This was a very intersting exhibit. As a mathematician (and geek), I was very interested in the Astronomicum Caesareum books. Henry VIII had a large and impressive book collection
Monday, February 27, 2023
Henry VIII Book Collection at Cleveland Museum of Art
International Mother Language Day
International Mother Language Day is a worldwide annual observance held on February 21 to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and to promote multilingualism. The idea to celebrate International Mother Language Day was the initiative of Bangladesh.
A ceremony was held in the Rotunda of Cleveland City Hall on February 24, 2023 to commemorate and educate.
We have coverage (video and pictures) of the entire event spread over 3 pages
International Mother Language Day Main Page
International Mother Language Day Page 2
International Mother Language Day People Page
The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England - Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art opened a new exhibit - The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England - which is the first exhibition in the US to trace the transformation of the arts in Tudor England.
It includes huge tapestries that fill entire walls, suits of armor, sculptures, portraits and more.
The Tudor dynasty ruled for only three generations but it transformed England from a land devastated by the War of the Roses to a major player in Europe and eventually the rest of the world. This exhibit covers the larger than life personas of Henry VII, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.
Tudor Family Tree
Photos and videos of the Tudors Exhibit at CMA.
Watch my video walkthrough of the exhibit.
Another Syrian Garden Vigil
| Syrian Garden Vigil |
As of February 21, more than 50,000 deaths had been reported and hundreds of thousands displaced and injured. It is a tragedy of immense proportion. As a gesture of support and reflection, the Board of the Syrian Cultural Garden endorsed holding a vigil event at the Garden on February 19, 2023. A list of active civic organizations that are involved in humanitarian relief efforts were provided to the attendees. Watch a video and see photos from the Vigil |
Ceata Romanian Folk Ensemble
Ceata Romanian Folk Ensemble is a cultural dance group led by founder and director Mariana Somogyi and dance instructor and choreographer Ovidiu Ghioda. They performed three dances from the Fagaraa region in Transylvania Romania at the annual Slovenian Kurentovanje Festival in the Slovenian National Home in Cleveland Ohio.
Ceata Romanian Folk Ensemble dancers at Kurentovanje
Kurentovanje Festival
The annual Cleveland version of the most popular carnival in Slovenia - Kurentovanje - was a week long event featuring cooking demos, language instruction, a dance party, fun run and more. But the highlight was the annual Kurentovanje Parade followed by the festival celebration on Saturday February 18, 2023.
Kurentovanje Queen Eva Ozbolt Kisley (born in 1921!)
and Prince Blaz Vavpetic
See lots of photos and videos from Kurentovanje
Paczki Day - and Favorite Paczki in Cleveland
Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent which is 40 days of fasting. That used to mean only one meal a day and full fasting on Friday. (It's been greatly relaxed in modern times but Fridays are still meat-free). Rich foods were not allowed. So the Tuesday before Lent, people of Poland used up their eggs, butter, sugar and fruit by treating themselves one last time before Lent began. Ash Wednesday is on February 22 this year. That means February 21st is Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday - and Paczki Day! Another popular Polish-American tradition is celebrated the week before (February 16 this year) with Fat Thursday or Tlusty Czwartek (pronounced Twoosti Chvartek).
But Paczki (punch-key) Day has become much more than a Polish-American tradition. And nobody does it better than Rudy's Strudel in Parma where lines will form early and continue all day. People will ask for paczkis, not realizing that paczki is already the plural of paczek (punch-ek).
Lidia Trempe - Favorite Paczki Award
Kurentovanje Parade
The annual Slovenian Kurentovanje Parade in Cleveland Ohio was held Saturday February 18, 2023. The large Kurents (kurenti) are there to scare away winter and usher in spring. Thousands lined the street near the Slovenian National Home at 64th and St. Clair to watch the Parade and then have music, food, dancing, drinks and lots of fun with the Kurents and thousands of people of Slovenian heritage - at least for the day.
Here are some video highlights from the Parade
See more photos and video from the 2023 Kurentovanje Parade
Prayer Vigil for Turkey and Syria
| Prayer Vigil for Turkey and Syria |
| Members of the Turkish and Syrian communities in Cleveland Ohio gathered with family, friends and supporters in the Syrian Cultural Garden on MLK Blvd. on the evening of Friday February 10, 2023. Leena Zahra from the Syrian community and Mehmet Gencer from the Turkish community spoke at a prayer vigil lit by candles. One young lady holding a picture of her best friend who was killed in the earthquake told how her friends and family back in Syria were reporting that dozens of family members had been killed. The crowd learned of suggested places to donate funds and foods and prayed for the victims.  Photos and videos from the vigil |
Fun with Maps - Carpathian Mountains and Rusyns
In this episode of Fun with Maps, host Dan Hanson looks at the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathian Mountains are in Eastern Europe and form an arc through several countries including Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Czech Republic, Austria, and Serbia. Important cities such as Kraków (Poland), Bratislava (Slovakia) and Cluj-Napoca (Romania) are in or near the Carpathians.
What is most interesting about the Carpathians are the people who come from there. You may hear them called Rusyns, Rutheni, Ruthenes, Carpatho-Rusyns or another variation but basically they are an East Slavic ethnic group from the Eastern Carpathians in Central Europe. They speak Rusyn, an East Slavic language variety, treated variously as either a distinct language or a dialect of the Ukrainian language.
The Rusyns are inexorably linked to the Carpathian Mountains and vice versa. The Rusyns do not have a specific country to call home. The traditional homeland of the Rusyn people, Carpathian Rus', lies in the heart of the Carpathian Mountains, on the borders of modern-day Ukraine, Poland, and Slovakia. Today, approximately three-quarters of Rusyns reside within Ukraine, specifically the geographic region known as Transcarpathia (historic Subcarpathian Rus') The United States holds the largest population of Rusyns outside of Carpathian Rus', mostly within the former industrial centers of the Northeastern and Midwestern United States like Ohio and Pennsylvania. At the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, approximately 225,000 Rusyns immigrated to the US. This video also covers Aleksander Dukhnovich who is a sort of 'George Washington' of the Rusyns. He is famous for saying "I was, am, and always will be a Rusyn."
This part of Europe has had tremendous geopolitical changes over the years even through the 20th century with the world wars and the forming of Czechoslovakia and dissolution of Yugoslavia and other factors. You will see why Carpatho-Ukraine has been called The One Day Republic. The Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine existed for just one day on March 15, 1939, before it was occupied and annexed by Hungary. The most famous Carpatho-Ukrainian might be Andy Warhol, the pop artist who pioneered the concept of 'fifteen minutes of fame'.
See more Fun with Maps episodes
Black History Month Flag Raising Celebration
For 50 years the City of Cleveland has celebrated Black History Month with a Flag Raising Celebration.
African Flag over Cleveland City Hall
Despite brutally cold temperatures the crowd marched outside singing and chanting "Ashay". Joining in were Mayor Justin Bibb, Community Relations leader Angela Shute-Woodson and Khalid Samad from Peace in the Hood. After witnessing the flag raised above Cleveland City Hall the crowd went back inside for the rest of the program which included music, speeches, poems, food, community resources and more.
Khalid Samad speaks at Flag Raising
Mayor Justin Bibb with Buffalo Soldiers MC members
See photos and videos of the Flag Raising Event
Saturday, December 24, 2022
Fun with Maps – Condominiums all over the Globe
In this episode of Fun with Maps, host Dan Hanson explains a new meaning of a common word that applies to maps and international law – condominium. (No, it's not what you think)
He looks at maps of Antarctica, Pheasant Island, Sudan, the Gulf of Fonseca and Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador, Colombia, Jamaica, Andorra, Cyprus, Bosnia, Croatia, New Hebrides – Vanuatu, Hans Island, Togo and even the Oregon Territory in the US.
He also looks at some proposed new condominiums that would involve Australia, England, Spain, Gibraltar, Israel, Palestine and Northern Ireland. He predicts that you will never again hear the word ‘condominium’ again and just think of a building with shared units.
See more Fun with Maps episodes
Monday, December 19, 2022
Annual Magnum Holiday Lunch
Each year we like to gather an eclectic group of friends and business associates for a holiday lunch. Media, non-profits, politicians, business and, of course, lots of our ethnic cultural friends were all represented.
The food and atmosphere at Emperor's Palace in Old Chinatown is always terrific and they opened up just for our 70 or so guests.
See lots of photos of attendees
Who do you recognize?
 |
| Margaret Wong |
 |
| Dawn Kendrick and Ingrida Bublys |
 |
| Dick Pogue and Alex Machaskee |
Nela Park GE Lighting Holiday Light Display 2022
Nela Park is the headquarters of GE Lighting, located in East Cleveland, Ohio. Nela Park was the first industrial park in the world and was home to most of the lighting breakthroughs of the last century.
Thomas Edison was a founder. Albert Einstein and other notables visited. Dan Hanson was raised in East Cleveland and his family visited the world-famous Christmas lighting display every Christmas season. You used to be able to drive through the campus but in recent years the display is all along Noble Rd.
He takes us on a video tour of the 2022 display.
Sunday, December 04, 2022
Fun with Maps - The Underground Railroad
In this episode of Fun with Maps host Dan Hanson looks at a very special map – a map that wasn’t recorded because it was dangerous to do so. It’s the map of the Underground Railroad.
The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early 1800s to help slaves escape into free states and Canada. It was run by abolitionists and others sympathetic to the cause of the escapees. Ohio had many stops on the Underground Railroad. Canada was an ultimate destination since they had abolished slavery in 1793. The short distance across Lake Erie from Cleveland to Canada made the city a popular destination. Cleveland was codenamed Hope on the Underground Railroad and the ultimate destination was Port Stanley in Ontario Canada which was codenamed Praise the Lord.
We recorded this episode at the Cozad-Bates House at the corner of Mayfield and East 115th Street in University Circle (just north of the Little Italy Neighborhood) in Cleveland. It is the only surviving pre-Civil War building in University Circle. The house has been restored by a non-profit called Restore Cleveland Hope and we spoke with board members and docents Kevin Cronin and Kathryn Puckett to examine the maps.
We began with a map of Cleveland Ohio in 1957 and then widened to a map of the Western Reserve which shows how close (50 miles!) Canada is to Cleveland. Then we looked at Underground Railroad maps in Ohio. Experts say there were more routes to Canada through Ohio than anywhere else. This included the town near Cincinnati which was the setting for the book which influenced Abraham Lincoln, Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
We looked at St. John’s Church, still in existence at West 28th and Church in Cleveland. This Church has been documented as a site that house slaves on the Underground Railroad. We heard about John Brown the black barber who operated on Cleveland’s Public Square. And Kathryn reminded us that where her family came from in Oklahoma was very different than in Ohio because Ohio was a free state and Oklahoma wasn’t a state until 1907.
Finally we see how the geography played a role. The slightly elevated terrain let people spot slave catchers and the location on Doan Brook which emptied into Lake Erie was ideal for escaping.
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
Fun with Maps - Greenalnd
The story is that Erik the Red named the ice covered Greenland and the green covered Iceland that way to attract settlers to Greenland and dissuade them from coming to Iceland.
In this episode of Fun with Maps host Dan Hanson looks at that story about naming the largest island in the world, Greenland. (Isn’t Australia bigger? Watch and find out).
Many are surprised that Greenland is part of North America and part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Greenland is 80% covered with ice and has historically, and currently, been affected by changes to the climate.
After the US bought Alaska from Russia in the 1860’s, Secretary of State William Seward tried to buy Greenland and Iceland. Congress voted it down. Other attempts by the US to buy Greenland have also been rejected.
Sunday, October 30, 2022
Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network (MAGNET) Open House
For more than 30 years, the Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network (MAGNET) has been providing Northeast Ohio manufacturers with the guidance they need to achieve long-term success. They service 18 counties in Northeast Ohio and consult on a wide range of manufacturing needs to create jobs and drive change by collaborating with manufacturing CEOs, governments, community leaders and educators to solve problems and build opportunities.
The grand opening was October 27, 2022 and the next day Great Lakes Geek Dan Hanson took a walk through the amazing new facility. As you will see, there are robots, arc welders, tools for forming metal, grinders, vacuum lifts, 3D printers, injection molding, die cutting and much more. Plus state of the art classrooms and information showing the well-paying job and career opportunities in manufacturing.
Watch the quick walk-through.
What happens when liquid nitrogen and boiling water are combined?
A team from the Great Lakes Science Center was on hand at the MAGNET open house in Cleveland. MAGNET is a non-profit consulting group focused on growing Northeast Ohio's manufacturing industry and they have a great new facility at 63rd and Chester in Cleveland.
In this demo liquid nitrogen at -320 degrees Fahrenheit was poured into a container and then boiling water at 212 degrees was poured in. Watch the cool (or hot?) reaction.
MAGNET Community Playground
For more than 30 years, the Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network (MAGNET) has been providing Northeast Ohio manufacturers with the guidance they need to achieve long-term success. The grand opening of a new facility was October 27, 2022 and the next day Great Lakes Geek Dan Hanson took a walk through. This included the very cool playground for the community.
While the kids are having fun and getting exercise they are also learning. For example they can ride the seesaw but adjust the weights on either side and see what happens. Or they learn that a swing is really just a pendulum. They can try to lift the heavy container of bowling balls by pulling on ropes and can determine if the closer or farther ropes work better. There is a zip line and great things to climb on and more. Take a look in this video.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)