Content now for the future

Welp, it's been too long since my last post. Way too long. 

In the months since I returned from NASK and the Usona Landa Kongreso, I have had to deal with multiple issues, many of them involving looking after my octogenarian mother. That means doing the grocery shopping, the laundry, occasional dish-washing by hand, and so on. It's put a drag on my Esperanto studies, one I'm determined to overcome. (Just not at the expense of sleep.)

In the meantime... 

If I had known better, I would swear that TEJO — short for Tutmonda Esperantista Junulara Organizo — was building  a 'content house' alongside their global hub for young Esperantists all over the world. A look at their YouTube channel shows what they've willed into being, including three musicals you can stream right now: June kaj kune (also the organization's slogan, meaning 'young and together'), Petveturaj aventuroj, and most recently, La sorto gvidos vin ('Fate will guide you'). There are also concerts featuring such groups as La Perdita Generacio ('Ĉiuj ni amegas Usonon' anyone?) and Dudekses, and an endless library of topical videos as well. 

And if Libera Folio is to be believed, TEJO is now entering the reality TV realm as well. In a way... (translated from the article linked above:)

In the first season of «Esperanto senlime» [Esperanto without limits], the first episode of which can be watched on May 18, [seventeen] participants travel from Rotterdam to Barcelona. [....] The participants travel by train with an Interrail card, but also hitchhike. The trip lasted ten days, and with the help of locals, tasks and challenges were prepared for the participants in six cities in four different countries. 

The Libera Folio staff makes a comparison to the popular U.S.-mad series The Amazing Race, but I'm personally also reminded of such South Korean variety shows as the KBS series Two Days and One Night. One of the comments left in response to this announcement suggested that we are in for an upgrade of the educational show Pasporto al la tuta mondo (although I would take such a thought with the proverbial grain of salt). 

How the new show will actually compare is something we will have to wait for until Saturday 18 May, when the first episode drops. 

As the cliché goes, stay tuned. 

Image ©2023 Tutmonda Esperantista Junulara Organizo. 

 

A week in Esperantujo

 

So, jes ja, I did indeed make the trip to Raleigh. 

As I previously wrote, this year gave me the rare opportunity to experience both NASK (Nord-Amerika Somera Kursaro de Esperanto) and the Landa Kongreso de Esperanto (the annual national gathering of usonaj samideanoj ) during the same week, and in the same place (the campus of William Peace University). 

I'd rather not drone on about how getting to and from Raleigh was partially awkward (Amtrak's the Carolinian is partially reliant on diesel locomotives south of Washington, D.C., and the railroad has to play nice with the likes of CSX, thus tacking on two additional hours of travel time before we finally reached Raleigh). Suffice it to say that it's what followed —NASK and the Landa Kongreso — that will be most memorable for me.

And yes, I was able to get settled into my dormoĉambro (dorm room) despite being a wee late. 

For those unfamiliar with the in-person class format, NASK offers classes for 1) post-beginners (post-baza) (CEFR A2–B1), 2) intermediate (meznivela) learners (B2), and advanced (supera) students. I chose the 'intermediate' class, because I had serious questions regarding certain grammatical points and wanted to get them addressed. 

I didn't take pictures inside my classroom. But I did take notes. (They're not substantial enough to replace my current textbook, but they did get me through the week.) 

Of course, I had to buy books...  a lot of books...

And we can certainly talk about the meals (this was breakfast one morning)...

Classes were held in the mornings and afternoons, so excursions were not exactly in the cards. But there were some fascinating prelegoj (talks): 

one of which featured Dr. Duncan Charters, the current president of the Universala Esperanto-Asocio, speaking on the challenges the UEA is presently facing, 

and one given by five guest students from Nepal (!!) about their own country. 

Of course, what would be an Esperanto gathering without the chance to make new friends... 

(above: Mr. Konstelacio with his teacher Jorge Rafael 'Rafa' Nogueras) 

(a rare in-class photo with 'Simono') 

... and in my case, connect IRL (in real life) with your online community? 

Above three pictures: Together with members of the online community I belong to.

And let's not forget Ria (as in 'ri,' the unofficial Esperanto for 'they / them'). 

In the end, I fared much better at NASK than I had personally expected to. And I feel that, with more effort and study, I could probably have a go at the supera course one day. 

That will depend on what the future of NASK will be (read on). 

I wish I could show as much enthusiasm about the Landa Kongreso  — a hefty percentage of which seemed more about administrative affairs (which can be done more expediently online) than about actively engaging members in stimulating cultural activities. The most I enjoyed about the Kongreso weekend was browsing the two-day libroservo for older books I thought I'd never see and a bilingual contradance night that brought in folks from the Raleigh area who otherwise might not care or be aware of Esperanto as a culturally-uniting force for good. 

As chance would have it, there is already some talk about making serious changes to NASK and the idea of the Landa Kongreso — with the recent spate of extreme weather events due to climate change looming large. Hoss Firooznia of Esperanto-USA offers some possible alternatives to both events in his essay for Usona Esperantisto, and they're well worth the read. 

My one dilemma is that I live in a region of the United States that isn't exactly teeming with samideanoj, and the ones I am connected to online live outside of New York. How likely is it that I will have to leave Long Island to be closer to them? 

I guess time will sort that out soon enough.  

Mi kontrolu la veterprognozon por hodiaŭ... let me check today's weather forecast...

Apologies to everyone who's wanted to know what became of my Esperanto week in Raleigh, North Carolina during the first week of July (advance spoiler: it went well ;-) ). It took me quite a while to get back into what one might call a 'normal routine' (normala rutino), but I have quite a bit to share on my NASK / Landa Kongreso experience — and that will be shared shortly. 

First up, though ... an app I wish I had on my Android mobile while in Raleigh:  

According to the developer (extracted from the description on Google Play):

Ĉi tiu programo estis origine publikigita en 2021 kiel esperantlingva veterprogramo por iPhone. Ĉar ni vastigis nian oferton por inkluzivi pli da lingvoj kaj aparatoj, ni restas engaĝitaj provizi plenan esperantlingvan subtenon. Ĉirkaŭ 50% de Vetero-uzantoj uzas ĉi tiun apon en Esperanto hodiaŭ. (This app was originally released in 2021 as an Esperanto language weather app for iPhone. As we've expanded our offering to include more languages and device types, we remain committed to providing full Esperanto language support. Approximately 50% of Vetero users use this app in Esperanto today.)

As mentioned above, you can get this app for your iOS or Android device.  It can apparently handle the current conditions for up to twelve locations, yours included. The screenshot above shows temperatures in Fahrenheit and forecasts using the 12 hour clock format, but it can be changed to the 24 hour format if you want. Esperanto is one of the supported languages (and is on by default), and not having to put up with adverts is a bonus. 

Ĉi tiu povus esti tre utila por mi. Ni vidu.  (This could prove quite useful for me. We'll see.) 

Estontaj celoj (Future goals)

 

This summer will be a special one for me. 

After many years of being an samideano in isolation (never a good thing, really), I will be attending my first landa kongreso, or national Esperanto 'congress' this July, in Raleigh, North Carolina. 

Esperanto-USA's Landa Kongreso will be happening on the weekend of 7 to 10 July, on the campus of William Peace University — the same private institution that will host NASK (Nord-Amerika Somera Kursaro) a few days earlier. 

It'll be a number of firsts for me: my first trip outside the New York metropolitan area in years (decades?), my first trip to North Carolina, my first visit with other Esperantists (because there aren't too many of them where I live...), my first time at NASK, and as I've said above, my first kongreso. (It will be a much longer time before I ever see my first Universala Kongreso, partially because the cost is greater — and so is the cost of a Universala Esperanto-Asocio member. Trust me, not everyone can do that.) 

I am also hoping to see some, if not all, of my Twitch fam on campus at some point during the week. 

Now to the matter of getting there and back... and you'll excuse me for not spilling the tea (diri la klaĉon) here...

Coming up for air

So, jes ja, a certain owl has become a regular presence in my life... 😅 

It has been a whole month since Duolingo went from being a non-starter for me to becoming an essential tool in my mastering Esperanto. My live-streaming friend advised me to give it a go now in advance of this year's NASK (Nord-Amerika Somero Kursaro) and Landa Kongreso (the annual national gathering of American samideanoj mounted by Esperanto–USA), both of which will be held on the same week in the same place (William Peace University in Raleigh, North Carolina, during the first full week and weekend of July) — and also before Duolingo makes any announcement about (reportedly) permanently retiring the Esperanto course. 

And, I have to admit, both it and Drops (which is mobile-device-only) have proven more useful than I had anticipated. 

For me, Duolingo feeds on my needs for 1) repetition (to catch mistakes and eventually fix them for good), 2) expanding my internal vocabulary (vortprovizo), and 3) elevating my comprehension closer to the CEFR B2 standard. Drops adds topical vocabulary and phrases to the mix, even to the point of having COVID, LGBTQIA+ and environmental and political categories. (I still find myself referencing the Esperanto version of Wikipedia and also Komputeko now and then.) 

The only hitch is trying to maintain consistent, daily use of both Duo and Drops, and so as you can imagine... 😅

That said, I also enjoy interacting with others, although for the time being all of it is happening virtually. This isn't entirely my fault, however — Long Island (New York) simply doesn't have any real sort of Esperanto community I can just visit at a physical location, much less any clubs close to my current home address. Indeed, I seem to be the lone wolf with a green star flag in my neighborhood and surrounding vicinities. So virtual gatherings aren't an option at all, but an absolute necessity. 

So I want to take a moment to thank... 

• my live-streaming friend, who has engaged me in private video conferencing sessions recently, as they gauge my progress and determine my weak points (and how to remedy them),

• the Bobelarto team for their monthly group readings, in which we each take turns reading sections of plays, published works, and such like in Zoom–hosted conference calls, and lastly, 

• the team behind Eventa Servo, which serves as a much-needed and desired bulletin board for upcoming events (with filters that allow users to find events for their regions and / or based on their individual interests). 

Anyway, if you'll excuse me, it appears I am hearing the aforementioned owl call my name... 

Feature Presentation: 1910

Happy Zamenhof Day.  

Today is the birthday of L.L. Zamenhof, the revered creator of the Esperanto language. 

To celebrate, Exploring Esperanto's YouTube channel creator and curator Alex Miller recently released a feature–length video presentation of Ĵenja Amis' play, 1910 (Mil naǔcent dek) — as recorded before a live audience during the course of the Universala Kongreso in Montréal back in August. 

I am excited for this moment, as Alena Adler — the Twitch live-streamer who is also my best friend inside the Esperanto community — both directed the play and played a small rôle therein. And, yes, I am  hecking proud of Alena.  So hecking proud. 

Briefly, 1910 (Mil naŭcent dek) is built around the eyewitness account of one William W. Mann — a British Esperantist — who was present when Zamenhof himself attended the 1910 Internacia Esperanto Kongreso in Washington, D.C. (Amazingly, you can view and read that in the October 1910 issue of La Brita Esperantisto, accessible on the Internet Archive. Once you have the above link open, go straight to page 184 to read Mr. Mann's account. You can also download this issue as a PDF to read offline.) 

In adapting Mr. Mann's report for 1910 (Mil naŭcent dek), Ĵenja Amis 'resurrected' William Mann (played by Garry Evans) to present his account as a prelego or talk to the present-day Montréal audience. That one-person prelego — occasionally paused for questions and answers — is almost all of the play, save for an epilogue in which he shares with his caregiver the dream that he just had about sometime in the future... 2022? 

(I hope this brief summary will help those still learning Esperanto to enjoy the play despite the lack of English subtitles; hopefully this will get rectified soon). 

But enough of my words. It's time we let my friend introduce what you're about to watch, followed by the play itself. 

Be sure afterwards to visit the Montréal UK website to view a full image gallery of the production. 

Bonus: The playwright herself on one song she unearthed in her research for the play. 

Videos (from the top) 2022 Alena Adler for Esperanto-USA; 2022 Ĵenja Amis / Alex Miller / Exploring Esperanto; 2022 Ĵenja Amis for Esperanto-USA. 

Jen nia muziko: Gijom' Armide, and the power of ri

Jes, ja, ri. The unofficial but often used Esperanto 'they / them.' 

Few artists make such a convincing case for the pronoun like Gijom' Armide, who recorded this song for his full-length digital album, Nenifar' (available on Bandcamp and Vinilkosmo MP3). 

He has another amazing project brewing on YouTube, so keep your eyes peeled on this playlist, presently with only one song, and watch it grow in the coming weeks. 

 2011 Guillaume Armide.