March Blog

If you are following my virtual trip "Around Swedish America in 365 Days" (at nordicway.com) you know that I am virtually somewhere in Minneapolis right now. In reality I am hard at work in Vancouver getting this issue out to you.

I say this because there are still some readers who think that I am actually doing the trip in person. They would be surprised to know that when I wrote about the manhunt for the Mad Trapper of Rat River (on Day 22 of the trip) I was actually doing it from India (-see pages 16-19 and 23).

That is the beauty of modern telecommunications - that you can publish a magazine or on the web from absolutely anywhere in the world albeit, in my case, with a few technological problems that were quickly fixed by a more computer-savvy daughter.

Right now I am wondering if the virtual tour should make its way back to Vancouver on May 9 for the celebration of the 80th anniversary of Swedish Press. As you can see on page 8, we will celebrate this important jubilee with a commemorative issue and a banquet. We very much hope that you, dear Reader and Supporter, will join our guest of honour, Ingrid Iremark, Sweden's Ambassador to Canada, on this special occasion to pay tribute to Swedish Press. Welcome to the banquet! And if you would like to send a congratulatory note to the paper, please fill in the coupon on page 4.

This will be the third time your present editor is participating in a jubilee celebration and in all likelihood this will be the last. So we hope to see you there. We have some great memories from the last two celebrations and this one will be the one to top them all!

Most jubilees come and go as a matter of course. A celebration is just a way to remind us of the passing of time. In the case of Swedish Press there would be nothing to celebrate if the publication had not proved itself over and over again and managed to stay alive!

There have been over 2 000 Swedish publications in North America through the years. Now there are only 2 left. So a celebration is really in order.

Have a nice March!

Anders

PS. You can read about singer Alice Babs' anniversary on page 30 and purchase her Jubilee Edition CDs with 28 newly discovered and previously unreleased tracks on page 36 (the back cover).