Durham fair

The Durham Fair is the largest volunteer in the country, so they say. The Fair is this weekend, but Lokys and I have decided to skip it this year. So these photos are from 2006, which is may be the last time I was at the fair with Vaiva.
We always stopped to look at the quilts. When we were first married, Vaiva and I began a quilt making project. The pieces are still here in the house someplace--maybe Liepa would like to take up the task?
The Durham Fair is small compared to the Minnesota State Fair, where I was two weeks ago. Still, we always enjoyed the animal barns.

A political chat with Gecys

The wedding of Rasa and Len was lovely, and it was a privilege to attend, but I was not able to shake the feeling that Vaiva was supposed to be there for it. Occasions such as this make her absence especially acute, exquisitely painful.

During the reception I spoke with some of Vaiva's friends who I did not know, women who had worked closely with her. They expressed their admiration of my support for all her work for Lithuania, which surprised them given that I have no ethnic connection to Lithuania. They should not have been surprised, and I never actually did anything for Lithuania or her organizations. I only ever did anything for Vaiva, and whatever it was, I did it because I loved her, and that trumped everything. I admit I became emotional as I tried to convey this idea to them.

You might as well be surprised that I remember to breathe, until you understand that without oxygen I will die.

Later I chatted with Mr. and Mrs. Gecys, I believe it was he who recruited Vaiva to be his successor as the President of the Lithuanian-American Community. We got onto the subject of politics, and I forgot that my voice tends to carry. They are evidently center-left Democrats, I am a conservative, formerly a Republican, so the conversation was somewhat spirited.

They were convinced that Vaiva was a liberal, certainly not so right wing as me. Vaiva's politics were mostly diplomatic, she could make anyone believe that she was on their side (rather like Obama during the Presidential campaign). In Lithuania Vaiva rebuffed overtures from several political parties that might have led to political office. In part she preferred to remain an independent, and in part she relished the executive position over the legislative. She felt all accomplishment lay in the executive branch.

Here's something I did not mention. Before I met Vaiva, I was a liberal. That would be when I was a freshman at MIT. By the time I met her, when I was a sophomore and she a freshman, I was already entertaining doubts about liberal orthodoxy, but it would be more than fair to say that Vaiva made me into a conservative.

I embraced her philosophy with the enthusiasm of the convert, and occasional went "over the top" in her view. But in the main, we were on the same page.

Our Goddaughter has married

Rasa Stirbys and Len Benefico married on September 19, 2009.

The lovely ceremony and reception were held at the Stirbys' home in Philadelphia.

Prague, 1998

Vaiva was, in a sense, Lithuania's ambassador to the worldwide education bureaucracy, a role to which she brought tremendous talent and skill. Below is an address from early in her tenure as Vice Minister.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Colleagues, Madame Cresson, Baroness Blackstone, Mr Sokol,

I am pleased to have the opportunity to share some thoughts among colleagues. The issues raised today are important for a successful follow-up to Lithuania's educational reform, and also to everyone convened here. As has been frequently declared, efforts are underway to build a unanimous and progressive Europe providing equal opportunities to its citizens. In the past few years, these declarations have become a priority task in Lithuania - especially following our country's EU Associate Membership effected on the 1st of February this year.

The reform begun in 1991 in Lithuania, has required preparation of the main legal acts necessary for statutory regulation of education. Although the Lithuanian system of education is still a rather centralised one, some of the administrative functions have already been delegated to local government. Together with administrative decentralisation, restructuring of educational finance has begun.

In the first phase of reform, educational objectives and content were addressed. The General Concept of Education in Lithuania identified certain values: not only the process and result of teaching, but also the process of learning, including lifelong learning. Therefore it is with immense interest that I have listened to Prof. ' and Prof. ' reports devoted to the issue of improving school standards. This issue is very topical and is now being addressed within schools, at regional seminars, as well as at international conferences held in Lithuania.

Equally important, to my mind, is the greater attention paid to the development of general skills and competencies. In a modern Europe approaching the 21st century, the ability to survive and be competitive will be guaranteed not by a fund of particular knowledge, of which Lithuanian students are quite proud, but by the ability to reason and to creatively apply knowledge in search of new solutions. In this area, though, our achievements are not that remarkable. I believe that the new core curriculum will definitely result in young people feeling far more competent in a changing Europe.

Currently under consideration are draft standards of achievement for lower secondary school pupils; the draft core curriculum and attainment standards for upper secondary school pupils have been finalized. With the support of the PHARE programme, the school leaving (maturity) examination system is being reformed to ensure objective assessment as well as a smooth and transparent advancement to higher education.

The PHARE programme has been vitally important to the successful implementation of our vocational education and training reform. The VET reform aims at changes in the labour market caused by new technologies. With the assistance of European experts, a White Book on vocational education and training in Lithuania has been compiled. In lieu of a rigid system of vocational training offering narrow specialisations, a system providing a more general education and one with greater reference to general competencies has started to be created.

Currently, a restructuring process of higher education that comprises the college sector and university higher education, is under way. Study programmes worked out are directly related to labour market demands as well as to European integration. A system of quality assessment of higher education institutions will be created.

At this time, a programme of the second phase of educational reform in Lithuania is being finalised. This programme provides for the updating of the Law on Education and the Law on Science and Studies. We must also enhance the role of school and teacher in the planning and development of educational content, as well as to changing the culture of inspection and control.

Parallel to the restructuring of the examination system and inspection, setting up of a system of educational monitoring is planned. In this field of activity, we are going to extensively refer to the experience of EU countries.

It is planned, with the support of the PHARE programme, to launch a new strategy for sustainable higher education reform. This will be based on the further structural development of higher education and its internationalisation, with preparation for EU membership speeding up.

Educational research is also planned to be developed. Of particular importance to us is international comparative research. The first instance of this kind of research that Lithuania has participated in, has been constituted by the TIMSS research. Its results have been very useful in the updating of educational content and detailing the educational reform plans.

Lithuania is striving for a speedy social and economic progress. Education is one of the most significant prerequisites for that kind of progress. Our wish is that our educational system should be as effective as possible, yet we are not always in a position to adequately evaluate its quality, owing to which even a certain feeling of insecurity is often engendered in our society. Therefore, the following items are of particular importance to Lithuania:

· to know the main guidelines of the European educational development (educational vision) and to refer to them in the creation of our own educational development plans that would cater to Lithuania's situation;

· to have the opportunity make an overall comparison of the Lithuanian system of education with the educational systems of other European countries;

· to be able to make use of EU countries' expertise in the field of education, as well as in the creation of a monitoring system;

· to participate in the exchanges of pupils, students, teachers and lecturers;

· to achieve that documents testifying one's educational level issued in Lithuania be recognised in the European countries.

Therefore, it is with special attention that we have been perusing the documents that we received a fortnight before prepared by the European Commission on the second phase of the Community vocational training action programme Leonardo da Vinci and on the second phase of the Community action programme in the field of education SOCRATES.

Unwelcome news for Lithuania

Poles, Czechs: US missile defense shift a betrayal should not surprise anyone. Disturbing that the Obama administration would thoughtlessly make the sell-out announcement on the 70th anniversary of the Russian invasion of Poland.

The real issue isn't missile defense, it's the ongoing efforts by the Russians to undermine the governments on its borders, including Lithuania. Vaiva shared with me some of the espionage that was going on during her tenure in the government, most of which could never be made public. Reneging on the missile defense agreements will be seen by the Russians as a green light to ramp up their attacks—economic, digital, and otherwise—on their neighbors. Poles and Czechs know this, and rightfully fear they are next on the list.

2004 Sokiu Svente

These are additional photos from the 2004 dance festival found on Vaiva's laptop.

This last photo is with Paulauskas.

2005 Svente Lietuvoj

These are photos Vaiva saved from the 2005 folk dance festival in Vilnius. You'll notice President Adamkus and his wife above, and in the bottom photo. Dainus Numgaudis is below.

Svente, Chicago 2004

Vaiva addressed the audience for the 2004 folk dance festival in Chicago in her capacity as President of the Lithuanian-American Community. Her peer from Canada stands with her.

I remember working on this speech with her. The dancers are waiting to make their entrance.

Nine months

Vaiva died nine months ago today.

Vetra, 2004

I'm away from home at the moment. I had hoped to find some early Vetra photos to post along with a discussion of Vaiva's leadership, but this late photo is handy. If you click to enlarge, you can see it better. Two notable Lithuanian dignitaries are included, perhaps someone can identify them. Vaiva was no longer dancing by then, she lacked the stamina.

Grapes are in too

Grapes are doing well also, this year.

Mixed news on the corn

As you can see, the corn grew very well this year.

One variety grew to over seven feet tall (Lokys is more than six feet).

But because I didn't thin the corn, it grew so densely that it didn't set many good ears and our yield is way down. This never mattered in the past, either the birds or the July drought thinned it instead. This year, no such luck.

Vaiva on NPR

Paul Martin and Tim Jones mentioned hearing Vaiva on the radio, a moment that I had forgotten about. I did not realize she was so widely recognized during the broadcast.

The moment was probably 1989. Vaiva was asked by National Public Radio to be the simultaneous translator for Vytautas Landsbergis, the leader of the nascent Lithuanian Independence Movement, Sajudis (spelling?). I'm not clear on why they came to her for that service, but she handled it very expertly.

Small world department. Landsbergis' father and Vaiva's father were colleagues and friends in the 1930s, working together on a new chemical laboratory in Kaunas. Senelis (that was our name for Vaiva's father) was the science advisor, Landsbergis the architect.

I mentioned that fact here, and called attention to our inlaid wood representation of the building.

The Liepsna plate

This is the plate, from the photo below, that Liepsna presented to me and Vaiva to commemorate their participation in our wedding. It hangs on the side of the chimney column, as one passes from the kitchen to the dining room, in our home.

Tim Jones writes

Dear Jim,

I can't tell you how sorry I am to hear about Vaiva's death. I learned of it this afternoon (eight months late) from the E Theta newsletter. The newsletter arrives in my mail sporadically at best, and no more than once a year. I am as likely to toss it as read it. Unlikely as this sounds, the first thing that came into my mind when I saw it was Vaiva. I don't think you can ascribe this to any supernatural force, but rather to her quiet and persistent influence which is still radiating out from all those years ago. It was perfectly natural for one to suddenly think about her first before anyone else. For one thing, she was beautiful - at least I thought so. She was also kind, thoughtful and smart.

I've always had a suspicion, never verified, that it was she who first advanced my name as a possible pledge at E Theta. It was certainly she who shared middle front with me in my very first semester. That was probably one of the more transforming two months of my life, and I will always associate it with her. Her voice imprinted on me like a mother hen imprinting on a chick. I heard her on the radio translating about fifteen years later, and knew instantly after a few words who it was though the context certainly threw me.

It seems such a short time ago that we were students. The pictures of Vaiva and others on your blog are images of such extreme youth. I still think of her and you and everyone else as exactly that young - full of energy and promise and excited to forge ahead into the future. Vaiva represented for me all the freshness and excitement of plunging into college. I'm very sorry that she is gone, and I just wanted let you know.

Timothy Jones

tim@tjones.com

Liepsna

Vaiva and I married on October 22, 1977. At that time, I was a second year law student at Boston University and Vaiva was doing her third year of graduate studies at Yale. The wedding and reception were to be held in New Haven.

The Vetra dance group of New Haven would not be created for another six years. Vaiva found a Lithuanian dance group willing to perform at our reception in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The group was Liepsna.

Vaiva wanted to include the wedding dance, Rezginele, in the performance, and she wanted us to be the bridal couple. Although I had absolutely no folk dance experience, I was up for it. I had been OK at square dancing in grade school, and had a good memory for the patterns of the dance.

I took the train to New Haven, and then we drove to Elizabeth, just past Newark, a good 90 minute drive, for rehearsals. I think we went three times. Our dress rehearsal was in the afternoon space after the wedding and before the evening reception.

Liepsna did a terrific job. Here's a photo of the group after the dances were complete.



Here's a photo detail. You can see how happy we are.

Condolences from Paul Martin

Jim,

I opened my Epsilon Theta Alumni Newsletter today and there was a nice
note about Vaiva's passing. I have no words to express my sympathy for
you and your family. I remember Vaiva as a wonderful, vibrant person who
was a blessing to all who had the privilege of knowing her. I was not
entirely surprised to hear her voice one day on NPR, working in support
of her beloved Lithuania. I am sorry that we have not kept in touch, so
this note is horribly late. I hope that the memory of the good times you
shared together will give you strength at this difficult time.

Paul Martin