Prague Journal

Wednesday, December 08, 2004.

December 8th is the anniversary of the death of John Lennon, who was a powerful symbol of non-conformity for young people throughout Communist-ruled Europe. Following his murder in 1980, some young Czechs gathered every December 8th at a graffiti painting of Lennon on Prague's Malteske namesti square. For young people, the portrait of Lennon was important, since they associated Lennon with messages about freedom and peace. The portrait and messages of peace were repeatedly painted over by the communist police, only to be repainted by brave fans. Thanks to tourists taking pieces over the years, and the 2002 floods, Lennon’s portrait is virtually indiscernible, but there is still graffiti there.
Most of my morning was spent searching the web for references for the research I am doing with Eva. In the afternoon, I went to the Gender Studies office to meet with Linda and Lenka, two young women who have headed this interesting non-profit (NGO) research and outreach group. They have a library of over 6,000 books, many in English, that discuss gender issues ranging from social and historical issues to health care to economic issues to family and lifestyle issues.
Before dinner I met with Eunice for tea at Ami’s, her Berber friend from Algeria who owns a restaurant near Narodni Třida. Eunice is pretty stressed with the declining value of the dollar, since her pricing has been in dollars. She’s also preparing for the big tradeshow in Las Vegas in January, so she has been working long, thankless hours. Yesterday was her birthday, so the Chanukah party yesterday was a nice way to start the week. We chatted only a short while before heading our separate ways, Eunice to a Hebrew class and me to start dinner at home. I bought some baklava to take home for Rick. This is the last night of his Czech class, at least for this year.

posted by JWinn @ 4:32 PM