Swedish Press Vol 84:1 Jan/Feb 2013

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Swedish Press N Y A

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First Impressions and Pioneers

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January/February 2013 Vol 84:1 $4.95

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5 From the Editor’s Desk

OFFICE: 1321 West 33rd Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6M 1A6

7 Letters to the Editor

WEBSITE www.swedishpress.com E-MAIL info@swedishpress.com TEL +1 604 767 9721 TOLL FREE +1 866 882 0088 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Claes Fredriksson claes@swedishpress.com

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CONTENTS ( 01-02 2013)

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Swedish Press

Swedish Headlines 9 Headline News: The New Face of Swedish Business 10 News at a Glance 12 Swedes in the News

EDITOR Sydney Vickars sydney@swedishpress.com CO-EDITOR Anton Fredriksson anton@swedishpress.com

Hemma hos 32 Design: The Strength of Swedish Design 33 Treats a la Sjölin

ART DIRECTOR Joan Law Fredriksson joan@swedishpress.com REPRESENTATIVES Calgary: Carin Pihl +1 403 931 0370 Toronto: Claes Holmquist +1 416 496 7907 Thunder Bay: Elinor Barr +1 807 344 8355 Winnipeg: Ellen Boryen +1 204 897 1216 Denmark: Elisabeth Andersen +45 3045 6062 Continental Europe: Anton Fredriksson +33 618 432 056 ADVISORY COMMITTEE Björn Bayley, Olof Flodmark, Lars Romert, Ulf Waldén, Paul Horn af Åminne, Peter Ladner, Brian Antonson, Christer Garell, Anders & Hamida Neumuller SWEDISH PRESS SOCIETY President: Lennart Österlind Secretary: Suzanne Rahmberg Treasurer: George Cook SUBSCRIPTION rates per year $35, 2 years $65, 3 years $95, 1 year abroad $75. Digital edition $28. Subscribe Toll Free at 1 866 882 0088 or at www.swedishpress.com.

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Business 13 Business News 15 Company File: Scania 16 Clean Innovation: Alfa Laval 17 Clean Leader: Klas Abrahamsson Features 18 Striking Gold 20 Swedish Firsts: A Day in the Life Interview 22 Anders and Hamida Neumuller Heritage 24 Valentine’s Day 25 Maclayhem Lifestyle 26 Top Sju 28 Fashion 29 Music 30 Fresh Ideas 31 Sport

Travel 34 Travel Insider: Barcelona In the Loop 36 Landskapsnyheterna 39 Canada & US Update 41 Calendar and Events 42 Ads and Info 43 Press Byrån 46 Sista Ordet On the cover: A 1929 Gustaf V gold coin was superimposed with the number one to illustrate the theme of our feature stories on pages 18 to 20.

NEXT ISSUE DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 15

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Ottawa

riktar ett stort tack till Anders och Hamida Neumuller för deras tid med Swedish Press och önskar de nya ägarna

Lycka till!

Vi ser fram emot att gemensamt fortsätta värna svenskheten i Kanada och Nord Amerika.

e Besök gärna vår hemsida:

www.swedishembassy.ca

Many thanks to our supporters over the years.

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From the Editor’s Desk

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Swedish Press January and February 2013

W

hen the call came in early September, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

“This is Anders Neumuller, I wonder if you would be interested in taking over the Swedish Press.” And that is how it all started. It was just a phone call, with the usually relaxed yet professional Anders on the other end. As soon as I put the phone down, the gears started turning: how interesting that he asked us and that he had remembered, from a discussion a few years ago, that Joan, my wife, is a graphic designer who used to design magazines back in the 90s when we met in Hong Kong.

“Can you let us know in three weeks?” Anders asked before finishing the call. So we decided that we better get going with the due diligence: Who do we know in the magazine business? Who do we know in the Swedish community?

Who would know if it is possible to earn a living running a magazine? And what will our children think about this idea?

We asked a number of people for their opinions and also had a financial analyst take a serious look at the numbers and the outlook. The opinions we received were indeed mixed and we received much advice to be really careful and not jump into something we were not sure about, especially as this is a struggling sector .

After being advised by a trusted friend, we also carried out a risk analysis and concluded that if this was going to be purely a business decision, the answer would be no.

But this was much more than a business decision, this was about heritage, culture, language and keeping the connection to my roots and my family “back home”. And it was about encouraging our Canadian halfChinese children who were born in Europe, to keep the connection and embrace the Swede in them.

It was October 7th; we had a lovely lunch outside in Anders and Hamida’s garden and we confirmed the news that we had given them verbally a day or two before: Yes – we would be pleased, honoured and delighted to go ahead and take over the business. We signed a half page agreement, cheered, took a few photos and suddenly, after having thought about it for 5-6 weeks, we became the owners of an 83-year old magazine with approximately 10 million readers over its lifetime and an archive to show for it.

The 14 weeks since that sunny October Sunday have been nothing less than amazing and seem to have passed in no time despite the fact that Joan and I have worked 7 days a week with many late nights, but here it is – the fresh Swedish Press – proudly presented by the wonderful and amazing Swedish Press team.

Thank you Anders and Hamida, thank you Joan, thank you Anton, Alisha and Arkus, thank you Sydney and our writers and finally thank you to you our readers!

Claes Fredriksson Editor-in-Chief

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[Contributors]

New members welcome!

Sthig Jonasson Sthig was born in 1942 and has worked as a cultural journalist, theater critic and literary critic for more than 50 years. He has had critique assignments for Örebro Kuriren, Ålandstidningen, Uppsala Demokraten and Uppsala TV, a local television station. Sthig has been a cultural editor for Uppsala Demokraten and Uppsala TV. He also covers various cultural activities in Sweden and is also a member of the Uppsala City Theatre Board.

Ann-Charlotte Berglund Ann-Charlotte is a freelance journalist who divides her time between Hereford and Qualicum Beach. She studied at Uppsala University and in Stockholm where she took journalism. She also studied Latin, French, Brazilian Portuguese and Canadian History at the University of Victoria and the University of British Columbia. She loves Canada for its natural resources.

Hamida Neumuller Born in Kampala, Uganda in 1950, Hamida Neumuller has a great interest in fine arts, books, food and cooking. She worked as Director of Information at the Swedish Cooperative Center (SCC) between 1976 and 1982. Hamida and her husband, Anders, have published the Swedish Press from 1986 to 2012. They have two children: Mina and Sofia.

Stop by our club or visit

Martina Söderlund Born and raised in Sweden, Martina resides in Vancouver Canada where she is working for an international architectural firm as a civil engineer specialized in green building design and energy performance. Martina will contribute with cultural, technical and design related stories for Swedish Press.

Philippe Kjellgren Philippe is a travel extraordinaire. He is the CoFounder and CEO of Hotel Insider. He peviously started and led the Kiwi Collection for many years.

1920 Dexter Avenue North Seattle, WA 98109 206-283-1090 www.swedishculturalcenter.org info@swedishculturalcenter.org

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Brian Antonson Brian is retired after a career in radio and broadcast education at the BC Institute of Technology.

He is a co-writer of the leading authority on the famous lost gold mine legend, “Slumach’s Gold”.

Today, he is president of the Mission 2014 BC Winter Games.

Tatty Maclay Tatty is a half-Swedish, half-English journalist, translator and mother of four. She grew up in London, but spent summers in the Stockholm archipelago. After five years in her husband’s homeland of Scotland, she recently moved her family to Sweden and she writes about their new life for Swedish Press.

Kristi Robinson Kristi is a freelance Designer and Fine Artist with a Masters degree in sustainable furniture design.

She has worked on projects ranging from interiors, furniture design, to product design, and architectural illustrations. Kristi travels extensively and is also an accomplished athlete having cycled across Canada, competed in numerous marathons, and raced in Ironman Canada. Her most recent and biggest endeavor is becoming a first time Mom. Lars Nordstrom Lars Nordström was born in Stockholm where he lived until 1974. He was educated at the University of Stockholm, Portland State University, and Uppsala University, where he received his Ph.D. in American literature in 1989. He is the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships.

In 1988 he settled with his family on a small vineyard in Beavercreek, Oregon. For many years Lars worked as a technical translator in the high tech industry, but now divides his time between growing wine grapes and writing and translating literature, as well as giving talks on various Swedish-American subjects. To learn more, please visit him at larsnordstrom.com Sydney Vickars Sydney has a World Literature degree from Simon Fraser University and is interested in the comparative study of narratives, language and culture. She lives in Vancouver and has spent time traveling and living in Europe. She has been writing for various publications and is pursuing graduate studies.

Anton Fredriksson Anton is an economics student at Sciences Po Paris and Columbia University. He has journalistic experience as a member of the Communications Management Team at the 2011 World Scout Jamboree in Sweden and previously interned for the magazine Monocle in London.

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Letters to the Editor Tackar all vänligast för den utmärkta tidningen som jag läst för så många år, jag kommer väl ihåg den gamla uplagan och också när Anders och Hamida tog över produktionen.

Ofta såg jag dem på sommaren inte långt ifrån McMillan planetarium. Fira midsommar och hälsa alla välkomna till den nya svenska pressen. Jo nog har ni gjort ett bra job. Jag tror inte någon kunde ha åstekommit och vad ni gjort över åren. Hoppas vi får höra ifrån er i mellanåt.

Tack och ha det så bra i Sverige!

P.S. To the new editors and family, hjärtligt välkomna Karl Sundin Abbotsford, BC It was quite a shock to read that you are giving up the production of Swedish Press after all these years. I’m glad I met you in person at the Swedish event in the Danish Church in Toronto.

Let’s hope that contact is maintained in some way. In November my wife and I visited the villa of Axel Munthe near the top of Capri, exterior only. It was due to the Swedish Press article that I knew to look for it.

Best wishes for your new life in Sweden.

Bruce Nord Toronto, ON Kul att ni har hittat, som det ser ut, bra efterträdare till “Swedish Press”. Roligt att ni flyttar tillbaka till Sverige men det känns faktiskt vemodigt att inte längre se första sidans hälsning från Anders. Tänk vad ni har jobbat hårt för att få ut tidningen varje månad. Det måste kännas både skönt och skrämmande att överlämna detta i nya händer.

Välkommen tillbaka och tack för kul läsning Agneta Horn Bonde Gustavsberg, Sweden

Tusen tack för allt både Du och Hamida har gjort för Swedish Press och samtidigt hjälpt mig med vad jag frågade efter osv.

Yes, the torch must go on, but you will be very, very missed as you have attended to everybody’s requests. It will never be the same without you and with that I wish both you and Hamida good luck on the next chapter in your life and may the sun shine on your face so that your shadows will always be behind you!

Birgitta Marco Toronto, ON Vad jag blev ledsen att höra ni ska ge opp Swedish Press. Och flytta tillbaka till Sverige ska ni också efter alla dessa år! Det blir verkligen inte detsamma utan er – vi kommer att sakna er!

Men det ar ju också själviskt att tänka så. Ni är säkert glada att kunna retire och flytta närmare era flickor och barnbarn, och det ar ju precis som det ska vara. Jag är i alla fall glad att höra att Swedish Press inte kommer att upphöra utan istället får nya editors. Ja, change is inevitable...

It’s been a great 27 years of Swedish Press reading (and I still have most of my copies!) Lycka till med detta nya kapitel i era liv och tack för allt ni gjort i/för the Swedish community i Vancouver!

Viveca Ohm Sechelt, B.C. Det är inte utan vemod vi just tog del av ert meddelande att Swedish Press nu, som ni länge planerat, är såld och ni redo att snart återvända till Sverige. Vi gratulerar er till en enastående prestation att utveckla “pressen” till en svensk tidning, med läsare över hela Nord Amerika, fylld av värdefull och underhållande läsning för svenskkommunerna här ute. Det gläder oss att ni tydligen funnit värdiga “arvtagare”.

Margareta och Magnus Ericson West Vancouver, B.C. Thank you for all your support over the years. Our team at Swedish Press is excited about this new beginning. We look forward to your continued support, input and comments in the years to come.

Claes Fredriksson Svenska Skämt-Tecknare Armed with his pen and wit, Tomas Karlsson has been drawing for Göteborg’s daily newspaper, Göteborgs Posten, since 1982. In many countries cartoonists must work within the constraints of the publication’s political stance. In Sweden however, where the tradition of illustrated political satire isn’t as strong, Tomas Karlsson is afforded a unique sense of independence – a liberty that he is fiercely proud of.

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Tough job?

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Get a tough bearing.

Diagram 2

Service life under poor lubrication conditions

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Original SKF Explorer

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Service life under contaminated conditions

Relative service life 2,5

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2,0 1,5 1,0 0,5 0

Original SKF Explorer

Upgraded SKF Explorer

5

Extensive SKF testing showed upgraded SKF Explorer bearings provide almost twice the service life.

The Power of Knowledge Engineering

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Swedish Headlines THE NEW FACE OF SWEDISH BUSINESS

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n January 15th, two wellknown Swedish institutions, Invest Sweden and the Swedish Trade Council (Exportrådet), merged to form the entirely new organization: Business Sweden. “The new brand is the beginning of a common journey in the interest of Sweden,” explained Ulf Berg, the CEO of Business Sweden,

“The aim is to make us an even more attractive, innovative and competitive partner to do business with, both at home and abroad.”

Business Sweden’s dual mandate is to facilitate access to foreign markets for Swedish businesses in an effort to help them expand internationally and to attract foreign investment to Sweden. Previously these two functions were performed separately by the Swedish Trade Council and Invest Sweden respectively. The organization

aims to enhance the image of Sweden as an attractive business partner through a combination of promotional campaigns, advisory services, skills training and events. Business Sweden works in tandem with trade associations, embassies and chambers of commerce worldwide with an established presence in 57 countries.

Last year, the Swedish government decided to pull the plug on Invest Sweden due to accusations that they over reported the number of jobs created in partnership with Chinese companies. The Swedish Trade Council subsequently assumed the role of Invest Sweden. This has led many to believe that Business Sweden is merely a reincarnation of the Swedish Trade Council. Clearing the confusion, Ulf Berg insisted, “I don’t see it as if the Trade Council is taking over anything. We’re changing our name and identity in order to create something totally new.”

Whereas Invest Sweden was entirely funded by taxpayers’ money, Business Sweden will inherit many of the financing tools employed by the Swedish Trade Council which include selling its myriad services to its clients.

Business Sweden is jointly owned by the state under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the private sector represented by the Swedish Foreign

Trade Association respectively. This unique collaboration allows almost unrestricted access to networks across the many sectors of the Swedish business landscape.

The harmonizing of national trade and investment promoters is not a new concept and has experienced success in both the UK and Germany. The new move to marry the two branches stems from an earlier recommendation by a government report on Sweden’s foreign trade and investment promotion structure released in September of 2011. The move is expected to streamline costs while enhancing the services available to Business Sweden’s target audiences. “Alongside this integrated approach, the combined knowledge and experience of the Swedish Trade Council and Invest Sweden will enable us to offer our clients a full range of support,” Ulf Berg added, “We can in principle take on any assignment related to exports and investment in Sweden.”

The new organization’s name has also been raising eyebrows. Unlike the Swedish Trade Council which was known in Swedish as Exportrådet, Business Sweden will exist only in its English form. “We have nearly 600 employees in 60 countries. Only 100 of them are in Sweden. So having an English name was the obvious choice.”

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News at a Glance Self-Defence

At Sweden’s annual defence roundup, Folk & Försvar, the heads of the Swedish defence and security sector assembled in the cozy mountainside town of Sälen. Among the list of highprofile speakers was NATO SecretaryGeneral, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Addressing the crowd in his native Danish, he lauded Sweden as being “one of NATO’s most active and effective partners.” Although Sweden collaborates actively with NATO in numerous capacities, it is not a fullyfledged member. “We now have a real opportunity to make our partnership even stronger,” Fogh Rasmussen went on to emphasize.

Outside the main auditorium, reporters were keen to learn from the head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, whether NATO would rush to the rescue of Sweden in case of an invasion. “You cannot be outside NATO but want everything that NATO can give,” explained Fogh Rasmussen, “collective defence only applies to NATO members.” How Sweden will interact with the organization in the years ahead will be key in the discussions surrounding the Swedish Armed Forces’ plans to scale down.

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Wallenberg Name Day August 27th, a day when Swedish students flock back to school, has been earmarked as Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Day in a statement published in Dagen’s Nyheter backed by the likes of Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, Sweden’s Minister of Culture, and Jan Eliasson, the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. The Swedish diplomat is credited with saving the lives of tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews during World War II through the issuance of protection papers and a network of safe houses. Although revered and honoured internationally – Canada, the US and Argentina already have days commemorating him – Wallenberg is not as well known in his home country of Sweden. Now in the wake of Wallenberg’s centenary in 2012, this is slated to change as Sweden aims to reinvigorate his legacy back home. The very fact that the memorial day will take place during the back to school period, is testament to efforts undertaken to raise awareness of the humanitarian hero among young Swedes.

Finnish Language Rights Expanded in Sweden Recently, the Swedish government has decided to extend Finnish language learning to more Swedish jurisdictions. Along with Sami, Romani and Yiddish, Finnish is officially a minority language in Sweden. Authorities have currently been offering Finnish to residents in 40 Swedish areas and eight more municipalities have recently

been added. Since much of the older Swedish population speaks Finnish, it has become of acute concern that those members of society be able to understand and communicate in their society. It is also important that Finnish be offered in schools in order to expand language learning and to promote communication at home, for Finnish is spoken in many Swedish homes. A recent trend in the European Union, such language expansion requires political discussion but ultimately, more languages offer more perspectives on the world.

Apple Products in Swedish Schools Swedish schools have recently geared up with Apple products. In response to suggestions and pressure from teachers and instructors, the Swedish educational system has opted to use Apple products. However, this move has sparked a debate about a potential conflict of interest because many of those public sector employees promoting Apple products have also been hired by Apple as consultants. Apple currently has interests in 40% of the computer products present in Swedish schools and educational facilities.

When those responsible for buying the computer products are employed by both the school board and the computer company, it is not difficult to see where the conflict lies. Still, the debate should be about what the best product is for the education of children.

Digital Channel to Make Media Accessible to All A new digital culture channel “Play Kultur” is inviting its audience to imagine a world where all sort of media is available at your fingertips. The producers of this new channel intend to use streaming technology to make it possible for all Swedes to view videos, concerts and plays on their computers, smart phones and tablets. With the intention to both disperse the love for such cultural manifestations to a wider audience and to reinvigorate performing art, Play Kultur has the potential to popularize cultural immersion. Having received funding from the Swedish Postcode Lottery, Play Kultur is able to spread culture to those who would not otherwise be able to experience the performing arts culture. With this technology, an official from a show can record it and add it to the Play Kultur application, where a wide audience can retrieve the video and enjoy.

Swedish National Film Award nominations

Economic Forum. To top matters off, Sweden has become so effective at its environmental initiatives that it actually needs to borrow waste products to make its own energy. Incinerating trash has become big energy business in Sweden over the recent years and they can’t seem to make enough waste to supply their own energy demand.

Importing 881,000 tonnes of Norwegian trash, Sweden needs to consider perhaps cutting down energy demands in addition to cutting down on waste.

with a new trend of documentaries this year. The Guldbagge (or “golden beetles”) have been awarded for achievements in film annually since 1964. This year, a big contender in the myriad of nomination lists is Call Girl, a film that highlights a Swedish political scandal set in the 1970s. Other nominations include: Searching for Sugar Man and Eat Sleep Die for best picture; Johannes Brost in Janne in Avalon, Bengt C.W. Carlsson in Good Luck and Take Care of Each Other and Matias Varela in Easy Money II for best actor; and Pernilla August for her role in Call Girl, Nermina Lukač in Eat Sleep Die and Linda Molin for her role in Bitch Hug for best actress.

Green Sweden is Ahead of the Curve

Sweden’s National Film Award nominations were announced on January 3rd. The awards, facilitated by the Swedish Film Institute are littered

Sweden seems to be quickly becoming one of the most proactively green countries in the world. Testifying to its environmentally friendly habits, Sweden has recently been ranked the second most effective country at facilitating the gravitation towards green architecture and infrastructure. Second to France, Sweden made a significant mark on the Energy Architecture Performance Index (EAPI)’s global ranking scale, presented by the World

Syrian Immigration in Sweden Sweden has become the top destination for Syrians fleeing the civil war engulfing Syria. Statistics released in January by Migrationsverket, Sweden’s migration board report that 7,814 Syrians sought asylum in Sweden in 2012 alone, a twelve-fold increase from the previous year. As the conflict, which began in March of 2011 and has claimed the lives of 60,000 according to UN estimates rages on, more and more Syrians are looking north to secure a better future.

The trend will likely continue well into 2013 with Migrationsverket expecting an additional 18,000 applicants from the war-torn country. But they are not alone, Somalis and Afghans are also flocking to Sweden in larger numbers as are migrants from the Western Balkan nations.

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Swedes in the News

Technology Nobel

The Draper Prize is a prestigious technological award likened often to the “technology” version of the Nobel. This year, a Swede, Thomas Haug, is set to be the recipient of the prize for his extensive work in developing modern mobile telephony standards. In the

1970s, Haug was a pioneer in Sweden’s first mobile telephony standard, Nordic Mobile Telephony. Originally a strategy for connecting people in a sparsely populated northern Sweden, the telephony standards soon became a popular method for a myriad of other types of communcication development. These standards are precursors to modern day 3G and 4G networks.

Haug will receive the prize at a ceremony scheduled for February 19th, 2013.

Female Coach of the Year Pia Sundhage, a Swedish football coach who last summer led the US women’s national team to a second straight Olympic gold medal was named FIFA

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Women’s World Coach of the Year on January 10th. Recently becoming women’s football manager in her home country, Sundhage broke into song upon receiving the prestigious and celebrated award.

She is currently preparing the Swedish team for the European Championships which is set to take place in Sweden this year.

house but has since been reconstructed into a 24, 000 square meter premises and currently serves as Europe’s largest youth centre. For his ability to develop positive character and endure patiently and with positive promise, Carlberg was awarded the Swedish Salvation Army’s Hanna Prize and a medal for the Swedish Patriotic Society for his distinguished efforts in the field of youth education. Carlberg will be missed by all those whose lives he touched. He passed away on January 5th at age 69 surrounded by his loved ones.

Man with Best Memory

Farewell Carlberg With the help of the YMCA in Stockholm, Anders Carlberg founded the Fryshuset youth centre in 1984. What was originally intended to be a safe place for Stockholm’s young people to listen to music and hang out, soon became a necessary and celebrated space for the city’s troubled youth. Fryshuset started off in an old storage

We might never be able to forget Jonas von Essen, the man who has been rendered as having the best memory in the world. Raking in three awards in London at the World Memory Championships in December, von Essen remains a humble student from Gothenburg.

Von Essen’s accomplishments are remarkable, especially considering that he is only 21 years old. Required

to memorize pictures, photographs and even the order of 21 decks of playing cards, the memory-testing activities in this competition are not forgettable feats.

Swede Identified

The family of a Swedish migrant worker has come forward, claiming that one of the men in the famous 1932 photograph is their kin.

The famous photo, taken at lunchtime on a beam of one of the skyscrapers in Manhattan, has been reproduced for postcards and other paraphernalia over the years. Britt-Marie Johansson Duwfa believes that the man sitting sixth from the left in “Lunch atop a Skyscraper” is her father, John Johansson, who went to the United States to work, only to return to Sweden later.

Though they can’t know for sure, the hypothesis that this man is indeed Johansson is highly plausible given that her father was a smoker, he was slightly cross-eyed and that many of the workers on building such as this were of Scandinavian, Native American or Canadian descent.

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Business News

American-Swedish Beer The celebrated American craft brewer, Brooklyn Brewery, in collaboration with the Swedish brewery, D. Carnegie & Co. has announced the launch of a new brewery and restaurant in Stockholm that will open its doors by the end of 2013. The $5 million Brooklyn-New Carnegie Brewery will be built in Stockholm’s rapidly growing neighbourhood of Hammarby Sjöstad.

Currently in its 25th year, Brooklyn Brewery has become one of the world’s top craft breweries with the largest share of its drinkers hailing from Sweden.

As Brooklyn Brewery’s chief operating officer, Eric Ottaway pointed out, “Swedes love the taste of our beer, the name of our beer and the mystique of Brooklyn.”

Bond Rules Enforced In an effort to increase transparency in the expanding Scandinavian bond market, the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, Finansinspektionen, will be keeping a closer watch on companies by ensuring that trade reports of bond prices and

volumes are filed daily.

“One of the reasons we’re now taking a more active role is that we’ve seen that the market has changed, there’s more activity now,” explains Anna Jegnell,

head of markets at Stockholm-based Finansinspektionen. Swedish banks face stricter capital controls compared to their European counterparts which has led to the search for bank loan alternatives. Sweden’s relatively underdeveloped corporate bond market, dominated by the likes of Atlas Copco AB. and Volvo AB, is undergoing tremendous growth in the wake of the recent financial crisis.

IKEA’s Indian Impasse IKEA has faced numerous obstacles in its attempt to enter India’s $420 billion retail market ever since the populous country paved the way for single brand foreign stores to open shop in the country last year.

Along the way there have been numerous bureaucratic battles over India’s strict requirements, which include investment quotas

into India’s manufacturing sector, rules requiring a percentage of IKEA’s products be provided by Indian suppliers as well as restrictions on IKEA’s famed cafés. IKEA also faces another challenge with regards to the trademark of its brand. Three pre-existing Indian companies have already registered the name “IKEA” with India’s Registrar of Companies. At press time, IKEA’s final proposal was awaiting approval by India’s Foreign Investment Promotion Bureau. IKEA plans to open up 25 stores across the country to the tune of $2 billion over the next decade.

Competition in the Sky Ryanair is setting its sights on growth in northern Sweden with a recent announcement that they are planning to fly domestically in Sweden pending new aircraft. The European budget airline made

its first foray into Swedish airspace in 1997 and has quickly expanded its market share in the country at the expense of SAS. In 2012, 650,000 passengers passed through Göteborg’s Säve airport on Ryanair flights, a 25% increase from the previous year. The animosity intensified when SAS accused Ryanair of under-reporting its aircraft weight figures in an effort to keep landing fees low. Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary had the following to say about their competitor in the region, “We wish SAS luck and hope they hang around. It’s good to have competition so the consumers have more choice.

And with the prices they charge – ours seem even lower.”

[ ] Top Swedish Stocks ABB Electrolux Ericsson SAS SKF Volvo

Jan 10th 2013

52 week Low

52 week High

21.54 50.89 10.28 10.25 161.20 91.05

15.26 34.70 8.23 4.80 125.30 73.80

21.95 54.50 10.60 10.60 175.80 100.50

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January / February 2013 13

SCANIA – THE EVOLUTION OF MINING

Trucks, engines, buses and services for mining applications Scania delivers a wide range of trucks and engines for various processes in mining, from exploration to reclamation, as well as buses for personnel transport. Solutions are developed to provide the lowest transport cost through world-leading fuel economy and services.

Founded in 1891, Scania has more than 120 years of automotive experience and has been focusing on heavy commercial vehicles since the late 1920s. Today Scania is a global company with around 1,600 service points in more than 100 countries.

At Scania we work closely together with our customers to find the optimal transport solution for the business. Our modular product design system makes servicing and parts supply easy. The major benefits of choosing Scania are superior fuel economy, the highest level of safety and a worldwide service support.

Rigid trucks for open-pit and underground mines

Scania rigid haul trucks have payload capacities, ranging from 30t to 50t. Scania rigids are a safe, reliable and versatile choice for in-pit mine haulage, from stockpile to processing plant, as well as post-process transport. The trucks can also be driven on public roads, thereby providing easy and quick transport between sites.

Heavy-duty tractors and road trains

Scania tractor-trailer combinations range from 40t to 180t. Road trains are for example a flexible alternative to rail transport and conveyor systems, and are suitable for starting up mining operations quickly. Scania tractors can operate on gravel roads as well as on public roads.

Specialised process vehicles

Innovations developed together with customers have resulted in several specialised truck designs that have noticeably brought down the customer’s production costs.

Field workshop service

On-site service support is essential for the business. Scania can provide the right level of preventive maintenance and quick repairs on-site to keep the fleet moving and fulfil demanding contracts. Scania can have you up and running with a Scania Field Workshop in just two to three months.

Driver training

Drivers are crucial for the profitability of any transport business. Drivers are the single most important factor for fuel economy and wear-and-tear of the vehicle – and of course for safety. Around 10% can be saved on fuel alone, with a corresponding significant reduction in emissions. What’s more, tyres will last longer, and the powertrain will last longer and consume less oil.

Buses and coaches

A Scania bus will bring any operation’s most valuable asset, the personnel, safely and comfortably to work.

Scania buses can be equipped with a wide range of safety features such as electronic braking system and alcolock.

Engines for power generation and industrial use

Scania delivers industrial engines for a vast range of applications such as power generation, stationary engine installations for crushers, pumps, screeners, etc. The engines meet the strictest of emission levels, including Tier 4i. Scania also delivers engines to OEMs for use in wheel loaders, excavators, ADTs and mobile crushers and cranes.

Scania AB, SE-151 87 Södertälje, Sweden, Tel: +46-8-55 38 10 00, Fax: +46-8-55 38 10 37,www.scania.com

Company File

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hen it comes to mining operations, transportation is the most costly constituent, accounting for one third or more of the total operational costs. Scania’s mining and construction vehicles provide a welcome cost-effective and fuelefficient option for many of the operations in the mining industry and in fields like it.

Over the past 120 years, the mining trade has evolved and Scania has been a key player in the structure of its products and logistics. Asking for an investment in productivity and reliability, Scania provides overhead-reducing solutions for mining companies.

Scania is particularly interesting because it caters to every facet of the mining industry in any part of the world it may find its customers: be it desert, jungle or tundra.

Founded in 1891 in Sweden, Scania is now a global company active in over 100 countries. The mining industry is a single area of its expertise, and an expert at mining Scania is.

Logistical flow is essential to productivity in the mining industry and Scania understands this. This company is aware and respectful of the conditions in the mining industry. Speed limits, road conditions, loading and unloading time, fuel consumption, maintenance and staffing variables constitute some of the issues to which Scania pays utmost attention. Some of the many types of Scania vehicles include rigid dump trucks for in-pit mining and outbound haulers. To make

sense of the many options available, Scania even offers its customers an advisory service.

Additionally, Scania offers field “workshops” in the form of containers. This innovative solution provides mining companies with access to amenities in what is often a remote and demanding environment. Eight different types of containers including a workshop, lubrication lab, parts storage room, environmental station, office, changing room, accommodation area and kitchen can be combined to suit any mining company’s needs.

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Scania

If the number of engines sold in its lifespan (approximately 1.4 million) doesn’t say enough, Scania is willing to show you just how resourceful it can be. Its grander enterprise is made of 37, 500 employees and in addition to its sales and services, Scania offers financial services in many markets.

While its products are not yet readily available in Canada and its vehicles are not yet fully-licensed in North America, Scania is willing and able to supply trucks to most other parts of the world, and to large on-site operations in Canada.

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January / February 2013 15

[

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Clean Innovation

Alfa Laval – Clean Innovations in Mining

By Claes Fredriksson

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he fact that Alfa Laval is one of the oldest and most successful industrial companies from Sweden, is probably known by most people or at least most Swedes. The fact that it was founded in 1883, by Gustav de Laval and Oscar Lamm around the concept of separation is also understood. Furthermore that it was part of the private Tetra Laval group from 1991 to 2000 before being sold and taken public may also be known.

What is new, exciting and not so well known, is that Alfa Laval continues to innovate and find new ways of marketing its core competence of separation and heat transfer. In recent years, with the advent of additional mining sites and

increased energy prices, Alfa Laval has created an entire business area focused on finding opportunities within the mining sector.

After only five years in the mining industry, Alfa Laval has managed to get their products integrated on some of the largest and most well know engine and equipment manufacturers like Caterpillar, Komatsu, Liebherr and Cummins.

The reason for the success is that Alfa Laval has managed to redefine how “lubrication oil” and “heat” is utilized on large mining vehicles that can easily be the size of a “regular” 3000 sqft home. What AL figured out a decade or so ago was that large amounts of energy were being “wasted” onboard these large vehicles. They also concluded that there is sufficient space onboard to install complete cleaning and heat recovery systems if and only if these systems could be reduced in

Alfa Laval off road Power steering cooling

Hydraulic oil cooling Transmission cooling

Crankcase gas separator

Lube oil cooling Brake cooling Fuel cooling

Lube oil filter, automatic, self-cleaning

Mobile separator to clean hydraulic oil Charge air cooling

Andrea Selvaggi Manager andrea.selvaggi@alfalaval.com +1 317 889 3033

Don Mattey Key Account Manager & Rail Manager don.mattey@alfalaval.com +1 724 734 1422

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January / February 2013 16

Fueling station separator to clean fuel oil

John Nelson Key Account Manager John.nelson@alfalaval.com +1 941 321 3150

Steven Scherschel Key Account Manager steven.scherschel@alfalaval.com +1 630 715 5518

size by 50%. With this insight, the clever engineers at AL based around the world at research centers in the Americas, Europe and Asia set to work.

They were back after 2 or 3 years with what has become nothing less than a small revolution in terms of the improvements that can be achieved in energy conservation and extended operating cycles. So what exactly did they come up with? They returned with a “family” of heat transfer and separation solutions. One such solution is aptly and dramatically called the “Eliminator”.

The Eliminator oil filtration module incorporates an automatic, self-cleaning filter combined with a high-speed centrifugal separator that bolts directly to the engine block. The filter element is designed to last the lifetime of the engine - up to 12 years – and requires no service at all during running operation. The centrifuge needs to be cleaned at each of the service intervals up to 2000-hours.

The benefit with a system that cleans and refines the engine oil is a dramatic increase of usage from 500 to 2000 hours in some cases.

Thanks in large part to the Alfa Laval system the truck also generates lower emissions and uses less oil and other consumables than the equivalent, competitive engines. So the Alfa Laval engineers continue to do what de Laval started to do back in the late 19th century: to produce innovative products that make life easier and reduce environmental impact. Today at Alfa Laval they call this Green Processes. To learn more about clean innovations from Alfa Laval, visit www.alfalaval.com.

[Clean Leader]

Klas Abrahamsson

1 Tell us your name and affiliation.

Klas Abrahamsson, Director, Market and Channel Development, Alfa Laval USA. 2 What is your background?

Growing up with a frugal father who was a “natural” in being sustainable (turned lights off, and conserved energy wherever possible) and environmentally friendly, I was raised sustainably. While pursuing university I was impressed by my chemical engineering professor’s deep knowledge about energy and I wanted to “learn more”.

The learning more led to a PhD in chemical engineering with a focus on energy economizing and heat recovery. This turned into a job with Alfa Laval which was a great fit as Alfa Laval was and still is a leader in heat transfer solutions.

Alfa Laval promptly put me on a plane to America, something that made perfect sense as my grandfather’s time in America somehow had provided me with a Green Card. Thus I arrived well equipped in North America to take on the challenge of helping Americans use energy more efficiently.

3 What drives you?

I am passionate about helping make change happen, this could be either in converting an old process technology to a new more efficient or it could be by changing people’s understanding and as a result gradually changing their behavior. I seem to get most satisfaction from sharing my knowledge and helping others understand all the ways that they can be more efficient.

comparative scale with other energy sources.

4 Describe a recent success.

I played a key role in getting Alfa Laval ready to serve and supply the strongly growing Ethanol production boom during the last decade. I really pushed the company to develop the technology required – despite a few neigh sayers not seeing the vision.

The Ethanol boom quickly reached a sustainable 10 % level, of all fuel used in the US. This is a suitable share for farm based Ethanol as one of the many alternative fuel sources we will need in the future.

5 What are you, personally doing to be cleaner in your home, company or community?

Teaching my kids by “doing” (to recycle, turn off lights and other power consuming items, smarter operation of A/C, etc), I also lecture on energy conservation in my free time.

During an upcoming vacation, I will lead a panel on energy efficiency for Inn-Keepers at an upcoming B&B conference.

6 What is limiting you or Alfa Laval from taking “cleaner action”?

The most limiting factor for introducing cleaner fuel solutions is that oil and gas prices are still unrealistically low! A price level of $200-300/ barrel would put oil on more realistic

7 Do you have any other comments?

I find it difficult to be clean and green in south-east United States; the entire society is built around using your car and attempting to bicycle is too dangerous. I still remember with mixed feelings how my real estate agent once said that “no buses in the neighborhood is a benefit”.

I also think that “pain must be felt;” if humanity does not feel real pain – from the wallet or inconvenience – then change will not happen. It is difficult to induce pain and pain is quickly forgotten. So, in order to slow down inefficient energy use and conserve energy further, some level of continuous pain is likely needed.

I’m not sure what to do, but am eager to do what I can in terms of educating and sharing my knowledge.

Slowly but surely I hope that people will start to make wiser choices, almost as naturally as my father did back in Sweden. Being a Swede and promoting a cleaner future has been a good combination. There is some kind of expectation that I shall simply know what the latest solution is and how it can be implemented, despite the fact that I have not lived there for 20+ years.

8 Who else would you suggest Swedish Press interview as part of our “Clean Leaders Series”?

Richard Branson – he has guts, resources and passion to make a difference – his clean airplane fuel initiative is a gutsy step in the right direction.

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January / February 2013 17

Striking gold

By Sydney Vickars

S

triking gold seems to thematically tint the Swedish experience in North America – though not necessarily in the traditional conception of the term. The authors of both Slumach’s Gold and The Immigrant in 1887 highlight the Swedish ability to excavate success. Sure, the Swedes were successful miners traditionally, but making stories from experiences is how these authors have struck gold.

Writing from a field perspective, Rick Antonson, Mary Trainer and Brian Antonson originally wrote about the legend of Slumach and his elusive mine in 1970. As young reporters, they “delved into the research on the legend, collecting newspaper and magazine reports, interviewing people who had some connection to the tale, reviewing the judge’s bench book kept at Slumach’s trial, and sifting through many divergent leads.” In short, these writers used their own fascination with the legend and turned its potential for success into a project.

Specifically, the writers were intrigued by those who had been rendered victims of Slumach’s curse.

Slumach’s apparent curse on the mine was initially overlooked, ignored even. However, in 1905, there was a local press reference to someone seeking a lost gold mine in the land around Pitt Lake and from then, “many a gold-seeker headed for those legendary hills, and there are reports that perhaps thousands of hopefuls searched that territory in the 1920s and 1930s.”

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January / February 2013 18

In the words of Brian Antonson himself, “anytime someone disappeared or died in the area, something not surprising since the land is considered to be ‘amongst the worst topographical areas in the province,’ they were named yet another victim of Slumach’s curse, even though reports of Slumach’s hanging reveal that he said not a word before he died.” The potential of this story is a consuming one, one that withstands actual evidence and realistic physical possibilities.

Because, according to Antonson “popular pulp writers fueled the legend with their own tales in those magazines and newspapers,” the story has become a collaborative effort, effectively harnessed and reproduced for a wider audience by these crafty and perceptive authors. The authors have been able to successfully capitalize on the enduring nature of Slumach’s curse.

In fact, the first 56-page edition sold more than 10,000 copies in a decade and recently, the current publisher, Victoria’s Heritage House, asked them to update the story for a 35th anniversary edition. Three times as long as the original, Slumach’s Gold: In Search of a Legend is “knocking on the door of 10,000 copies sold once again, spent 23 weeks on the Vancouver Sun newspaper’s ‘BC Bestsellers’ list, and was included by author Alan Twigg in his 2010 book The Essentials: 150 Great BC Books & Authors.”

In a similar way, the Nordstrom success story is made plain in The Immigrant in 1887 written by John W. Nordstrom for his sons and grandchildren. Nordstrom arrived in America by way of a steerage passage amounting to a ten day trip. From here he moved around the United States, taking part in whatever employment was afforded him. Interestingly, the only income he could count on was the guaranteed mining income he was able to come across once in a while.

Eventually, Nordstrom moved to the Pacific Northwest, where he bought land for farming. Though this afforded him a meager living, Nordstrom – who was always up for an adventure – made his way to Alaska

Slumach’s Gold In Search of a Legend

By Brian Antonson upon reading about the discovery of gold there in the late 1800s. After earning a healthy sum from a goldmine stake, he returned to Seattle and opened up a shoe store with his friend Mr. Wallin. Together they learned the ropes of shoe salesmanship and business etiquette, and dealt aptly with problems as any start-up business could expect.

If The Immigrant wasn’t enough, years later, Nordstrom’s son Elmer published a sequel entitled A Winning Team, further capitalizing on the story of striking gold that his father had so fittingly facilitated.

This story follows the takeover and expansion of the Nordstrom chain by the three sons Elmer, Everett and Lloyd.

While the actual history is interesting, what is intriguing is the narrative of striking gold itself. This story follows the Nordstrom name through the Great Depression and highlights the risks that the three sons took in the name of business. After all, “taking calculated chances in business is the best way to grow and succeed.”

Undoubtedly, such moves worked out for the three sons and for the success of the company generally.

The Nordstrom story is testament to the Swedish experience where striking gold is not necessarily just a one-time event, but rather an unwavering ability to persevere and maintain focus in the business. Having surpassed the 3rd generation trap, Nordstroms is now in the midst of opening stores across the border. “We are very excited about finally entering the Canadian market and believe that the Vancouver property we have found is a hidden treasure,” Blake Nordstrom, the 4th generation CEO of the company, told Swedish Press in a recent interview.

While we might traditionally define striking gold as something more tangible, what these two stories show us is that success can be measured unconventionally.

Indeed, while both the authors of Slumach’s Gold and the Nordstrom enterprise demonstrate financial gain and success, they both function as a Nordic example of striking gold in a steady and stable yet unexpected way.

T

he legend of Slumach’s gold has attracted thousands of gold seekers to the peaks and valleys around British Columbia’s Pitt Lake for more than a century, taking some to their deaths in their search for an elusive “glory hole”, worth perhaps billions.

In short, the legend tells of a mysterious Salish man who came to frontier New Westminster with gold nuggets the size of walnuts. He returned to the forest time and again, each time taking a young woman with him, all of whom disappeared. When one turned up in the river with Slumach’s knife in her back, his fate was sealed: he was arrested, tried, and hanged, and he cursed his mine as he stood on the gallows. With that, every gold seeker who dies in the rugged fastness just a few miles from civilization becomes another victim of the curse.

Is any of it true? Certainly Slumach existed: he was hanged, but for the murder of a man in a hunting dispute, and no mention of gold or missing women appeared in contemporary reports. But somehow, a decade after his death, rumours of his “lost gold mine” were circulating, and indeed, thousands have searched for it over the decades, and many have lost their lives. The leading authority on the legend is Slumach’s Gold: In Search of a Legend, a book that traces the tale from earliest tellings to today, profiling the “gold seekers” who have brought the story to life, and selling almost 10,000 copies in the process.

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January / February 2013 19

Swedish sts: A Day in the Life

By Anton Fredriksson

C

omprising only 0.14% of the global population, Swedes have reached and improved the daily lives of billions. In line with the first issue of our relaunch, we will be taking a look at Swedish firsts that have changed the way we interact with our world in fields ranging from programming to packaging. Although it is not in our nature to boast, it is worthwhile to take a step back and marvel at the instrumental role Swedish thinkers, explorers, designers, inventors, artists and entrepreneurs have had in shaping the world as we know it.

I Have a Dream reverberates in your head as ABBA heralds in a new day. Climbing out of your DUX bed you throw off your H&M pajamas, slide into Björn Borg underwear and into an Eton shirt or a Filippa K dress. Groggy, you make your way over to the kitchen to gulp down a cup of Gevalia coffee. The milk for your cereal is pasteurized by Alfa Laval heat exchangers and preserved in Tetra Pak packages in an Electrolux fridge.

Peering out through the fogged windows while munching on your Kalles Kaviar egg sandwich on Vasa crisp bread, you spot the thermometer and notice that the temperature has dipped below 0˚ on the scale developed by none other than Swede, Anders Celcius.

Glancing at your Sjöö Sandström watch you realize it’s time to leave for work. Once inside your Volvo, you buckle your 3-point seatbelt courtesy of Nils Bohlin and let the Swedish-enhanced GPS system guide you as the car “rolls on” thanks to its SKF ball bearings. At work, you sit at an EFG desk, take phone calls routed through an Ericsson exchange, scan papers printed by Swedish inkjet printer technology and Skype your clients overseas. Returning home you lay out your IKEA table with Rörstrand plates, a bouquet of flowers classified by Carl Linnaeus and light the candles with a match, another Swedish invention. An Ingmar Bergman film starring Ingrid Bergman follows on your flat screen TV made possible by the Swedish discovery of ferroelectric liquid crystals. Before calling it a night you read your kids a story by Astrid Lindgren. All in a day with a name rooted in Norse mythology.

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January / February 2013 20

WE LIKE TO GO UNNOTICED 400 MILLION TIMES A DAY We make over 150 billion food cartons a year for over 2000 of the world’s top food companies. That means about 400 million will be consumed on any given day, many of them on breakfast tables like this, everywhere from Los Angeles to London to Lagos. Each one is meticulously engineered to keep good things in and bad things out. Of course, people don’t give us a second thought. They rightly assume that inside every carton they’ll find exactly what they expect: safe, protected food from whichever brand they choose. We just help make it happen. This is the Circle of Protection. tetrapak.com/protection

Tetra Pak,

and PROTECTS WHAT’S GOOD are trademarks belonging to the Tetra Pak Group. www.tetrapak.com

Interview

By Ann-Charlotte Berglund

T

he talented art director from Sweden, arriving in Vancouver 1982, had resolved to stay just two years to test “America”, a continent he never felt romantic or adventurous longings for, unlike several of his high school friends. The coasts of Italy were, and still are, his favourite part of the world.

He was Anders Neumuller, and for him and his wife Hamida, those two years stretched into more than 30!

They stayed on, in the beautiful city by the Pacific Ocean, and still reside in the same neighbourhood that first welcomed them: the charming, artsy central part of Vancouver, best described as “the Granville Island side of False Creek”.

Here they raised two daughters, while breathing modern life and clever design into the staid Swedish Press, beloved by Swedish immigrants since 1929.

It was 1986 when Anders decided to try his luck with the dying paper.

There was nothing wrong with the staidness, it was a print product suited to the immigrant waves between the

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January / February 2013 22

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Anders and Hamida Neumuller: Anders was born in Solna, Sweden in 1946 and studied law, business, economics and psychology at university.

While working as an art director in Sweden and as a creative consultant in his own business in Vancouver, Anders has also published a dozen books. His wife Hamida was born in Kampala, Uganda in 1950. She worked as Director of Information for the Swedish Cooperative Centre (SCC) between 1976 and 1984. Anders and Hamida met in 1968 and they have two children: Mina and Sofia, both born in Stockholm. Anders and Hamida are intensely involved in Vancouver’s Swedish community. Anders has also been the Honorary Consul of Sweden for British Columbia and the Yukon since 2005.

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1920s and 1950s. The black-and-white newspaper had almost all text in Swedish and it landed in mailboxes all over Canada and the US, bringing “old country” stories to grateful subscribers.

It took advertising sales whiz Anders and business savvy Hamida many years to salvage The Swedish Press. Along the way, the original owner, Swedish Press Society, transferred the venture to the Neumullers.

The old typesetting equipment was by then obsolete. Desktop publishing and the World Wide Web ruled.

The “new” Swedish Press was a turn-around success, a glossy colourcover monthly magazine on current arts, business, sports, politics and celebrities, with Swedes in Sweden and abroad as the common thread of interest.

Anders even had the energy to create a second magazine, the quarterly Scandinavian Press.

Anders and Hamida worked alongside each other from the beginning, editor and assistant editor, sharing the stress.

Their teenage daughters, growing up in that kind of home environment, both swore that they’d never choose a job in the publishing business. “I hope they do admire what we achieved with the Swedish Press, though!” smiles Anders.

And now the time has come to go back to Sweden! Anders, 66 in April, is retiring as Honorary Consul. The magazines are sold (Swedish Press stays in Vancouver, Scandinavian Press

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has a new Norwegian home in Minot, North Dakota).

This was not always the retirement plan! Through the years, Anders and Hamida discussed growing old on St Barts, the Caribbean “Swede” island they love. Perhaps run a small B&B there. Or settling on the Costa Smeralda of Italy, where they once had a tourism business.

They also considered spending half the retirement year in Canada, and half in Sweden and Europe.

Two facts in the past two years, made their decision an easy one.

First, daughters Mina and Sofia have settled in Sweden, for now, and both live in Stockholm’s Vasastan.

Sofia is single. Mina and her husband Sumit, who grew up in New Delhi (they met there) have two children, Alec, 2 and Louis, 6 months.

Second, in 2011, one of Anders’ cousins offered them full use of one of the wings at Ulvåsa!

Talk about a retirement dream come true!

The manor is in the family, on Anders’ late mother’s side, and Anders and Hamida have spent many summer holidays there, renting a worker’s cottage.

Ulvåsa (or Ulfåsa, if you will) is a beautiful manor, by Lake Boren, 7 km from Motala. It has been owned by the Hermelin family since the late 1870s.

The property has been documented since the early 1300s, perhaps even earlier, and has changed owners several times through the centuries.

There are two meanings given to the manor’s name. “Åsa” means “ridge” in Swedish. Dramatic drawings from the 1300s depict wolf hunts on the ridge, so some say the name comes from the old Swedish word for “wolf”, being “ulv” (as in “werewolf”).

in turn led to Anders and Hamida coming to Canada, many years later.

“Here I’m an immigrant, like almost everybody else. I came to Sweden and loved Sweden, had relatives all around me and made many friends. But, I was an immigrant, and for Swedes there’s

through the huge glass windows of a well-known restaurant.

Chairs were piled on top of the tables, the place waiting for next day’s patrons. The lamp posts by the boardwalk shone on a surreal scene, with zillions of very small mice entering, from cracks in the rough plank floor.

They seemed to scurry endlessly, like an ant army looking for crumbs.From the outside it was a silent movie, a miniature mice fairytale ballet.

I figured that only an Anders Neumuller would discover such a perfect stop of interest.

On the topic of Granville Island, this is what the Neumullers will really miss: the ambience of today’s urban oasis, quite cosmopolitan and probably not copiable in Sweden.

And it’s of course the affluence of fresh fruits and greens available year round at the Granville Island market that they will miss the most.

On the other hand, they will be much closer to Swedish matches, Konsum’s almond paste and Kvibille cheddar, three favourites longed for in Canada.

And, they both have a Bucket List, of course: Travels away from those Swedish winter months, to Italy and other places in southern Europe.

Hamida wants to read more, and reread lots of favourites.

Anders won’t share his whole list.

But there’s a secret art project, and a couple of books to write. One about why he loves Canada so much. :-It should maybe be written at a distance!

[ [

The spelling “Ulf” supposedly relates to the first name of young Saint Birgitta’s husband, as the couple resided at Birgitta’s Point by the lake.

How exciting it will be for a style and design and arts and antiques buff like Anders, to “sit back and rock” in a wing of Swedish history. Which epoque’s rocking chair will he use?

Both agree that it will be like returning to a life that was, socializing with old school friends, and above all, they will have the family close by.

“We’ll need to brush up on the sophistication bit,” laughs Hamida, “we absolutely feel out of the loop after all these years in Western Canada.

Swedes today have been everywhere, done everything.”

But Hamida also admits that she feels more at home in Canada.

Her Ugandan Ismaili community in Greater Vancouver is well respected and recognized. Fleeing Idi Amin, Hamida’s parents and three sisters left for Vancouver while Hamida was already at university in Sweden. This

]

always the importance of asking where you come from, they need to place you.”

When we talked, Anders had just been out for a long walk, enjoying freedom from decades of deadlines and putting newspapers to bed, often two at the same time. The sudden freedom is amazing for both of them.

They suit and complement each other, Hamida and Anders. She comes across as the more robust of the two, a warm, wise and motherly organizer.

Anders is not your typical “right-on” Swede, he has a certain ceremoniousness about him, and a wonderfully subtle sense of humour.

One evening, years ago, I joined Anders on his short after-dinner walk with the small Neumuller dog (they have owned two) around deserted Granville Island. During the day it’s bustling with a huge market hall, art galleries, ferry traffic and food. At night all is quiet. Along the boardwalk, at water’s edge, Anders suggested that we pause and peer

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January / February 2013 23

{

Heritage The Day of All Hearts: A Swedish Engagement with Every Heart

most notably in the United States.

In the 1960s, Swedish florists saw financial benefit in following suit with their American counterparts, and Valentine’s Day has become a growing phenomenon now in Sweden. The younger generation are especially keen on the growing trend of the modern day Viking conquest.

By Sydney Vickars

W

hether it’s comparing soul mate searching abroad to Viking conquests or reciting love poems, the Swedes are no strangers to love. Though an imported holiday, Valentine’s Day has come to embrace the traditional Alla Hjärtans Dag (or, The Day of All Hearts). Falling on the 14th of February, the North American consumer-based holiday coincides with the European religion-rooted St. Valentine’s Day.

y

Originally based on the legend of St. Valentine, the holiday represents first and foremost the loving appreciation of another. Whether you believe that St. Valentine was the priest who performed marriages for soldiers against royal decree in third century Rome, or a helpful prisoner who fell in love with the jailor’s daughter – subsequently rendering himself “her Valentine” – his legend far outlives his contemporary significance. That is, somehow the notion of Valentine’s Day has stuck and we scramble every February 14th to show our affection to our valentines.

Beginning in the Middle Ages with the giving of heart-shaped cards and the expression of love, Valentine’s Day has transformed into a consumer-based holiday,

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January / February 2013 24

}

Valentine’s Day

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Kyssande vind av Hjalmar Gullberg Han kom som en vind.

Vad bryr sig vinden om förbud?

Han kysste din kind, han kysste allt blod i din hud.

Det borde ha stannat därvid: du var ju en annans, blott lånad en kväll i syrenernas tid och gullregnets månad.

Han kysste ditt öra, ditt hår.

Vad fäster en vind sig vid om han får?

På ögonen kysstes du blind.

Du ville, förstås, ej alls i början besvara hans trånad.

Men snart låg din arm om hans hals i gullregnets månad.

Från din mun har han kysst det sista av motstånd som fanns.

Din munn ligger tyst med halvöppna läppar mot hans, Det kommer en vind och går: och hela din värdsbild rasar för en fläkt från syrenernas vår och gullregnets klasar.

While Sweden continues to adopt the North American-style Valentine’s Day, studies show that Swedes are traveling abroad to find love now more than ever. Much like in the Viking conquests of old, Swedes today travel abroad, seek mates and return to Sweden with them. In fact, in the last four years, the number of Swedes who bring their partners back to Sweden has increased by thirty percent.

So, Valentine’s Day is not just traditionally a day of romantic love, but the practice of it lives strong in Swedish character. The holiday has not only traveled but the sentiment itself has become a global phenomenon. As the Swedes remind us, we should celebrate not only the love of one another individually, but the love that is capable of crossing borders and collapsing cultural barricades. Who knows – perhaps we’ll be lucky enough here in North America to be part of the rising thirty percent and find a Swede to take us back to live in Sweden. If such a positive phenomenon and a simple “be mine” can romance the economy as well, all the better for Sweden.

Tatty and her family recently moved from Scotland to Sweden. A half Swedish/half English journalist, Tatty grew up in the UK and works as a journalist. This is a journal of her first year in Sweden with her Scottish husband and four young children.

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Maclayhem

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Maclayhem: thoughts from the motherland

by Tatty Maclay

W

hen making the decision to move our family to Sweden from the UK, one of the things that worried me was the long-held notion that Swedes as a race are cold and unfriendly. Would we ever make any friends in this supposedly ‘closed’ society, or would I have to spend endless long, dark winter evenings holed up at home playing chess with my husband and going slowly but elegantly mad, in the style of an Ingmar Bergman film? Well, we’ve been here five months now and have not only remained relatively sane but have managed to make some very lovely new friends.

Now this may largely depend on the fact that my husband, Joe, who is half-Australian, half-Scottish, is almost preternaturally friendly.

If you left him alone in a high security prison for a couple of hours with the world’s most hardened criminals, not only would he remain alive, he would charm them all, possibly convert a few from a life of crime and almost certainly invite them all for Christmas.

And what I, as a naturally more ‘Scandinavian’ soul, have learnt from him, is that everyone you meet is merely a mirror of yourself. I’m reminded of the parable of the traveller who arrives in a remote village and asks the village chief what the villagers there are like. The chief asks him what the people were like in the last place he visited. ‘Oh, they were very unfriendly, a really nasty bunch’.

‘Well, then I’m afraid you’ll find the people here very much the same’, replies the chief.

Which is not to say that the average Swede isn’t rather more reserved than, say, the average, Scot or Spaniard, but the problem with stereotypes is that they never tell the whole story. Somewhere inside almost every buttoned-up Britt or Björn is a person with a story to tell and a dance to dance. It just takes time, genuine interest – and sometimes just a shot or two of snaps – to coax him out.

Photo: © Joe Maclay www.joemaclay.com

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January / February 2013 25

Lifestyle Top Sju

2

Melodifestivalen

1

Göteborg International Film Festival The Göteborg International Film Festival takes place January 25th – February 4th. Their mantra states that they are Scandinavia’s leading film festival and one of the largest in the world. Now in its thirtysixth year, the festival will continue to grow, utilizing more viewing locations in the inner city and can now offer an audience of 45, 000 seats to watch international films.

Perhaps most intriguing is the way by which the festival highlights Scandinavian films and filmmakers. Next year, the film festival plans on focusing more heavily on the film making industry and the producers are planning to build an industry lounge where people can meet and network.

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January / February 2013 26

Svenskar är som galna i Melodifestivalen. För 53:e året i rad går Melodifestivalen av stapeln med början i Februari. Under sex veckor kommer sedan fyra deltävlingar, en andra chans och en final att följa runtom i landet för att välja Sveriges representation i Eurovision Song Contest Finalen som i år hålls i självaste Malmö!

Loreen sopade mattan med låten “Euophoria” både på hemma plan och internationellt i förra årets 2012 Eurovision Contest. Kan Sverige vinna två år i rad?

3

“Swedish” Muppet Chef is Actually Norwegian Many of us have the Swedish chef in the “The Muppets” to thank for our understanding of the Scandinavian linguistic structure. That is, “hurdy gurdy gurdy” and “bork

bork bork” seem to be directly correlated to our understanding of the Swedish language. However, Linguistics Professor Tomas Riad from Stockholm University says that the intonation of the “Swedish” chef’s speech is actually more Norwegian than Swedish. Norwegian has two tonal peaks in its linguistic structure making the expression more song-like – something that the Muppet chef is certainly known for.

4

Swedes and Donkeys: A Language Peculiarity The northern Swedes have a peculiar way of pronouncing the word “yes”. Using a single

breath, the Swedes tend to breathe inwards creating a sort of “vacuum effect”. A regional linguistic trend, this habit has not only been known to shock foreigners but is now connected to a verbal trend present in donkeys, cheetahs and even in other languages.

Robert Eklund, Professor of Phonetics at Linkoping University told “The Local” that northern Swedes pronounce their yesses with the vacuum effect once in every ten instances. But, this habit, known as ingressive speech, is used in other cultures and even other species. Young Greek men use ingressive speech while flirting with girls in order to disguise it from their fathers. Some regions in Canada are also know for their use of the ingressive dialect. So, while the vacuum effect might not be unique to Sweden, the Swedish utilization of it must be strategic to one end or another.

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Two Swedish restuarants have made the Zagat reviewer’s top-ten list of the world’s best eateries.

Ekstedt in Stockholm has birch chairs and concrete

caramelized cabbage and accented with truffle and bone marrow. Fäviken Magasinet is the second restaurant to make the Zagat list and is located in Jämtland County.

Sourced locally, the food at Fäviken is farmed on-site and put together

Above: The Dining Room at Fäviken Magasinet and its signature Scallop Juniper dish. ©Fäviken Magasinet

Above: Chef Niklas Edkstedt and Edkstedt signature grill dish prepared on an open flame. © NiklasEdkstedt

floors and head chef Niklas Edkstedt is adamant about cooking everything on a traditional Scandinavian open flame. A typical meal at Edkstedt includes reindeer braised over coals served with

simply, with a Swedish edge, for a menu that changes every day. Both restaurants welcome the publicity and hope that it will give Scandinavian cuisine more of an edge in global culinary politics.

Two Swedish Restaurants Make Global Top Ten Illustration: Swedavia

5

Popular Music From Vittula by Mikael Niemi Published in 2000, Mikael Niemi does an exceedingly apt job of positioning the coming of age story in the Swedish arctic circle. Set in very rural Pajala in the 1960s, this novel follows its protagonist – a young and naïve Matti – as he dis-

covers “roskn roll musis” amongst his experiences with strangers – including a visiting African priest, cousins from Missouri, an old Nazi, a beautiful girl with a black Volvo, and a music teacher with a thumb in the middle of his hand – who collaboratively infuse this mysti-

cal bildungsroman with fantastical substance.

This novel was Niemi’s inaugural global hit and has been translated into many languages.

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Below Ground Heating at Arlanda Airport Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport is functionally heated from below ground.

Beneath the airport, just outside the Swedish capital, is the world’s largest energy storage unit. The underground water reserve is almost two kilometers long and cools and heats half a million square meters (over five million square feet) of terminal space. Cold water is pumped out of the aquifer in the summer to be used in the airport’s district cooling network.

Warmed-up water then flows back and is pumped underground and stored until winter, when it is needed to melt the snow in aircraft parking stands and pre-warm the ventilation air in buildings.

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January / February 2013 27

Lifestyle

FASHION

Tiger of Sweden – From Pioneering Tailor to Trendy Fit

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By Martina Söderlund

ominated for the prestigious 2013 ELLE Designer of the Year award, Tiger of Sweden has an oscillating history that goes back more than 100 years.

The company was founded in Uddevalla on the west coast of Sweden in 1903, when two entrepreneurs founded what was then called Schwartzman & Nordström. Their pioneering idea was to make ready-made suits with “A Different Cut”. Instead of having the customer come to the shop as would a traditional tailor, they began to go to the customers themselves making suits with modern designs in top quality materials. This was exactly what the market needed at the time and the company grew quickly.

The name Tiger of Sweden originates from one of their early suit models that was called simply “tiger”.

It became so popular and the brand name Tiger was born, although the official company name remained Schwartzman & Nordström for still some time.

Throughout the century the company has risen and fallen and risen again. During the second World War, they designed well-fitted army clothing, proving to be good business. Their factory was one of the most modern in Europe at the time. During the 50s and 60s the Swedish textile industry faced a

Photo: Hassse Nielsen

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January / February 2013 28

large crisis and the company was sold to the Swedish government.

It was not until 1983 that the company became privately owned again, and in the early 1990s Tiger of Sweden went through a re-establishment taking “A Different Cut” in a new direction. The new idea was to “take the suit out of the bank and into the street” targeting the younger more trendy city-crowd. The 24/7 suit was created with the concept that all jackets should be able to be worn without a tie and with jeans, for any occasion, day or night. The first women’s collection was developed in 1997 based on a philosophy of classic fabrics and modern slim fits, and last year they launched their own line of accessories.

Today Tiger of Sweden has three main brands: Men, Women and Jeans collection and the brand is sold and marketed in 20 countries with more than 1,200 resellers across three continents.

In the upcoming 2013 spring/summer collection, Tiger of Sweden presents “a playful tribute to the flamboyant and never-ending party where everyone is invited to play and create.” The collection includes a neutral color palette with some pale green, oranges and pinks in contrast to the slim, tailored cut.

Freshness, fit, trend are the three words that summarize Tiger according to the ELLE jury. The winners of the prestigious ELLE-award were announced in January 2013. Swedish designer BACK ended up receiving the price.

Lifestyle

MUSIC

Nyskriven svensk opera “M/S Aurora” med över 500 personer på scen

I

By Sthig Jonasson

Nice Ice Baby: Swedish Indie Rock Band Invents Ice Record

I

By Sydney Vickars

januari hade den nyskrivna svenska operan “M/S ce is back with this brand new invention, that’s Aurora – på grund i Ålands hav” premiär i Berfor sure. To launch its new single, “Blue Ice,” waldhallen i Stockholm.

Swedish indie rock band, the Shout Out Louds, Kören Cantemus, med över 500 sångare, have invented something to listen about. The har beställt verket av Jonas Dominique som skrivit band has put together 10 ice record making kits for musiken med libretto av Ulla-Carin Nyquist. Urdistribution among its fans. Each kit contains a bottle uppförandet i Berwaldhallen of water, a silicone mold var konsertant, men med and instructions on how rekvisita och regi. Utöver de to put the record together.

500 körsångarna var Tua Using distilled water that Åberg, Martina Dike, Nikola doesn’t create bubbles when Matišic och Jeremy Carpenit is frozen, the record plays ter med som solister. the song just once before “M/S Aurora - på grund melting on your turntable. i Ålands hav” handlar om In today’s music industry, kryssningsfartyget M/S artists and bands must come Aurora på väg till Helsup with interesting and ingfors som går på grund unique marketing strategies utanför Åland, precis när det and this one is definitely är dags för det stora jubinoteworthy. Not scientists leumsfyrverkeriet. Under themselves, the artists had en timmes ovisshet ställer to make their idea reality operan frågor om hur lever through a rigorous process The cover of The Shout Out Louds’ new record, Blue Ice. vi våra liv, och hur skulle vi of trial and error. leva om vi fick en andra chans?

The Shout Out Louds Operans handling har referenser till dagens aktuella have travelled with bands such as The Strokes and miljöfrågor lika väl som den italienska lyxkryssaren Kings of Leon and have even been featured on the hit Costa Concordias grundstötning för ett år sedan. show “How I Met Your Mother.” The lead singer in Göran Staxäng, en av körens grundare, hyser en the band, Adam Olenius, says that, “We really liked it naturlig förhoppning att någon av landets operascener because it has such a strong connection, of course with skall sätta upp operan i fullformat. the title but also almost like poetic how a song can just Kören Cantemus började som en “alla kan sjunga”fade away or melt away. Especially when you get MP3s kör för 14 år sedan och har med åren utvecklats till sent to you every day and it’s so easy to get hold of en kör där rutinerade körsångare blandas med rena music, it’s nice you have to make it to hear it.” This new nybörjare. Göran Staxäng säger att nybörjarna givetvis track is sure to attract a frenzy of attention, and not inte har samma förutsättningar som skolade sångare, of the ice cold variety. To see the video on how these men att de jobbar och sliter med sina stämmor i timrecords are made and listen to the single “Blue Ice” mar också vid sidan av repetitionerna. from their upcoming album “Optica” to be released in - Att amatörer som inte trott sig kunna sjunga kan February, visit: http://www.ksla.com/story/20564847/ åstadkomma det här är fantastiskt, säger han. band-releases-single-on-record-made-of-ice.

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January / February 2013 29

Lifestyle

FRESH IDEAS

The Invisible Bike Helmet: The Fashion Forward Alternative

I

By Sydney Vickars

t would seem excessively futuristic to imagine an invisible helmet that is actually capable of effectively protecting our heads, but that is just what Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin have done.

Responding to those who said it was impossible, fashion-savvy Haupt and Alstin say “they have to prove them wrong.”

Telling ABC news about how it had become mandatory in Sweden – as it has in many North American jurisdictions – for cyclists to wear helmets, Haupt posits that the two inventors “wanted to see if there was a way to change today’s helmets,” so that people would wear them “by free will, not by law.”

The solution? The Hövding. Posing as a collar, the Hövding is actually able to transform itself into a helmet. Designed as an industrial design thesis project by the two students from Lund, Sweden, the Hövding is meant to provide a trendy alternative to the clunky helmet culture associated with cycling.

Each helmet is fitted with a technology known as the “black box”. Recording the movements of the cyclist, the black box recognizes the angles and velocity during an accident. Inflating the helmet with helium in 0.1 seconds, the gas inflator anticipates an accident is

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January / February 2013 30

triggered by the black box instantaneously beforehand.

The helmet needs to be charged however, and each charge lasts about one month.

With a price tag of $600 - $700, the Hövding isn’t cheap. For sale in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, central Europe and Australia currently, this invention is making consumers question the true cost of “helmet head”.

Europe’s cycling culture is looking like a positive market for the adoption of the invention, however, and already the Hövding has become a staple for young fashionforward trendsetting cyclists.

It is not for sale yet in Canada and marketing specialists here such as Jeremy Axon are not convinced it will meet North American safety standards – which are generally more stringent than their European counterparts. Nevertheless, the inventors are optimistic and ultimately, the Hövding is a step – or a peddle – in the right direction. Hopefully, the invention will be making its Canadian debut in 2014, with the United States sure to follow suit.

After all, if we can be environmentally friendly, healthy and avoid the infamous “hair puff” destruction while biking to work, maybe a car free future is closer than we think. Hats – or rather, helmets – off to the brainy students in Lund. Rumour has it that the new “Editor-in-hövding” for Swedish Press is planning to import one or two even before they have been officially approved in Canada.

Lifestyle

SPORT

Interview with Grand Slam Champion Thomas Johansson

O

By Anton Fredriksson ver the past few decades, Sweden has produced a number of talented tennis stars that have risen to the top of this truly global sport. At the recent Stockholm Open, Swedish Press’ Anton Fredriksson caught up with the Tournament Director and former Grand Slam champion, Thomas Johansson to hear his thoughts on the success of Swedish tennis.

Swedish Press: Who inspired you to play tennis?

Thomas Johansson: My idol has always been Mats Wilander. I have always enjoyed the way he plays.

When I was nine or ten years old, the Davis Cup was very close to my hometown. My Dad and I went down to have a look when Sweden was playing Ecuador. I was sitting there day and night and I think it was the second day when my dad took me down to the court and said, “Ok, let’s try to get Mats’ autograph”. And he was such a nice guy. He was just, “Yeah sure I’ll give you my autograph” and he actually spoke to me. We must have talked for 5 or 10 minutes. I was on the clouds – I was in heaven. We then took a picture and that picture sat above my bed for my whole career because he was my idol. And when I started to play professionally and managed to get onto the Davis Cup team, he was also the Davis Cup captain so it was a big pleasure to play in front of him.

SP: How has the sport changed since the reign of Mats Wilander?

TJ: Well, I think the tennis game right now is more physical. If you have a look at the top guys right now they are so fit and so strong that even when they don’t

play their best they manage to win their matches anyways and that’s what makes them so good.

SP: How has Sweden as a country impacted the sport? We have seen some pretty big stars come from Sweden. How has that changed the sport?

TJ: Björn Borg started the whole thing. And after that they managed to get Wilander, Edberg, Nyström, Sundström...the history of tennis in this country is so big. I remember in 1994 I qualified for the Australian Open for the first time ever and [Sweden] had 17 or 18 guys in the main draw which meant we had 17 or 18 guys amongst the top 105 players in the world which is amazing. Right now we are struggling a little bit but the juniors are looking very good.

SP: But it’s not just in tennis where we see this success, we also see it in other sports such as golf, skiing, sailing and even hockey. In your opinion, is there any link between the successes in these different disciplines?

TJ: I think it is the Swedish people; they have a good mentality for sports and especially for individual sports such as tennis or golf. Sweden is a small country but in tennis we always had the tennis clubs that have always been producing great players. But as you said we also have great teams in ice hockey and also if you look at football we might not have the strongest individual players, if you leave out Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but we fight great as a team.

SP: And finally, what are some of your favourite moments from the Stockholm Open over the years?

TJ: As a player it was 2004, that was by far my biggest moment, when I beat Agassiz on the centre court here in the final. But as an organizer, it was when we managed to get Roger Federer here in 2010 and he managed to win the whole thing. It is our third year now running the tournament and we’ve heard from many people who think that this year has been the best year and that makes us very happy.

To hear the full interview please visit www.SwedishPress.com

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January / February 2013 31

Hemma hos The Strength of Swedish Design

S

By Kristi Robinson

wedish Design, two words that immediately invoke ideas of good design. So why is it good design and why are the Swedes so great at it?

The strength of a design is usually based on three things: how well it functions, how nice it looks, and how much it costs. Eagerly embracing the ideas of beauty in simplicity, clever functionality, and quality in craftsmanship, Swedish Designers make things that simply put work very well and are beautiful at the same time.

Catalogue cover for (1954) Design in Scandinavia: exhibition of objects for the home.

Their talent for design isn’t just pleasant happenstance, but developed out of a rich cultural history. Masters of their craft, Artisans were able to hold on to quality that is typical of Swedish design. They did this right through

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January / February 2013 32

‘The Front Page’ magazine rack captures the form of the turning pages of a magazine.

Designed by the group ‘ ‘Front’, a new generation of Swedish designers.

the industrial era purely because of their disapproval for the techniques of mass manufacturing. While other countries gave up their craft traditions in favour of mass production, Sweden continued using their handcraft methods. Much later, when Swedish designers did begin to produce on a mass scale, they found ways of manufacturing that retained the elements of folk art that were so integral to their cultural identity.

Also at the heart of this history is Swedish democratic society, which held the belief that good design should be affordable and not just reserved for the wealthy. They aimed to enhance the quality of living and also effect social change through their designs. Because of this, good design has become a part of every day life for the Swedes.

Another characteristic that sets the Swedish style apart is that its designers have always been heavily influenced by their natural surroundings. They use this connection with nature to inform their designs; letting the shapes be organic rather than linear, and by using wood as a primary material. Whether or not this adds to the ‘goodness’

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Design

of Swedish design may be a little subjective, but it has undoubtedly stood the test of time. Swedish design was introduced to the world in the 1950s when Sweden joined forces with Denmark, Norway, and Finland to promote ‘Scandinavian Design’, a style synonymous with clean design, sensibility and functionality. Scandinavian Designers held exhibitions throughout The United States and Canada showcasing ceramics, furniture, glassware, metal work, and textiles, while promoting the ’Scandinavian way of living’. From that point onward Scandinavian design was here to stay.

Although for over half a century Swedish design has flourished, within the past ten years a resurgence has taken place. While incorporating traditional ideals, Swedish design is now moving towards addressing emotional values in their work.

Designers want to tell a story and design as a commentary on current times. So now we have beautiful and affordable objects that are designed and function well, and tell a story.

This leaves you wondering where Swedish design will take us next...

‘Pirkka Stools’ by Karl Malmsten (18881972) who devoted his life to the renewal of traditional Swedish craftsmanship referenced nature and cultural traditions in his work.

[ ] O Treats

a la Sjölin

n April 25, 1987 we landed at Toronto Pearson Airport carrying Per’s two year contract with Alfa Laval Canada in our hands. It was a big adventure to explore and experience a Canada that was fairly unknown to us at the time.

25 years later we are still in Canada and the adventure continues although on a somewhat different level. We have found Canada to be a country that is fairly easy to settle down and live in and we have found its people to be easy going and fun loving. As Swedes we have always been treated with respect and with the two ambassadors, Börje Salming and Mats Sundin we have always had a topic of conversation around the Swedish theme here in Toronto.

Per no longer works for Alfa Laval and instead works in sales at Tetra Pak which is in the same “family”. As for myself I have been lucky to find work in both the energy conservation and in the food industry over the years.

After 25 years abroad one gets used to life in Canada but what we miss is contact with family in Sweden. Long telephone calls make up for the lack of face to face contact and lately we have started to Skype.

Over the years we have had numerous visits from friends and family which is always welcome.

Two children have come along since 1987: Veronica is now 22 and Marcus 17. When they were younger we tried our best to speak Swedish at home. They were sent to Swedish School every Saturday and not only did that keep their Swedish language and cultural awareness alive but it

also allowed us to make new Swedish friends. Both kids have gone to confirmation camps in Sweden and Veronica spent every fall even through high school, practising and performing for the Lucia pageant in Toronto. Marcus truly enjoyed his “hockey-konfa” camp with MODO in Örnsköldsvik. We found that the Swedish hockey players didn’t care too much about language skills so it was easy to become part of the group.

To watch Peter Forsberg on ice every day added to the fun.

At this point we have no plans to move “home” as some of our friends have done. Quite often it depends on where the kids end up and since ours haven’t “landed” yet we will stay put.

Perhaps we will take up curling after all the time we have spent travelling between hockey arenas over the years.

By Gunilla Sjölin

Sticky Chocolate Cake 300 ml sugar 1 ½ tsp vanilla sugar (or a little bit vanilla extract) 1 pinch of salt 4 tbsp cocoa 150 ml flour 2 eggs 100 g melted butter 100 ml sliced almonds

This cake has been served at the kids Birthday parties so many times that Marcus’ friends eventually were convinced that this was the only cake we ever ate in Sweden. It doesn’t get much easier than this one though.

From Allt om Mat 11/1984 Set the oven to 320°F. Mix the dry ingredients. Blend in the egg and the butter. Grease and coat with bread crumbs, a round baking pan with removable bottom (24 cm). Spread the batter over the bottom of the pan. Cover with almonds. Bake in the oven for about 35 minutes.

The cake should be sticky in the middle. Let cool. Serve with whipped cream and berries or fruit (kiwi and strawberries are good).

Goat Cheese Pie Dough 300 ml flour 125 g butter 1 tbsp cold water Filling 1 large leek 1 tbsp butter 100 g sundried tomatoes in oil 3 eggs 300 ml sour cream ½ tsp salt 150 g goat cheese 1 tbsp chopped basil Round baking pan

From Allt om Fester/ Ica kuriren 5/1995 Put the flour in a mixing bowl. Cut the cold butter into small pieces and put on top of the flour. Mix flour and butter with your hands. Add the water and mix until even. Let the dough rest in the fridge for an hour.

Clean and rinse the leek. Cut into thin strips. Melt the butter in a frying pan. Let the leek “melt” in the frying pan, don’t brown it. Cut the sundried tomatoes into small strips. In a bowl, whip the eggs, add the sour cream, the salt and crumbled goat cheese. Set the oven to 450°F. Take out the dough and cover the bottom of the baking pan with the dough. Alternatively you can roll out the dough on a floured baking surface first. Bake the pie shell for 12-15 minutes. Remove the pie shell from the oven and cover the bottom with the leeks, then the tomatoes and end with the basil. Pour the cheese mixture on top. Bake for another 20-25 minutes. Let the pie cool a little bit before serving.

Decorate with a couple of basil leaves if you wish.

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January / February 2013 33

Travel Insider

By Philippe Kjellgren, Hotel Insider

B

arcelona, located right on the Mediterranean, is one of the world’s most pleasant cities, enjoyed by tourists, business people and those drawn by a variety of interests – meetings, exhibitions, culture, entertainment and sports. Swedes consistently make Barcelona a vacation destination. As the second largest city in Spain, Barcelona is one of Europe’s main transport hubs, with a thriving cruise and commercial port and a vast airport. Since the 1992 Olympics, arguably the most successful in business terms for many decades, Barcelona has been a powerful global brand. Few cities can boast of a 4.5 kilometre long coast line spanning a total of seven beaches.

Barcelona is the 16th most-visited city in the world – in Europe, only Paris, London and Rome attract more tourists every year. Visitors come for the beaches, for its sunny climate, and for no less than nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites, a list which is headed by Palau Güell and Sagrada Familia Cathedral, both extraordinary Antoni Gaudi projects. Visitors are drawn to the region for its food, popularised by Catalonia’s most famous chef, Ferran Adrià. Some of the culinary treats include Pa Tomaquet, bread rubbed with ripe tomatoes, garlic and olive oil, and paella, especially in Barceloneta, the traditional fisherman’s quarter of town.

As the capital of Catalonia, this city of 1.6 million is also seeking to loosen its ties with Spain’s largest city, Madrid.

Catalonians are fiercely independent, and with a GDP per

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January / February 2013 34

capita that is 21% higher than the EU average, they feel they are ready to stand on their own two feet. They are intensely and justifiably proud of their city, but it might be wise to keep conversation away from their politics unless a Catalonian mentions it first. Two other insider-tips for firsttime travelers: firstly, stay alert when it comes to safety of your possessions. Tales of leaving car-keys in the car only to find them gone moments later, and of quick-handed flower sellers in Las Ramblas who manage to empty your pockets as if by magic are legendary, but sadly true. Keep in mind that whereas many in North America and other parts of Europe – like in Sweden – eat dinner at six o’clock, at that hour in beautiful Barcelona, lunch is barely over and the evening will not begin for a while.

With that taken into account, you will have a marvellous time, and many Swedes do. Barcelona’s rich cultural scene is among the most vibrant in Europe. In fact, Spain is the seventh most popular European destination for Swedes.

For many Swedish tourists, Barcelona is a quick flight away and can be a romantic getaway or a family holiday. Take your kids and grandchildren and they will be entranced by street performers and human statues in the main city area, as well as the great funfair with ferris wheels atop Tibidabo mountain. There are sports facilities, for all ages, include sailing, swimming and watersports, and there are plenty of nearby golf courses. And who can resist the opportunity to see FC Barcelona play a home game?

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Barcelona

Mandarin Oriental

W Barcelona

ABaC

Hotel Arts

You feel as if you are walking down a fashion catwalk as you glide up from the main Passeig de Gràcia entrance, and indeed this is a fashionista base. Once the headquarters of the Circula Ecuestre riding club, this stunning hotel also attracts the top business and political names (the Pentouse Suite is a full 2,400 sq ft).

Followers of Linda Meredith, whose facial treatments are revered by countless international stars, will be delighted to know that both she, and foot king Bastien Gonzalez, offer services here – as does Dr Manual Sanchez, head of a Barcelona anti-ageing clinic. www.mandarinoriental.com/ barcelona

How many other hotels offer 30 direct stairs to a pristine sandy beach right down from the main lobby? In the Nova Bocana area of the Port of Barcelona, the hotel has all the usual W-brand characteristics, including ten-foot blow up posters of beach bodies in the Sweat gym. There are two three-meal restaurants and, to respect Barcelona’s renowned night scene, a bar run by Ignite Group out of London. Book Suite 2507, a 3,000 sq ft Wow Suite, to have your own cabana and Jacuzzi. www.w-barcelona.com

This is the hotel that goes for statement brands. Even the smallest room, which is all of 302 sq ft, comes with Bang & Olufsen, and Hermès toiletries and a Nespresso machine. The premium ABaC Suite has nearly 700 sq ft of terrace, which makes it ideal for family parties or to entertain your friends.

ABaC also offers statement cuisine, in the form of Barcelona-born chef Jordi Cruz, author of ‘Cooking with Logic’. At ABaC his restaurant was deemed Best of Catalonia by the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy in 2011 and last year he aquired his second Michelin star. www.abacbarcelona.com

Run by Ritz-Carlton, who cannot use the Ritz name in Spain, this Carrer de la Marina-set sculpture-hotel rises 43 floors above the beach – the 3,600 sq ft Royal Suite 42A has some of the best view, and it comes with a 260 sq ft terrace. The Six Senses spa, on the hotel’s three top floors, has saunas with all-window walls, for yet more sensational sights. Sergi Arola, also found at Ritz-Carlton Santiago and W ParisOpéra, runs one of the many fine restaurants here – and you are within minutes of dozens of local seafood restaurants and nightclubs around the harbour. www.hotelartsbarcelona.com

View from W Barcelona 26th Floor © 2013 Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.

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Två förskollärare som kränkt flera barn i ett till tre års-åldern genom hårdhänt behandling på en förskola i Botkyrka kommun har polisanmälts.

– Man har hårdhänt tagit i barnen och man har använt ett språk och verbalt helt enkelt kränkt barnen.

Man har också haft olika typer av bestraffningar när barnen inte har följt reglerna och gjort sådant som är helt oacceptabelt för att arbeta på en förskola, säger Erik Nilsson, som är chef på utbildningsförvaltningen i Botkyrka.

Det var framförallt vid måltider, påklädning och hygiensituationer som kränkningarna ska ha skett.

Pedagogerna ska, enligt anmälan, också vid tillfällen ha tvångsmatat barnen tills de kräktes.

De två pedagogerna har jobbat på förskolan i över 30 år och tillsammans på samma avdelning i över 25 år. Förskolan har dokumenterat kränkande händelser tio år tillbaka i tiden, men kränkningarna kan ha pågått mycket längre. Förskolechefen har valt att säga upp sig och både kommunen och skolinspektionen har egna utredningar. Föräldrar till barnen har fått samtalsstöd och kommunen kommer även att leta upp barn som redan gått ut förskolan och erbjuda dem stöd.

GÖTEBORG

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Den första januari infördes trängselskatt i Göteborg. Det kostar mellan 8 och 18 kronor att passera de 36 betalstationer som ringar in Göteborg.

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chefer. Ett tag höll medicinkliniken på Mora lasarett att rasa ihop fullständigt. Eftersom ett sjukhus inte fungerar utan en fungerande medicinklinik var hela Mora lasaretts existens hotad under en period.

På Tynset, som är ett av Norges absolut minsta sjukhus, arbetar 20 läkare. 18 av dem är svenskar. Det som lockar är att läkarna jobbar i två veckor och är lediga i fyra. Och de har samma lön eller t o m högre än en heltidslön i Sverige.

ska skapa mindre trängsel och bättre miljö, men framför allt delfinansiera Västsvenska paketet, en infrastruktursatsning på 34 miljarder som inkluderar nödvändiga investeringar i förbättrad kollektiv trafik, järnvägssatsningen Västlänken, Marieholmstunneln till Hisingen och en ny Göta älvbro.

Motståndet mot trängselskatten har växt sig allt starkare. Enligt en undersökning från SOM-institutet vid Göteborgs universitet tycker 64 procent att trängselskatten är en dålig eller mycket dålig lösning medan 24 procent tycker att den är en bra eller mycket bra. Tidningen GT har samlat in över 45 000 namnunderskrifter i ett upprop mot trängselskatten, tillräckligt många för att uppfylla ett av kriterierna för att kunna kräva den folkomröstning som skulle kunna riva upp beslutet. Nu hamnar frågan hos politikerna. Det krävs att minst en tredjedel av kommunfullmäktige säger ja till folkomröstning för att den ska genomföras.

Men i dagsläget finns en bred politisk majoritet för trängselskatt. Bara Sverigedemokraterna och Vägvalet, ett lokalt parti med trängselskatten som huvudfråga och som fick fem mandat vid valet 2010, är emot.

GÄSTRIKLAND I Gävle har tusentals duvor haft Heliga Trefaldighets kyrkas torn som tillhåll i nära 40 år. Det var när kyrkans tak och torn besiktigades utvändigt som det upptäcktes att en taklucka stod halvt öppen på kyrktornet. Duvor flög hela tiden in och ut. Genom ett fönster kunde man se att utrymmet under luckan var fullt av fågelskit. En saneringsfirma som kallades in jobbade i 200 timmar med att sanera tornet. Alla ytor var täckta med ett 30 centimeter tjockt lager av skit, äggrester och fågelskelett. 200 sopsäckar fylldes med 1 960 kilo duvbajs Luckan högst upp på tornet har varit öppen sedan någon gång på 1970-talet. Den har inte fallit ner under alla dessa år på grund av att den suttit fast i en kedja.

Nu är luckan stängd, bajset borta och de många duvorna har fått bygga bo någon annanstans.

DALARNA Ett litet sjukhus på norska landsbygden har nästan bara svenska läkare anställda. Och nästan alla kommer från Mora lasarett. Sammanlagt är det 14 läkare som under några år har lämnat Mora lasarett och farit till Tynset, 30 mil bort. Nästan alla har varit rutinerade överläkare och 18

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lunda grepp för att minska den höga ungdomsarbetslösheten. Arbetslösa ungdomar får ekonomiskt stöd och annan hjälp för att flytta till Norge och jobba där. Efter en månads förberedelse hemma i Söderhamn, med bland annat jobbsökning och kompletterande utbildning, får ungdomarna betald resa till Oslo och en månads gratis boende. En coach från organisationen Nordjobb hjälper också till i Oslo. Ett hundratal söderhamnsungdomar har redan åkt till Norge och de allra flesta har fått jobb nästan direkt.

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NORRBOTTEN

VÄSTERBOTTEN

JÄMTLAND

HÄRJEDALEN

ÅNGERMANLAND

MEDELPAD HÄLSINGLAND

DALARNA GÄSTRIKLAND UPPLAND VÄSTMANLAND Stockholm VÄRMLAND SÖDERMANNÄRKE LAND DALSLAND ÖSTERGÖTLAND BOHUSLAND VÄSTERGöteborg GÖTLAND SMÅLAND HALLAND SKÅNE

GOTLAND ÖLAND

BLEKINGE

Malmö

Nu har man på Parken Zoo tömt det frysrum där det förvarats döda djur under lång tid. En oberoende grupp som ska granska djurparken har tillsatts. Men Djurparksföreningen överväger uteslutning av Parken Zoo efter Kalla Faktas avslöjanden.

VÄRMLAND Lowa, 7,5 månader, i Degerfors skulle få fruktpuré till frukost. Men när hennes mamma öppnade ett fyrpack med fruktpuré från Nestlé fick hon en chock. Mellan matportionerna låg några råtthuvud med morrhår och allt. Djuren var torkade och kunde därför antas ha legat i förpackningen en längre tid. Eftersom kropparna var deformerade var det svårt att säga hur många djur det handlade om, men tre huvuden syntes tydligt. Linn Kvick ringde direkt till Nestlé och fick veta att det skulle komma ett brev som hon kunde skicka in ”djuren” i.

Enligt Nerikes Allehanda gör Nestlé en utredning av hur de små gnagarna kunde hamna i förpackningen.

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VÄSTERGÖTLAND

LAPPLAND

SÖDERMANLAND Styrelsen för det kommunala bolaget Parken Zoo har gjort en rad förändringar av rutinerna när det gäller djurhållningen efter att TV 4:s Kalla Fakta program visat hur flera djur, varav en del utrotningshotade, avlivats för att ge plats åt nya djur. Till exempel avlivades en äldre pumahona och hennes två tioåriga ungar för att ge plats åt nya jaguarer. I Kalla Fakta programmet påstod djurparkschefen Helena Olsson att pumorna avlivades för att de var för gamla.

Men veterinär Göran Sjöström, som arbetade i 17 år i djurparken, kan inte se några tecken i journalerna på att pumorna behövde avlivas. Ett antal av de sällsynta bongoantiloperna avlivades men Helena Olsson uppgav till Kalla Fakta att de flyttats till andra parker.

Det är inte bara medierna som fått svävande svar om var djuren har tagit vägen. När besökare frågade vad som hänt med bongoantiloperna och pumorna på djurparkens Facebook-sida fick de veta att de yngre pumorna flyttats till en annan djurpark och att antiloperna inte var kvar eftersom det finns andra djurparker som har bättre resurser för dem.

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När de små barnen på förskolan i Hyssna blev lite för högljudda tejpade förskolläraren igen munnen på fyra barn.

– Det handlar om kränkning och misshandel. Vi kan knappt fatta att det har hänt, säger Sussie Pettersson och Sandra Börjesson, mammor till två pojkar som tejpades.

Förskolläraren berättade lite skämtsamt om att hon tejpat igen munnen på den lille pojken när Sandra Börjesson hämtade sin treårige son på förskolan. Hon tycker inte att rektorn på förskolan tagit händelsen på tillräckligt stort allvar. Hon vill att förskolläraren varnas och stängs av.

Rektorn menar dock att om förskolläraren hade menat allvar skulle hon inte ha berättat för föräldrarna om händelsen. Nu driver facket ärendet och utreder om förskolläraren ska få en skriftlig varning eller inte. Hon har redan fått en muntlig varning.

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ÖSTERGÖTLAND 21-årige John Bruhn kom in till ortopeden på Universitetssjukhuset i Linköping med en fotledsfraktur.

Han opererades och fick ligga kvar på avdelningen i två dagar. Men sedan flyttades han till onkologen på grund av överbeläggning. Här glömdes han bort. När han äntligen undersöktes upptäcktes att tre av hans muskler höll på att ruttna bort. Man var då tvungen att skära upp hela sidan av Johns vadmuskel för att få in syre. Men musklerna gick ändå inte att rädda och togs bort.

– De erkände att om de hade upptäckt det tidigare så hade musklerna sannolikt kunnat räddas, förklarar John Bruhn.

Nu har han fått veta att han antagligen aldrig kommer att bli helt återställd.

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N O R T H

A M E R I C A N

D I R E C T O R Y

n Now o d! n Dema

Founded in 1981

Swenson Center

Augustana College Rock Island, IL 61201-2296 Phone 309-794 7204 sag@augustana.edu www.augustana.edu/sag

Celebrating our

Call for our free catalog and order online at www.ingebretsens.com 612-729 9333 • 1-800-279 9333 info@ingebretsens.com

Watch Swedish TV with SVT World!

Information: svt.se/svtworld Subscription: www.conova.se

Scandinavia Escorted Tours Customized Tours Independent Travel Cruises

Brekke Tours & Travel 1-800-437-5302 www.BrekkeTours.com

Scandinavian Specialist since 1956

Words4u

41st Year!

your Swedish online bookstore Scandia Butik Early May to December 23, Monday thru Saturday 10:00 -4:00, Sunday 1:00-4:00, Closed Holidays, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving.

Tours of Historic Buildings Early May to Mid-October, Friday, Saturday, Sunday Tours at 1:00 and 2:30. Phone: 651-433 5053 Annie's Swedish Coffee Parties 2nd Saturday September thru December 10am – Noon. Full 3 course Swedish Coffee Table and Guided Tour $10.00 Reservations Only 651-433 5053

Scandia, Minnesota www.gammelgardenmuseum.org

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Fine Scandinavian Gourmet Food Fax or call in your order to: www.TheSwedishViking.com Phone: 919-872 9529 Fax: 919-872 9529 Raleigh, NC

Nordic Roots Adventures

Custom Guided Genealogy Tours of Scandinavia Steven Persson 720.438.8670 nordicrootsadventures@gmail.com

www.nordicrootsadventures.com

Words4u can supply you with all the Swedish books that you want but can’t find.

We also offer toys, which are related to Swedish children’s books.

Visit our site at www.words4u.com or email us at info@words4u.com

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City Parks Foundation is announcing an encored run of its hit 2007 production “Pippi”.

Playing at the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre in Central Park, Pippi will run from January 15th until June 23rd, 2013. The

Over 100 works of art will be on display at Vancouver’s Nordic Art and Photography Show and Sale on Saturday and Sunday, February 23rd and 24th.

Visit the Scandinavian Cultural Centre to see non-juried art and photography by 30 outstanding artists and photographers.

Waiting for Dawn by Kurt Seaberg

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quick witted and super-strong character of Pippi Longstocking has been translated from Astrid Lindgren’s collection of children’s tales for the stage. In a production which uses over twenty-four handmade marionettes, this play is a family favourite capable of creating many memories.

nations spans Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.”

Also in Minneapolis, from January 26th until March 3rd, the work of artist Kurt Seaberg will be on exhibition at the Osher Gallery in the American Swedish Institute’s new Nelson Cultural Centre. This exhibition is entitled “The Spirt of Place: The of Art of Kurt Seaberg and Family” and displays the settings and scenery –beautifully depicted with a sense of light and the seasons – of the Sami people of northern Sweden.

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On display at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis from January 26th through May 26th, 2013, “Eight Seasons in Sapmi, the Land of the Sami People” is sure attract many visitors. “Eight Seasons” explores the geography, terrain, and cultural expressions of “Europe’s northernmost reaches and the Sami, its indigenous people, through handcraft, artifacts and photographs. The Sami are a “living, expressive people whose 8

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On display until February 24th, “The Swedish American Line” exhibition depicts the journey of the Swedish American Line cruise company during their days of “beauty, comfort, entertainment, and style.” Between 1915 and 1975, the SAL connected Scandinavia and America in luxuriant style. Exhibiting memorabilia and stories collected by trained archivist Torsten Torstensson, the show uncovers just how fine the quality of these cruises was.

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Until March 3rd, catch “Bad Art? 1,000 Birch Board Pictures from Sweden” as part of the Backlund & Håkansson Collection at the Nordic Heritage Museum. A tradition of newly urbanized people, these birch boards are made by gluing a postcard to a sliced piece of tree trunk. The artists would then paint the postcard and an imagined surrounding over the rest of the sliced wood. The exhibition displays many of these birch boards with the intention of questioning whether these are fine or merely popular pieces of art.

Also happening at the Museum is the Wallenberg exhibition, To me there’s no other choice – Raoul Wallenberg.

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Words4u

Life in Nineteenth Century Sweden A Novel

by Judit Martin U.$ 21.95 plus postage U.S. 5.15 or $8.00 Canadian.

your Swedish online bookstore Words4u can supply you with all the Swedish books that you want but can’t find.

We also offer toys, which are related to Swedish children’s books.

V A N C O U V E R Visit our site at

www.words4u.com or email us at info@words4u.com

on Nowand!

Dem

Watch W atch S Swedish wedish T TV V with SVT SVT Wor W orld !

World!

Order from Penfield Books, 215 Brown St., Iowa City, Iowa 52245 or call US toll free 1-800-728-9998 or order from amazon.com or createspace.com

D I R E C T O R Y

V a N c o u V e r

Infor mation: svt.se/svtworld Information: svt.se/svtworld Subscription: www.connova.se www.conno www .connova.se

D i r e c t o r y

LIBERTY

FINNS dEt NåGRa NYHEtER På FöRSäkRINGS- FRONtEN? RRSP? SCaNdINavIaN SPECIaLtIES and much Specialties more Scandinavian JOLLY MEatS and much more & FINE FOOdS

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Serving the Metro Vancouver Real Estate Market since 1985!

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Svend Larsen

Certified General Accountant

but it could work wonders for you!

anders@nordicway.com or call anders Neumueller

For all Bookkeeping, Accounting and Payroll Services

Swedish Press 604-731-6381

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LIBERTY BAKERY

300-1275 west 6th avenue Vancouver bc V6H 1a6

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Augusta’s Daughter

your Swedish online bookstore Words4u can supply you with all the Swedish books that you want but can’t find.

We also offer toys, which are related to Swedish children’s books.

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Life in Nineteenth Century Sweden A Novel

by Judit Martin U.$ 21.95 plus postage U.S. 5.15 or $8.00 Canadian.

on Nowand!

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Watch W atch Swedish Swedish T TV V with SVT SVT Wor W orld !

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Order from Penfield Books, 215 Brown St., Iowa City, Iowa 52245 or call US toll free 1-800-728-9998 or order from amazon.com or createspace.com

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Infor mation: svt.se/svtw Information: svt.se/svtworld orld Subscription: www www.conno www.connova.se .connova.se

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111 charles St., North Van.

604-929-7937

dr. Bo I Höglund

Certified Specialist in Orthodontics -Orthodontic appliances, braces and invisible braces for children and adults.

Offices in: -White Rock / South Surrey -Whistler Phone: 1-888-535-3028 www. whiterockortho.com

Jo, fråga Lennart! Han har en del förslag. Sätt upp en fri planeringsträff med honom.

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estates Lawyer , Notary Public company/business law • Real Estate Purchases 300-1275 west 6th avenue / Sales Vancouver bc V6H 1a6 •PHONE: 604-739-7731 Wills • Estates Also worth a look! www.lennart-osterlind.fineartamerica.com • Company / Business law 347-1275 West 6th Avenue Vancouver BC V6H 1A6 Phone: 604-739 7731 Nu kan ni johnandsandra@shawbiz.ca

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LIBERtY BakERY 3699 Main Street @ 21st Street

Vancouver

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Serving the Metro Vancouver Real Estate Market since 1985!

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Swedish Press 604-731-6381

Dr. Bo I Höglund

Certified Specialist in Orthodontics Orthodontic applicances, braces and invisible braces for children and adults.

White Rock/South Surrey/Whistler Phone: 1 888 535 3028 www.whiterockortho.com

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Calendar & Events

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Guide to interesting and fun events in Swedish North America

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DETROIT

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Feb 3 – 1:00-2:30 pm: Buffet at Swedish Club, Farmington Hills.

Info 734 459 0596 Mar 3 – 1:00-2:30 pm: Buffet at Swedish Club, Farmington Hills.

Info 734 459 0596 Apr 7 – 1:00-2:30 pm: Buffet at Swedish Club, Farmington Hills.

Info 734 459 0596 PHILADELPHIA

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Jan 26 – Saturday 1:30-3:30pm: Geneology Club, American Swedish Historical Museum Jan 26 – Saturday 6:00 pm: Pea Soup & Punsch Supper, American Swedish Historical Museum Feb 9 – Saturday 11:00 am: Semlor and a Movie, American Swedish Historical Museum Feb 19 – Tuesday 10:30-11:30 am: Toddler Time, American Swedish Historical Museum Feb 23 – Saturday: Bus Trip to NYC, American Swedish Historical Museum SEATTLE

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Feb 1 – Friday 5:45 pm: Oseberg Ship Presentation, in the library, Seattle Cultural Centre Feb 3 – Sunday 8:00 am-1:30 pm: Swedish Pancakes, Seattle Cultural Centre Feb 3 – Sunday: Superbowl Sunday at the Club, Seattle Cultural Centre Feb 7 – Thursday 6:00pm: PechaKucha Night: Bad Art Makes Good: Explorations in Kitsch and Beyond, Heritage Nordic Museum 8

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Feb 13 – Wednesday 6:30pm: Members & Friends Dinner Meeting , Seattle Cultural Centre Feb 20 – Wednesday 7:30pm: Swedish Film, “Women with Cows” (Kokvinnorna)at the Club, Seattle Cultural Center VANCOUVER Feb 1 – Friday 6:30 pm: 11th Annual Runeberg Day Celebration, Scandinavian Cultural Centre Feb 3 – Sunday 2:00 pm: Scandinavian Seniors Lunch 55+, Scandinavian Cultural Centre Feb 8 – Friday 12:00 pm: FHS Scholarship Fundraiser, Scandinavian Cultural Centre Feb 9 – Saturday 6:00 pm: NHS Raspeball Dinner, Scandinavian Cultural Centre Feb 13 – Wednesday 6:00 pm: Scandinavian Business Club Dinner Meeting, Scandinavian Cultural Centre Feb 16 – Saturday 1:00 pm: Geneology Meeting, Scandinavian Cultural Centre Feb 16 – Sunday 6:00 pm: Porrablot Dinner and Dance, Scandinavian Cultural Centre Feb 24 – Sunday 11:00 am-4:00 pm: Nordic Art and Photography Show and Sale, Scandinavian Cultural Centre Feb 28 – Thursday 9:00 am: Bridge Tournament, Scandinavian Cultural Centre Mar 23 – Saturday 6:00 pm: Party for our consul Anders and his wife Hamida, Scandinavian Cultural Centre 18

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Discovering an Old Swedish Emigration Diary

By Lars Nordström A long time ago I received a book of poetry written in Swedish in America between 1846 and 1946. At that time I had recently become an Oregon resident, and reading it, was delighted to discover a Swedish poet from Oregon: Samuel Magnus Hill. He was the only Oregon poet in the anthology, and he was one of the best.

But who was he? A biographical note claimed that he had died in Karlsborg, a place that did not exist on any Oregon map.

This small mystery set me on a search that eventually led to the discovery of the diary of a young Swede leaving for America …

In the coming serial, as we join an observant and intelligent emigrant on his family’s 1868 month-long journey from rural, south-central Sweden, to Altona, Illinois, we will catch a glimpse of some of the wonders and hardships the early Swedish emigrants experinced as they headed for a new life in the New World. I will also try to frame the emigration in its proper historical context, and tell the story of how the old diary was eventually rediscovered in a basement in Aberdeen, Washington.

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Ads & Info Calgary Organizations

Svenska Skolan i Calgary bedriver undervisning för barn 3-15 år gamla på lördagar kl 9:30-12. Alla barn är välkomna. Undervisningen sker på svenska. Kontakta Svenska Skolan genom Scandinavian center 403-284 2610 eller skicka epost till contact@swedishschool.com. Läs merom vår skola på www.swedishschool.com

BC Organizations Consulate of Sweden Tuesday 1-5 pm, Friday 10 am-2 pm or by appointment. #1480-1188 West Georgia Street. 604-683 5838 Scandinavian Business Club meets every second Wednesday of the month. New members welcome. Phone Ben Marklund 604-524 2915. Visit us at www.sbc-bc.ca The Scandinavian Centre 6540 Thomas Street, Burnaby, B.C. V5B 4P9. 604-294 2777 Svenska Kulturföreningen Ordf. Monica Olofsson, 604-987 6086. Kassör Åsa Eidelöf 1937 Ru-

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fus Drive North Vancouver, B.C. V7J 3L8 404-988 9882 Svenska Skolan en gång i veckan för barn mellan 3 och 14 år. Ordförande Magnus Axelsson 604-685 1646, adm. Annie Kvick 604-924 5497 Sweden House Society President Robert Toren 604-980 9241, Vice-President Lennart Österlind, Treasurer Ron Spence.

SWEA – Swedish Womens Educational Association. Du, svensktalande kvinna. Kom med i SWEA. Vi träffas en gång i månaden för att ha kul, lära nytt och prata svenska.

Kontakta Lena Normén-Younger tel: 604-732 4080 Email: norpan@shaw. ca; Pia Hilton Tel: 604-261 2484 Email: piahilton@shaw.ca Besök oss på www.chapters-swea.org/ vancouver/.

Swedish Canadian Village Swedish Canadian Manor and Gustav Vasa Place at 1800 Duthie Avenue in Burnaby, B.C. V5A 2R4 604-420 3222 provides retirement apartments, beautiful grounds. Just

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steps from the bus. Swedish Canadian Resthome Association President Erik Nordholm.

Victoria BC Organizations Swedish Club of Victoria Meetings held third Wednesday of each month at 1110 Hillside Ave. Contact Annabelle Beresford 250656 9586.

Washington Organizations Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle, 3104 N.W. 67th St., Ballard 206-789 5707 Open Tuesday – Saturday 10 am - 4 pm, Monday closed.

Swedish Cultural Center 1920 Dexter Ave., N, Seattle, Wa 98109; Tel: 206-283 1090. Open MonSat. Catering available for all events.

Classified Olympic Village 2-bedroom Rental Stunning mountain and sea views, on Seawall. Scandinavian ambiance with high-end European appliances. Underground parking, on-site pool and gym. Monthly rental from Febrary.

Call +1 604 984 7368 info@Uniqueaccommodations.com. Ref 3648.

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NAMEDAYS Feb 1 Feb 2 Feb 3 Feb 4 Feb 5 Feb 6 Feb 7 Feb 8 Feb 9 Feb 10 Feb 11 Feb 12 Feb 13 Feb 14 Feb 15 Feb 16 Feb 17 Feb 18 Feb 19 Feb 20 Feb 21 Feb 22 Feb 23 Feb 24 Feb 25 Feb 26 Feb 27 Feb 28

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Sista Ordet Sista Ordet : Not quite “The Last Word”

By Sydney Vickars with Anton Fredriksson

S

ista ordet is a curious thing because it encapsulates both a static concept and something entirely subjective. Because the term’s translation into English is culturally incomplete, sista ordet has a dynamic function as well. The choices that we have made in this inaugural, regenerated edition of Swedish Press reflect the double nature of sista ordet and we feel it entirely appropriate to discuss them here.

The stylistic changes include a move to a text more saturated with images. We feel this allows the reader more visual clarification while maintaining interest. We’ve included a renovated list of contents for the magazine. We feel this divides the contents more fittingly in order to provide the readership further ease of navigation. We’ve used atlas-style borders for the Landskapsnyheterna section of the paper. The coordinates of Sweden aptly locate the regional stories of this section.

Translation is a loaded topic – especially for this editor – and it has come to be one of the most interesting barriers to collapse. Because this magazine offers its readership material in two different languages, translation is a necessary point of discussion.

Questions about comprehension, word choice, and cultural communication are just a few of the issues that we have been addressing.

We have decided to keep many of the content headings in the original Swedish. The Hemma Hos and Landskapsnyheterna use Swedish vocabulary which seems more suitable for the content than the English translations

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January / February 2013 46

do. We also feel that these choices aptly embody the Swedish appeal we are hoping to exude.

To highlight a specific example, the term sista ordet itself is problematic on multiple levels. It literally translates as “the last word” and is meant to function as an anecdotal send off. The English translation doesn’t seem to capture the entire cultural significance of the term. Deciding to keep the original Swedish allows the reader to translate and define the term according to their own interpretation of the content.

Present from the very header is the extensive use of brackets throughout the new look of Swedish Press. The concept behind the brackets is rooted in the idea of framing our view of the world through a Swedish lens while preserving and upholding Sweden’s rich heritage abroad. The parentheses also serve, when coupled with the yellow cross of the Swedish flag, as a “window back home”, both in terms of the physical land of Sweden, where we can keep an eye on the happenings in the homeland, but also through time – a welcome look back in this ever accelerating world. It is of our belief that when feasting on the vibrant

[] Swedish-English Dictionary Svenska skämt-tecknare Swedish joke artist hövding chief sju seven hemma hos at home at... landskapsnyheterna provincial news press byrån news agent sista ordet the last word

images and digesting the rich content, that one is figuratively transported to a different place.

Finally in English, “bracket” can also signify support while in Swedish “bracket” can be translated as “sammanföra” which means “to bring together”. As we continue to push the envelope of progress and, in the process, fan out across the globe, it is our hope as a magazine that Swedish Press can serve as both an underpin of Swedish culture as well as a unifying force for us the Swedes and the Swede in us.

We would like to offer our readership a revitalized perspective of Swedish Press. We hope that with the help of our explanations, the changes we have made will be embraced as wholeheartedly as they have been executed.

Speaking from the perspective of a non-Swede, Swedish Press offers the opportunity to fall in love with Swedish culture and its language.

If we can find an anecdote in our interpretations and decisions for this issue of Swedish Press, it is perhaps more fittingly this: My father’s best friend likened the idea of the “sista ordet” to the person who always needs to have the final say in a conversation – namely, me. Usually, however, this is not the sentiment that is ultimately remembered. The finality of this person’s “last word” is sort of an illusion. Though I often have to say the last thing in a conversation, most often it is what comes before the last word that is remembered. Our engagement with changes in the magazine are not final just as sista ordet itself is not final. The changes are a dynamic set of collaborations which embrace regeneration in hopes that a growing readership will continue to find a love for Sweden in the pages.

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