Category Archives: cultural transmission

August 9, 2022 · 12:53 pm

Mary Rodgers: Broadway Baby

Daniel Okrent, in The New York Times, 5 August 2022, where the title  is  “Broadway Baby: The Astonishing Autobiography of Mary Rodgers” by Mary Rodgers and Jesse Green

Mary Rodgers with her father, Richard, in 1959, the year “Once Upon a Mattress” opened on Broadway. Credit: Photofest

Let’s start with a full disclosure: I’m a sucker for Broadway — one of those theater fans who will see five different productions of the same show, who genuflect before cast albums from the ’50s, who inhale theater gossip as if it really mattered.

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August 7, 2022 · 6:47 pm

The Maisel Twins: Polish Jews who survived the Holocaust reach Their 100th Birthday

Cameron Stewart in  Weekend Australian,  6-7 August 2022, where the title runs thus  “Holocaust twins turning 100 are living proof miracles happen” …

Phillip Maisel says he has enjoyed two miracles in his life. The first was during the war when both he and his twin sister Bella survived the Nazi extermination camps of the Holocaust. The second was in Melbourne this week, when they both turned 100.

The twins as children in Poland before the war…. and now …The secret is staying positive’ … twins and Nazi extermination camp survivors Bella Hirshorn and Phillip Maisel get to celebrate their 100th birthday twice in Melbourne. Picture: Aaron Francis

 

 

 

 

 

 

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August 6, 2022 · 8:00 pm

Merril Fernando and Dilmah Tea: What A Stirring Story!

Tea mogul Merrill J. Fernando: ‘I owe everything to Australian consumers’.”  …. SEE “Straight Lefs from the Dilmah Tea Missionary” by Benjamin Law, in The Age, 13 June 2020, https://thuppahis.com/2020/06/17/straight-lefts-from-the-dilmah-tea-missionary-merrill-fernando/

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August 1, 2022 · 9:05 pm

Lylie Goderich: Memories are Made of These

Charles Schokman

“Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel,”

It was in the early 1950s that I met Lylie, and it didn’t take us long to build a friendship that grew into a warm and deep rooted affection for each other. Lylie, with his parents, brother and sister lived in a modest home at Kotahena and I often visited him on my bicycle for a friendly chat. I lived at Dematagoda and although it was quite a distance to ride, it was worth the effort.

 

 

 

 

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August 1, 2022 · 6:37 pm

The Force of Migrants in Australia Today: Figures & Insights

Bernard Salt in THE AUSTRALIAN,  30/31 July 2022  where the title reads “Celebrating Our Migration Nation”

It is a single demographic metric that encapsulates modern Australia. It is often the subject of heated debate. It rises and falls over time, but generally over the longer term it has kept an upward trajectory. It is the proportion of the locally based population born overseas. It includes immigrants but it also includes foreign students, backpackers and so-called guest workers based here for 12 months or more.

Asian migrant children tuck into vegemite sandwiches.

Australian Sudanese Peter Bol of Team Australia competes in the Men’s 800m Final on day nine of the World Athletics Championships in Oregon this month. Picture: Hannah Peters/Getty Images for World Athletic

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July 29, 2022 · 8:24 pm

From Banda to Gota

Laleen Jayamanne, in The Island, 20 & 27 July 2022 where the title runs thus: “Teargas cinema and Rukmani Devi”

“I have never found anything to excite the people in quite the way this language issue does”–– Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike to a journalist.

If true, this observation attributed to Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike, is quite chilling in its cynicism. ‘Excitement’ is a political emotion here and SWRD appears to take a distance from it, observing somewhat clinically, how ‘this language issue’ stirs up ‘the people’. Politicians are especially crafty, cunning, when they know how to excite people with ideas that they themselves may or may not truly believe in.

A protester covering the eyes of the Bandaranaike statue at Galle Face

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July 29, 2022 · 2:06 pm

Covid’s Gift to Sri Lankan Cricket: Prabath Jayasuriya

Rex Clementine in The Island, with this title “Prabath Jayasuriya; COVID’s gift to Sri Lanka”

We all agree that COIVD has caused havoc all over the world. The country has lost some of its finest statesmen, musicians and entrepreneurs to the virus. Some of us have lost our loved ones while some of us have lost our livelihood. It’s been a tough couple of years. But COVID also has done a good thing or two, like gifting Prabath Jayasuriya to Test cricket.

World cricket would have never heard of the left-arm spinner if the Sri Lankan camp had not been struck by the virus on the eve of the second Test against Australia.

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July 29, 2022 · 12:37 am

“Ceylon” = A Superior Brand to “Sri Lanka”?

Denzel Perera in Sunday Times, where the title runs thus: “Destination Branding – Sri Lanka or Ceylon?

Sri Lanka was always known as Ceylon and the people of Sri Lanka were known as Ceylonese in the pre-independent era. Sandy beaches, wildlife, hills in the central region, archaeological sites, etc. have given Sri Lanka much more than needed to convert this paradise island into the most sought-after tourist destination. However, there seems to be a fundamental mistake that was done in changing the name of this paradise island from Ceylon to Sri Lanka. Today, our country has Ceylon Tea, Ceylon Cinnamon, Etc. which are unparallel and world-class in their quality. The term Ceylon is generally considered archaic, having been replaced by Sri Lanka, but it is still used in some contexts. At the same time, we are spending a colossal amount of money on establishing brands such as Sri Lankan Airlines, Sri Lankan Cricket, and Sri Lanka as a tourist destination.

 

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July 29, 2022 · 12:04 am

The British planted the Seeds of Lanka’s Bankruptcy in 1942

David Graham

I keep watching Karan Thapar’s interview with Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy: viz. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLLMdx74-aw. It’s fascinating. Karan Thapar is a skilled, hard-nosed interviewer and Indrajit Coomaraswamy is a knowledgeable and articulate interviewee. So what you get is two clear thinkers who cut to the nub of the issue. It’s a trenchant analysis of how Sri Lanka got into this hole and how it can get out of it.

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July 26, 2022 · 11:28 am

Pastor Jeyaraj and His Missions within the Lankan Prisons

Sam Premaraja …….. executivenationaldirector.lpf@gmail.com

Dear Friends and Family, Pastor Sivarajasingham Jeyaraj was originally a communicant member of the JDCSI Tellippalai Church (1983-1987) and later at the JDCSI Colombo Church (1987-1991) while I served these churches as the Priest-in-Charge. He was equally involved both in our Churches’ ministries as well as that of Youth For Christ (YFC). He was gifted in theatrical skills, deeply committed to serve the most vulnerable, pursued theological studies at Colombo Theological Seminary in Nugegoda (CTS). He displayed Pastoral Leadership skills with a sound and practical theology in his ministries.

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