PressOne Quarterly #5

VOLUME 5

THe tragedy of Romanian Children

63%

51%

42%

769

ARE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS

LIVE IN POVERTY

OF 15 YEAR OLDS ARE FUNCTIONALLY ILLITERATE

ADOPTIONS, WHILE 57,026 LIVE IN STATE CUSTODY

CHERISHING ROMANIA

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PressOne Quarterly | Volume 5

PressOne Quarterly PO Box 498065 Cincinnati, OH 45249 Thanks for supporting independent media in Romania!

© 2017 / PressOne / All rights reserved

Welcome The cover photo is not from 1990. It is 2017, where babies are still shacked like prisoners in Romanian State Institutions.

I see so much good happening in Romania, but here are facts we can’t ignore.

• 62% of children are victims of domestic violence • 51% of children live in poverty • Romania is the only country to see child poverty increase after EU membership • 42% of 15 years olds are functionally illiterate • 57,026 children are in State custody • The average child spends 7.5 years in State custody • Only 769 adoptions took place in 2016 • Highest infant mortality rate in Europe • Highest child abandonment rate in Europe • Decrease of child population from 6,600,000 to 3,900,000 since 1990

The last figure, a 42% decrease in child population should concern everyone that cares about Romania!

I have supported children’s charities in Romania since 2003. Like most foreigners, I hoped that the new laws passed by the Romanian Parliament from 2003-2005, as a condition of European Union membership, would dramatically improve the fate of Romanian children. But the facts show otherwise.

For years I wondered how a culture so hospitable to foreigners can be so cruel to it’s children.

One reason, is that Department of Child Protection (DPC) remains a deeply corrupted institution, with poorly trained workers and almost no accountability to the public for it’s performance. It is a bureaucracy that profits from keeping children in the system.

We need a complete change in culture, management and oversight of the DPC. www.pressone.us

There is another reason – domestic violence. Despite having very clear and strong domestic laws, most victims are turned away by the police. In the rare cases when abusers are sent to jail, the sentences are brief and the children are often forced back into a violent family.

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Introduction – Don Lothrop

It is ironic that Romania is the safest place in Europe to be a tourist, but is the most violent place to be a wife or child.

The police, courts and political establishment still treat domestic violence as a family issue, not a legal or human rights issue. Men are free to discipline their wives or children with physical force. This brutality, dehumanizes both women and children.

The cry of Romanian women and children was publicly validated on October 3, 2017, when the European Court of Human Rights found the Romanian State guilty of failing to protect a 3 year old child from domestic violence. Here is an excerpt from Court’s decision:

Four times the mother’s criminal complaints were ignored by police.

After the fifth complaint, it took the police 42 months to complete an investigation.

The case facts, Romanian law, International treaties signed by Romanian State and the Court’s final decision are provided on pages 10-15 of this magazine. Bone chilling evidence of what still happens on average 100 times every day in Romania.

The European Court of Human Rights found the Romanian practices in violation of the United Nations Convention on Child Rights, Council of Europe Social Charter, and European Union’s Victims Directive. It also violates Romanian Law.

PARLIAMENTARY LAW 217/2003

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Domestic violence is any physical or verbal intentional action or inaction, with the exception of self-defense or defense, committed by a family member against another member of the same family that causes or can cause physical, sexual, emotional or psychological harm or suffering including the threat of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty.

Unfortunately, behind this strong language is system that has no intention of bringing the abusers to justice or making sure the child is protected from the crime happening again. This leaves victims in a lifetime of fear.

In this issue of PressOne Quarterly, we publish an interview with Florin Tibu, an internationally recognized scholar on the effects of child neglect. For 16 years, he has worked with American researchers on the Bucharest Early Intervention Project. He concluded the interview with these remarks:

I desire to see Romania publically apologize for the mistakes it committed during communism. Through institutionalization, it destroyed thousands of lives and suppressed the lives of thousands more.

I want Romania to do more than it’s currently doing. Given the great evil we have been exposed to, we should be the country with the best practices in caring for vulnerable children.

Like Florin Tibu, PressOne is committed to Romania having the best practices in child protection. To that end, we are launching a digital media channel in the emerging field of “Impact Journalism” to improve the welfare of children in Romania.

We will focus on facts, laws and the standards of European citizenship. We will hold institutions accountable for measurable outcomes. Our goal is to be a community that unites people to discuss and implement solutions to finding every child a loving family and putting the child first in domestic violence situations. Our community will not only be digital, but will organize international events in Bucharest.

We will look forward, not backwards, to permanently destroy the communist culture that devalues human life and breeds fear across the country.

There are two ways to join our community: • Sign up at https://impact.pressone.ro/en • Subscribe to this magazine. 100% percent of your subscriptions will go towards our

Child Welfare channel. We offer discounts to groups of 20 or more.

Please join us in this innovative media approach to making Romania a world leader in caring for children.

In addition to this reminder of the past, this issue has 6 stories that remind us of who we really are and what we can do when we work together.

www.pressone.us 5

Saving Romania’s Children Numbers do not lie.

Join our community of corporate executives, policy professionals, civil society leaders, researchers and citizens to protect the rights of Romanian Children.

Change only happens when people work together.

https://impact.pressone.ro Join

Photo: Dan Bodea

VOICU BOJAN

MIHNEA MĂRUȚĂ

Voicu Bojan is the publisher of PressOne and one of its three founders. He has over 10 years of experience in print publications, including Esquire, National Geographic Romania and LensWork, US.

Mihnea is the editor-in-chief of PressOne. He started working in the media in 1990, fascinated by the post-revolution political and social effervescence in Romania.

He has over 20 years of experience as a translator, editor and publisher of books.

Over the past 26 years, he has been part of several newsrooms in Cluj-Napoca and Bucharest, had the privilege to run two national newspapers, but still has butterflies in his stomach every time he signs a piece.

He is in love with words and photographs. As a journalist and travel writer, he tries to combine these two means of expression.

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Voicu is also in love with his wife, two boys, one dog and an obscure hut on a mountain top somewhere in Transylvania. Plus life in general, including off-road triathlons.

He graduated with a degree in Philosophy and is passionate about ideas and surprising connections, which he looks for in books, movies and sports.

Mihnea has three daughters and finds it hard to accept they are already teenagers, so he tries to keep his mind in the present and finds that balance that is so rare nowadays.

CONTENTS 11 / DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN ROMANIA The ECHR exposes the Romanian system that ignores domestic violence laws.

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17 / THE SCIENCE OF CHILD NEGLECT IN ROMANIA For 16 years, a team of American and Romanian researchers have published over 80 articles in scientific journals on the impact of child neglect in institutions and poor quality foster care.

23 / A FUNERAL WORTH REMEMBERING The TV cameras always seem to miss the best lived lives.

29 / CANADIAN DREAM

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One Romanian travels to Canada to check up on childhood friends that emigrated 30 years ago.

39 / THE NEW MAN Cristian Pășcuță, a chef in Cluj, has learned there is more to life than chasing money.

47 / TWO BROTHERS Dinu and Valentin Lipatti lived through the best and worst of 20th century Romania.

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59 / ARC OVER THE CARPATHIANS Andrei Soveresan’s run across the rim of the Carpathian Mountains from the Ukrainian to Serbian border.

67 / NO CASTLE FOR OLD MAN The Electric Castle is 4 day festival drawing young people from around Europe. PressOne founder Voicu Bojan spent two days at the festival to see what it is all about.

79 / POIANA ALEU / PHOTO ESSAY

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www.pressone.us

Mankind has not destroyed the carbon free footprint of the Apuseni Mountains in western Romania.

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CASE OF D.M.D. V. ROMANIA

JUDGMENT / STRASBOURG / 3 October 2017

ROMANIAN AUTHORITIES FAILED TO PROTECT CHILD IN DOMESTIC ABUSE CASE In today’s Chamber judgment in the case the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment) of the European Convention on Human Rights because the investigation into the allegations of abuse had lasted too long and had been marred by other serious shortcomings, and by four votes to three, that there had been a violation of Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair trial) because the domestic courts had not examined the merits of the applicant’s complaint about the failure to award him compensation, despite it being clearly worded in domestic law that they were under an obligation to rule on the matter of compensation in a case concerning a minor, even without a formal request from the victim.

The Court recalled in particular that Member States should strive to protect children’s dignity and that, in practice, this required an adequate legal framework to protect children against domestic violence.

FACTS OF THE CASE

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The applicant was born in 2001 and lives in Bucharest. His parents, C.I. and D.D., separated in April 2004 and divorced in September 2004, mainly because of D.D.’s abusive behaviour towards his wife and their son. The applicant remained with his mother. On 27 February 2004 C.I. called the hotline of the Bucharest Child Protection Authority (Direcţia Generală de Asistenţă Socială şi Protecţia Copilului) to report the domestic abuse she and the applicant had been suffering at the hands of D.D. Since then, the case has been monitored by the Authority. On 7 October 2008 the Child Protection Authority certified that since 2004 it had included the applicant in a psychological counselling programme.

On 5 March, 16 April, 7 May and 30 June 2004 C.I. lodged complaints with the Bucharest Police about the alleged violence inflicted by her husband on the applicant. No action was taken on these complaints.

On 1 July 2004 C.I. lodged a new complaint with the police concerning the alleged abuse. The police heard evidence from witnesses on behalf of the applicant and obtained information about

the applicant’s situation from the centre where he and his mother had been relocated. Based on the evidence gathered, the police sent the file to the prosecutor’s office attached to the Bucharest District Court (“the prosecutor”).

On 1 November 2005 the prosecutor instituted a criminal investigation against D.D. It heard evidence from C.I., D.D. and six witnesses and examined the expert reports concerning the applicant’s and D.D.’s psychological evaluations. It concluded that the applicant had suffered trauma during his early childhood because of his father who had done everything he could to torment him and to make him suffer.

On 27 December 2007 the prosecutor indicted D.D. for abusive behaviour towards his son.

The Bucharest District Court heard evidence from a psychologist who had observed the applicant during therapy, from C.I. and other witnesses, as well as from D.D., the last mentioned denying having hurt his son. C.I. did not request damages on behalf of the applicant. In a decision of 9 June 2008 the court acquitted D.D. on the grounds that his occasionally inappropriate behaviour towards the applicant had not been severe enough to constitute a crime.

This decision was upheld by the County Court on 19 February 2009, but on 19 June 2009 the Bucharest Court of Appeal quashed this latter decision and remitted the case to the County Court, as it considered that the lower courts should have heard evidence from the applicant and relied on the psychological reports.

The court also noted that C.I. had not requested damages on behalf of the applicant (see paragraph 9 above). Based on Article 17 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (“the CCP”, see paragraph 24 below), the court, on its own initiative, awarded the applicant 20,000 Romanian lei (RON) in respect of non-pecuniary damage.

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The applicant told the court that he did not want to live with D.D. or even meet him on the street.

He was persuaded that D.D. would want to hurt

In a decision rendered on 22 December 2009 the County Court convicted D.D. of ill-treatment inflicted on a minor and sentenced him to a suspended penalty of four years’ imprisonment.

It considered that the evidence in the prosecution file, in particular the psychological reports and the testimony given by a psychologist, confirmed that the child had suffered trauma as a consequence of his father’s abusive behaviour.

The European Court of Human Rights

On 14 December 2009 the County Court held a private hearing and interviewed the applicant. He told the judges how D.D. used to hit him, lock him in a small room without lights, throw water on him while he was sleeping and call him names. He stated that D.D. had often fought with his mother and that sometimes he had thrown the applicant’s maternal grandmother and aunt – who were bringing food to the child – out of their apartment.

him. He stated that he wished that D.D. would be punished for what he had done to him.

CASE OF D.M.D. V. ROMANIA

JUDGMENT / STRASBOURG / 3 October 2017 Upon an appeal on points of law lodged by D.D., on 7 April 2010 the Bucharest Court of Appeal remitted the case to the County Court and ordered that court to obtain an expert examination of the applicant by the Forensic Medicine Institute.

On 26 April 2012 the County Court rendered a new decision. Based on the evidence before it, notably the expert evaluations, psychologist’s testimony, witness statements, as well as the parents’ and the applicant’s statements, the County Court considered it established that D.D. had physically and verbally abused his child from 2002 to 2004. It stated:

“The County Court notes that the acts perpetrated by [D.D.] cannot be considered as isolated and random acts of physical punishment which parents can administer to their minor children, but became more severe and caused childhood attachment troubles.”

D.D. was convicted of ill-treatment inflicted on a minor. He was given a suspended sentence of one year’s imprisonment; in addition, his right to be elected and his parental rights were suspended during the sentence and for two additional years.

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When sentencing D.D., the court took into account the undue length of the criminal proceedings and that there had been significant periods of inactivity by the authorities involved, in particular by the investigators and the Forensic Medicine Institute.

No award of damages was made. The court did not give any explanation in its judgment as to why it decided not to award compensation to the applicant.

All parties appealed on points of law. Relying on Article 17 of the CCP, the applicant and the prosecutor complained notably about the fact that the County Court had not awarded damages.

The Bucharest Court of Appeal examined the

parties’ submissions in the light of the evidence before it. It reaffirmed that D.D. had physically and verbally abused his child; his sentence was recalculated based on the same criteria, including the reduction as a remedy for the length of the trial.

The court accordingly increased the sentence to three years’ imprisonment and suspended it. The additional penalty of restricting D.D.’s right to be elected and his parental rights was maintained.

The court further considered that in so far as both the prosecutor and the applicant had limited their initial appeals to solely the criminal aspects of the District Court’s decision of 9 June 2008, the County Court had been right in not awarding damages on its own initiative. The relevant part of the decision reads as follows:

“In so far as the prosecutor’s office and the injured party argued that the [County Court] should have examined the award of damages on its own initiative because the injured party was a minor, it is to be observed from the content of the decision under review that both the prosecutor’s office and the injured party had expressly limited their appeals to the criminal aspects of the case.

In this situation, the [County Court] was right in limiting its examination strictly to the issues brought before it.”

The Court of Appeal rendered its final decision on 1 November 2012 and rectified the text of the operative part on 22 November 2012.

ROMANIAN LAW The Protection and Promotion of Children’s Rights Act (Legea privind protecţia şi promovarea drepturilor copiilor, Law no. 272/2004) forbids corporal punishment as follows:

ARTICLE 33

“(1) A child has the right to respect for his or her personality and individuality and may not be subjected to physical punishment, or humiliating or degrading treatment.

(2) Measures of punishment may only be taken if they respect the child’s dignity; under no circumstances may corporal punishment or punishment which affects the physical or psychological development or the emotional state of the child be permitted.”

ARTICLE 89

“(1) A child has the right to be protected against abuse, neglect, exploitation, trafficking, illegal migration, abduction, violence, internet pornography, and any form of violence, irrespective of the child’s environment: family, school, medical institution ...”

ARTICLE 94

ARTICLE 95

“Any act of violence or of deprivation of a child’s rights which threatens the child’s life, physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development, corporal integrity, or physical and psychological health, perpetrated within the family, is forbidden.”

The Child Protection Authority may seek a court order for interim measures meant to ensure that the child does not (continue to) suffer abuse. Under Article 14 of the CCP, as in force at the relevant time, the victim of a crime had the right to obtain pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages from the responsible person, within the framework of criminal proceedings.

According to Article 17 of the CCP, as in force at the relevant time, if a victim of a crime lacked full legal capacity to exercise his or her rights (as, for example, a minor), the court was under an obligation to examine the possibility of awarding damages on its own initiative. Article 17 read as follows: “(1) The civil action shall also be initiated and pursued on the court’s initiative, when the aggrieved party is a person without legal capacity or with restricted legal capacity.

(2) To this end, the investigative authority or the court shall ask the person concerned, through his legal representative, to explain the situation concerning the pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and information concerning the acts that caused the damage.

(3) The court shall examine on its own initiative the matter of compensation for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage, even without a formal request for compensation from the victim.”

The European Court of Human Rights

“(1) Abuse of a child is any voluntary act perpetrated by a person in a position of responsibility, trust or authority towards the child, whereby the child’s life, physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development, corporal integrity, or physical and psychological health are put at risk; it can be classified as physical, emotional, psychological, sexual, and economic abuse.”

Articles 98-103 of the Act provide that the Child Protection Authority has an obligation to verify any information concerning allegations of abuse and must have the support of the police in its undertakings.

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CASE OF D.M.D. V. ROMANIA

JUDGMENT / STRASBOURG / 3 October 2017

EUROPEAN SOCIAL CHARTER Romania ratified the European Social Charter on 7 May 1999. The Council of Europe through various conventions and implementing mechanisms as well as large-scale campaigns, is fighting against domestic violence affecting children. In particular, children’s rights are specifically addressed in several articles of the European Social Charter, notably: Article 7 (the right of children and young persons to protection) and Article 17 (the right of children and young persons to social, legal and economic protection).

In his 2008 Issue Paper on “Children and corporal punishment: ‘The right not to be hit is also a children’s right’”, the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner made a thorough analysis of the situation of domestic abuse against children and the progress made towards ending corporal punishment: Progress towards ending corporal punishment of children at global level.

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There is a global context for making quick progress: the key message of the United Nations Secretary General’s Study on Violence against Children, reported to the General Assembly in October 2006, is that no violence against children is justifiable; all violence against children is preventable. The Study urges all States to move quickly to prohibit all forms of violence against children – including all corporal punishment – setting a target of 2009.

“The Study should mark a turning point – an end to adult justification of violence against children, whether accepted as ‘tradition’ or disguised as ‘discipline’. There can be no compromise in challenging violence against children.

Children’s uniqueness – their potential and vulnerability, their dependence on adults – makes it imperative that they have more, not less, protection from violence.”

In its Recommendation 1666 (2004) calling for a Europe-wide ban on corporal punishment of children, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe considered that

“any corporal punishment of children is in breach of their fundamental right to human dignity and physical integrity.”

Therefore the Recommendation called for a coordinated and concerted campaign for the total abolition of corporal punishment of children.

Noticing the success of the Council of Europe in abolishing the death penalty, it called for Europe to become, as soon as possible, ‘a corporal punishment-free zone for children.’

Furthermore, the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) requires States Parties to prevent violence against women, protect victims and prosecute the perpetrators. It introduces a number of criminal offences for physical, sexual and psychological violence for which more severe sentences are required when the offence is committed against or in the presence of a child.

On 27 June 2014 Romania signed the Convention.

On 17 November 2010 at the 1098th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies, the Committee of Ministers adopted Guidelines on child-friendly justice (CM/ Del/Dec(2010)1098/10.2).

It reiterated that the best interest of children must be a primary consideration in all matters involving or affecting them and that justice must be adapted to and focused on the needs and rights of the child, including his or her right to respect for his or her physical integrity and dignity. The guidelines recognize the children’s right to legal counseling and to expeditious proceedings.

UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, also recognizes the children’s right to be protected from domestic abuse and urges States to put in place adequate procedures and mechanisms to deal with the matter (Article 19):

ARTICLE 19

“1. States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.

2. Such protective measures should, as appropriate, include effective procedures for the establishment of social programs to provide necessary support for the child and for those who have the care of the child, as well as for other forms of prevention and for identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment and follow-up of instances of child maltreatment described heretofore, and, as appropriate, for judicial involvement.”

In December 2013 UNICEF launched the initiative #ENDviolence which builds on growing public consensus that violence against children can no longer be tolerated and that it can only be stopped by the collective efforts of ordinary citizens, policymakers, governments and international stakeholders. The strategies developed include supporting parents and equipping children with life skills; changing attitudes; strengthening judicial, criminal and social systems and services; and generating evidence and awareness about violence and its human and socio-economic costs, in order to change attitudes and norms.

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“17. No exceptions. The Committee has consistently maintained the position that all forms of violence against children,

The Special Representative of the Secretary General of the UN on violence against children actively participates in programmes and activities aimed at tackling the issue of domestic violence against children, to name the most recent: support to the Panama Declaration on Ending Violence against Children adopted by over five hundred faith leaders from 70 countries at the 5th Forum of the Global Network of Religions for Children in May 2017.

The European Court of Human Rights

On 18 April 2011 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child affirmed that no form of violence against children, however light, could be tolerated, including in the familial sphere, and reiterated the States’ obligation to prevent violence and protect child victims. The Committee further reiterated that corporal punishment, as defined in its general comment No. 8, however light, was also banned.

The relevant parts read as follows:

however light, are unacceptable. “All forms of physical or mental violence” does not leave room for any level of legalized violence against children. Frequency, severity of harm and intent to harm are not prerequisites for the definitions of violence. States parties may refer to such factors in intervention strategies in order to allow proportional responses in the best interests of the child, but definitions must in no way erode the child’s absolute right to human dignity and physical and psychological integrity by describing some forms of violence as legally and/or socially acceptable.

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Video: An overview of The Science of Neglect: The Persistent Absence of Responsive Care Disrupts the Developing Brain, a Working Paper from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child.

The Science of Child Neglect in Romania ROXANA GARAIMAN

“I desire to see Romania publically apologize for the mistakes it committed during communism. Through institutionalization, it destroyed thousands of lives and suppressed the lives of thousands more.

I want Romania to do more than it’s currently doing. Given the great evil we have been exposed to, we should be the country with the best practices in caring for vulnerable children.”

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The Science of Child Neglect in Romania A team of American and Romanian researchers have published a 16 year study which provides scientific evidence that child neglect in the first two years of life creates irreparable effects on brain development.

The study is part of the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP), a joint collaboration between researchers at Tulane University, the University of Maryland, and Boston Children’s Hospital. The study, which began in the fall of 2000, seeks to examine the effects of early institutionalization on brain development and to examine the impact of high quality foster care as an intervention for children who have been placed in institutions.

Since 2002, 80 scientific papers have been published on the results of the BEIP, as wells in hundreds of magazines, newspapers and television spots. In 2014, the study results were published in a book and can be found at http://www. bucharestearlyinterventionproject.org The findings of the BEIP team contributed to the decision taken by Romanian authorities to send abandoned newborns into foster care instead of orphanages. Despite this change in policy, there are still at least 70 traditional orphanages in Romania, which serve as homes to approximately 20,000 children.

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Since 2011, Florin Tibu has been a lead Romanian researcher in the BEIP. The results of the study were shared in an exclusive interview with PressOne. PRESSONE – WHAT WAS THE HYPOTHESIS THAT DROVE THIS STUDY ON THE NEGLECT OF CHILDREN? Florin Ţibu: The study began in 2000 and I joined the team in 2003. There are older studies carried out in England that suggested children who were raised in institutions often had developmental issues. But there were also people who claimed that children were sometimes better off in orphanages.

The prior studies were not conclusive in demonstrating which areas of the developing brain

were impacted by institutionalization. The studies also failed to reveal whether there is a critical age at which the effects of institutionalized living cannot be reversed.

One of the important discoveries that we made is in identifying the physiological mechanisms by which affective and sensory deprivation can lead to psychiatric, behavioral, emotional, and intelligence problems.

The study has now brought a clear understanding that the effects of neglect during the first two years of life are permanently devastating.

Specifically, we are talking about a lower IQ than we would typically expect from a child who spent their first two years in a normal setting. A child who has been institutionalized lacks the ability to define common words as well as the ability to successfully retain information.

They also have a lesser capacity to form relationships and to manage their emotions when they become agitated or troubled.

The experiment room from the Saint Catherine’s Social Services Complex where the study took place.

PRESSONE – HOW MANY CHILDREN PARTICIPATED IN THE BUCHAREST EARLY INTERVENTION STUDY?

This pleased us greatly as the children’s feeling of belonging and experiencing unconditional parental love is the best thing that could ever happen to a child who has undergone so much trauma.

136 children from Bucharest were recruited for our study. These were children who had been placed in institutions right after they were born. The children were placed into two study groups.

PRESSONE – HOW DO YOU DEFINE NEGLECT?

The first study group spent their childhood in an institution. The second group consisted of children who were either adopted into families or raised by foster parents that were trained by our team.

This has a negative effect on the nervous system.

In simple terms, the neural network which would normally be developed, begins to deteriorate.

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Many of the 136 children from our randomized experimental groups ended up being adopted.

For example, if a child is not touched on a daily basis or is not given the opportunity to look at different objects or faces, her eyes will not be given the opportunity to focus. She won’t have the opportunity to partake in the regular eye exercises that a newborn partakes in.

Photos: Personal Archive

We also studied a group of 72 children, recommended by family physicians, who were born and raised by the same family. This control group was important in allowing us to determine how the experimental groups compared to the development norm.

Neglect has to do with sensory and affective deprivation. In other words, the lack of having a principal caregiver who provides the same things a mother provides to her newborn.

The Science of Child Neglect in Romania Children raised by mothers who experience domestic abuse also experience the permanent effects of neglect.

One of the recurring neurodevelopmental disorders we see in our institutionalized children is ADHD. About 25 percent of these children are diagnosed with the disorder, as opposed to 3-5% in the general population.

One of the reasons is the thinning of the cerebral cortex, particularly in the prefrontal area. We studied the brains of institutionalized eight-yearold children using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (N.M.R.) and found that many of their cerebral cortexes are thinner than those of other children.

At the behavioural level, this manifests itself through a lowered ability to control emotion and a greater inability to plan actions and inhibit impulses.

PRESSONE – WHAT DO YOU MEAN

BY HIGH QUALITY FOSTER CARE AND HOW DOES THIS COMPARE TO THE NORM IN ROMANIA? Good foster care requires a great deal of training.

Abandoned or abused children come with lots of special needs. We invested a lot of time in training the foster parents in our study to create a comparison to institutionalized children.

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In 2014, we published a paper comparing the behavioural effects of children in high quality foster care and the State foster care system. The study showed a statistically significant benefit to girls.

Our foster care parents were recruited locally, assisted by a team of well-trained social workers and were supervised through weekly contact with developmental specialists from the United States. This supervision continued through all 4 years of the intervention. In the early phases of the intervention, the social workers were available “on call” for support and advice 24 hours per day.

Groups of support and training were implemented as well, and all children were visited weekly.

It is unclear whether the State provided sufficient resources to assure children’s well-

being in foster care. For example, the paucity of clinical psychologists and social workers (both specializations that were banned during the last two decades of Communism) could have limited the training and support offered by the local authorities to foster parents.

TO WHAT EXTENT CAN A CHILD’S DEVELOPMENT BE AFFECTED WHILE IN THE WOMB? I spent a few years of my life in England studying this specific phenomenon. There is serious reason to believe that maternal stress or trauma experienced during pregnancy will have a long-term effect on the child, regardless of how welcoming the post-natal conditions may be.

Science is slowly evolving in regards to this area of study but there seems to be some intrauterine programming that takes place, ultimately impacting the behaviour of the child and their mental health.

PRESSONE – TO WHAT EXTENT CAN POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION LAY THE FOUNDATION FOR THE NEGLECT OF A NEWBORN BABY? We cannot draw parallels here to children who are institutionalized unless we’re talking about an extreme case in which the mother’s depression impedes her ability to care for the child’s basic needs. That would mean she cannot hug, change, feed or put her child to sleep.

There are studies which indicate that children raised by mothers who suffer from severe depression have a lower level of intelligence and are also predisposed to depression themselves.

I do not believe these cases are as powerful or as visible as those of children who have been institutionalized. Institutions are an extreme form of neglect.

Number of Children in state custody: 57,026 In State institutions

In State foster care

Adoptions

15,335

32,974

In Private residence homes

In Private foster care

769 3,901

4,816

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY OVER STIMULATED AND HOW DOES IT AFFECT THEIR DEVELOPMENT? I’m thinking about the parents who ask too much from their children, due to the desire to offer them the best of life. I know parents who force their kindergarten-aged children into four after school activities: from piano to foreign languages and horseback riding. It’s too much.

The essential components of development end up being neglected. Children aren’t given the space to develop profound relationships. Their normal rhythm of development is sacrificed for the sake of obtaining specific results.

I desire to see Romania publically apologize for the mistakes it committed during communism. Through institutionalization, it destroyed thousands of lives and suppressed the lives of thousands of others. I don’t want this to ever repeat itself.

I want Romania to do more than it’s currently doing. To become a country with the best practices in caring for vulnerable children, particularly because we have been exposed to so much evil.

It is necessary to speed up the process of removing children from institutions and to develop a properly trained foster care system.

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Consequently, some of the risks include poor emotional development along with feelings of seclusion, depression or anxiety. Overstimulation decreases the possibility of being able to form lasting and natural relationships with peers or even adults. There is also a risk of developing a false perception of life.

WHAT ARE YOUR OWN PERSONAL WISHES IN REGARDS TO THE BUCHAREST EARLY INTERVENTION PROJECT?

A FUNERAL WORTH REMEMBERING VALENTIN ȘCHIOPU

The coffin is mounted on a wagon that is hitched up to a tractor. Several soldiers salute as a final gesture of respect. The procession consists of just a few people trudging through the muddy cemetery.

the ones in the city. “There’s space to roll around and scratch your back,” someone jokes. “Look, the body returns to this home in the ground so there’s no point of building mansions,” agrees the small crowd.

Most of the mourners look down into the open pit. Someone makes a comment about how in the countryside, eternal resting places are larger than

We are in Miheșu de Câmpie, at the funeral for Dumitru Șomlea, the Dean of War Veterans in Mureș. There are no TV cameras here.

A Funeral Worth Remembering

If Dumitru’s life wasn’t newsworthy, then why would his death be? For as long as he lived, Șomlea never sought compassion from anyone. He carried his age with dignity.

“My entire cloak was covered in bullets. Yet those bullets never pierced my skin because I would pray to God, ‘Sweet Father, God, please protect me from this attack!’”

The only thing he complained about was the fact that his wife passed away too soon, in 1988. And that God had allowed him to spend too many years without her on this earth.

At the Prut River, Antonescu shouted, “Romanian soldiers, cross the Prut, I command you!” The Russians on the opposite shore, seeing that the Romanians were crossing, took advantage and fired.

They shot all of the Romanians. The water turned red.

In February, he had turned 103 and he spent his last days in a residence for seniors.

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In 2014, before Christmas, the video blogger Mihai Zmenta paid him a visit. At the end of the discussion, the senior, who was then bed-ridden, tried to kiss Mihai’s hand. Mihai pulled it away, embarrassed.

“Night and day, you are in my prayers and I wish you many happy days with your siblings, with your parents and with your relatives,” said Dumitru Șomlea when they departed.

The film closes with an image of the war veteran’s pension statement: 252 RON per month. This is the value of six years of wearing military clothing and battling in Moldova and in Oarba de Mureș.

He often remembered his fellow soldiers. The German and the Russian allies who had only one thing in common: “They would both put the Romanians on the front lines and order us to advance.”

We were fighting against the Germans in Oarba. 11,000 comrades died. Soldiers were constantly replacing them as they fell on the front lines, being sent up to destroy the enemy lines there on the crest of the hill.”

Dumitru was nursed with the milk of war. He was born on February 13, 1914, just a few months before the world’s first conflagration. He liked to say that this was the year when the heavens went to war and Satan was thrown down to the earth.

He would soon learn the cruelty of the war for both infantry and aviation units. He joined the army in 1939 in Cluj and was placed into the aviation unit.

He was advanced to the title of platoon sergeant when he turned 100.

Colceriu, at Dumitru Șomlea’s funeral

There are very few veterans from his generation that are still alive. In 2015, there were still 415 in Mureș and now there are only 160. Their average age is about 95.

“From the moment I was born until now, he was my rock. Do you understand? He was always there, while I was going through difficult times and while I was going through good times.

Sergiu Colceriu, Commander of the Târgu-Mureș Garrison is present at the funeral. He knew Șomlea and, in the last three years, was present for all of his birthday gatherings. Șomlea would light up like a child when he would see his young military friends. He remained lucid and took his contagious optimism with him to the grave.

Dad died when I was very young and my grandfather took on the role of father in my life. We had a very close and deep relationship.

“I hate to say this but I have never witnessed this exuberant optimism in today’s youth.

People like him should have been invited to speak in schools all over Romania to talk to the students. These kinds of programs no longer exist, but their health also doesn’t really permit it at this point.

There’s a verse from a Persian poem: “Birds may die but you’ll always remember their flight.”

He was a great man who put his heart into everything he did: in his work, in his faith and in his joy. He loved everyone and everything, from his neighbor whom he greeted every morning to the country that he served.

He was curious and current events always interested him. We could talk about Angela Merkel and about the fact that Romanian soldiers did not have it easy whether they had the Germans as allies or when they took up arms against the Germans.

Dumitru’s granddaughter, Valeria, evokes images of her grandfather through her tears. She says Dumitru took the place of her late father.

God called Dumitru Șomlea home on September 16. 73 years ago, this was the day he began fighting alongside his comrades in Oarba de Mureș.

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This wise man wanted to know everything that was going on in this country. With him perishes a generation that accomplished many things and suffered many things. With him, a wise and honest generation of people perish.”

Photos: Raul Ștef

They loved their country in a fierce way, leaving no room for doubts. This love was real, authentic, not for the purpose of showing off,” says the Major.

Video: Dumitru Č˜omlea, 101 war veteran

Canadian Dream VIOREL ILIĹžOI

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I awoke with a shocking thought: what if I had to spend the rest of my life in Canada?

I’ve been staying with a friend in Canada for almost two months, and, despite the warm welcome that has been extended throughout my visit, I am counting down the days until I return home to Romania.

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George Lulelaru on Baskatong Lake

MORNING My buzzing phone interrupts my thoughts. It’s George Lulelaru. He always has something to ask, something to say. He has the energy of a nuclear plant. This morning, he wants to have a coffee.

“But it’s seven o’clock in the morning, man!”

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“So what?” George replies.

It takes me half an hour to make my way to Rue Hortense. George and his wife Didina have a strong coffee ready for me, a welcome break from the weak, brown broth served in Canada. Good country, bad coffee.

My first thought of the morning continues to lurk.

It makes me look differently at George, who I’ve known for a month. I suddenly feel intrigued about his decision to stay in Canada.

He shared a lot during the week we had spent fishing at Lake Baskatong.

He lives in Laval, a city with a population of half a million, adjacent to Montreal. George is one of the many Romanians in Laval whose Canadian dream has become a reality. He introduces himself as the oldest real estate agent in Laval. He tells everyone that his career is the most beautiful in the world:

“What more could I ask for? I wander through the streets and make money.”

He came to Canada in 1985. Why did he leave Romania? Why did he choose to stay here in Canada? And why has he only returned to Romania once in 32 years? He had a good life in Romania.

He was a technician at IIRUC and was repairing everything from calculators to small electronics, which were then making their first appearance in accounting firms.

His wife, Didina, had an even better position. She worked at “Vanatorul”, the celebrated store in Piata Romana, where the Securitate, the militia and big players in the communist system would stock up on their luxury goods. This meant George and Didina always had food on their table during a time when most people stood in line to get bag full of chicken claws.

Canadian Dream

Didina Lulelaru and the sports journalist Daniel Iaconescu at a fundraising event for the radio show “Ora Romaneasca.”

George Lulelaru was a part of this social milieu. He had his own table at Athénée Palace, his own table at the COS (House for Scientists), a new Dacia car, a color TV and a VCR. Yet something was weighing on him, suffocating him.

“It wasn’t enough that I was living well. I saw the pain and misery of those around me. This had an impact on the quality of my life. You want those around you to have a sound existence! You don’t want to see them crying, starving and freezing all the time. I wanted to enjoy my life among happy people. All my privileges made me feel guilty!”

“You’re going to laugh. For days on end I nagged her about leaving Romania, but she wouldn’t budge. Then one evening, we saw a Formula 1 race on TV. She loved it! And she was convinced!”

On February 20, 1986, George and Didina arrived at the Montreal Airport in -26 degree weather. The immigration officials were waiting for them with down jackets, hats and boots.

“The jackets they gave us were made in Romania. I can’t explain how I felt when I saw the tags on those jackets. They didn’t give them to us because we were Romanian. These were the jackets they were giving landed immigrants at that time. Didina still has her jacket.”

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“Didina really believed that we were going on vacation. When we arrived in the former Yugoslavia, I told her that we wouldn’t be

WHAT CONVINCED HER?

Photos: Raul Ștef

He was 30 years old when he escaped from Romania in 1985. Using the wild boar salami from Didina’s store as a bribe, he was able get permission to take his wife to Yugoslavia on vacation. They left their eight-year-old daughter with her grandparents.

returning to Romania. She immediately protested because we had left our child behind.”

George Lulelaru behind his real estate agent desk.

George becomes emotional when he remembers Didina’s “Made in Romania” jacket. Otherwise, if you ask him about Romania, he will say that he doesn’t miss it. His life is in Canada. He only went back to the old country once in 1991.

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“And I won’t be going back. My son, who was born here, has never gone to Romania.

I’ve discouraged him from doing so because it doesn’t help him with anything. He was born here, was raised here and will continue to live here. On a practical level, there’s no benefit in visiting Romania.

Canada is the country that welcomed us with open arms after arriving from a country that pushed us away. Canada is the best country in the world.”

After our coffee, George and I climb into his tractorsize SUV. He wants to show me the cemetery.

The tombstone of Paraschiva Ghem, George’s mother, is right at the entrance. George kneels on the ground and piously rearranges the tombstone flowers that have been knocked over by the wind.

There are no crosses, just simple tombstones, upright and cold, with the names of the deceased engraved on them. They are aligned in perfect order.

And among all these tombstones, that are colder than death in their mineral numbness, a cross rises up. It resembles the ones I’d see in our cemeteries in Romania. I move in closer.

A Romanian rests there. Vasile Hulban. And a little further, under another cross, rests Ioan Constantinescu. George begins to points to various crosses and tombstones.

“Look at the Romanians here. Zorila.

Alexandru. Sinu. Popescu. Avram. Iorgu.

Remember what I told you? This is my village!” yells George, as his eyes well up with tears. His lips tremble but he hides his emotion by pretending to fix his sunglasses.

Pointe - a - Calliere, Montreal’s Museum of History. The architectural design is the work of Dan Hangany, an architect of Romanian origin.

AFTERNOON Continuing on with the theme of death, I unexpectedly find myself at a wake for a Romanian musician from Montreal that same afternoon. Ion Mărunțelu was 61 years old when he died.

The sign that leads us to the chamber the wake is held in reads Monsieur Jean Maruntiel.

25 years ago, Mărunțelu arrived in Canada together with a folklore music group. He never returned to Romania. The repeated attacks of the miners on Bucharest as well as the underground secret police were the reason.

Daniel Lazar, the friend who had brought me to the wake, is a man made out of the same material as George Lulelaru. He’s the man who lends the Energizer Bunny some of his own batteries when the Bunny’s batteries run out.

He’s a musician turned truck driver. Once he took me on his daily route: a 1000 kilometer round trip from Laval to Saint-Louis de Kent in New Brunswick. We drove across Quebec, which is 5-6 times bigger than France.

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He didn’t really like Canada, but stayed because “the bad in Canada was still better than the good in Romania.”

After the funeral, “Jean Maruntiel” finally returned to Sibiu by plane. He now rests forever in his native land, reborn as Ion Măruntelu, a small Romanian soul who could break ties from his country for a lifetime, yet could not break them for an eternity.

Photos: Raul Ștef

Ion Mărunțelu never adapted to his new life. What need did Canadians have for his folklore music?

Up until he died, he worked in a factory that made brake pads. Using a drill, he made holes in the pads.

Thirty or so people are gathered around the coffin. Each person has their hands resting on the shoulder of the person on either side, creating a chain of Romanians saying goodbye to a brother.

Canadian Dream

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A picture of Laval city, taken on the Arthur Sauvé Bridge.

We arrived back at 2 a.m. I was exhausted. Daniel, however, was just as fresh as he had been that morning. And he does this every day, Monday-Friday, and sometimes Saturday. 1,000 kilometers per day, for the past 20 years. Soon he will turn 50 years old.

Daniel is not unadjusted in the way that Ion Mărunțelu was, but he’s also not a happy man like George Lulelaru. He’s somewhere between the two.

He’s the most common type of

immigrant you’ll come across here. He lives in Canada but is somehow incomplete apart from his motherland.

He has twin sons born in Canada but sent them to attend grade school in Romania so that they could learn the language.

He continues to send them to Romania every summer to stay in the countryside in a town near Cluj-Napoca.

This is all very costly for a man living on a truck driver’s salary.

“I didn’t want to cut them off from their roots,” explains Daniel. “I wanted them to know where they’re from. I believe that it’s important for them. If you don’t know who you are, you’ll melt here in this big pot of humanity. Without roots, the wind will blow you away.”

He came to Canada in 1993 to perform in a concert and he never went back. In fact, Ion Mărunțelu was the one who convinced him to stay.

a new life. It was not difficult for him to obtain political asylum.

There was a small industry of Romanians that would take care of everything for just 300 dollars.

Daniel needed to divorce his first wife, who was in Romania with their child. As Daniel tells the story, he kissed a girl one day and the girl ended up pregnant.

Daniel’s father forced him to marry the girl to save face. They were only together for a few months before he escaped to Canada.

was Gabriel Paculea’s birthday.

He is also a truck driver. Since Daniel drank a few shots for the repose of Ion’s soul, his cousin Iuliu Pop drives us there.

EVENING

“I would go home to Romania right now if I could. I’d even walk there if I didn’t have a daughter

After Ion Mărunțelu’s wake, Daniel invites me to a party. It

Daniel just needed to sign a document that stated he was one of the army members who had the intention of overthrowing

Iuliu is also a truck driver. He was an engineer in Romania but that didn’t carry much weight with Canadian employers.

Iliescu, the President who was ruling Romania with terror tactics. It was the same document for Laura. It was all very easy. The two of them got their papers and were soon married in Canada. There was just one more detail.

attending university,” says Iuliu while driving towards Paculea’s house.

“My daughter is studying medicine and still has another year to go. Once she finishes and can support herself, I won’t be sticking around, I’ll be going home. We are slaves here. We are also slaves in Romania too, but at least we’re at home there.

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At the time, he was an active non-commissioned officer of the Gendarmerie and had obtained special permission to attend a festival in Canada led by the folklore singer Zamfir Dejeu.

After the last performance he grabbed Laura, who was one of the dancers in the ensemble, and snuck out the back door to find

The violinist Daniel “Power” Lazar

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Daniel agrees with him from the back seat. He’s getting his violin ready. He’ll be playing at the birthday party. That is what he enjoys most in the world! When he puts his violin on his chest and begins to play, he is transfigured. In fact, when he’s playing the violin, his mind travels across Romania.

He sees himself on the hills of Faureni where he spent his childhood. He imagines himself in the courtyard of Sfârnaru din Băbuț at the “Sigismund Toduta” School of Music in Cluj-Napoca. He is transported to the country roads, keeping the rhythm with the help of horse carts carrying piles straw and then drawn to the tumultuous waves of the Someș River.

He taps the Canadian earth with his foot so his music might echo across the ocean, to the land that he deeply misses.

When we arrive at Gabriel Paculea’s place, the festivities have already begun. Daniel makes his debut with a Transylvanian folk song while those sitting around the table, all from Mediaș, encourage him with shouts.

In Romania, Paculea was an ambulance driver and his wife was a nurse.

“If I had stayed in Romania, I would have been okay. But what options would my child have? I wanted a future for him and that’s why I came here. We had everything we needed at home.

Everything but a future. And look here, in 16 years, I managed to buy a house and in two years I’ll be done paying the mortgage for it. I have a car, I have my own truck. I don’t stand in long lines or have to bribe people.”

I end up sitting at the table with Nelu Suciu, organizer of cultural events in Montreal. I find out that he also works as a truck driver.

I notice a dark-skinned, timid man in front of me.

I think I know him from somewhere. I look at him from the corner of my eye, trying to figure out where I’ve seen him before.

The master of the wheel, Daniel Lazar

No, it can’t be! Is it him? Yes, it is!

It’s Crinu Olteanu, former world boxing champion.

And now look at him here, the champion himself sitting in front of me, sipping from a tiny beer bottle.

He tells me that he’s not drinking much because he has to go on a truck route in the morning.

A Romanian gold medalist, now a Canadian truck driver. While speaking to him, a very modest and exceptionally well-spirited man - different from the thug who was raised in a boxing ring - I was proud of our culture. We all share a common struggle.

World champion Crinu Olteanu alongside of the author of these few paragraphs.

NIGHT I get back to my friend’s house after midnight. I don’t want to stay in Canada. I would die of hunger here in a country where the grocery stores are full.

I was not meant to live far away from home. I don’t have the courage, or the desperation to make such a move.

Video: Romanian musicians playing Romanian music at a house party in Canada.

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And I don’t have a truck driving license.

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The New Man VALENTIN ȘCHIOPU

Cristian Pășcuță is a chef at Marty Restaurant, in Cluj. When he sees children among the restaurant clientele, he greets them with songs from The Jungle Book. For his colleagues, he has a wider selection of songs to choose from, ranging from Dan Spataru to Tom Jones.

The New Man He is 43 years old and no longer running after other people’s dreams; “a bigger car, an enviable social position and/or a highly regarded position.”

For twenty years he worked in sales, driving 9,000 kilometers per month. His car consumed gasoline while he consumed coffee, about one liter per day. I was always running towards my target, which in turn, would grow larger and outrun me.”

Cristian started his career in 1997 at the weight of 85 kilograms. After 5 years, he was 140 kilograms. He tried every diet he could find, only to find that every kilo lost would inevitably return.

At 39 years of age, his doctor told him that metabolically; he was an ‘old man’. This insult was too much, so Cristian threw out his cigarettes and locked himself indoors for a week. He gave up his car to force himself to walk to the bread store. But it was a nutrition course and culinary school that opened the door to a new life.

“It is true that abs are developed as much in the kitchen as they are in the gym. It’s true all things should be done in moderation. And most of us know that our body builds its cells from what we feed it and that is why it’s essential to feed it clean protein, good carbohydrates and healthy fat.

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But food is more than an amalgamation of proteins, carbs and fat. Food is flavorful energy, and much of the energy we get from food comes straight from the chef. Why do people say that monasteries serve the best food? It’s because the chef’s are inspired while they cook. The quality of food is a reflection of the chef’s desire to serve others.

If you cook out of obligation the food might look great, but it will taste as if it’s missing something.

It is missing the spiritual element that inspires the chef to prepare the dish as a gift to others.

After eating, you should be able to get up feeling fresh and continue on throughout the day, full of energy until evening.”

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Even when he was a traveling salesman, Cristian felt comfortable in the kitchen, not just inside the refrigerator. He would often cook for friends and enjoyed learning new methods and recipes. Many years ago, he met a Chinese chef in Cluj. They became friends and would invite one another over to share meals.

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But it was a cooking experience with Razvan Exarhu that brought about a revelation that helped him abandon the high paying occupation that left him so empty.

“I’ve learned that it is important is to be remarkable at what you do rather than trying to be renowned. It’s essential to cultivate humility. A remarkable human being will always exude a modesty that gives hope to others.

Now, I can confirm that life really begins at 40. I’m almost 44 but think I look better than I did at 34. I have more confidence in myself than I did at 23, and my soul is not a day older than 14.

Bricecu said that when we are no longer children, we are dead. That’s what I

learned from my grandfather, who lived for 80 years. He was always joking and found everything amusing.

It’s so important to peacefully accept everything that comes our way because we are getting served exactly what we need at the time we need it. It’s been four years since I’ve reset my life, four out of the 80 which are to come.”

BEEF AND GRILLED MUSHROOMS WITH CHOCOLATE SAUCE, PEA PURÉE AND SPICY JULIENNE VEGETABLES – Cristian Păşcuţă’s recipe “Because nothing is new and yet nothing is old in the kitchen, we had the boldness of combining a salty, sweet, spicy, bitter and sour sauce. Critics will say we have badly chosen the garnish, but if we remain anchored in the past, it means that we are not advancing, hence the boldness. So joy and courage - that’s the motto!

Video: Cristian Pascuta preparing his famous recipe.

Let’s take things one at a time.

I used 200 grams of sirloin beef, which I prepared on the grill (here comes the chance to exercise free will, so you decide if you want it rare, medium or well done, everyone has their own preference). I seasoned it with Himalayan salt and freshly ground pepper.

I carefully arranged the dish on a plate and watched the guests to see their reactions.

Because some like to know the nutritional values, here is a calculation for each portion: 447.6 kcal, 24.65 protein, 28.95 lipids, 17.5 carbohydrates, 2.5 fibers.”

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I let it boil at low heat and added chili flakes. (You decide how much spice you can handle: even if I enjoy it really spicy, it doesn’t mean that everyone has to comply. Plus I don’t like to say you have to do something).

For the puréed peas, we boiled 150 grams of frozen peas in Himalayan salt water, then crushed them and added mint and fresh basil, more Himalayan salt, cream (20 grams) and 5 grams of butter. I spoke joyfully to the blender until it surrendered a fine paste.

Photos: Raul Ștef

For the chocolate sauce we used 40 milliliters of Pinot Noir wine, which we boiled with an aniseed star and two cloves, then added 10 milliliters of fresh orange juice. I added 40 grams of “baking” chocolate, a little Himalayan salt, and when the chocolate melted, I added 5 grams of butter to make it creamier.

In the hot pan, we added 5 grams of butter, and when it melted, we popped in 20 grams of julienned carrots and 20 grams of julienned zucchini. We topped it off with some Sriracha sauce but Tobasco sauce will also work.

Video: Dinu Lipatti “Valse Brilliante” (Chopin)

two brothers MIHNEA MĂRUȚĂ

This year, Dinu Lipatti would have turned 100 years old.

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Why do we have the need to commemorate anniversaries?

It’s a manifestation of identity, of what ties us together and defines us. The people who challenged ideas, progressed thought, or rose above tyranny to restore dignity to our culture. By celebrating and commemorating, we establish mile markers that we can cling to in our own turbulent times.

Dinu Lipatti was born on March 19, 1917 in Bucharest, at a time when Romania had a population of just 9,000,000 and the only oil fields in Europe. Romania was a pawn between the Allies (England, France and Russia) and the Central Powers (Germany, Hungary and Turkey). Romania was in a ‘no-win’ situation and managed to stay out of the Great War for the first two years. But in 1944, persuaded by Allied desires to cut off German oil

supplies and promises of over 200,000 troops and generous loans, Romania joined the Allies in the war against Germany. But the Allied promises were not kept and Dina Lipatti was born in a war torn city occupied by Germany.

This same would happen again during World War II, but that’s another story. This story is about two brothers: Dinu and Valentin.

THE BEGINNING Dinu’s mother, Ana Racoviceanu, had just turned 20 in 1917. Dinu’s father, Theodor Lipatti, was 45 years old and married to another woman.

Theodor’s father, the Venerable Castache Athanasiu Lipatti, was a prosperous banker and large land owner.

The marriage of Ana Racoviceanu and Theodor Lipatti finally took place in 1921, after Theodor’s first wife passed away. It was during the same year that Theodor Lipatti, a music lover who had taken violin lessons from the musically renowned Spaniard, Pablo de Sarasata, first perched Dinu on the chair of the piano and taught him to play one of Mozart’s minuets.

Valentin, who was not yet born, tells the baptism story.

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The was the symbolic way Dinu was introduced into the world of great music.

In order to conquer this world, he not only needed good teachers, but also a reliable mentor. Mentors demand obedience to the act of renouncing self-centeredness.

It means to refuse being a show-off or a narcissist, precisely the things that destroy so many talented men.”

Photos: Personal Archive

There is another indication of Dinu’s destiny in 1921. Theodor Lipatti convinces George Enescu to be Dinu’s godfather and be present at his baptism.

Enescu was 40 years old and his Romanian Rhapsodies, composed in 1901, had made him one of the world’s foremost musicians.

“Dinu was baptized in 1921, four years after his birth, because my father believed that a child should be conscious of the baptismal act. Enescu is photographed placing a crown of laurel leaves on his godson’s head. Dinu was holding a violin in his hand because the photographer did not have a piano.”

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Florica Musicescu, with two of her students – Dinu Lipatti (left) and Corneliu Gheorghiu.

Two Brothers

EARLY CHILDHOOD Dinu Lipatti had scoliosis, a physical disability that required him to sleep on a wooden mattress. With a head that was too large for his body and asthmatic lungs that kept him chronically ill, he was teased by the boys at school and pitied by the girls.

Dinu’s good fortune was being born into a wealthy family. His father was a landowner and could provide the best teachers to harness his natural talents. It was Florica Musicescu who took Dinu to the next level.

“Of tyrannical exigency” was Dona Flora, the nickname given to Florica by Dinu’s father. It took backbreaking work to make Dinu a successful young musician. But, Dinu had an undying affection and admiration for this woman, consulting her and following her advice until late into his piano career.

VALENTIN Born in 1923, therefore 6 years younger than Dinu, Valentin’s childhood and adolescence was heavily influenced by the excessive attention his parents gave his talented, and often ill, brother.

Later in life, Valentin reflected:

“Until I was 7 or 8, I was very jealous of the attention everyone, and I mean everyone relatives, friends and acquaintances - gave Dinu. I was considered an ordinary boy.

When my mother’s friend came over for afternoon tea and only acknowledged the presence of the child prodigy, I pulled on my mom’s skirt and whispered “tell her that I’m a violinist!”

FUNDĂȚEANCA By all measures, Dinu and Valentin had a happy childhood.

Their parents were healthy and loving, they lived in a big house, and were taken care of a by a compassionate Bulgarian nanny, Mariana, who dedicated sixty years of her life to the family.

Like many other wealthy families, the Lipatti’s found a sanctuary in the Romanian countryside where the children of city-dwellers discovered the paradise of freedom and the natural mysteries of the world. Their paradise was named Fundățeanca.

It’s located in Arges, in a commune now known as Leordeni, on the old highway that runs between Bucharest and Pitești.

Photos: Personal Archive

I had no particular inclination toward the violin and I never played a single note of any instrument to the great surprise of our musical teachers and Dinu’s disapproval.”

Ana Lipatti and Valentin. The photograph was taken by Dinu Lipatti who was passionate about photography.

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Two Brothers

The “memorial home” of Dinu Lipatti.

Valentin wrote about it.

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“Dinu, mother and I would go to Fundățeanca every summer. We’d set up shop at the end of July and only returned home for mother’s birthday on September 9.

Fundățeanca was a spellbinding place of beaten trails that made their way through the forest. A place of full moon’s where father slept outside on a park bench. A place where music, reading and fresh thoughts came easily. There was always a lingering smell of bitterness from the walnut trees intermingled with a sweet smell from the linden trees. It was the place of faithful dogs and of genuine happiness.”

Dinu built a mansion on the crest of a hill at Fundățeanca during the Second World War. For the last thirty years, many of his belongings have returned to the residence. They were donated by Valentin.

THE 1930’s At the age of 15, Dinu graduated from the Bucharest Conservatory in 1933 and one year later was giving recitals at the Roman Athenaeum.

He was already interpreting Liszt’s Concerto 1 in E-flat Major and performing Chopin’s Concerto in E Minor.

All of these things were happening while Romania was looking towards France with gratitude, like looking at an older sister, a role-model. In pretentious saloons in Bucharest, French was the spoken language.

In the East, Stalin had starved millions of people.

In Germany, the power belonged to a guy with a horrible mustache. And the English speaking world was condemned for the great financial crisis it brought forth.

In the thick of these historical events, Ana Lipatti decided it was time for Dinu to continue his musical studies in Paris. This ambitious and authoritative woman felt that Romania was not big enough for her child prodigy.

Alfred Cortot and Dinu Lipatti in 1935.

Apartment building on Saint-Romain Street.

Photo: maps.google.com

The Lipatti family sold one of their Bucharest homes to buy an apartment in the sixth district of the French capital. From 1934 until the summer of 1939, Ana Lipatti and her two sons lived on Rue Saint-Romain, apartment 9.

“He taught me to speak French like the French. In other words, he taught me how to shake off my Romanian accent and to place a strong emphasis on the “r” consonant. I learned how to correctly compose sentences and to stop confusing open vowels with closed ones. He then taught me how to speak with dramatic metaphors and to act it out with profound effect.”

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Valentin discribes Dinu’s maturation in Paris. “This weird boy, with a very unattractive physique and with no natural charisma, was transformed when he sat at the piano. He became transcendental and the music fed him with a unique and irresistible passion.

While Dinu was absorbed by music, Valentin began taking dramatic arts and language lessons from Denis d’Ines at the Parisian conservatory: Photos: Personal Archive

After being enrolled at the Ecole Normale de la Music, Dinu began to study with the greatest French pianist of that time, Alfred Cortot. For composition, his teacher was Nadia Boulanger, who he referred to as his “spiritual mother.”

The young man became beautiful, tall, powerful, sublime. I have never been privy to such a powerful transfiguration.”

Valentin and his parents in 1936, posing with the Matford.

This photograph was taken in the Lipatti’s apartment on Rue Saint-Romain. We see a domineering mother, the center of power, who is proud of her older son (on the right). Dinu appears embarrassed by this admiration. Valentin does not dare to lift his gaze. The father is a marginal character, always seated in the same position in every family photo.

On top of concerts, recitals, theater performances and all the en vogue movies, Ana Lipatti bought her eldest son a Matford (European equivalent of a Lincoln) upon graduating. Dinu was as passionate behind the wheel as he was when he hovered over the keys of the piano.

Two Brothers

RETURN TO ROMANIA In July 1939, the Lipatti family moved back to Romania. Dinu met the pianist Madeleine Cantacuzino on the very first night he returned.

“She was the only great love of Dinu’s life” were the words of Valentin.

Madeleine was married at the time of their meeting. She dropped everything to be with Dinu and she dedicated herself to him until the end.

Image: Madeleine and Dinu Lipatti Between 1939 and 1943, Dinu performed in Rome, Vienna, Berlin, Bratislava and Sofia. He also frequently performed in Bucharest, establishing himself as the best pianist of his generation.

As the Allied bombings of Bucharest intensified in 1944, Dinu Lipatti and Madeleine moved Switzerland in 1944. Dinu taught virtuoso classes at the Conservatory in Geneva.

Everything changed for the Lipatti family in 1947.

Theodor died of cerebral hemorrhage and Dinu was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma.

Photos: Personal Archive 55

Two Brothers By 1947, the Communists had taken over Romania and Dinu was desperate to have his mother at his side. In 1949, he sent her a letter asking her to come to Switzerland. His father-in-law, the academic Mihai Ralea, helped Ana complete her exit papers, but she was still arrested by the Securitate at the border. They claimed she was trying to smuggle out silver.

Eventually, in Septemeber 1950, Ana Lipatti made it to Switzerland to be at her son’s side. She came with no money, only her clothes and silver spoons.

Dinu’s last recital was in September of 1950, in Besançon, France. He fell ill on stage and left only to return a few minutes later to play Jesus bleibet meine Freude (Jesus, Joy of Man’s Desiring), the same piece he had played at his first recital when he was five years old.

Da capo al fine, like the circle of life, he died on December 2, 1950.

Ana Lipatti remained in Switzerland where she settled in a suburb of Geneva called Chene-Bourg.

She died in 1973, at 86 years of age, and is buried in the cemetery next to Dinu.

VALENTIN’S NEW LIFE

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In 1947, Valentin Lipatti seemed to have all the comforts of inter-war Paris: money, education, and social status. He certainly could have escaped Communist Romania. But he chose a different path.

“In the fall of 1947, I was accepted into the Romanian Communist Party and in February 1948, I became a member of the Romanian Worker’s Party. Coming out of the old society in which I had spent my childhood and adolescence, I suddenly entered another world and I was open to giving myself to it entirely.

1948 and 1949 were full of joy. There was an energy and pleasure derived from taking part in creating a new Romanian society. All of a sudden, my life had meaning.”

In 1964, Valentin Lipatti became a diplomat and in 1965 was named the permanent delegate of Romania to UNESCO. He returned to Paris

where he lived until 1971. From 1972 to 1975, he was Romania’s chief negotiator at the Helsinki Conference.

The Helsinki Conference was a huge success for Valentin. Coming on the heals of the Russian invasion of Prague in the 1968, the conference culminated in 35 countries, including the United States and Russia, signing an agreement that established the “limited sovereignty” and “inviolable borders” of each country. This gave Romania greater latitude to operate independently from Russia.

After the Helsinki Conference, Valentin was elected vice-president of the Executive Committee of UNESCO (1976-1980). In 1978, he was named the chief of Cultural and Media Services in the Romanian Ministry of External Affairs.

In the book, “Red Horizon,” the controversial General Ion Mihai Pacepa sustains that Valentin Lipatti was the adjunct chief of Service “D” (misinformation) of the Securitate, going by the code name Valentin Leonte.

Valentin Lipatti responds to this accusation in his novel, “Porveni Street Number 23” (which is the source of all Valentin’s quotes in this article).

“Some lovers of sensationalism are eager to devour you and ruin your reputation. It is probably hard to forgive a landowner’s son for having remained faithful to left-wing ideologies at a time when opportunism was the law that governed many of the leaders.”

Heart disease began to weaken Valentin Lipatti in the 1970s. He was confined to a wheelchair for the last decade of his life. He died in 1999, at 76 years of age.

Stories about families like the Lipatti’s are important today. It touches on the richness of our culture and the darkness of our communist legacy that still looms large in many government institutions. We need a national debate about communism and its consequences.

The cover page of the Volume Paraschiva Bădescu that George Corbu dedicated to Valentin Lipatti.

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Arc over the Carpathians VALENTIN Č˜CHIOPU

Andrei Soveresan almost did not make it to his first birthday. The ambulance rushing him to the Children’s Hospital broke down. He barely made it in time for a successful surgery.

Photo: 1leu.org – Give, Volunteer, Charity

Twenty-five years later, Andrei ran across the entire Romanian Carpathians, from the northern Ukrainian border to the southwestern border with Serbia, to raise money for a new Children’s Hospital. The project is supported by 1leu.org.

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Andrei labeled his fundraising campaign the “Arc over the Carpathians” to signify the rounded curve of how the Carpathians Mountains cut through the center of Romania. He started his run on July 1st in Sighetu Marmatiei, home to Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel, and finished the race 22 days later, in Orsova, along the Danube River.

As he finished his run just before midnight on Sunday, the 23rd of July, Andrea arrived at the Danube River and proclaimed: “That’s it, this is the end of my vacation.”

Two days later, visibly thinner, but with high hopes of a quick recovery so that he could participate in the Retezat Marathon on the 5th of August, Andrei spoke to PressOne about his unique summer vacation.

His run covered 1,300 kilometers through the mountains and the massifs of Maramureș, Rodnei, Giumalău, Rarău, Bistriței, Ceahlău, Hășmaș, Ciucului, Nemira, Brețcu-Vrancei, Penteleu-Podu Calului, Siriu-Tătaru, Ciucaș, Baiului, Bucegi, Piatra Craiului, Făgăraș, Cindrel, Șureanu, Godeanu, and Cernei.

Remarkably, Andrei literally ran along the rim of the Carpathians Mountain tops. For centuries this mountain trail was a military road marking the dividing line between the Habsburg and Ottoman empires.

Video: Andrei Gratian’s Morning Run

Photos: Google Maps

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Arc over the Carpathians

THE RAFFLE Sovereșan never thought of running when, in 2013, he bought two raffle tickets for 5 RON at a 2013 fundraiser to restore an old fortress.

As fate would have it, he bought the winning ticket which gave him a pair of running shoes and free registration in the Apuseni Marathon. He opted for the semi-marathon and ran the whole distance in two and a half hours.

Since that date, Andrei has run over 15,000 kilometers and is one of the most well-respected cross-country runners in Romania. He’s run over 15,000 kilometers and already completed 4,000 just this year. He has won a number of races and wet his appetite for mountain running at the prestigious Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc in southern France.

He experienced his first disappointment last year, dropping out halfway through a 170 kilometer race in Croația.

“I felt completely demoralized, upset for having abandoned the race. For three weeks, I didn’t want to hear about running.

My girlfriend hounded me and helped me get over it. That’s when the idea of running across the Carpathians, from one border to the other, came to me.”

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TRAVERSING THE WILD CARPATHIANS On the narrow mountain ridges, danger lurks at every corner, ranging from capricious weather, wild animals, attacks from shepherds’ dogs and everything inbetween. Andrei came within 50 meters of a female bear with her cub. That reminded him of the Transylvania Trail Traverse, where volunteers made the mistake of leaving food on the hood of a “food station” vehicle. Bears arrived as Andrei was refueling his body, forcing him and a marathon organizer to lock themselves in the car.

The Arc over the Carpathians started splendidly for Andrei Soveresan. On the first day he ran 107

kilometers. He settled into a daily rhythm of waking up at 5am, packing a few sandwiches in lunch bags and heading up the next mountain peak.

The feeling of fatigue accumulated and waited for the perfect moment to strike in the Fagarasi Mountains.

“We had already covered more than 800 kilometers when we made it to the area.

I had stopped setting my alarm clock and was sleeping in as much as I needed to.

Well, this mountain tricked me. It was the most beautiful, yet the ugliest I’ve ever come across. It took me a total 31 hours to get from Plaiul Foii to Turnul Rosu,with only five hours of sleep in a shelter.

I was tired and felt alone, but needed to be constantly looking out for animals, especially on the eastern side. I had moments where my only goal was to put one foot in front of the other and walk, or run. On top of that, there really aren’t many marked trails, so orienting myself to using GPS added to the exhaustion.

But I saw a lot of the wilderness and unreal beauty that still makes Romania so unique.

I would talk to myself, tell myself stories and encourage myself by whistling, yelling or singing the refrains of songs that would get stuck in my head.

“Despacito, quiero respirar tu cuello despacito” I couldn’t get the tune out of my head for the life of me. But I didn’t really want to.

The songs somehow made me move. I even had manele in my head, even though I’m not a fan of the genre. Somehow I had picked up a song at a bed and breakfast in Moldova and it got stuck in my mind.”

Hunger pains were even harder to deal with. It turns out that the fresh lard and grilled bacon produced by peasants in the mountains is a very good source of fat for endurance athletes.

In the meantime, he will keep running so the ambulances keep running.

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Honestly speaking, I thought only my mom, dad and maybe my grandparents would be contributing to the cause. It ended up being a lot more people that supported me. That sense of community really meant a lot”

Andrei’s dream is to participate in the Western United States, the world’s oldest mountain race.

This year, 6,000 athletes registered for only 370 spots. Luck was not on his side during the draw but he’s sure his time will come.

Photos: Personal Archive

A technical support team was with me for the duration of the marathon. They arranged overnight accommodations or were waiting for me with a pitched tent at predetermined locations.

THE PIATRA CRAIULUI MASSIF

Image from Valea Jeppi Mici, in the Bucegi Mountains. Photo: Personal archive

no castle for old men VOICU BOJAN

I’m still trying to wrap my head around why I went to Electric Castle. I don’t like big gatherings or electronic music. I don’t like to stay up late at night, and I always reject the “offers I cannot refuse.”

No Castle for Old Men

I’ve never been to a nightclub or festival. Never.

And even worse, in the last few years, I’ve returned to my love of old-school jazz and blues. All my heroes are pushing up daisies: Lightning Hopkins, Blind Willy Johnson, Son House, Muddy Waters or Jack Champion Dupree.

In a word, I’m old. I declare it, and I own it. But at least I’m old and curious, a person who appreciates different things. I could not wait to see what this professional ignoramus could make of this festival.

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I decided to attend just the first two nights of the festival. I’m going to be like a peasant who comes down the mountain once a year to go to the market.

The organizers were generous enough to oblige my interests. Like helping an old man cross the street, I received a free ticket and an invitation to a banquet reception for the photographers, journalists, radio broadcasters, etc. Of course, I accepted the ticket and declined the reception.

BONȚIDA, HERE I COME! Well-camouflaged with a hat on my head and sunglasses on my nose, betrayed only by the white hairs in my beard, I board the bus at 6pm. I snooze for the 50 minutes to Bonțida, among very cool and kind-spirited young people dressed in shorts, small tank tops, transparent black veils and well-placed tattoos. I start chatting with the boy from Baia Mare in front of me. He’s wearing a flag with hair extensions, and on his head is a unicorn mask made out of rubber so that his friends can find him more easily. Right.

Before Electric Castle, Bonțida was known for the foul smell emanating from a plethora of pig farms.

Since Electric Castle, the small town has been transformed. In doorways and windowsills, locals are cheerfully rubbing their palms together as they hungrily stare at the thousands of people getting off the buses. They’ve been waiting for them for a year.

The locals have launched small business endeavors in the industries of rain gear, temporary tattoos, glittering eye paint, artisanal purses, and every kind of food, including placinte, meat, gulas, kurtos kolacs and, of course, fast-food.

Almost every home in Bonțida offers room and board, camping areas and parking. The locals lucky enough to own a few hectares, make a killing in parking fees. The price of local straw and sawdust (ground cover in the inevitable rain storms) skyrockets.

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Immediately, well-orchestrated chaos sweeps you up and takes you for a dizzying ride. Meanwhile, the smoke coming off the food is swirling around, as if you were a succulent sausage on legs. The

As soon as I enter through the sheep’s gate and have my wristband scanned I see a sign that speaks to me: “Welcome Back. We missed you!” I feel as if a young girl just gave me her seat on the streetcar.

The next day’s message is even better: “You look fabulous! Let’s fkn party!” As a result, I make sure not to catch a glimpse of myself in any mirror. It doesn’t help that I have no idea how to dance.

Photos: Voicu Bojan

The aggressive Bonțidian capitalism shows itself at every corner while the locals easily mingle with the English, French, Dutch, Hungarian, Moldavian, and Bucharestian-speaking youth who are blinded by the sun as they exit the bus.

security check seems to be rigorous. I take out everything I have in the backpack and am searched around my ribs and hips before receiving a bracelet and a smile - both of them are pink. The tobacco bag of the guy beside me is being held suspect. Its greasy-haired owner looks like a run-away poet from University Square.

Like a subdued lost child, I quietly make my way to the Info Point, the way I do at the theatre, and grab a program. Whoa, the font is really small!

It’s obvious that I’m not in their target audience. I squint my eyes at the yellow map that looks like a giant stain with black dots all over. I unscramble only the things written in large front, which confuse me even more: Silent Dance, Booha Stage or Swedish Lodge.

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Honestly speaking, I feel like heading for the hills.

The advantage of being old is that you feel it in your bones when you don’t belong somewhere. Just like arthritis. But then I remind myself: “Yo, you’re a journalist, not a chicken! Hide behind your lens and at least get a few pictures!”

Everyone else is strolling around, laying down or discovering the festival on foot. I decide to walk around and take a better look at everything.

SPACE I walk around aimlessly for three hours, with my bell around my neck like a peasant with his eyes on the roller coaster. I investigate each little corner from the inside out. I can’t help being amazed by everything I see.

I ask myself whether I’m in Bonțida or Glastonbury.

Everything is big, beautiful, airy and very well thought out. The accents are strategically placed and the details are fascinating.

These young people have transformed a marshland of willow bushes into small, magic places with windows into another world.

In order to overcome the buckets of rain that seem to find Electric Castle every year, all the walking paths are made from wood and PVC tiles. They used the same material for the ‘chill spaces’ near the lake or under the trees.

I stick my nose into everything. Most of these things are hidden in little forests and are adorned with tiny Christmas lights. You walk down an alley and bang! All of a sudden you find 40 or so youth sprawled over pillows or swinging in hammocks or dancing to DJ music.

Next to the castle is a kind of a labyrinth of alleyways leading to a tent city. The makeshift city even has a supermarket which sells almost everything except alcohol.

In the castle, you can put on Virtual Reality glasses and walk on a plank that gives you the impression that you are walking between two skyscrapers.

When I heard a blood-curdling scream, then yelling that they were about to fall off the skyscrapers, I decided that this kind of reality is not worth my time.

Since I’m in new territory, I decide to try something that would otherwise be out of the question: an Electric Burger! It’s this small ember with meat thrown inside, alongside saucy goodies and some sweet potato fries. Even though it doesn’t look too appetizing, it has a versatile effect in the stomach.

Like Robinson Crusoe’s Friday who is brought from the island into the city, I can’t help but be amazed by the fact that I can buy everything with my bracelet. Like a fascinated little pigeon, this little instrument that provokes me to spend far more than I actually have. Because you don’t physically see the cash, it burns less.

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As soon as dusk falls, the space truly becomes electric. The Ferris wheel in the middle of the festival bathes the pasture in neon colors, while the fading sunlight mixes and blends with the multitudes of light

Beside the Booha Mansion, where young people are dancing a little bit too lasciviously for a sensible Christian soul, I meet my first robotic bartender.

You give the robot a command and they execute, directly connecting to the upside down bottles that make up the roof of the bar. Then, they shake, mix and pour your cocktail beside the bar. There’s quite a line because people are bursting with curiosity.

Photos: Voicu Bojan

The thing that really startles me and eventually makes me flee the haunted castle is a screen that showcases hollow and asexual bodies that collide with each other depending on how you move around it: bending gently or gyrating brutally, like a dance. Even worse, the bodies emit strange moans, causing me to appreciate the good ol’ days when standing in line to see a bearded woman at the circus was radical.

bulbs and garlands. I even watch a light show where they use electric springs that look like lightning bolts.

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No Castle for Old Men

THE PEOPLE Tens of thousands are enjoying the festival and the comradery it allows. It’s true that at first sight, when you see the kids walking down the street chugging directly from wine bottles, you’d think they come from the wrong side of the track.

Especially when you see the mischievous faces, overdone hipsters, and goths with apocalyptic t-shirts and spike bracelets.

At a second glance, you realize that you’re looking at a strategically chosen crowd that is quite elevated. A crowd that is looking for a certain type of atmosphere and a unique kind of experience. The majority are dynamic youth, the “backpacker” type, who are comfortable with the idea of sleeping in a tent.

They come for the vibe, the atmosphere and the social dynamic and are willing to take part in a long term project to renovate an historic the castle by paying for a brick or a bucket of mortar using their bracelets. More than anything, they’re the intellectual hipster type, ready to march on the street against some questionable new law.

But I’m determined to find another type – the greasier type – and I feel it in the air that I will find them somewhere.

I look for two days and I finally find them: they’re waiting in line to get on the huge Ferris Wheel which provides a great view of the festival.

Instantly, I maneuver to stand behind them in line.

The three of them have cheap sunglasses, cough like crazy and have the classic thick neck that sports a haircut that look as if it’s been chopped by a cannon ball.

They buckle into their capsule and proceed to move around wildly to make the whole Ferris Wheel shake. They get kicked off the ride after the first circle. The trio is not happy and obviously begins using their fists to demonstrate this. But the Moldavian security guards are a larger group, their necks are even thicker and fists even bigger.

From the top of the Ferris Wheel, the people appear to be little ants, scurrying about their tents. It’s like a multicolored sea of activity that alongside the forest and castle, are bewitching in the evening light. Adjacent to the festival fence, the locals are gathering hay to feed the pigs and milking cows.

These two worlds neither intersect, communicate nor understand one another, but they work together, somehow, unknowingly. Two very opposing worlds, separated by a pink bracelet.

Photos: Voicu Bojan 73

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MAIN STAGE The main stage is stunning in it’s scale and beauty.

It is 80 meters wide and had 600 square feet of high resolution LED screens. I descend from the Ferris Wheel and mingle in the crowd gathered around the main stage.

The majority of the spectators are well intentioned, open and respectful of those around them. They make room for you at the table and offer a friendly smile for my camera lens.

A small minority is made up of drunks, smokers and druggies who are present at any large festival.

A volunteer from Info Point tells me one of them asked her directly where they could buy some party drugs. That reminds me of the story I heard last year of the young man who woke up in an ambulance wearing only his sock, with absolutely no recollection of what had happened the preceding days.

I can’t tell how many people are here for the music or just the opportunity to escape to a pleasant atmosphere while wearing pink bracelets. On Sunday, July 16, 41,000 people listened to Franz Ferdinand and Deadmau5, bands which I had never previously heard of.

That’s when the concert of Mirabele Dauer and Corina Chiriac begins, which reminds me of why we are here, namely ...

The mass of humanity moves peacefully from one stage to the next. Each one of the nine stages creates a unique, awe-inspiring atmosphere.

Photos: Voicu Bojan

My favorite is a bearded fat guy, dressed in a tiny apron, sleeping under a poplar like a catafalque.

In the two hours that I visit with him, he remains unmoved, just like the mummy of Ho Sin Min in Hanoi. I feel like poking him with a stick to see if he’s alive, but I restrain myself.

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No Castle for Old Men

At the Booha Mansion a machine launches balloons that are perfect for popping while dancing. At the Roots Stage, a Rastafarian with long dreads is spinning reggae music from the bottom of his heart, dancing around joyfully.

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I was surprised how many music genres are being featured: 80’s disco, electronic music that I do not understand, but which have unbelievable visual effects, classic punk like Sex Pistols, brought by the two honest boys from the band Slaves, Honest rock, a bunch of indie, and some ethno. I’m sure there’s more but I can’t tell you because I don’t really understand it.

So what did I see? Almost all of Beardyman’s performance on the main stage, followed by an appeal for peace and love, like a Protestant pastor. I also saw a disco performance since it was the opening act for the festival. It was very well received by a generous public.

The organizer’s idea of bringing together different generations of music was brilliant, especially the 80’s Romanian music. In fact, everyone was so pumped on the first day that I think they should have been given a blurry hologram of Gică Petrescu.

For me, to be honest, the music of Mirabela and Corina seemed otherworldly even when they were young. I never expected to see them enjoy swaying barefoot on stage. They were sweet and emotional, and in between songs they swooned about youth, energy and freedom.

The memory of the sixteen-year-old girls who started to hoorah with joy is engrained in my memory. They happily danced in their rubber boots to Romanian folk music while a police officer with a sensitive soul filmed continuously on his phone, with watery eyes like Bambi and trembling lips.

GOODBYE, FAREWELL, SO LONG, ELECTRIC CASTLE! Electric Castle 2017 behaved itself spectacularly to an elderly person without festival experience.

I thank them for letting me play with the rake in their sandbox.

They gave me the opportunity to bump into all kinds of friends or former students who said, “You are the last man I expected to see here!”

How wonderful it is to be the last man!

HERE ARE SOME FINAL FIGURES TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA OF THE ​​ DIMENSIONS OF ELECTRIC CASTLE 2017: 60 buses made 300 round trips daily between Cluj and Bonţida.

220,000 square meter festival footprint.

500,000 watts of aggregate power for the sound equipment just for the main stage.

200 tons of gravy 20,000 plastic tarps 70 cubic meters of bark.

100 people have recycled 85% of the garbage, saving the planet from an ecological disaster.

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Photo: Sky, by Cesar Vascocenco

poiana aleu COORDINATED BY: SEBASTIAN VASIU

Mankind has not blemished the carbon free footprint of Poiana Aleu in the Apuseni Mountains in western Romania.

Photo: Simona Ciobanel

Photo: Cesar Vascocenco

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Photo: Adrian Ghiuvelichian

Photo: Adrian Stanica

Photo: Adrian Stanica

Photo: Adrian Stanica

Photo: Elena Biianu

The old lady Armina Photo: Cesar Vascocenco - Silueta

Poiana Aleu

Photo: Adrian Stanica

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Photo: Grigore Roibu

THE PRESSONE WAY The PressOne way is our belief that the best stories are born when public interest meets a journalist’s personal curiosity.

It occurs when an undiscovered, inflammable substance is sparked by a personal approach.

The PressOne journalist starts with an original idea or approach of a known topic It continues with thorough documentation, which is achieved by thinking of the reader, not of somebody’s political or business interest And is completed with a combined package of “text & image” meant to provide a unique satisfaction to the reader as they have been respected, not lied to.

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