Bøger af Laima Vince

After World War II ended another war in Europe was just beginning. Soviet Security Forces dubbed this war the Invisible Front. In 1944 hundreds of thousands of Lithuanian men and women formed an armed resistance against their Soviet occupiers. Few have survived to tell their story. As a Fulbright scholar I spent four years in Lithuania interviewing women, and men, who fought in the armed resistance, survived exile to Siberia or Tajikistan, and Lithuanian Jewish Holocaust survivors. This book gives a voice to the voiceless. This book tells the story of a generation that was forced to chose between good and evil as two powerful forces collided on their land. This book tells the stories of a people who were overlooked by history.

This play is based on true life events as experienced by women who had to face their abusers in the Portland, Maine District Court. This play hopes to shed light on the epidemic problem of abuse and how woefully unprepared some courts are to protect women and children from their abusers.

This coming of age story spans two continents and several generations. Based on true events, the story begins with the armed resistance of Lithuanians against Soviet occupation in the 1940s, a struggle that will resonate with many people around the world today. After losing her parents in this

A Fulbright grant enabled me to travel to Lithuania to record the oral histories of women and men who were former partisan fighters, liaisons, or supporters of Lithuania's post World War II armed resistance against the Soviet Union. I also spoke to Lithuanian Jewish Holocaust survivors and listened to the stories of women who survived Stalin's deportations to Siberia and Tajikistan. To hear these stories I traveled to remote rural locations, bumping down dirt roads in my Honda Civic. I sometimes slept in haylofts, helped out with household chores, or sat behind the table, as the Lithuanian saying goes, accepting the hospitality of my hosts. One visit was seldom enough. Often after hours of talk, we cried together, but more often we laughed. In 2007-2011 when I conducted these interviews, the people I spoke with were already in their seventies and eighties. The stories they told to me were detailed and precise. I discovered that the memories that remained most powerful at the end of these women's lives were memories of loves lived during times of trial and hardship. As I listened, I was continually amazed that people who had experienced torture, exile, loss, trauma, held one emotion close to their hearts: That emotion was love. Each story told to me, at its core, was a love story. That is why this collection of life stories is a journey into the backwaters of the heart.

Laima Vince began writing these poems as a MFA student at Columbia University School of the Arts. She continued writing poetry throughout her life, as she passed through many different phases of womanhood--marriage, motherhood, divorce, self-discovery, coming the terms. These poems consider what it means to be a woman in the twentieth and twentieth-first centuries. The poems also reflect a life of creativity and personal challenge.

THE WAY LIFE SHOULD BE is a collection of essays about people who live their lives in alignment with their soul path. With the exception of one person, all of the people I've written about in this book live in Maine. Whether it's the rough cold North Atlantic or the tall pines or that specific northern light that attracts artists and dreamers to Maine, or whether it's the possibility of living just that far away from "civilization", the people in these essays share one thing in common-the lives they live and the work they do are in harmony. And so, this is a book about the way life should be...

Julius, a telephone interpreter, works from his bedroom in Buenos Aires interpreting phone calls between Lithuanian immigrants and United Kingdom Social Services and the East London Women's Health Clinic. Julius himself is an immigrant, first to the United States, then to Argentina. Julius's Argentine partner, Xavier, was also an immigrant, but has now returned home to Buenos Aires to enjoy an early retirement. However, peace and quiet in their household is disrupted by the constant phone calls from Julius's countrymen, who are in trouble abroad. Julius's professionalism begins to crumble when he is unexpectedly reunited with his childhood first love, Joana, through a random phone call. The growing bond between Julius and Joana adds to the tension and forces Julius to finally face himself and come to terms with his past.

Twenty years after participating in Lithuania's independence movement as a student, Laima Vince returns on a Fulbright grant to post-soviet Lithuania with her three children. Over the course of four years, while living and teaching and raising her children as a single mother in Vilnius, she conducts interviews with a diverse range of people. In this book she records the life stories of traditional healers, who treat their patients using ancient verbal incantations; trafficked teenage girls and the activist social workers who shelter them; Baltic gay rights activists who fight, and win, the right to hold the first Baltic Pride March in Lithuania; Chechen war refugees and their Ambassador in Exile; a contraband butter smuggler; an unemployed ex-KGB informer; and the forgotten heroes and dissidents of the Cold War. This book illuminates one woman's personal odyssey into the sometimes tumultuous society of post-Soviet Lithuania.

A Hike at the Seashore offers a snapshot into the lives of five Lithuanian women over fifty. All five are from Vilnius and have been friends since their university days. They have been through a lot together and are each others' support network. All five are divorced. All are single. All suffer from empty nest syndrome. All work as professionals. Every summer they organize a girls' trip together. This summer they have traveled to the Baltic Sea coast. The group's self-appointed organizer, Vida, is on a fitness binge and insists her girlfriends spend their much needed vacation hiking thirty kilometers along the Baltic coast with Alpine walking sticks. The only problem is that her girlfriends don't quite agree... The play is a comedy, but at the same time addresses social issues in today's Eastern Europe. These five women came of age under the Soviet system, but have had to build their adult lives under a fledgling democracy with its brutal post-Soviet brand of capitalism and other social problems. But, laughter and their tight friendship has gotten them through hard times. The women often use slang and joke around, make references to their lives in the good old Soviet Union. There is a lot to cry about too. Like all of my plays, A Hike at the Seashore raises contemporary social issues. Breast cancer is becoming an epidemic, especially in Lithuania where we still feel the legacy of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Vilija, a sensitive literary editor is recovering from breast cancer. She has lost her hair from chemotherapy. She goes on the hike not at all sure if life is worth living anymore. Her girlfriends are all there to support her, but a conflict with Vida threatens to tear their friendships apart. Vida has been damaged by her experiences. She went into premature labor on the night of the January 13, 1991 Soviet attacks on the newly elected Lithuanian parliament and the television and radio towers. As she struggled to raise a premature baby during times of intense hardship during the economic blockade, her husband drank. When he grew up, her son left for England, leaving her alone. Now she is determined to wrestle whatever happiness she can out of life. Then there is Goda, a talented psychologist, who is on a never-ending quest to find her soul mate, despite the fact that its a little late for her in life and stigmas against middle-aged women in Lithuania discourage dating. Jurgita is a family doctor and has made it her life's mission to take care of her girlfriends' health, especially Vilija's. As a student Kotryna ditched her studies in psychology and took advantage of Gorbachev's perestroika to open her own cafe. She has never looked back since. The only problem is that she enjoys tasting her own baking just a little too much. She blames her weight on her hormones, but her girlfriends know better. Through economic hardships, divorces, empty nest syndrome, coping with aging parents, these women have stuck together, forming a type of "new family" or support system. The play was originally written and performed in Lithuanian. In this edition both Lithuanian and English language versions of the play are included along with stage directions. Also included are photographs from the Alternatyva Alternatyvai Theatre production of the play at Tallaght Theatre in Dublin, Ireland.

This play for young adults is a contemporary rendition of Shakespeare's ROMEO AND JULIET set in the Hong Kong neighborhood of Mong Kok. The play tells a love story between teenagers from two Mong Kok families, who have been ensnared in conflict since "a business deal went wrong." Raj Kapoor, an Indian, and an idealistic young man, as well as a poet, falls in love with Juliet Chiu, the only daughter of the wealthy and powerful Chius of Mong Kok. Juliet proves to be the perfect match for Raj. Misunderstood by her materialistic parents, Juliet is a sensitive soul who also writes poetry, causing her parents to worry. However, the Chius are truly alarmed when their usually obedient daughter refuses to enter into an engagement for an arranged marriage with a wealthy businessman hand-picked by her parents...

The Snake in the Vodka Bottle's strongest suit might be its effortless marriage of both scholarly and intimately personal insights into post-Soviet Lithuania. Over the course of a page or two, the reader may find that they have traveled from historical accounts or document analysis to the personal musings of a mother concerned for the well-being of her children in a world not entirely her own. As such, both regional scholars and casual armchair travelers may find something of value in this book. What's also great is that the author weaves this appealing narrative through a diverse set of topics and anecdotes that range from the near-comical to the deadly serious, sometimes weaving these elements together in the same story. As the table of contents indicates, readers may expect to read about paintball, gypsy camp drug trade, a wealthy butter-smuggling cat woman, and the family that was left behind when a young man fed up with the USSR's occupation of Lithuania decided to immolate himself in protest. The book is a great read for anyone with any interest at all in Lithuania, or in life in a former Soviet. By Dovilas Bukauskas

Laima Vince takes us on a harrowing through-the-looking glass tour of Lithuania in 1988 - 1989, during a time of great social and political turmoil. In diary form, she gives us her personal, unflinching account of the daily hardships that characterize this faltering society--one filled with guns, poverty, bitterness, mistrust, and sometimes, friendship. We see the full range of emotions here as people try to live normal lives against a backdrop of uncertainty. At times funny, at time poignant, this book explores the extraordinary human cost of an oppressive system of government, as well as the extraordinary human valor of those who survive it. It shows us that, underneath, all people share the same basic needs for freedom, for hope, and for love. This is a fine and important book. Reviewed by Clint McCown

LOVE CULT AT THE ARCTIC CIRCLE presents two novellas. The first, LOVE CULT AT THE ARCTIC CIRLCE, traces the trail of two young women who meet at an intersection in Homer, Alaska and decide to go on a reckless road trip to the Arctic Circle on a service road in a compact car. Along the way they encounter a trucker on a death mission, drunken armed hunters, and a love cult. Ultimately, however, their biggest show-down comes when these two young women confront each other. The second novella, EL DIABLO AT THE SAINT CASIMIR'S POLISH-AMERICAN CATHOLIC CAMP FOR BOYS, tells the story of Agnes, a devout Catholic single mother whose unwavering faith leads her down a road from which there is no return.

A flight is diverted from Shanghai to Hong Kong and three passengers, Rajesh (India), Paul (USA), and Luna (Indonesia), are thrown together for three days in a cheap hotel in Chungking Mansions. In this play the gritty reality of everyday life in Hong Kong's ethnic neighborhoods is played against the vulnerability of Hong Kong's elite rich and famous. This cultural clash comes to a head when the bumbling hotel manager, Sunil, orchestrates a botched kidnapping of the fictional daughter of a real Lee Ka-Shing, a Hong Kong billionaire real estate developer and philanthropist, and Rajesh, Paul, and Luna find themselves in the middle of the crime scene. They learn that in the great megacity of Hong Kong anything can happen, and does happen.

DIGGING A HOLE TO CHINA is part travel writing, part memoir. Each chapter can be read as an individual essay or as part of the narrative. Laima Vince relocates to Hong Kong to teach at a Chinese international school (2013 - 2015). While she is in Hong Kong the Umbrella Revolution breaks out. Students and teachers in Hong Kong find themselves on opposing sides of the demonstrations. Some support mainland China while others dream of universal suffrage and democracy for Hong Kong. While living and working in Hong Kong Laima begins to understand the complex society that is today's China. This book chronicles life in Hong Kong as the region transitions from a former colony of Great Britain into a semi-autonomous city in China. Today's Hong Kong is a cultural crossroad between East and West. Contemporary Asia is a mixture of the ancient and the modern. Laima Vince documents the diverse voices of contemporary Asia while teaching, traveling, and exploring. Among the many people, whose lives she documents in this book, there is Michael, a mainland Chinese who grew up in a province of China and drew his community's discontent by learning English. Then there is Hans, a member of the Dusun Head Hunter's tribe of Borneo, who grew up in a traditional society in which his grandmother, a Baba Hasan, or medicine woman, could coax a breeze out of the sky. And there is Mariana, one of the last Macanese in Macau, a young archeologist striving to preserve her rapidly vanishing culture. During the two years chronicled in this book (2013 - 2015) Laima takes a 56-hour train ride from Guangzhou to Tibet; hikes through the rain forest with a descendant of Head Hunters; goes island hopping across the turquoise waters of the Philippines with three generations of a Filipino family in a fragile bamboo boat; together with her students builds a house from palm tree fronds in a Cambodian village; and stands with Hong Kong's student protestors as they politely request the Chinese government to respect their right to universal suffrage.

Since 2005 the American International School of Hong Kong has developed an Outdoor Education and Leadership Program that enables the whole high school to annually go off campus and take part in outdoor education and adventure, in community service, or in leadership programs in a variety of locations. Every October, the week before autumn break, regular high school classes are suspended and all students take part in this off-campus program. The Adventure Week program is designed to develop students holistically in a way not possible in the classroom or home setting. During the 2013 - 14 academic year students from the American International School of Hong Kong traveled to the following locations: Siem Reap, Cambodia; Borneo, Malaysia; Guangzhou, China; Fiji; Bali, Indonesia; North Island, New Zealand; and India. I challenged my twelfth grade students to write travel essays reflecting on their adventures and community service work in the various destinations they visited. I also challenged myself to write a travel essay about my experience as a teacher in Cambodia. This collection of essays is the result of my students' work. In these essays students reflect on the impact of poverty on children and families; on how little it takes to make a person happy when life is stripped down to its barest essentials; and on how good it feels to replace electronic friendships with real ones.

In 1940 the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania. By June, 1941, the Soviets were deporting Lithuania's intellectuals, merchants, tradesmen, military officers, and teachers to death camps in Siberia. A few weeks later the Nazis invaded and occupied Lithuania. The Jews of Lithuania were targeted in both occupations and were the victims of both Soviet and Nazi ideology. In the farming community of Panemunelis, a 19-year-old young poet named Matilda Olkin was arrested by the Nazis along with her family. She did not survive. And yet, by a miracle her poems and her diary did. Matilda's father, the town pharmacist, Noah Olkin, managed to pass on Matilda's notebook of poems and diary to his close friend, the Catholic priest, Father Juozapas Matelionis. He hid Matilda's writing inside the altar of the Panemunelis church. Soon afterwards, the Soviets arrested Father Matelionis and deported him to Siberia. Decades later the poems and diary were found and Matilda's voice has come back to us again. This is a documentary play based on Matilda's diary, poetry, and eye-witness accounts as well as the testimonies of her friends, who still remember her more than half a century later.