My Next Project: The Kolpakov Trio

The Kolpakov Trio will be a fun and unique project. Alexander "Sasha" Kolpakov is quite the character, one an author would commit horrific acts to come across. Sasha's love of music and his passion for dancing, combined with his unique life experience make him a treasure to write about.

His nephew, Vadim, follows in Sasha's footsteps as an enigma. As part of the Kolpakov Trio, he is a world class musician and an explosive dancer and his ability to make it look so easy makes everyone in the audience wish they were Romani too.

The third member of the Kolpakov Trio changes as demand requires. Currently, Arkadiy Gips, a virtuoso violinist, fills this position.

I spent three days interviewing Vadim and Sasha in New York, followed by phone calls lasting for hours at a stretch. While I still don't have a full picture of their world, I intend to dig deeper into it so that I may share their experiences as Romani musicians with the world.

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kveQcae_UrU

Enjoy!

Chronological History

I have little to write about tonight, really. Maybe a little bit about things I see on tv. I find it interesting that the History Channel is all about exposing the past for what it was, yet they have yet to do a documentary on the Holocaust as it should be taught...chronologically. It is important that people realize that the Holocaust was not about one group with "other victims" who got caust up in the killing of one group. No. The Holocaust is about the hatred of a group pf people against many groups, and all of those groups suffered, some more than others. We have covered up the true meaning of the Holocaust by arguing over these silly semantics scholars keep bringing up.

I wonder how we can redisign the way teachers teach the Holocaust. There has to be a way to present history as it is, as ugly as it is, to everyone, just the way it happened. It happened on a daily basis, lived by millions, one day at a time.

More ideas on this to come.

The non-existance of Gypsies

My latest research paper is complete and turned in, though I feel it is more of a draft than a final paper. It needs some technical corrections, such as works cited and notes.

The paper reviewed the case of the Romani exclusion from the Holocaust in textbooks and literature. So many scholors refer to us as the "other victims", marginalizing us further in the cracks of history.

We have been marginalized into 'maximum minimalization'. When Romani homes are bombed in Hungary, when Romani women are sterilized in the Czech Republic, when ROmani men, women, and children are fingerprinted and photographed to prevent crime in Ital, the world looks the other way. The American press does not pick up the story about events in Italy. The European press vilifies the Roma, placing the stereotypes in front of readers' eyes that somehow suggests that the Roma deserve what they get.

If we, as Romani, turn our eyes to Italy and look at the policy that violates both human and civil rights, we have reason to fear. The same process was implemented against the Romani in the 1920s in Germany, long before Hitler came to power. Hitler didn't have to list the laws he would create against the Romani when he came to power in Mein Kampf because the laws were already in place.

If this same policy Italy is using were being practiced agianst the Jews, the world would be in an uproar. Italy, the home of the Mafia, is fingerprinting a minority race to prevent crime. Why not fingerprint all whites? They *could* be in the Mafia. Why not photograph all blacks? They *could* be gangsters. Oh, that's right, I forgot. The Mafia doesn't exist. The evil Gypsy, unprotected by any home country, DOES exist and therefore all crime in Italy *MUST* be the fault of the Roma.

Everyone, both Roma and non-Roma, must learn their rights and be watchful for rights violations. We have a policy in the United States that dictates that we will not trade with a country who practices such human rights violations, yet the United States has done nothing about Italy's policy. Ask your congressman why we have not demanded Italy to review their policies. If you get an answer, let me know. As of today, I have yet to get an answer from Senator Harkin, the "leader in human rights", my own Senator.

As my paper progresses I will post segments here for comment and critique. In the meantime, my work continues.