February Blog

As late as in 1986 when I took over the Swedish Press, many visitors to the office, especially old-timers, would talk nostalgically about the mighty printing press, and the particular smell of the ink and the sound of the steady churning-out of fresh newspapers that they would encounter in the good old days.

That was how it was when 'Svenska Pressen' saw the light of day 80 years ago at Vancouver's Victory Square. The premises of Swedish Press have been shrinking ever since then and today the paper resides in a home office with steadily shrinking computers.

Ernie Poignant, who celebrates his 90th birthday on February 4, still has vivid memories of the early days of Svenska Pressen. In 1947 when he left his father's chicken farm in Matsqui and got his first job at Swedish Press, the paper was housed in its own building in central Vancouver with six employees and a huge printing press. Now that was a real newspaper. (For the 60th anniversary of Swedish Press in 1989, Ernie prepared a humoristic portable exhibit about the early days of the paper that is available for clubs and events).

After two years at Swedish Press, Ernie (who had failed his grade one English because he had grown up with only Swedish around him) was ready to move on, as a full-fledged compositor, to the Cariboo Observer and later on to the Maple Ridge Gazette.

"I still have most of my marbles," says Ernie. Since his retirement in 1983, he has been busier than ever presenting his "chalk talks" and cartoons for pre-schoolers, at shopping malls, Sunday schools, retirement homes and hospitals and more. During the Christmas season, he was in his usual place at the Burnaby Village looking as dapper as ever. Acollection of his cartoons has been published in the book People, Pencil and Paper.

"The cartoons are oddly touching, in their gentle wit and in the sheer exuberance of their drawing. I didn't laugh out once but I noticed, when I turned the last page, that I had been smiling all the way through all these kind and gentle works of a kind and gentle man," reads the introduction by Mark Hamilton, whom Ernie met at the Gazette.

I can't do much more than agree while I can only hope for a fraction of Ernie's vitality if I make it to the grand old age of 90. In the meantime here's wishing Ernie Poignant continued good health so that he can bring many more smiles to hearts young and old!

Have a nice February

Anders

PS. If you haven't yet done it, go to http://www.nordicway.com and see how we are faring on the Swedish Press trip "Around Swedish America in 365 days"! Also see page 4.

January Blog

Ever since I took over as Editor of Swedish Press I have wanted to make a trip through Swedish America. There are so many places where Swedes settled and left markers of all kinds, from the base camp where the Viking's first landed at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland to Ann-Margret's handprints outside the Mann Chinese Theatre in West Hollywood. There are virtually thousands of Swedish landmarks worth visiting.

I have managed to visit quite a few of these through the years (and you can read about many of them at "Places" on our NordicWay.com web site). But during a jubilee year like 2009, when Swedish Press celebrates 80 years of publishing, it would have been great to actually get on the road and travel to many more Swedish landmarks. The idea was to get input from local experts and then drive across the continent in a car with a "Honk if you are Swedish" bumper sticker and try to meet with as many subscribers and locals as possible. I had even talked to Volvo about transportation and to local Swedophiles who had promised to guide and house me.

Then I had a reality check. I simply do not have the time to carry out this fun project, it will have to wait until I am retired.

So now we are on to the next best thing. Thanks to modern technology we are going to do a virtual "Around Swedish America in 365 Days" tour.

On January 1st the trip starts in the little town of Lund on the West Coast of Canada and then you

can follow it on our map across this great continent. Each day we will post a new dispatch about a place with something of Swedish interest at NordicWay.com. So I do hope you have access to a computer! This is going to be a trip of a lifetime and I invite all readers to point out places we simply must visit. Please write or email anders@nordicway.com and help us document Swedish America in a way nobody has ever done before. I think that this will be a great legacy of the only Swedish monthly in North America!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Anders

PS. There have been thousands of Swedish papers in North America through the years but only two are still publishing. So the 80th anniversary of Swedish Press is really worth celebrating. We are planning a Jubilee issue and several historic features. We are going to have a banquet in May and a subscriber draw for a trip to Sweden later in the year as well as other special offers. It is going to be an exciting year starting with the kick-off of our trip Around Swedish America in 365 Days on January 1st at NordicWay.com. Be there!