said that she simply would not letthe turkey chicks die.She scooped them all up into her soft shawl and took

them to the kitchen. Out came a huge pot into whichshe quickly packed a pillow. Then she got some aspirin,and vodka. One by one, the turkeys had to say aaah and deftly my mother stuffed a small part of a tabletdown their gullet, followed by an eyedropper-load ofvodka. Her words were if they are going to die, theymight as well die happy. My brother and I watchedwide-eyed! She then arranged the turkey chicks on thepillow in the pot, covered their by now limp bodies witha towel, leaving the long necks dangling almost lifelesslyover the edge. She shoved the pot into the barely warmoven. To me they all looked hopelessly washed up,

dead.We left the kitchen to do other things. It must have beenan hour later when suddenly my mother rememberedthe turkeys. She tore into the kitchen, with us close be-hind. Expecting little corpses in the pillowed pot, sheflung the oven door open: Cheep! Cheep! Cheep!Greeted her. Six small wobbly heads tried to hold them-selves upright, obviously totally drunk, but also quitealive and wondering where the hell they were!I dont know whether they ever repeated their water ex-perience. At least I never witnessed one again. But assummer turned to fall, I do remember some delicious din-

ners, courtesy of these now fully grown, but once ine-briated turkeys. Whenever a goose or a hen in mymothers menagerie had to meet its untimely end,invariably I cried. Why, these had been my loyal play-

mates. Together we had romped around the backyard,we had played games in the sandbox. How many but-tons the geese had pulled off my dress or jacket when Iwas building sandcasts, I could not even count. Thosebackyard birds had given me so many hours of fun andenjoyment. How could I possibly consume them?

The turkeys, however, were quite another matter. Nogames with them. No chasing or be chased by themwithout being nipped, and that hurt! When they hadto go, their extremely limited intelligence and equallydull personalities elicited little sympathy from me.The taste of the feast they provided, far outweighed anyattachment I felt to them.Ina Bertulyte Bray is a past president of the Washington StateLithuanian American Community and a formermember of the National Council ofthe LithuanianAmericanCommunity.

HappyThanksgiving!

Source: Of Gods & Holidays, the Baltic HeritaEdited by Jonas Triinkunas

Laima - goddess of destiny, the all knowing. Asuperior goddess, common to all Balts, was Laime,the goddess of fate. She dispensed human happi-ness and unhappiness, as well as determining theduration of a persons life. She controlled not onlyhuman life but also that of plants and other livingthings. Her name is inseparable from laime,happiness .

Fate usually appears in the shape of this one deity,but is referred to in stories as three or even seven

goddesses of fate, analogous to the Greek moiraeand German Nornen.

In Lithuanian songs she is sometimes called by a

double name Laima-Dalia, happiness-fate. TheLatvians also had Dekla who was very sympatheticto humans, took care of small children, and grievedover the birth of a baby who was destined to havean unhappy life. Laime, though standing close tothe earthly life , is related in her functions to Dievas,the sky god and the Sun.Edward Shakalis is a retired Electrical Engineer and a ham

radio operator. He and his son Rick run The LithuanianOpen golf tournament.

ANSWER TO TRIV IA QUESTIONTrivia Quizon page 3


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s p o r t s

Shortly after Lithuania gained her in-dependence, many of her athletesbegan to feel that their dreams of play-ing professionally might indeed cometrue. And that the best road to attain

that dream was through America.The initial wave of Lithuanian ath-letes taking this road were basketballplayers who were convinced that theway to further refine their skills wasto play on an American college bas-ketball team. Going this route wouldgive them a better chance to play inthe NBA, or if not in the NBA, thenin Europe's Division I.

For some, their long sought dreamsdid come true - Darius Songaila,

Saru- nas Jasikevicius, Linas Kleiza -played in the NBA, while many more played in Europe's Division I. Inaddition to this group of college NBAbasketball players, there was anothergroup of very talented, older playerswho had already become stars in theEurope and who were eagerly soughtby the NBA teams. They were: Arvydas

Sabonis, Saru-nas Marciulionas,Zydru-nas Ilgauskas and in theWomen's NBA, Jurgita Strimeikyte.

Basketball players were not the onlygroup to play on American profes-sional teams. Lithuania also had

players in the NH-Dainius Zubrius,and Darius Kasparaitis.

Bicycle Racers

A far less known group of athletes,but just as talented as the NBA andNHL players were the bicycle racers.For a small country, Lithuania hasproduced many world class bicycleracers-three women's world champi-ons - Diana Ziliute, Edita Pucinskaiteand Jolanta Polikevciu- te, a third place

finisher in the 2002 Tour de France,Raimondas Rumsa, and several worldtrack bicycle champions.

Although they and many otherLithuanian bicyclists have raced onthe best European professional racingteams, none have raced on the topAmerican racing teams. This allchanged in the year 2010.

In January 2010, Colavita-Baci, oneof the top three American profes-sional bicycle racing teams, invitedModesta Vzesniauskaite to join itsranks. Thus, Modesta become thefirst Lithuanian to become a member

of an American professional bicycleracing team.

M. Vzesniauskait e was born twentysix years ago in Paneve zys, the bicy-cle racing capital of Lithuania. Shestarted racing when she was twelveyears old and in the process has wonnumerous Lithuanian and Europeanage group titles.

In 2004 Modesta turned professional,racing on some of the best German,Italian, French and Swiss racing

teams and in the process, becomingone of the elite international racers.

The year 2008 was an especially memo-rable one for Modesta Vzesniauskaite.That year she not only won theLithuanian Women's Race Champi-onship, but she also represented Lithua-nia in the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Modesta at her very best. Photo by Jonathan Devich

Relaxing after the gruelingLiberty Classic Race

Photo by Rimas Gedeika

The Road toRacing in

AmericaRimas Gedeika


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s p o r t s

Colavita-Baci Racing Team

Racing for the Colavita -Baci teamModesta has been successful. Sheplaced third in three races, helped theColavita-Baci team win third place inthe Philadelphia's Liberty Classic,won third place in Ottawa, and inAugust she helped the team win the

National Racing Calendar Title.The Liberty Classic

Every year, one of the most presti-gious bicycle races in America, theLiberty Classic, takes places inPhiladelphia, Pa. It is America'sbiggest and longest running one daybike race.

This year (May 30th), on a very, hot,humid morning, 120 of the world'sfinest women's international bicyclistset out to challenge the rugged, hilly

course. Besides having to overcomethe sweltering heat, the riders had toconquer the very long, very, steep"Manayunk Wall" - not once, butthree times !!

Colavita - Baci was one of the fa-vorites to win the race. And, it wasModesta's heroic effort, on the finalclimb up the "Manayunk Wall," that

almost brought them the victory.

As the team approached the lastclimb up the "Wall," Modesta's fronttire developed a flat. The team's sup-

porting staff quickly changed the tireand Modesta began to frantically pedal after her teammates. Shecaught them just as they began toclimb the "Wall." Being a very stronghill racer she did not hesitate for asecond, but continued her charge upthe hill, pulling her teammates along.At the top of the hill, Modesta wascompletely exhausted, but her gallantefforts pulled her teammates into agood position for the final surge tothe finish line.

Colavita - Baci got third place -- thedistance separating them from thewinner was less than one half of theradius of the bicycle wheel.

Why race in America?

After the race I had an opportunity totalk to Modesta about why shewanted to race in America. She saidthat for years she had raced through-out Europe and that she alwayswanted to experience racing and

living in the USA and when the oppor-tunity presented itself -- she took it.

To get acclimated to her newsurroundings was not an easy task.Her biggest problem was that she didnot speak English. To overcome thisobstacle she received great support

from her teammates and the team'smanagement. As big as this problemwas, it did not affect Modesta's rac-ing skills. Day after day her resultscontinued to improve. They showedthat Colavita - Baci did not make amistake in signing her. Shortly afterthe start of the racing season Modestabecame a starter on the team.

Future Goals

As to her future, Modesta, in

September, traveled to Australia torepresent Lithuania in the Women'sWorld Championships, and in 2012she hopes to once again representLithuania in the Olympic Games inLondon.

Rimas Gedeika lives in New Jersey and isa member of the National Executive Com-mittee of the Lithuanian American Com-munity serving as Vice-President forSpecial Projects. He is also active in theLithuanian Sports Community and is the

administrator of Bridges.

Modesta preparing to race in theLiberty Classic.

Photo by Rimas Gedeika

Modesta leading the way Photo by Jonathan Devich

Bridges - November 2010

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