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Book and other Reviews
A journalist is using a master's to research her own Greek tragedy, writes Melinda Ham
HELEN VATSIKOPOULOS, a Walkley Award-winning television reporter and presenter who has covered stories from Sri Lanka to Mexico and Malaysia to Israel in the past 27 years, is now telling her own story.
Vatsikopoulos is making a career change from journalism to academia to write a memoir that will delve into family tales of fratricide, love and heroism during the 1946-49 Greek Civil War.
''I've spent my whole career telling other people's stories,'' she says.
I knew the story was there in my family but my parents never wanted to talk about it. Once I started asking questions, I realised their story was just as good as the ones I'd been reporting on.
''Basically, my father's side of the family supported the left and my mother's side the right.''
But Vatsikopoulos isn't just sitting down to write her book alone. In 2009, she enrolled in a master by research course at the University of Technology, Sydney, which gives her feedback from UTS academics specialising in creative writing, European politics and history.
It also gives her access to the university's library - both physical and online - while she progresses with her manuscript.
In addition to her memoir, she is required to produce a literature review and a 10,000- to 15,000-word exegesis explaining how she researched the project.
The head of creative practices at UTS, Professor John Dale, is Vatsikopoulos's supervisor. She is one of six students with whom he regularly corresponds by email, providing feedback on their work. He also meets with them fortnightly or monthly for consultations.
''As well as access to academics and the library, students also get to be part of an academic community and even though they don't attend any courses or classes, they get the benefit of meeting other students who are all of a high calibre,'' Dale says. Another bonus is that all master by research students across the university are fully sponsored by the Commonwealth and pay no fees.
The entry process is, however, very competitive. All master by research and PhD students must write a proposal detailing their suggested creative project. Successful candidates are accepted on the quality of their proposal, most of which entail new research, Dale says. There are currently about 80 students in the creative practices research program.
Former students have included author Kate Grenville, who wrote a historical novel for her degree. The result was The Secret River, set on the Hawkesbury River in colonial times. The book won her the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. Grenville initially set out to write a family history, too, but when she found facts in short supply, decided to fictionalise the story.
Vatsikopoulos is so far resisting the temptation to write a novel. ''Academic research is the backbone of this book. To me, coming from a journalism tradition, I believe facts are paramount,'' she says.
In addition to reading many books and journal articles on the Greek Civil War, Vatsikopoulos is interviewing relatives and people from her parents' generation and older to try to gather as much oral history as possible. She has already travelled to Canada to interview a branch of the family and plans to go to Greece soon.
Two years into the process, her memoir and degree have been a huge learning curve. Even though she has nearly three decades of writing experience, she completed her journalism degree back in 1982 and now has to relearn academic style and unearth her creative-writing talents.
''Journalistic writing is pared down, simplistic. You don't use the most complicated words, especially in television journalism, where the pictures provide the creative image,'' she says. ''Now I have to learn how to develop characters myself and use visual literacy.''
Vatsikopoulos initially decided to embark on the project as a legacy for her own children. ''My 12-year-old son is all excited about mediaeval history but I thought: 'Hey, you need to know about your great grandparents' history - that's your heritage.'''
And she's not ditching journalism entirely. While researching, Vatsikopoulos has been lecturing at UTS in television journalism and has just been offered a permanent position. As a consequence, she has decided to elongate her master's into a PhD to give her more time to complete the project. She is not ruling out a return to documentary-making either - maybe she'll turn her memoir into a film.
Macedonia – Theater of the World
Interview by Aleksandar Donski
“Recently American writer, historian and Latin teacher Celeste Benjamin Tracy published the novel “In the Theater of the World”, available on Amazon as an e-book Kindle edition, later to be available in paperback. Ms. Tracy is American of Spanish and Hungarian-Czech descent, teaches Latin in Westhampton Beach, Long Island, New York, and holds degrees in Latin, English and Education.
MS. TRACY, WHAT IS YOUR BOOK ABOUT?
In The Theater of the World is an ancient autobiographical novel about Alexander the Great during his adolescence. Alexander begins with a prologue in the Spring of 324BCE, introducing himself to the reader and explaining his purpose in writing his autobiography; he offers to the reader a question to ponder while reading it, later answering it in his epilogue dated June 323BCE, ten days before contracting the illness that kills him. “I view my world as a theater, and my acts are demonstrated holding both sword and scepter. I am on a stage…before me the audience of the world,” says Alexander in his prologue, launching the reader into his lyrical-style recounting of his youth from age thirteen to twenty. He commands the reader to “Take from my reminiscence what you wish for I have withheld nothing, revealing all of my phases, light and dark, illuminating a selection of scenes and dimming others.” The primary reason why I wrote the novel was to inspire the teenage reader to strive and pursue their ambitions, be healthy and strong of mind and body, honor their ancestors and nation, and to take the good qualities of Alexander and emulate them. I hope a reader with prior knowledge of Alexander will ‘get to know him intimately’, and the reader knowing little or nothing of him will be inspired to learn more about him.
YOUR BOOK IS WRITTEN IN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL STYLE, NARRATED BY ALEXANDER HIMSELF. HOW DO YOU PRESENT THE HISTORICAL FIGURE?
I present Alexander experiencing his world through the lens of theater. In 328BCE Alexander is recorded to have said he believed himself to be playing for the theater of the world, thus I used his statement as the theme for the novel. He had throughout his very short life viewed his experiences and glories as theater, and performed his feats through the guise of his heroes Achilles and Hercules, who had become his alter egos. His perspectives, behaviors and achievements in adulthood may have evolved from behaviors and experiences of an introspective and intense teenage dreamer who imagined himself perpetually on a stage. And so, I go to the early evolution of the historical figure, and portray him as a passionate teenager: bold and brazen, brilliant of mind, emotional, tenacious, physically powerful but with a non-specific ailment, impulsive, fiercely loyal, and in need of praise and love from his family and friends, especially from his father, King Philip II. I neither marbleize nor glorify him, but humanize him, and show him as a teenager of ancient civilization who is not so different from today’s adolescent. I immerse the reader in his world and in the significant traditions and culture of ancient Macedonia, having attempted to avoid anachronisms that would sacrifice authenticity.
HOW DO YOU PRESENT GEOGRAPHICALY THE WORLD IN WHICH ALEXANDER LIVED?
The geography of Alexander’s world is presented historically, devoid of anachronisms, identifying specific nations by their ancient, genuine names to maintain the continuity of the novel’s setting. Macedonia is Macedonia, identifying clans from Upper and Lower Macedonia, speaking the Macedonian language; Greece as the City-States, its districts and peoples as Achaea, Aetolia and Attica, speaking the Hellenic language. As for the neighboring nations I refer to them as Epirus, Illyria, Thrace, Hesperia, Persia. The peoples of those nations I identify them as, respectively: Epirote; Illyrian and its northernmost tribesmen Autariatae; the neighboring Celtae; the Maedi and Thracians of Thrace; the Samnites, Romans, Lucanians and Bruttians of Hesperia, and Persians. Presently, a map is not provided in the novel. I am in search of an artist to commission to illustrate a map.
WRITTEN IN THE GENRE OF THE NOVEL HOW DO YOU RECOUNT THE EVENTS OF HIS YOUTH WITHOUT IT READING LIKE EXPOSITION?
Descriptively, applying the senses, and at times, lyrically, including my own poetry so as to show a poetic Alexander, and I invented a small number of scenes to mesmerize the reader. The majority of the novel’s foundation, however, is historical. I also inserted some of Alexander’s original quotations from his adulthood, believing Alexander to have held these perspectives in his youth and later applied them during his reign. The timeline of the novel includes such events as: the famous taming of his war horse Bucephalus, his three-year education by Aristotle, his regency and his first military engagement against a Thracian army at age 16, his major role in the Battle of Chaeronea, his exile and experience in Illyria (of which I embellish for resources lack the detail), his collusion with the Persian satrap, Pixodarus, and, concluding the novel, the assassination of his father, Philip II. Also, I expounded upon his friendships and included his first arranged encounter with a courtesan.
WHO ARE THE CHARACTERS IN THE NOVEL AND HOW DID YOU DEVELOP THEM?
I included historical characters and invented others, which I indicate in my Author’s Note. The historical characters in the novel are developed based upon their interactions with Alexander recorded by the ancient authors Plutarch and Arrian, and several modern authors’ biographies. As expected, limited documentation lends poetic license to a writer, and so, I invent some personalities and enhance others. I emphasize in the novel the certain characters, whose personalities I developed using ancient resources: Craterus, Lysimachus, Perdiccas and Hephaestion. Ancient and modern sources identify them as Alexander’s closest companions. Each of them is portrayed as having a close relationship with him, however, of the four Hephaestion is presented in the novel to be Alexander’s spiritual soul mate, his ‘other self’, dearest among his friends, as Arrian entitled him, carissimus (Latin: most precious, most beloved); I believe Craterus to have been fidelissimus, most devoted. I imagine Lysimachus to have revered Alexander, and Perdiccas to have been Alexander’s closest before Hephaestion appeared, for at his death bed, Alexander gave to Perdiccas his royal ring. I devoted tremendous energy and time to ‘get into their heads’ so as to make them realistic and personal while respecting historical evidence. Of the characters I developed in the novel, the most challenging for me had been Aristotle. Aristotle was the greatest cerebral influence upon Alexander. Resources indicate Alexander to have said that Philip gave to him life, but Aristotle gave to him knowledge, and so, I was compelled to show a teacher whose mind and methodology exceeded all, whereby spellbinding Alexander; a teacher who facilitated learning rather than dominating it, whose teaching was provocative enough to stir Alexander’s analytical mind, and whose personality was commanding but compassionate.
WHAT OF ALEXANDER’S DAILY LIFE, HIS SURROUNDINGS AND COUNTRY?
The natural world of Alexander is illustrated through his senses, and I labored to stir the reader’s senses: the scents and feel of the terrain, and the tastes, sights and sounds of his daily life. Though having never visited Macedonia, I tried to paint a mountainous, verdant, luxuriant, awe-inspiring, mysterious landscape that I believe to have shaped and cultivated his nature. I imagined him, his family, his companions and people to be highlanders, powerful and resolute, lover of horses and of nature, skillful in the toreutic arts, fortified by the natural environ, and strengthened by means of suffering from centuries of prejudice by the City-States and surrounding kingdoms, all historically based.
WRITING A NARRATIVE IN THE VOICE OF AN ANCIENT HISTORICAL FIGURE IS A CHALLENGE. HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO BALANCE HISTORY WITH CREATIVITY?
In referencing the Acknowledgment section of my novel, I indicated that “Twenty-two years of collecting information and acquiring knowledge of Alexander the Great was an odyssey of learning for me…my research experience, having begun in 1982, was a timeline of “should I” and “am I able to” write an ancient autobiographical novel about Alexander the Great. Family and friends throughout the near two-and-half decades encouraged, advised and educated me, and so, here it is, written to the best of my ability without intention to impress and aggrandize, only to inspire interest in Alexander the Great by means of introducing himself and beginning with his youth.”
ПРЕДМЕТ: Понуда – барање
Почитувани!
Имаме подготвено едиција од дванаесет џепни изданија – трудови посветени на борци за слобода на Македонија од периодот 1878 – 1920 година од Пелагонија и Мариово. Едицијата носи наслов “ПРИЛЕПСКИ ЈУНАЦИ“ и чека на издавање поради недостиг на материјални средства. Доколку сте заинтересирани да учествувате во нејзината реализација и материјално го помогнете печатењето на книгите ќе придонесете за расветлувањето на голем број настани и личности од македонскатаа историја, кои до денес немаат доживеано слично објавување, а Вашето име (лично или на Вашата фирма – по ваша желба) ќе биде истакнато на видно место во изданијата. Насловите на книгите се следните:
1. ВОЈВОДИТЕ СПИРО ЦРНЕ И ЃОРЃИЈА ЛАЖОТ
2. ВОЈВОДАТА ДИМЕ ЧАКРЕ
3. ВОЈВОДИТЕ КОНЕ ПАВЛЕВ И МИРЧЕ АЦЕВ
4. ЈОРДАН ГАВАЗОТ
5. РЕВОЛУЦИОНЕРНОТО СЕМЕЈСТВО ПЕШКОВИ
6. ВОЈВОДАТА ХРИСТО ОКЛЕВ – ПОПЕТО
7. ВОЈВОДАТА ТОЛЕ ПАША
8. НИКОЛА КАРАНЏУЛОВ
9. ВОЈВОДАТА АНТЕ ДУНСКИ
10. МАРГАРА
11. НЕКОЛКУ ПРИЛЕПСКИ ВОЈВОДИ И БОРЦИ ЗА СЛОБОДА
12. БИТКАТА ЗА ОСЛОБОДУВАЊЕ НА ВИТОЛИШТЕ
За реализација на целата едиција се потребни 320.000,оо ден. (7 200 австралиски, 7 500 американски долари или 5 500 евра). За реализација на секое од изданијата се потребни од 25 000,оо до 30 000,оо ден. (од 600 до 700 австралиски, 650 до 750 американски долари или 500 до 550 евра).
Планирани се и специјални промоции на секоја од книгите, во автентичен простор, со посебна манифестација – чествување за историските личности и настани опишани во изданијата
Со почит,
Прилеп Управител,
07.09.2011 Тренчо Димитриоски
Poetry
ДУШАН РИСТЕВСКИ - DUSHAN RISTEVSKI
БОЛ
Ја сакам болката
ја пречекувам
со отворени раце
-не бегам од неминовноста
бегството те враќа
во вонземните длабочини.
Сакам болката
да пати со мене.
PAIN
I love pain
and welcome it
with open arms
I do not run from
the inevitable
-running returns you
to the gulf of the abyss.
I want the pain
to suffer with me.
САМОТИЈА
самотијата е посестрима
на чувството на кривост
посестрима на лутината
стравот и патењето
самотијата е посестрима
на маката од постоење
на очајот
и безнадежноста
самотијата е болка
на животот
SOLITUDE
Loneliness is akin
to the feeling of guilt
akin to rage
fear and suffering
Loneliness is akin
to the pain of existence
to hopelessness
and despair
Loneliness is the pain
of life
СЕБЕБАРАЊЕ
Знам каде се ѕвездите
од каде изгрева сонцето
каде се игра со песокот
морињата и океаните
каде цвеќињата цветаат
по планините и падините
знам каде е жуборот
на потокот и реките
цвркотот на птиците
и песната на пчелите
Незнам каде сум
како да дојдам до нив
каде ќе бидам утре
и зошто сум овде...
IN SEARCH OF MYSELF
I know where the stars are
and where the sun rises,
where the seas and oceans
caress the sand
and the flowers bloom
in mountain meadows.
I know where the streams
and little rivers gurgle,
where the birds chirp
and the bees bumble.
But how can I reach them
when I don’t know where I am
or where I will be tomorrow
or why I am here…
ПРАЗНИНА
Темница во собата
тежина во душата
тишина во собата
самотија во душата
-го бројам отчукот на срцето.
Вратата претешка од клинците
на прозорецот решетки
пристан за гулабите.
На подот огледало
ја отсликувам длабочината на животот
ги фрлив клучевите
прозорецот и вратата ги заѕидав
и се заковав на креветот...
EMPTINESS
Darkness in the room
a heavy, leaden gloom
silence in this space
and solitude in my soul
-I count the beats of my heart.
The door is studded and heavy
bars on the windows
a refuge for pigeons.
A mirror on the floor
reflects the depths of my life
I have thrown away the keys
walled up window and door
and chained myself to the bed…
НЕПРООДЕН ПАТ
Незнам
каде сум...
Денот носи неизвесности
намерата
е само неисполнета желба
која демне остварување.
Прашај се
што незнаеме
и вратата
на непознатици
се отвора
на добри
и лоши трепети.
Не се бега од болот
тој е дел од постоењето
не се срами
од голотијата на вистината
не оди назад
во утробата на зачнатоста
расти
со годините на возраста
и длабоката свесност...
A PATH YET UNTRODDEN
I don’t know
where I am…
The day brings uncertainty
intention
is nothing but a wish unfulfilled,
waiting and longing to come true.
Ask yourself
what we do not know
and the door
of the unknown
will open
with a quiver of joy
and trepidation.
There is no fleeing from pain
it is part of existence
do not be ashamed
of the nakedness of truth
do not go back
to the womb
grow
with the passage of your years
and deepening consciousness…
ОСАМЕНОСТ
Осаменост
гледам во твоите очи
дождови
го прскаат твоето лице
солзите
се невидливи грмотивици
плачот
глуво го цепи небото
облаците
слегле и те обвиткале.
Знам
осаменоста сакаш да ја гледаш
во очите и сенката
да ја колнеш да си замине
ама стравот те обзема
и се клешти околу тебе
ја сака твојата осаменост.
LONELINESS
Loneliness –
I see it in your eyes
rain
splashes your face
your tears
are invisible claps of thunder
your crying
silently splits the sky;
have the clouds
come down and enveloped you?
I know
you want to look loneliness
in the face
and beg the shadow to leave
but fear grips you
and grins as you swoon
it loves your loneliness.
ЗАТВОРЕНИК НА МИНАТОТОТ
Само јас и таа
сенка и соба празна
послана со ќилим-старокрајски
исчадена со пораки од графити
-немој да ја допираш сенката
врата нема – само прозорци
со решетки ковани
од битолските ковачи
-нејзината облина се наѕира
собата се гуши со мирис од валери
застарена пот и чад од цигари
-чувството на виновност го затворив
алишта расфрлени на подот
измешани со остатоци од јадење
чекаат креветот да се разбуди
и зачекори кон вратата.
PRISONER OF THE PAST
I am alone with it:
her shadow in an empty room
laid with carpets from the old country,
filled with a smoke of scrawled messages.
Don’t touch the shadow!
There is no door – only windows
with bars wrought
by the smiths of Bitola.
Her contours and the room’s
blur in the air thick with lavender,
stale sweat and cigarette smoke.
The feeling of guilt is shut away.
The scattered cloths
and scraps of food on the floor
now wait for the sleeper to rise
and brave a step outside.
ПАТ НА ИСЧЕКУВАЊЕ
(На мајка ми)
Мајко
не се вјасај за умирачка
отвори ги портите
слушни ги моите чекори
и радоста на децата.
Креветот
веќе одамна ти стана
живеалиште на твоите болки
скаменетите коски
и згрчените мускули
кои бараат спас во чекање.
Кожата
бела и проѕирна
го покрива скелетот
кој се ниша и влечка
по празните соби
ги бара сликите
од децата...
Прошепоти
синко, однесиме во градината
цвеќината да ги помирисам
и ја слушнам песната на пчелите...
Рече
шепотам оти се плашам
од гласот свој
-чекам спасение...
Време е
време е да ве напуштам
ме вика мајка
да ѝ се придружам...
THE PATH OF WAITING
(For my mother)
Mother dear,
why rush to leave this world?
Open the gates
hear my steps
and the joy of my children.
Your bed
has long become
the home of your pain
petrified bones
and stiff muscles
that seek salvation in waiting.
Your skin
pale like parchment
covers your skeleton
that sways and hobbles
through empty rooms
seeking photos
of us children…
She whispered:
Carry me out into the garden, my Son,
so I can smell the flowers
and hear the song of the bees…
She said:
I whisper for fear
of my own voice
I am waiting for deliverance…
It is time
it is time for me to leave you
Mother calls
for me to join her…
Душан Ристевски е роден во 1954 година во Битола, Македонија. Од 1973 година живее и работи во Сиднеј, Австралија.
Завршил Виша социјална школа во 1985 година, дипломирал на Факултетот по социологија во 1991 година, а магистрирал во 1996 година на Факултетот по социологија и хуманистика.
На добротворен-општествен план Душан работи во македонската и пошироката мултикултурна заедница од 1976 година. Како основач на Македонско-австралиското добротворно друштво во 1982 година, Душан одигра важна улога во воспоставување на социјално-добротворни служби во заедницата наменети за млади лица, жени и постари граѓани. Тој исто така одигра водечка улога во воспоставување и подобрување на социјално-добротворните служби за мултикултурните заедници во регионот St George во Сиднеј, воглавно преку неговото ангажирање во St George Migrant Resource Centre. Од 1987 до 1990 завземаше функција на државен комисионер за етнички работи во Ethnic Affairs Commission. Од 1991 година работи како советник и терапевт во Службата за ментално здравје во регионот St George.
Душан е автор на стихозбирките: Полутици (1984) издадена двоја-зично на англиски и македонски јазик Полутици-Фрагментс (1989); Страдалници на сонот (1992); Копча (2001); Цвеќе-Жена (2003); Украдени мисли (2009) и Забранета љубов (2009). Потоа следуваат монодрамите: Мајка-изведена во Сиднеј и во Прилеп на Театарските игри „Војдан Чернодрински“ (1990) и Неда-изведена во Сиднеј (1996), пиесите Протест (1992), Раскол (2009) и драмите Страв и срам издадена на македонски (2006) и англиски јазик (2009), Мр Балкан (2009) и Стари и весели (2010). Застапен е со поезија во повеќе антологии во Австралија, Македонија и Америка.
Драмата Страв и срам во 2007 година од Државната служба за здравство беше наградена со посебна награда за иновација за просвета во здравството, a во 2008 година од македонската заедница ја доби наградата Златно сонце за култура и литература. Добитник е на наградите за поезија Иселеничка Грамота (2010) и Стојан Христов (2011).
Душан е основоположник на Литературното друштво „Григор Прличев“, член на Друштвото на писателите на Македонија и член на Друштвото на новинарите на Македонија.
Dushan Ristevski was born in 1954 in Bitola – Macedonia. He migrated to Sydney in 1973.
Having completed his Diploma in Welfare Work in 1985 and Bachelor of Social Sciences in 1991, in 1996 he gained his Masters Degree in Counseling.
Dushan has been actively involved in the community welfare since 1976. As a founder of the Macedonian Australian Welfare Association in 1982, Dushan played an instrumental role in establishing community welfare services for young people, women and the elderly. Through his involvement with the St George Migrant Resource Centre he also played a major role in the establishment and improvement of welfare services for the multicultural communities in the St George Area. Between 1987 and 1990 he served as a part time commissioner with the Ethnic Affairs Commission of NSW. Since 1991 he has been working as a Counselor for the St George Mental Health Service.
Dushan is a published author of the following books of poetry: Polutici (1984) republished bilingually Polutici – Fragments (1989), Dream-Agony (1992), Clasp (2001), Flower-Woman (2003), Stolen Thoughts (2009), and Forbidden Love (2009). He also wrote two monodramas: Mother, performed in Sydney and in Prilep (Macedonia) at the Vojdan Chernodrinski Theatre Festival in 1990 and Neda, performed in Sydney in 1996. He is an author of the scripts: Protest (1992), Raskol (2009) and the dramas Fear and Shame published in Macedonian (2006) and in English (2009), Mr Balkan (2009), Old and Happy (2010). He has also published poetry in various anthologies in Australia, Macedonia and the United States.
For the play Fear and Shame in 2007 he was awarded with the St George Hospital and Community Health Service Award of Excellence for Innovation in Health Education. In 2008 he was awarded with the Macedonian Community Golden Sun Award for art and literature. Dushan has received two prestigious poetry awards, Iselenichka Gramota (2010) and Stojan Hristov (2011).
Dushan is a founding member of the Macedonian Literary Association of Australia “Grigor Prlichev”, member of the Writers’ Association of Macedonia and of the Journalists’ Association of Macedonia.
Na ovogodishnite Strushki Vecheri na Poezijata mu e dodelena na Dushan nagradata "Stojan Hristov".
Congratulations to Dushan Ristevski for achieving the “Stojan Hristov” award at Struga Nights in the Republic of Macedonia for his contribution to enriching Macedonian literature and culture.
Feedback
Greetings Risto,
At the Victorian School of Languages (Australia) we have been developing some online Macedonian language programs for school children and it is my pleasure to inform you that the first of a series of free interactive Macedonian activities are now available on Languages Online. This is a Victorian Department of Education site. The material is accessible for free to anyone with an internet connection.
The activities include 10 beginner level topics. Each topic includes:
· 5 - 7 interactive tasks for students to practise key vocabulary for that topic. These activities include voice recordings and are self-correcting.
· 4 - 5 complementary worksheets. These can be printed and photocopied.
· Additional resources such as an A3 poster of the key vocabulary, flashcards, answers and translations for all activities, song lyrics and an MP3 version of the song (if a there is a song for that topic).
Additional topics are currently in development and will be released when complete.
Could you please forward this message/promotion to any of your contacts in the world wide diaspora and especially to those in Egejska who may be able to use this free resource.
Thanks
Stefo Stojanovski
A journalist is using a master's to research her own Greek tragedy, writes Melinda Ham
HELEN VATSIKOPOULOS, a Walkley Award-winning television reporter and presenter who has covered stories from Sri Lanka to Mexico and Malaysia to Israel in the past 27 years, is now telling her own story.
Vatsikopoulos is making a career change from journalism to academia to write a memoir that will delve into family tales of fratricide, love and heroism during the 1946-49 Greek Civil War.
''I've spent my whole career telling other people's stories,'' she says.
I knew the story was there in my family but my parents never wanted to talk about it. Once I started asking questions, I realised their story was just as good as the ones I'd been reporting on.
''Basically, my father's side of the family supported the left and my mother's side the right.''
But Vatsikopoulos isn't just sitting down to write her book alone. In 2009, she enrolled in a master by research course at the University of Technology, Sydney, which gives her feedback from UTS academics specialising in creative writing, European politics and history.
It also gives her access to the university's library - both physical and online - while she progresses with her manuscript.
In addition to her memoir, she is required to produce a literature review and a 10,000- to 15,000-word exegesis explaining how she researched the project.
The head of creative practices at UTS, Professor John Dale, is Vatsikopoulos's supervisor. She is one of six students with whom he regularly corresponds by email, providing feedback on their work. He also meets with them fortnightly or monthly for consultations.
''As well as access to academics and the library, students also get to be part of an academic community and even though they don't attend any courses or classes, they get the benefit of meeting other students who are all of a high calibre,'' Dale says. Another bonus is that all master by research students across the university are fully sponsored by the Commonwealth and pay no fees.
The entry process is, however, very competitive. All master by research and PhD students must write a proposal detailing their suggested creative project. Successful candidates are accepted on the quality of their proposal, most of which entail new research, Dale says. There are currently about 80 students in the creative practices research program.
Former students have included author Kate Grenville, who wrote a historical novel for her degree. The result was The Secret River, set on the Hawkesbury River in colonial times. The book won her the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. Grenville initially set out to write a family history, too, but when she found facts in short supply, decided to fictionalise the story.
Vatsikopoulos is so far resisting the temptation to write a novel. ''Academic research is the backbone of this book. To me, coming from a journalism tradition, I believe facts are paramount,'' she says.
In addition to reading many books and journal articles on the Greek Civil War, Vatsikopoulos is interviewing relatives and people from her parents' generation and older to try to gather as much oral history as possible. She has already travelled to Canada to interview a branch of the family and plans to go to Greece soon.
Two years into the process, her memoir and degree have been a huge learning curve. Even though she has nearly three decades of writing experience, she completed her journalism degree back in 1982 and now has to relearn academic style and unearth her creative-writing talents.
''Journalistic writing is pared down, simplistic. You don't use the most complicated words, especially in television journalism, where the pictures provide the creative image,'' she says. ''Now I have to learn how to develop characters myself and use visual literacy.''
Vatsikopoulos initially decided to embark on the project as a legacy for her own children. ''My 12-year-old son is all excited about mediaeval history but I thought: 'Hey, you need to know about your great grandparents' history - that's your heritage.'''
And she's not ditching journalism entirely. While researching, Vatsikopoulos has been lecturing at UTS in television journalism and has just been offered a permanent position. As a consequence, she has decided to elongate her master's into a PhD to give her more time to complete the project. She is not ruling out a return to documentary-making either - maybe she'll turn her memoir into a film.
Macedonia – Theater of the World
Interview by Aleksandar Donski
“Recently American writer, historian and Latin teacher Celeste Benjamin Tracy published the novel “In the Theater of the World”, available on Amazon as an e-book Kindle edition, later to be available in paperback. Ms. Tracy is American of Spanish and Hungarian-Czech descent, teaches Latin in Westhampton Beach, Long Island, New York, and holds degrees in Latin, English and Education.
MS. TRACY, WHAT IS YOUR BOOK ABOUT?
In The Theater of the World is an ancient autobiographical novel about Alexander the Great during his adolescence. Alexander begins with a prologue in the Spring of 324BCE, introducing himself to the reader and explaining his purpose in writing his autobiography; he offers to the reader a question to ponder while reading it, later answering it in his epilogue dated June 323BCE, ten days before contracting the illness that kills him. “I view my world as a theater, and my acts are demonstrated holding both sword and scepter. I am on a stage…before me the audience of the world,” says Alexander in his prologue, launching the reader into his lyrical-style recounting of his youth from age thirteen to twenty. He commands the reader to “Take from my reminiscence what you wish for I have withheld nothing, revealing all of my phases, light and dark, illuminating a selection of scenes and dimming others.” The primary reason why I wrote the novel was to inspire the teenage reader to strive and pursue their ambitions, be healthy and strong of mind and body, honor their ancestors and nation, and to take the good qualities of Alexander and emulate them. I hope a reader with prior knowledge of Alexander will ‘get to know him intimately’, and the reader knowing little or nothing of him will be inspired to learn more about him.
YOUR BOOK IS WRITTEN IN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL STYLE, NARRATED BY ALEXANDER HIMSELF. HOW DO YOU PRESENT THE HISTORICAL FIGURE?
I present Alexander experiencing his world through the lens of theater. In 328BCE Alexander is recorded to have said he believed himself to be playing for the theater of the world, thus I used his statement as the theme for the novel. He had throughout his very short life viewed his experiences and glories as theater, and performed his feats through the guise of his heroes Achilles and Hercules, who had become his alter egos. His perspectives, behaviors and achievements in adulthood may have evolved from behaviors and experiences of an introspective and intense teenage dreamer who imagined himself perpetually on a stage. And so, I go to the early evolution of the historical figure, and portray him as a passionate teenager: bold and brazen, brilliant of mind, emotional, tenacious, physically powerful but with a non-specific ailment, impulsive, fiercely loyal, and in need of praise and love from his family and friends, especially from his father, King Philip II. I neither marbleize nor glorify him, but humanize him, and show him as a teenager of ancient civilization who is not so different from today’s adolescent. I immerse the reader in his world and in the significant traditions and culture of ancient Macedonia, having attempted to avoid anachronisms that would sacrifice authenticity.
HOW DO YOU PRESENT GEOGRAPHICALY THE WORLD IN WHICH ALEXANDER LIVED?
The geography of Alexander’s world is presented historically, devoid of anachronisms, identifying specific nations by their ancient, genuine names to maintain the continuity of the novel’s setting. Macedonia is Macedonia, identifying clans from Upper and Lower Macedonia, speaking the Macedonian language; Greece as the City-States, its districts and peoples as Achaea, Aetolia and Attica, speaking the Hellenic language. As for the neighboring nations I refer to them as Epirus, Illyria, Thrace, Hesperia, Persia. The peoples of those nations I identify them as, respectively: Epirote; Illyrian and its northernmost tribesmen Autariatae; the neighboring Celtae; the Maedi and Thracians of Thrace; the Samnites, Romans, Lucanians and Bruttians of Hesperia, and Persians. Presently, a map is not provided in the novel. I am in search of an artist to commission to illustrate a map.
WRITTEN IN THE GENRE OF THE NOVEL HOW DO YOU RECOUNT THE EVENTS OF HIS YOUTH WITHOUT IT READING LIKE EXPOSITION?
Descriptively, applying the senses, and at times, lyrically, including my own poetry so as to show a poetic Alexander, and I invented a small number of scenes to mesmerize the reader. The majority of the novel’s foundation, however, is historical. I also inserted some of Alexander’s original quotations from his adulthood, believing Alexander to have held these perspectives in his youth and later applied them during his reign. The timeline of the novel includes such events as: the famous taming of his war horse Bucephalus, his three-year education by Aristotle, his regency and his first military engagement against a Thracian army at age 16, his major role in the Battle of Chaeronea, his exile and experience in Illyria (of which I embellish for resources lack the detail), his collusion with the Persian satrap, Pixodarus, and, concluding the novel, the assassination of his father, Philip II. Also, I expounded upon his friendships and included his first arranged encounter with a courtesan.
WHO ARE THE CHARACTERS IN THE NOVEL AND HOW DID YOU DEVELOP THEM?
I included historical characters and invented others, which I indicate in my Author’s Note. The historical characters in the novel are developed based upon their interactions with Alexander recorded by the ancient authors Plutarch and Arrian, and several modern authors’ biographies. As expected, limited documentation lends poetic license to a writer, and so, I invent some personalities and enhance others. I emphasize in the novel the certain characters, whose personalities I developed using ancient resources: Craterus, Lysimachus, Perdiccas and Hephaestion. Ancient and modern sources identify them as Alexander’s closest companions. Each of them is portrayed as having a close relationship with him, however, of the four Hephaestion is presented in the novel to be Alexander’s spiritual soul mate, his ‘other self’, dearest among his friends, as Arrian entitled him, carissimus (Latin: most precious, most beloved); I believe Craterus to have been fidelissimus, most devoted. I imagine Lysimachus to have revered Alexander, and Perdiccas to have been Alexander’s closest before Hephaestion appeared, for at his death bed, Alexander gave to Perdiccas his royal ring. I devoted tremendous energy and time to ‘get into their heads’ so as to make them realistic and personal while respecting historical evidence. Of the characters I developed in the novel, the most challenging for me had been Aristotle. Aristotle was the greatest cerebral influence upon Alexander. Resources indicate Alexander to have said that Philip gave to him life, but Aristotle gave to him knowledge, and so, I was compelled to show a teacher whose mind and methodology exceeded all, whereby spellbinding Alexander; a teacher who facilitated learning rather than dominating it, whose teaching was provocative enough to stir Alexander’s analytical mind, and whose personality was commanding but compassionate.
WHAT OF ALEXANDER’S DAILY LIFE, HIS SURROUNDINGS AND COUNTRY?
The natural world of Alexander is illustrated through his senses, and I labored to stir the reader’s senses: the scents and feel of the terrain, and the tastes, sights and sounds of his daily life. Though having never visited Macedonia, I tried to paint a mountainous, verdant, luxuriant, awe-inspiring, mysterious landscape that I believe to have shaped and cultivated his nature. I imagined him, his family, his companions and people to be highlanders, powerful and resolute, lover of horses and of nature, skillful in the toreutic arts, fortified by the natural environ, and strengthened by means of suffering from centuries of prejudice by the City-States and surrounding kingdoms, all historically based.
WRITING A NARRATIVE IN THE VOICE OF AN ANCIENT HISTORICAL FIGURE IS A CHALLENGE. HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO BALANCE HISTORY WITH CREATIVITY?
In referencing the Acknowledgment section of my novel, I indicated that “Twenty-two years of collecting information and acquiring knowledge of Alexander the Great was an odyssey of learning for me…my research experience, having begun in 1982, was a timeline of “should I” and “am I able to” write an ancient autobiographical novel about Alexander the Great. Family and friends throughout the near two-and-half decades encouraged, advised and educated me, and so, here it is, written to the best of my ability without intention to impress and aggrandize, only to inspire interest in Alexander the Great by means of introducing himself and beginning with his youth.”
ПРЕДМЕТ: Понуда – барање
Почитувани!
Имаме подготвено едиција од дванаесет џепни изданија – трудови посветени на борци за слобода на Македонија од периодот 1878 – 1920 година од Пелагонија и Мариово. Едицијата носи наслов “ПРИЛЕПСКИ ЈУНАЦИ“ и чека на издавање поради недостиг на материјални средства. Доколку сте заинтересирани да учествувате во нејзината реализација и материјално го помогнете печатењето на книгите ќе придонесете за расветлувањето на голем број настани и личности од македонскатаа историја, кои до денес немаат доживеано слично објавување, а Вашето име (лично или на Вашата фирма – по ваша желба) ќе биде истакнато на видно место во изданијата. Насловите на книгите се следните:
1. ВОЈВОДИТЕ СПИРО ЦРНЕ И ЃОРЃИЈА ЛАЖОТ
2. ВОЈВОДАТА ДИМЕ ЧАКРЕ
3. ВОЈВОДИТЕ КОНЕ ПАВЛЕВ И МИРЧЕ АЦЕВ
4. ЈОРДАН ГАВАЗОТ
5. РЕВОЛУЦИОНЕРНОТО СЕМЕЈСТВО ПЕШКОВИ
6. ВОЈВОДАТА ХРИСТО ОКЛЕВ – ПОПЕТО
7. ВОЈВОДАТА ТОЛЕ ПАША
8. НИКОЛА КАРАНЏУЛОВ
9. ВОЈВОДАТА АНТЕ ДУНСКИ
10. МАРГАРА
11. НЕКОЛКУ ПРИЛЕПСКИ ВОЈВОДИ И БОРЦИ ЗА СЛОБОДА
12. БИТКАТА ЗА ОСЛОБОДУВАЊЕ НА ВИТОЛИШТЕ
За реализација на целата едиција се потребни 320.000,оо ден. (7 200 австралиски, 7 500 американски долари или 5 500 евра). За реализација на секое од изданијата се потребни од 25 000,оо до 30 000,оо ден. (од 600 до 700 австралиски, 650 до 750 американски долари или 500 до 550 евра).
Планирани се и специјални промоции на секоја од книгите, во автентичен простор, со посебна манифестација – чествување за историските личности и настани опишани во изданијата
Со почит,
Прилеп Управител,
07.09.2011 Тренчо Димитриоски
Poetry
ДУШАН РИСТЕВСКИ - DUSHAN RISTEVSKI
БОЛ
Ја сакам болката
ја пречекувам
со отворени раце
-не бегам од неминовноста
бегството те враќа
во вонземните длабочини.
Сакам болката
да пати со мене.
PAIN
I love pain
and welcome it
with open arms
I do not run from
the inevitable
-running returns you
to the gulf of the abyss.
I want the pain
to suffer with me.
САМОТИЈА
самотијата е посестрима
на чувството на кривост
посестрима на лутината
стравот и патењето
самотијата е посестрима
на маката од постоење
на очајот
и безнадежноста
самотијата е болка
на животот
SOLITUDE
Loneliness is akin
to the feeling of guilt
akin to rage
fear and suffering
Loneliness is akin
to the pain of existence
to hopelessness
and despair
Loneliness is the pain
of life
СЕБЕБАРАЊЕ
Знам каде се ѕвездите
од каде изгрева сонцето
каде се игра со песокот
морињата и океаните
каде цвеќињата цветаат
по планините и падините
знам каде е жуборот
на потокот и реките
цвркотот на птиците
и песната на пчелите
Незнам каде сум
како да дојдам до нив
каде ќе бидам утре
и зошто сум овде...
IN SEARCH OF MYSELF
I know where the stars are
and where the sun rises,
where the seas and oceans
caress the sand
and the flowers bloom
in mountain meadows.
I know where the streams
and little rivers gurgle,
where the birds chirp
and the bees bumble.
But how can I reach them
when I don’t know where I am
or where I will be tomorrow
or why I am here…
ПРАЗНИНА
Темница во собата
тежина во душата
тишина во собата
самотија во душата
-го бројам отчукот на срцето.
Вратата претешка од клинците
на прозорецот решетки
пристан за гулабите.
На подот огледало
ја отсликувам длабочината на животот
ги фрлив клучевите
прозорецот и вратата ги заѕидав
и се заковав на креветот...
EMPTINESS
Darkness in the room
a heavy, leaden gloom
silence in this space
and solitude in my soul
-I count the beats of my heart.
The door is studded and heavy
bars on the windows
a refuge for pigeons.
A mirror on the floor
reflects the depths of my life
I have thrown away the keys
walled up window and door
and chained myself to the bed…
НЕПРООДЕН ПАТ
Незнам
каде сум...
Денот носи неизвесности
намерата
е само неисполнета желба
која демне остварување.
Прашај се
што незнаеме
и вратата
на непознатици
се отвора
на добри
и лоши трепети.
Не се бега од болот
тој е дел од постоењето
не се срами
од голотијата на вистината
не оди назад
во утробата на зачнатоста
расти
со годините на возраста
и длабоката свесност...
A PATH YET UNTRODDEN
I don’t know
where I am…
The day brings uncertainty
intention
is nothing but a wish unfulfilled,
waiting and longing to come true.
Ask yourself
what we do not know
and the door
of the unknown
will open
with a quiver of joy
and trepidation.
There is no fleeing from pain
it is part of existence
do not be ashamed
of the nakedness of truth
do not go back
to the womb
grow
with the passage of your years
and deepening consciousness…
ОСАМЕНОСТ
Осаменост
гледам во твоите очи
дождови
го прскаат твоето лице
солзите
се невидливи грмотивици
плачот
глуво го цепи небото
облаците
слегле и те обвиткале.
Знам
осаменоста сакаш да ја гледаш
во очите и сенката
да ја колнеш да си замине
ама стравот те обзема
и се клешти околу тебе
ја сака твојата осаменост.
LONELINESS
Loneliness –
I see it in your eyes
rain
splashes your face
your tears
are invisible claps of thunder
your crying
silently splits the sky;
have the clouds
come down and enveloped you?
I know
you want to look loneliness
in the face
and beg the shadow to leave
but fear grips you
and grins as you swoon
it loves your loneliness.
ЗАТВОРЕНИК НА МИНАТОТОТ
Само јас и таа
сенка и соба празна
послана со ќилим-старокрајски
исчадена со пораки од графити
-немој да ја допираш сенката
врата нема – само прозорци
со решетки ковани
од битолските ковачи
-нејзината облина се наѕира
собата се гуши со мирис од валери
застарена пот и чад од цигари
-чувството на виновност го затворив
алишта расфрлени на подот
измешани со остатоци од јадење
чекаат креветот да се разбуди
и зачекори кон вратата.
PRISONER OF THE PAST
I am alone with it:
her shadow in an empty room
laid with carpets from the old country,
filled with a smoke of scrawled messages.
Don’t touch the shadow!
There is no door – only windows
with bars wrought
by the smiths of Bitola.
Her contours and the room’s
blur in the air thick with lavender,
stale sweat and cigarette smoke.
The feeling of guilt is shut away.
The scattered cloths
and scraps of food on the floor
now wait for the sleeper to rise
and brave a step outside.
ПАТ НА ИСЧЕКУВАЊЕ
(На мајка ми)
Мајко
не се вјасај за умирачка
отвори ги портите
слушни ги моите чекори
и радоста на децата.
Креветот
веќе одамна ти стана
живеалиште на твоите болки
скаменетите коски
и згрчените мускули
кои бараат спас во чекање.
Кожата
бела и проѕирна
го покрива скелетот
кој се ниша и влечка
по празните соби
ги бара сликите
од децата...
Прошепоти
синко, однесиме во градината
цвеќината да ги помирисам
и ја слушнам песната на пчелите...
Рече
шепотам оти се плашам
од гласот свој
-чекам спасение...
Време е
време е да ве напуштам
ме вика мајка
да ѝ се придружам...
THE PATH OF WAITING
(For my mother)
Mother dear,
why rush to leave this world?
Open the gates
hear my steps
and the joy of my children.
Your bed
has long become
the home of your pain
petrified bones
and stiff muscles
that seek salvation in waiting.
Your skin
pale like parchment
covers your skeleton
that sways and hobbles
through empty rooms
seeking photos
of us children…
She whispered:
Carry me out into the garden, my Son,
so I can smell the flowers
and hear the song of the bees…
She said:
I whisper for fear
of my own voice
I am waiting for deliverance…
It is time
it is time for me to leave you
Mother calls
for me to join her…
Душан Ристевски е роден во 1954 година во Битола, Македонија. Од 1973 година живее и работи во Сиднеј, Австралија.
Завршил Виша социјална школа во 1985 година, дипломирал на Факултетот по социологија во 1991 година, а магистрирал во 1996 година на Факултетот по социологија и хуманистика.
На добротворен-општествен план Душан работи во македонската и пошироката мултикултурна заедница од 1976 година. Како основач на Македонско-австралиското добротворно друштво во 1982 година, Душан одигра важна улога во воспоставување на социјално-добротворни служби во заедницата наменети за млади лица, жени и постари граѓани. Тој исто така одигра водечка улога во воспоставување и подобрување на социјално-добротворните служби за мултикултурните заедници во регионот St George во Сиднеј, воглавно преку неговото ангажирање во St George Migrant Resource Centre. Од 1987 до 1990 завземаше функција на државен комисионер за етнички работи во Ethnic Affairs Commission. Од 1991 година работи како советник и терапевт во Службата за ментално здравје во регионот St George.
Душан е автор на стихозбирките: Полутици (1984) издадена двоја-зично на англиски и македонски јазик Полутици-Фрагментс (1989); Страдалници на сонот (1992); Копча (2001); Цвеќе-Жена (2003); Украдени мисли (2009) и Забранета љубов (2009). Потоа следуваат монодрамите: Мајка-изведена во Сиднеј и во Прилеп на Театарските игри „Војдан Чернодрински“ (1990) и Неда-изведена во Сиднеј (1996), пиесите Протест (1992), Раскол (2009) и драмите Страв и срам издадена на македонски (2006) и англиски јазик (2009), Мр Балкан (2009) и Стари и весели (2010). Застапен е со поезија во повеќе антологии во Австралија, Македонија и Америка.
Драмата Страв и срам во 2007 година од Државната служба за здравство беше наградена со посебна награда за иновација за просвета во здравството, a во 2008 година од македонската заедница ја доби наградата Златно сонце за култура и литература. Добитник е на наградите за поезија Иселеничка Грамота (2010) и Стојан Христов (2011).
Душан е основоположник на Литературното друштво „Григор Прличев“, член на Друштвото на писателите на Македонија и член на Друштвото на новинарите на Македонија.
Dushan Ristevski was born in 1954 in Bitola – Macedonia. He migrated to Sydney in 1973.
Having completed his Diploma in Welfare Work in 1985 and Bachelor of Social Sciences in 1991, in 1996 he gained his Masters Degree in Counseling.
Dushan has been actively involved in the community welfare since 1976. As a founder of the Macedonian Australian Welfare Association in 1982, Dushan played an instrumental role in establishing community welfare services for young people, women and the elderly. Through his involvement with the St George Migrant Resource Centre he also played a major role in the establishment and improvement of welfare services for the multicultural communities in the St George Area. Between 1987 and 1990 he served as a part time commissioner with the Ethnic Affairs Commission of NSW. Since 1991 he has been working as a Counselor for the St George Mental Health Service.
Dushan is a published author of the following books of poetry: Polutici (1984) republished bilingually Polutici – Fragments (1989), Dream-Agony (1992), Clasp (2001), Flower-Woman (2003), Stolen Thoughts (2009), and Forbidden Love (2009). He also wrote two monodramas: Mother, performed in Sydney and in Prilep (Macedonia) at the Vojdan Chernodrinski Theatre Festival in 1990 and Neda, performed in Sydney in 1996. He is an author of the scripts: Protest (1992), Raskol (2009) and the dramas Fear and Shame published in Macedonian (2006) and in English (2009), Mr Balkan (2009), Old and Happy (2010). He has also published poetry in various anthologies in Australia, Macedonia and the United States.
For the play Fear and Shame in 2007 he was awarded with the St George Hospital and Community Health Service Award of Excellence for Innovation in Health Education. In 2008 he was awarded with the Macedonian Community Golden Sun Award for art and literature. Dushan has received two prestigious poetry awards, Iselenichka Gramota (2010) and Stojan Hristov (2011).
Dushan is a founding member of the Macedonian Literary Association of Australia “Grigor Prlichev”, member of the Writers’ Association of Macedonia and of the Journalists’ Association of Macedonia.
Na ovogodishnite Strushki Vecheri na Poezijata mu e dodelena na Dushan nagradata "Stojan Hristov".
Congratulations to Dushan Ristevski for achieving the “Stojan Hristov” award at Struga Nights in the Republic of Macedonia for his contribution to enriching Macedonian literature and culture.
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Greetings Risto,
At the Victorian School of Languages (Australia) we have been developing some online Macedonian language programs for school children and it is my pleasure to inform you that the first of a series of free interactive Macedonian activities are now available on Languages Online. This is a Victorian Department of Education site. The material is accessible for free to anyone with an internet connection.
The activities include 10 beginner level topics. Each topic includes:
· 5 - 7 interactive tasks for students to practise key vocabulary for that topic. These activities include voice recordings and are self-correcting.
· 4 - 5 complementary worksheets. These can be printed and photocopied.
· Additional resources such as an A3 poster of the key vocabulary, flashcards, answers and translations for all activities, song lyrics and an MP3 version of the song (if a there is a song for that topic).
Additional topics are currently in development and will be released when complete.
Could you please forward this message/promotion to any of your contacts in the world wide diaspora and especially to those in Egejska who may be able to use this free resource.
Thanks
Stefo Stojanovski
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