The Word for June

First of all let me welcome a new author. Her name is Lada and you can find her text on the website.

It is June 1st, the International Children´s Day. On the radio an editor is interviewing a psychologist about how different today´s children are because they are brought up by a new, unrestricted generation.

Right now they are speaking about corporal punishment. They both agree that it is humiliating to give a child a smack in the face, but slapping the bottom can sometimes be perfect educational means. I fully agree. When I looked after my two-year-old great granddaughter Magdalenka for the first time, she refused to give me her hand while crossing the street. After my slapping her little bottom and telling her this will happen when she does not obey me, she inserted her little hand into my big one every time we came near a road.

I enjoy looking after this lively little creature once or twice a week. I admire her energy when she is jumping on my bed and singing or reciting extracts from some TV programs for children, or her wonderful questions, like e.g. “Look at me, is my body growing?”

Kids are amazing, much cleverer than adults, as actor Jaroslav Dušek says in his performances. According to him adults shower us with rules, information and rites from their original families, orders or even threats at first and then it takes us years to get rid of this burden.

I am happy to have three fine children, four grandsons and four granddaughters (all of them more or less adult now) and two great grandchildren. Children are a joy.

Now a few words about the magazine: I have sent an article about the Czech Roots on the internet – a brief summary of their origin and presence. Reactions to it are coming. I am going to write another article about them. On Tuesday there will be the first night of a film about our countrymen in Vancouver given at the City Library (Městská knihovna). Surely you have received an invitation. I am going there too.

My technology is limited these days. Please, send your emails to my address: strizovska seznam.cz. Those sent to cesky-dialog do not get through to me, I have no idea why. At the moment there is building going on in my new flat at Dobříš, so I am staying at our weekend house, which causes more problems as I cannot get emails and I can only look at the website cesky dialog. But I can write, which is important. Today even my mobile phone refused to work and only promised to accept emergency calls. But luckily it changed its mind a while ago and now it is back to normal.

But not being able to sit at my computer all day has its advantages too. For example I have sowed beans, green peas and other green plants. I did not have to water them as it has been raining for several days. So, mushrooms might grow. Surely they will. Yesterday I found one.

When I cannot sleep at night, I remember my recent trip to Marina and other friends at Kostelni Mlyn in Sweden. What a beauty it was! Perhaps you have already read about it in CD. And I am working on the promised texts about musician Ivan Hajniš and artist Míla Drunecká.

Have a lovely June. ( I will try to do so too).

Eva Střížovská

Foto: Jaroslav Dušek with children