Category Archives: politics

events, International Women's Day, news, politics, Uncategorized, women's, writing

10 Actions in 100 Days

January 24, 2017 emmapalova Leave a comment

IW Inspiring Women Sharon Ellison

Note: This IW winter series features inspiring women from all walks of life who strive to make a difference in other people’s lives.

orchids-log

The difference in the society these women make is not measured by money or accolades they receive. It is measured by the progress in the society, because we as a nation cannot go backwards.

The IW series which leads up to the International Women’s Day on March 8th was also inspired by a dedication note on “365 ways to Relax mind, body & soul” from my son Jake:

“I dedicate this to my inspiring and motivational mother.” -Kuba

Nominate a woman who has made a difference in your life for this series.

Lowell woman shows passion for human rights, marches in Washington

Name: Sharon Ellison

Residence: Lowell, MI

Occupation: retired from Lowell Area Schools

Family: husband Tony, sons Steve and Tony

Interests: travelling, art

Education: bachelor’s from Central Michigan University

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Lowell, MI – It was a solid wall to wall crowd between the main route on Independence Avenue and 14^th Street, where Lowell resident Sharon Ellison and team ended up last Saturday during the Women’s March in Washington D.C.

“We could not reach the main parade on Independence and Third Street, because it was a solid wall of people,” Ellison said. “There was no break in the crowd.”

So, instead the team made their way to 14^th Street were the parade was headed.

“I felt fenced in,” she said. “There were solid walls of people all around us.”

However, in spite of the crowds, the march was peaceful, according to Ellison.

“Everyone was respectful and polite,” she said. “There were only three police cars. We were looking out for each other. I did not feel vulnerable.”

There was a woman who went into labor and an ambulance had to make its way through the crowds.

But there were also some embarrassing moments like when someone questioned why women from Michigan were at the march.

“I felt sad for Michigan, whose electoral votes were for Trump,” Ellison said.

The crowds in Washington D.C. were estimated at 250,000, while worldwide around three million protestors gathered in major cities.

Ellison and other women carried signs bearing the name of those who couldn’t come: whether live or in memory of. Ellison gathered 74 signatures including memorial signatures of late family members.

“I felt those women were with me that day,” she said. “The atmosphere was peaceful, everyone wanted to be present.”

Ellison is no stranger to the Lowell community located at the confluence of Flat and Grand Rivers in northeast Kent County known as “The next place to be.”

Ellison, who is now retired, worked for the Lowell Middle School for 16 years, and she served on the Lowell City Council for eight years.

In the 1990s, Ellison with husband Tony had a video store in different locations around town.

Ellison enjoys travelling around the world and getting to know other cultures.

However, due to the events of the previous 19 months of the presidential campaign, Ellison felt she needed to do more than just complain.

“I went to D.C. for the Women’s March out of fear of what might happen,” she said.

Fountain Street Church of Grand Rapids organized last Saturday’s trip to Washington D.C. However, the charter buses were sold out early on, so the church also organized a local Women’s March in Grand Rapids.

“By sharing our experiences, writing to our representatives and making phone calls, we’re going to keep the movement going,” said Ellison on the future of the movement.

Ellison said there is no way of going back in protecting human rights.

“If any group is marginalized, we all lose,” she said. “We can’t go back.”

iw-postcard-preview

Unlike at the inauguration on Jan. 20, the metro trains were packed, according to Ellison.

“We rode the metro, but we had trouble getting in,” she said. “We were met by walls of people. The best we could do was to march on 14^th Street to Constitution Avenue. It was amazing, you could hear the wave of people moving.”

Ellison said she went to the Women’s March in Washington for the same reason, she ran for a seat on the Lowell city council in 2015.

“I did stand up to make a difference,” she said. “I don’t want to be just politically correct. You get tired of banging your head against the wall.”

Ellison’s biggest pet peeve are bullies in any environment.

“I couldn’t tolerate it at work, as a child, or as a politician,” she said. “We wanted to send a definite message that this is not okay.”

And it’s time for action.

“We’ve gone past words,” she said. “We have to do something. This is the upside of the downside.”

Other women present in D.C. from the Grand Rapids area along with Ellison were: Nancy Misner, Alice Harwood, Kathy Sainz, Maria Lara, Nancy Misner, Shelli Otten.

Join 10 actions for the first 100 Days.

For more info go to http://www.womensmarch.com

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community, events, inspiration, Inspiring Women, politics, Uncategorized, women's

Local women march in Washington D. C.

January 21, 2017 emmapalova 1 Comment

Women from Michigan march in Washington for Women’s Rights

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Lowell, MI – Women from all over the USA and the UK gathered in different places to march for Women’s Rights on Saturday, just one day after the inauguration of president, Mr. Donald Trump.

Lowell resident Sharon Ellison, former mayor pro-tem for the city of Lowell, is among the many women voicing their rights in the historical march following the inauguration.

Three weeks prior to the event, the charter buses from Grand Rapids heading for the Women’s March were sold out.

Local marches are currently being held in Grand Rapids and Lansing.

Ellison is representing many local women carrying a sign with their signatures.

John Grote, editor at Discovery Communications, commented on Facebook:

“I am perplexed at the media coverage or should I say lack of as of this morning of the Women’s March,” he wrote. “I get the National Prayer service is important, but history is being made.”

Pictured in the feature photo are from left to right: Alice Harwood, Kathy Sainz, Maria Lara, Nancy Misner, Sharon Ellison and Shelli Otten, principal of Cherry Creek Elementary in Lowell.

One of the organizers from Fountain Street Church was Rev. Jason Hubbard.

For more information go to: http://www.womensmarch.com

Follow @EmmaPalova #emmapalova #ewwriting #womenmarch

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events, immigration, inspiration, politics, Uncategorized, Velvet Revolution

27. November 1989

November 27, 2016 emmapalova Leave a comment

A step back in time to Monday Nov. 27 in 1989

Lowell, MI- It was Monday under the sign of Sagittarius as George W. Bush took the presidential torch from Ronald Reagan.

It was also the release of “Christmas Vacation” with Chevy Chase and John Grisham topped the bestselling list with his “A Time to Kill.” Two major tragedies set 1989 apart from the rest: the massacre at Tiananmen Square and the Exxon-Valdez oil spill.

Just as the world lost Salvador Dali in 1989, Taylor Swift was born, according to takemebackto.com.

“That Monday morning I dressed up warm in my Benetton jacket adorned with an tricolor ribbon, a red, white and blue sweater and jeans. I made a quick snack for the four-hour trip from Zlin to Prague. It was probably an old croissant with salami.

I boarded the 6 a.m. train to Prague called “Citron” packed with young people in the standing room only aisles.

As daylight broke into the dark morning, I felt the crisp air from the outside brush my red cheeks. Exhausted from the events of the past few months, I didn’t sleep much. I was shaking and not just from the November chill.

The last 10 days since the Nov. 17 student demonstrations in Prague were filled with political turmoil and uncertainty. I was either glued to the TV much like the entire nation or demonstrating on the town square in Zlin.

The communist regime has already fallen in the neighboring Poland. We all supported the Polish leader of revolution, Lech Walesa along with our own dissident Vaclav Havel and the Civic Forum (CF) that led the movement for freedom. This movement entered modern history as the Velvet Revolution, lasting from Nov. 17 through Dec. 10, 1989.

The mass media in former Czechoslovakia informed the nation about the General Strike on Nov. 27 in Prague and all the major cities.

Front row from left to right: grandparents Anna & Joseph. Top row: Eliska and Anna.

This is my story.

“Please participate in the strike,” the media encouraged, “or if you cannot hold solidarity with the people on strike.”

That Monday, a nation that could not agree on anything, walked out of universities, factories and offices to show the power of the people.

Twenty-seven years later sitting behind my desk on a Sunday morning in rural America, while it’s still dark outside, I ask myself:

“What if the manifestation went violent like in Tiananmen Square?”

I left that trail of thought untouched.

As we disembarked from the train at the art nouveau Prague Main Station, like a river, the crowds flowed into the Wenceslas Square. 300,000 people howled in the square from noon to 2 p.m. holding their arms up with hands in the peace sign.

“Havel to the castle,” I chanted along with the crowds.

We wanted the poet, the playwright and the dissident Havel, to become the next president of Czechoslovakia, as we rang our keys and little bells.

That ring magnified by millions across the nation signified that the hour of freedom has arrived after years of darkness and oppression.

For Havel, it was an uneasy progression from a communist jail cell to the Hradcany Castle, over the last two decades since the Prague Spring in 1968.

I’ve always been claustrophobic, and the moving crowd made me nauseous. The defunct communist leadership under President Gustav Husak met most of the demands of the Civic Forum (CF), so the demonstration ended peacefully.

I remember heading into one of the pubs on the Lesser Square aka Mala Strana on the other side of the Vltava River. Havel frequented that area, and in 1994 as the president of Czech Republic, visited one of the pubs with the former USA president Bill Clinton.

Meanwhile, a different story was transpiring on the home front on that gloomy Monday. The late afternoon train took me back to hometown Zlin.

My grandpa Joseph passed from lung cancer at the Vizovice Hospital of Merciful Friars after steadily deteriorating for six months.

In one of the last conversations held at the white hospital room, that smelled of a heavy disinfectant agent, grandpa asked me about his beloved ranch. That is the house at 111 Krnovska Street in Vizovice that I inherited in grandpa’s will. Together, with husband Ludek and daughter Emma, we spent many delightful years at the ranch.

“You know I had to sell it, so I can leave the country,” I explained patiently for the 100^th time.

After selling all my worldly possessions as a condition to emigration, I was holding tight onto my exit visa to the USA. Ludek was waiting for his emigration visa in Pabneukirchen, Austria.

“The ranch is in good hands of a person who loves it,” I reassured grandpa.

“Who is it?” grandpa whispered in pain.

“It’s Eugene,” I said in equal emotional pain.

“Mr. Drabek, do you want your yogurt,” asked a nurse traditionally dressed in blue with white apron and a starched white hat.”

“No,” sighed grandpa turning away from us.

…………………………………………………………….I remained in the country until Dec. 22.”

What’s your story?

In the pictures: Top, late Vaclav Havel lays flowers at the Velvet Revolution memorial on Wenceslas Square in Prague.

Bottom: Grandpa Joseph Drabek with wife Anna, daughters left to right: Ella & Anna.

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For more stories on Velvet Revolution go to https://wordpress.com/post/emmapalova.com/172636

For more info on certain dates go to takemebackto.com

events, immigration, politics, Uncategorized

27th Anniversary of Velvet Revolution

November 17, 2016 emmapalova 1 Comment

Masses commemorate 27^th anniversary of Velvet Revolution in Czech Republic in march for freedom

By Emma Palova

Lowell, MI- I watched the live stream from the demonstrations commemorating the 27^th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution in Czech Republic with mixed feelings as they turned into protests against the current government. That is mainly against the third president of the Czech Republic, Milos Zeman.

Only yesterday hundreds of college students walked out against the President-elect Donald Trump in the USA following high school students’ and citizens’ protests across the nation.

In a time of political unrest all over the world, I attempt to dissect everything impartially. I don’t know if it is always possible to be totally without any bias because I don’t live in social isolation.

“Milos into the trash,” reverberated the crowds marching from the Prague Castle Square known as “Hradcany” across the Manes Bridge over the Vltava River and onto the Wenceslas Square. A stage was set up by the King Wenceslas statue for a concert for freedom in the evening.

At times the crowds used the 1989 slogan of the Velvet Revolution, “It’s already here,” That was a reference to the movement started by students in memory of the death of Jan Opletal by the Nazis in 1939.

ew-vaclav-havel-head

“We don’t want another totality,” was the message for the Nov. 17, 2016 events. “It’s already here.”

“It was always here, then and now,” I say while watching the history repeat itself.

I was still in Czechoslovakia in that critical period of time from Nov. 17 to Dec. 10, when the communist officials including former president Gustav Husak resigned under pressure.

A democratic coalition and an economic forum led by former dissident Vaclav Havel replaced the dictatorship.

I was finalizing my emigration to the USA to join my parents and my husband, who had already left the homeland for Austria in 1988.

I dedicate a few chapters in the Greenwich Meridian © memoir to this difficult time in my life, when I was living alone with my kids. My grandfather Joseph Drabek was already in the hospital dying from lung cancer.

In those 23 days from Nov. 17 to Dec. 10, 1989, I learned more than I have learned in all the schools: past and present, physical or virtual.

I’ve learned that a change in the society is possible as long as enough people want it, and if they are willing to stand behind their beliefs in face of adversity by taking action.

The 1989 demonstrations for freedom from the communist dictatorship spread across the country. I was standing together with thousands of others on the town squares in the cold November nights, sporting the tri-color ribbons on the lapel of my coat.

My friend Zuzana was watching my two-and-a-half year old son Jake in the stroller, while her boyfriend was speaking from the podium.

We all took part in the change. It didn’t happen by itself. And it didn’t happen overnight. It started with the political movement for the reformation of the communist party known as the “Prague Spring” in 1968.

The Velvet Revolution was 21 years in the making since the Soviet tanks invaded the country to punish the reformers including Havel. Even in prison, Havel, known as the poet of democracy, never gave up.

I’ve learned that anything is possible including my highly improbable exit from the politically torn Czechoslovakia.

I’ve learned that we are stronger than we think, and that we have to make decisions that will impact other people, as well.

Speaking about decision-making.

I was standing on the brink of freedom, with exit visa in my drawer, shaking with cold and not just from the November night, but from the things to come.

The CTK Czech Press Office covered the demonstrations in Prague.

To be continued……..

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politics, Uncategorized

Dissent after election 2016

November 11, 2016 emmapalova Leave a comment

Election 2016 is the biggest political upset in generations

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Grand Rapids, MI- I am no stranger to dissent. I participated in the demonstrations leading up to the Velvet Revolution in former Czechoslovakia in November of 1989.

The historic protest was against the dictatorship of the Communist Party, its leaders in the Czechoslovak government and their hardline policies instituted after Prague Spring in 1968.

The demonstrations culminated on Nov. 17, 1989 when students and actors took to the streets of Prague, followed by 10 days of chaos. Those 10 days in the history of Czechoslovakia led both countries, Czech and Slovak republics to freedom.

Flabbergasted, I watched the demonstrations in downtown Grand Rapids last night. Just four days ago on election eve, hundreds lined up on the bridge crossing the Grand River for Mr. Donald Trump’s last rally of the 2016 presidential campaign.

“This is our Independence Day,” he said to the crowd on Monday, Nov. 7th at 11 p.m.

Rural small town America — Rural America helps President-Elect Donald Trump to victory.

On Thursday night, hundreds of unhappy people took to the streets waving signs that read: “Trump is not my president.”

“Why are they protesting?” asked the TV anchor.

“We want to show other people that they are not alone,” said a protester in the streets.

“Alone in what?” asked the reporter.

“That Trump is not our president,” the guy said. “My vote didn’t count.”

The guy was referring to the fact that Presiden-Elect Trump won the electoral vote, but not the popular vote.

In other cities in the USA and Canada, the demonstrations mostly in front of Mr. Trump’s properties, turned into riots accompanied by violence.

Facebook has always been a good gauge of public sentiment. On election day, 700 million posts were election related.

“I didn’t go and protest when my candidate wasn’t elected,” posted G. E. “And I didn’t even vote for Trump or Hillary.”

In 2000 when Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore got the popular vote, but not the electoral vote and George W. Bush won the election, I didn’t go and protest.

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during a rally.

I accepted the results of the democratic election process including the electoral college that propelled Mr. Bush into the White House. I don’t remember other disappointed people protesting either.

Actually W. was the only sitting American president whom I saw in Chicago at the Saint Pat’s parade after the 911 horror. I was happy to see the president of the USA. I didn’t care that he was a GOP president, that it was brisk and cold, and you had to go through security or that W. walked only a few hundred feet.

I never lost that respect to the office of the President of the USA., no matter who holds it.

In an interview with the founders of Americas Community Voices Network (ACVN) Donald & Ronald Brookins of Tampa, FL I asked the question:

“How will you accept the results either way whether your candidate wins or loses?”

“I will respond in the same way,” Donald said, “God bless our new President and God bless the United States of America.”

““The winner will be my President and the leader of the free world,” Ronald said.

The polls had major influence on the decision making of most voters.

“What kind of an impact did the polls make on your decision?”

“The polls created a sense of urgency that it was critical to vote and to encourage others to vote,” Ronald said.

“The polls allowed me to decide who was winning the election, “Donald said. “They are a good indicator of possible results.”

In the end, it was the huge turnout in the rustic belt of America and rural voters, who felt the current administration was ignoring them.

Previous GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney did not get the same numbers that Mr. Trump did in the rustic belt states known as the firewall.

“He’s the people’s man,” said a woman in a small community in Pennsylvania.

I had the same feeling, as we drove back home from the Gerald Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids through the rural communities on Tuesday evening. Voters were streaming into the Lowell Township Hall, into churches and the city halls., all bundled up and sporting patriotic colors and jackets.

This was the people’s election. It was the voice of change from the obsolete Washington self-serving bureaucracy, its institutions and non-functioning apparatus.

The people have spoken. They boldly stood up to the lies of the establishment.

Let freedom ring in our great country.

For more info on ACVN go to http://www.americascommunityvoicesnet.org

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history, politics, Uncategorized

Against all odds

November 10, 2016 emmapalova Leave a comment

White educated female Democrat votes red for the first time

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Grand Rapids, MI- Reeling off from the historic “unprecedented & unpredictable” Election 2016 with President-Elect Donald Trump soon to take residency at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, I admit that I am glad it’s over.

Wearing a red sweater for the occasion, I cast my ballot on Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 11 a.m. at precinct no.1 at the Vergennes Township Hall on Bailey Road. I couldn’t find a parking space. After voting I took a selfie with a selfie stick in front of the township hall. It was windy and cloudy. I was shivering, and not just from the wind.

I didn’t expect Trump to win anyways much like the media, the polls and the political pundits.

“You’re an idiot,” my mother Ella yelled at me on Wednesday, “just like the rest of the people who voted for him. The whole world thinks that. The stocks have gone down.”

Okay, thank you mom.

Coming from generations of Liberals, I was supposed to vote for Secretary Hillary Clinton.

After all I am a white educated female Democrat who started her blogging/design business Emma Blogs, LLC on the WordPress platform in 2013.

But, my business and entrepreneurial spirit have nothing to do with my vote for the 45^th president of the USA.

I consider myself a people’s woman and I have always voted Democratic until now. I would have voted for Bernie Sanders, if he had stayed in the race.

But, not for Hillary.

As a victim of politics of the Prague Spring 1968 in former Czechoslovakia when the Soviet tanks invaded the country, I do not put up easily with lies, tactics and establishment.

And I write about my encounters with politics throughout my life in the memoir “Greenwich Meridian.” (c)

Thus, I am more keen and sensitive when someone is lying to me and to other billions of people around the world. Hillary’s private server, erased e-mails, Wall Street speeches and funding of her presidential campaign from the Clinton Foundation, didn’t resonate well with me.

It takes a lot more than a polished lying lawyer sporting a blue or white suit and a great blonde haircut, to convince me.

Lies were the biggest issue that the voters had with Hillary and they expressed it in the following keywords:

Liar/Not trustworthy.

“I made a mistake,” she said on the theme of the proverbial private server and the erased e-mails.

I should have been more graceful and forgiving, we all make mistakes.

But, I wasn’t. Considering Hillary’s political history and my political history, there was not enough grace left in me.

On the other hand, I should have been offended by Trump’s misogyny and his rough language at the debates and rallies around the country, his bullying and overall disregard for some human values.

His language did offend me, but there was a grain of forgiveness in me.

I separated the former bully from the agent of change. That apparently struck accord with the majority of voters; that is Trump’s promise of change.

I watched him defy the establishment of both parties, while mocking the media all along. Hillary would have only been an extension of President Obama’s policies. And I voted for Obama twice.

President-Elect Trump didn’t bypass the importance of the rural and blue-collar votes in the Midwest. I love rural America. It’s been my home for 20 years. Michigan became one of the battleground states in the pivotal hours of the election.

On election eve, Trump made his last stop at DeVos Hall in Grand Rapids at 11 p.m. with 10,000 people present.

“This is our Independence Day,” he said to the crowd.

On Wednesday Nov. 9 at 2:45 a.m., I watched his victory speech starting out with tears in his eyes.

“This was tough,” he said about the campaign. “It’s complicated business.”

Spreading his arms wide to the audience and looking directly into the camera, Trump said.

“I love you.”

Let independence from old establishments, institutions and biased media ring around the world.

Good luck and God Bless Mr. President-Elect. Protect the freedoms and independence in this great country.

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politics, psychology, Uncategorized

Madame Secretary

November 9, 2016 emmapalova 1 Comment

Hillary Clinton concedes race to President-Elect Donald Trump on Wednesday

By Donald Brookins, ACVN co-founder

Election special for Emma Blogs, LLC

Tampa, FL-The results are in for the 2016 Presidential Election. Donald J Trump is our new President- Elect. He defeated Secretary Clinton in the Electoral College but lost the popular vote. Looking back on the Clinton campaign Hillary lost this election the moment she made the reckless decision to create a private server for her emails when she knew it was against State Department guidelines. What is even more unforgivable to me is she tried to be slick about it once it was discovered via Congressional investigation.

Secretary Clinton’s actions only confirmed what a majority of the American electorate thought about her as a candidate. The electorate believed her to be a liar, a crook, and a Washington insider. All of these perceptions were confirmed by her actions involving her email server. Secretary Clinton never took responsibility for her behavior or her actions. She never apologized. She deflected when asked to say it was wrong to have a separate server by saying “she would never do that again.”

President – Elect Trump seized upon her bad behavior and used it as a weapon and rallying cry to predominately uneducated white blue-collar voters to win the election. Trump ran as a Populist outsider. I am deeply sad because Hillary Rodham Clinton was more prepared and more capable to be our next President than any other candidate. She just had too much baggage; she made the mistake of arming Trump with a powerful weapon when all she had to do was disarm him by getting in front of the issue the moment she decided to run for President. I believe if she had apologized to the American People and took responsibility for her actions, she would have been elected the 45^th President of the United States.

It is crystal clear to me that the party of Reagan is no more; Obamacare is dead, the Obama coalition that won the 2008 and 2012 elections has been severely damaged; and that Donald Trump has made legitimate all of the seedy elements of white Nationalism.

The 2016 contest is over and the PEOPLE have spoken. My candidate did not win. But in a democracy when all the votes have been counted we accept the results and come together to support our new President. So in the spirit of unity with respect to our beloved constitution – God Bless our new President Donald J Trump and God Bless the United States of America.

For more info and radio episodes go to: Americas Community Voices Network at http://www.americascommunityvoicesnet.org

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Election 2016 unleashes the force of democracy

November 8, 2016 emmapalova Leave a comment

Election 2016 attracts voters in droves, creates tension

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Grand Rapids, MI – Voting in small towns of America, and everywhere else, matters.

I voted today at 11 a.m. in precinct 1 at the Vergennes Township Hall in Kent County. There were no parking spaces left, and there was a steady stream of voters.

I was voter no. 471 in what the media dub as an “unprecedented & unpredictable” election.

Both candidates Mr. Donald Trump and Mrs. Hillary Clinton stumped heavily in Michigan, which is traditionally a blue state.

Clinton spoke at a rally of 4,000 people at the Grand Valley State University (GVSU) on Nov.7^th.

Trump held his final rally on election eve at DeVos Place in Grand Rapids, Michigan. There was a massive crowd for the event estimated at 10,000. People lined up on the bridge over the Grand River to get into the hall carrying their coolers packed with food.

Political pundits are calling Election 2016, a consequential election.

“This election is between division and strong leadership, the opposition is a loose cannon,” said spokesperson for Clinton’s campaign “Stronger Together.”

Trump called himself an agent of change at the Grand Rapids rally last night.

“Today is our Independence Day,” he said. “My only special interest is to you.”

What some call an insurgent candidacy, Trump made 14 campaign stops in 72 hours.

“Will this be an end to the insurgence by Trump and will Hillary be able to shatter that glass ceiling,” political analysts asked these questions.

I’ve been voting since I became an American citizen through the naturalization process at the Grand Rapids Ford Museum in 1999, along with my daughter Emma Palova Chavent, MD.

But, I’ve never been nervous about it until the eve of the election and today. Actually the anxiety sank in last week, after reading through hundreds of election-related Facebook posts.

I even received texts from my Czech friends asking about the integrity of the election.

“The Czech media favor Hillary,” wrote Ales Kobylik. “They keep this inflated bubble that there is no way that Donald Trump could win. In all respect what do you think?”

And my Czech- Canadian friend D.P. even bought a small TV, so she could follow the candidates’ campaigns and the election in the USA. That’s a big honor of our election system because D.P. does not watch TV.

“I bought that TV because of you,” she laughed.

“Really, you are that interested in our election?” I said uneasily.

“Sure, because Trump might close the borders,” D.P. said.

And now we have it all laid out in front of us after months of campaigning, rhetoric and derogatory language from both sides, the GOP and the Dems.

At one point, as the campaigning progressed throughout the summer and fall, I arrived to a fleeing conclusion that I wasn’t going to vote.

From a moral and character stand point of view, I don’t believe in either one of the candidates, Mrs. Hillary Clinton or Mr. Donald Trump.

They both have proven that they are unfit to lead this country. Mrs. Clinton’s past as the First Lady and as the Secretary, as well as having the private server and the 33,000 erased emails speak for themselves.

As for Mr. Trump, if his present roughness is any indicator of his potential future leadership skills, then the country would get the “perfect” dictator.

“Stalin or Ceausescu?” you ask.

“Take your pick, they were all the same,” I answer. “And they never quit.”

Mr. Trump would first get away with our democracy, waving his hand:

“What a nuisance,” he would say.

Much like the Mexican illegal immigrants, or any other ones for that matter.

Bouncing back to Mrs. Hillary through the eyes of my friend Sheryl G. from Iowa who posted this:

“As you go to the polls this Tuesday, do your due diligence and your homework,” she wrote.” Hillary Clinton is the first and only First Lady to come under criminal investigation while serving as First Lady. Washington and Jefferson must be rolling over in their graves.”

However, to answer Ales’ question about Mr. Trump having a chance.

In spite of the polls and other opinions, both candidates may stand very well the same chance.

But, the real horror is regardless who becomes the 45^th president:

“Is this the beginning of an end of an empire?”

“Look back over the past with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future too.”

-Marcus Aurelius

events, history, immigration, inspiration, politics, relationships, traditions, Uncategorized

November events inspire memoir

November 7, 2016 emmapalova 1 Comment

This is my story.

By Emma Palova

Lowell, MI- The months of November and May, with events both in the family and in the history of the Czech Republic, have inspired entire chapters in my Greenwich Meridian © memoir.

November is significant historically and spiritually worldwide. The thread of events that I track in the memoir starts with All Souls Day on Nov. 2, touches on US elections and leads up to the 27^th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution on Nov. 17, a state holiday.

“We’re surrounded by death,” said Fr. Mark Peacock pointing to the shrine of the dead at the altar of St. Patrick’s Church in Parnell during mass last Sunday. “Look at the trees and the nature; but we know all will live again in the spring and in heaven.”

A Lourmarin water fountain.

On All Souls Day in former Czechoslovakia, we headed out to the decorated cemeteries to remember all the dead in the family. The cemeteries glowed in the night with only the light from thousands of candles.

Spooky, you might say. But entire families gathered at the graves to reminisce and pray. Before the souls remembrance day we cleaned and polished the monuments at the gravesites.

I loved the yellow spiky asters arranged in wreaths, pots and vases.

At that time in 1989, my grandpa Josef Drabek from Vizovice was already very sick. He was transferred from the hospital in Olomouc to the Hospital of the Merciful Brothers in his hometown Vizovice.

I visited him at the hospital on regular basis. Pale, skinny and weak, grandpa could always recognize me. Stepping inside the hospital room, I already feared the next time.

One Sunday afternoon, I took him in the wheelchair to the hospital garden. The leaves on the trees were still orange and red, and there was water in the fountain and the pond. I could hear coughing and I could smell smoke.

More men congregated by the garden shed. My socialite grandpa didn’t want to join the group. As we passed by them, I could not believe my eyes. Standing or sitting in their hospital striped robes, that were hanging down from what used to be their shoulders and chest, the terminally ill men were smoking.

With shaking hands and fingers, they were holding onto what may be their last cigarette.

“Come and join us,” said one of them with a scratchy voice.

Grandpa turned his head the other way.

“You sold the ranch?” he asked me.

“Grandpa, you know I had to, so I could pay for my education before I leave,” I was crying.

Grandpa’s serious illness consumed me, so I hardly noticed that Nov. 7^th has rolled around. Back in the totalitarian era from 1949 until 1989, November was the month of Czechoslovak Soviet Friendship.

It was a month of mandatory celebrations of the “Great October Socialist Revolution the military coup of 11.7. 1917 or 10.25. 1917 according to the old Russian calendar in St. Petersburg.

“Hurry up, Emma, you can’t be late for the parade,” I put a coat on my daughter and handed her the Chinese lantern. “You’ll light it when you get to the Revolutionary Boulevard.”

This time father-in-law Joseph took Emma to the parade, and I just stayed home. It was cold and dark. I was shivering from the upcoming events.

I had nothing to lose. I had my exit visa to the USA, and I had sold everything. No one could hurt me anymore by writing some bad cadre profile about me not being at the Russian Revolution celebrations.

The news magazine before movies was all about the Russian Revolution; that is about the Bolshevik movement with Trotsky and V.I. Lenin and the occupation of the Winter Palace.

My Alma Mater, the Gottwaldov Gymnasium pumped all the Russian & Soviet history into us. It was a total brainwash with weird results.

But behind the scenes, a different revolution was brewing preceded by months of unrest.

To be continued…..

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politics, Uncategorized

9-26 Presidential Debate

September 27, 2016 emmapalova 1 Comment

On the theme of last night’s presidential debate:

By Emma Palova

Lowell, MI- It took me years to realize that dad was right.

My dad, former professor of physics and mathematics, who later turned to programming, has always said that the right and the left at the top are the same.

Both parties, Democrats and the Republicans, are defending the same philosophy intended to serve themselves.

They just use different colors, symbols, suits, articulation and gesticulation into fooling us that it is all being done for our own good.

Thank you dad for that piece of wisdom.

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