Articles

THE YIN AND YANG OF ALCATRAZ

By Hilja Hautamaa Nast

“Why would you pay money to visit a prison when you could have gotten there free and been fed and housed as well?” asked my husband who was known for his facetious humor. It may have been true but the one I was planning ti visit didn’t take non paying guests any more. My fascination with the infamous Alcatraz Prison, Also called the rock, started a few years ago after I had read an article in the newspaper. I had also seen a movie “the Bird man of Alcatraz”. I later found out that the bird man, Robert Starut was not as kind as he was portrayed by Burt Lancaster. I also learned that he never had birds in his cell.

When my friend, Susan Vollmar and I were planning a trip to San Francisco, a trip to the Penitentiary was on the top of my list of places to see. The second day, upon our arrival’, we boarded a ferry for a ten minutes trip to the middle of the Bay along with some 100 other tourists. Alcatraz was once considered the toughest Federal prison in America. Among its former tenants were Scarface Al Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelly who were probably the people all over the world to this small, rocky 22 acre island, even though it has been closed since 1963.

As I looked at the beautiful island with flowers, a variety of vegetation, and bird colonies it was difficult to imagine that it once housed the countries most notorious criminals. We learned that the original name for the island, translated from Spanish was the “Island of Pelicans”, but other than song birds the only birds that we saw were ducks, loons and lots of seagulls.

As we walked up a steep hill to the penitentiary, we passed a row of what had been buildings which had only a fewdilapidated walls still standing. Here had stood a small village with apartments, barracks and a warden’s house. Once there had been two worlds. In one world, living in nice homes, were the families of the prison staff. Happy children played in a paradise setting. In the other worlds were the doomed prisoners confined behind bars in stark cramped cells. There’s been a world of hopelessness and despairs. For many it was the final stop.

At the very top of the hill, stood the huge foreboding buildings that had been the home for the prisoners. We purchase a personal headset that gave us recorded information as we walked through the corridors. We came to a long wide cellblock that was called Broadway; other blocks were marked with a single letter. Each cellblock had cell on each side. There were three tiers of cell but visitors were only allowed on the first level. The higher tiers could be seen from where we stood. The recorded information included narrations by the warden and also by some of the former inmates. The cells were about 5´9´ deep and contained an army cot, sink, toilet bowl and a built in chair with a small table. There were cells that were even smaller called “black holes” which were cold and dark and in which the troublemakers served their punishment in solitary confinement.

As we walked slowly past the empty cells, I could almost imagine the sound of the heavy barred door as it slammed shout on a lonely man. Freedom and all of the good things in life were forbidden and lost for ever. Ahead lie endless years of misery, loneliness and despair.Many of the inmate, lifers would never again enjoy the beauty and splendor of the free world. What a heavy price they paid for their crimes.

A huge dinning hall was located at one end of Broadway. Sunshine streaming trough the bars helped to make the place look less foreboding.  The recording informed us that the prisoners usually behaved in an orderly fashion in the mess hall and that the food was adequate.Prisoners were told that they “…were entitled to food and medical attention anything else you get is a privilege.” That was one of principle rules in the hand book “prison rule and Regulations” a copy of which each prisoner received when he arrived on the “Rock”.

Despite the rigid rules and barred cell doors that were electronically controlled there were 14 escape attempts between 1936 and 1963. Seven men were shot to death, six drowned in the Bay´s cold turbulent waters and one was never found.

Our somber mood disappeared as soon as we walked out into the bright sunshine and the magnificent view that faced us. The Golden Gate Bridge and the beautiful city across the glittering Bay. All around we could see a multitude of colorful floers growing among the rocks below an d it seemed that birds were singing all around us.

Mummo (Grandmother)

By Irja Praba

A few years ago, I visited the farm where my grandparents lived. It had been sold to others. The houses that used to be gray had been painted red. The water well on the yard was now only for decoration. The vegetable garden and berry bushes had disappeared. No animals were to be seen in the surroundings where there used to be chickens and an angry rooster, a dog and two cats, and farther out cows, horses, sheep and lambs. The farmhouse was now a summer hideout for the younger generation who lived and earned their living in cities.

My brother had sent me a copy of the church records pertaining to parents, grandparents, their parents and so on, My mother’s mother was the only person listed there that I had seen alive.

Mummo, grandmother in Finnish, came regularly to visit us in the town of Jyväskylä in summertime and brought a big basket of cloudberries (lakkoja) that grew wild in the bog near the farm. During on of her berry picking outings, grandma happened on the path of a brown bear. “The bear stared at me and I stared at him. Without a sound, we each turned away and went our ways. He must have been as scared of me as I was of him.” Grandma joked about it later, but uncle said that he sympathized with the bear. Grandmother was a robust woman.

My mother told me more about mummo. She was married at seventeen and claimed that she never regretted it. The first child was born in 1890 before she was twenty, a son, and then another boy, two girls, a boy and a girl. The eldest daughter was Aunt Olga who lived almost 104 in Florida. The eldest of my uncles, Oscar, came first to America, then immigrated to Russia during the great depression, and disappeared there without trace. The family tried to find out what had happened, but to no avail. The next son took over the farm and stayed there until his death. They are all dead now. The next generation dispersed from the farms altogether.

Living on a farm meant hard work in the late 1800s and early 1900s. “Pappa” Aleksanteri died on 11/12/1921. After that uncle Otto, the second son, managed the farm and the rest family stayed there and helped. The isolation of the farm in the woods was severe. Mummo liked company and would walk several miles to the neighbors to chat. She organized her own free days, too. When she wanted a day off, she would pull up her bed covers and announce that she was sick. Everybody should look after himself and the men had to do the “women’s work”. Next day she would feel much better and have a wink in her eyes.

Finland was annexed as a grand duchy to Russia in the 1800`s. Russian merchants, “laukkuryssät” or “wandering Russian peddlers” as they called, crossed the border and walked with big packs selling small goods to farm folks. They had to stay overnight and buy their food in the farmhouse.  There was one who would never miss grandma’s farm, whether he could sell anything or not. Mummo laughed that she had overhead him explain: “Ruma akka mutta leipoo hyvän leivän” (An ugly hag, but bakes good bread.”) “Ryssän molotusta”.

Bread baking stopped at times in Finland. In nearby cemetery is a stone commemorating the people who starved to death in 1862-1867. In the old church was wooden beggar, “vaivaisukko”, where parishioners could drop coins to help the poor. There was another harvest disaster (halla or summe frost) in 1909-1910, and then the civil war before independence in 1917 and the world wars in the 1940´s. hunger was an ever-present worry. Grandma’s household, however, did not run out of bread. She managed the safekeeping and money matters. In good times, she would ride in the horse and buggy

And sell farm products in Jyväskylä town open market. In bad times, she kept her reserves hidden. Nobody ever left her house hungry, and during the war years, she packed our rucksacks so full of food it was difficult to carry them.

I came to know mummo when she was in her seventies. We lived in a small town with big woodworking industry believed to be among the targets of Russian bombs. During the war mother took us to the farm deep in the forest and out of harms way for a few months. Mummo did not walk long distance any more, but neighbors came to chat with her. She would take out the better set of coffee cups, “kenkkikupit”, for those occasions, and though the coffee was some grain substitute (korviketta) and the coffee bread (käntty) without the right spices and good ingredients, the laughter and merry memories were real. However, as a little girl, my mother had had a bad experience because of those “Sunday coffee cups.” They were on the table when a cat came in and jumped to the table. A cup and saucer fell down and broke. When grandma came in and saw that, her quick temper flared up and she yelled at mother. Mother told her that it was the cat. Mummo was sure that mother made up the story and gave her a hit for the lie. My mother never forgot this unfair punishment and told us that she could never tolerate any hitting in the house. I echoed it without thinking to my children: “No hitting in the house”, when they were trying to settle their play disagreements. They quote it even now when chasing out a fly!

While staying on the farm, we sat around the grownups when they told stories from their past and scary consequences if you misbehaved.

“The devil will take your skin and paste it on the wall.” (In sauna)

“Do you remember when there was a frog in the water pail we gave to the Russian?”

“Did you know that the old priest, Swedish as he got the names mixed up and baptized a baby boy with a girl’s name?”

“Do you still sit on the steps in the summer night, listening to the birds and counting the cuckoos to predict the number of happy years of life?”

I look at the document with dates in the 18 and 19 hundreds, birth, deaths, marriages, children. Lives are compressed into a few lines. I feel almost that I am intruding into a time that is closed to all later generations and me. There, whiting the limits of a hundred years, is hidden the reality of our grandmother and her family. I try to read between the lines and wish that a quiet vice would tell me how it really was, my grandmother standing in this same yard wondering what the future would be for her grandchildren, for me.

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January 17th  2006 •Vol VII • No 2

Chicago News
by Bob Kujanpaa

  The Finnish American Society of the Midwest held its annual Christmas Party, Sunday, December 11th, at the Estonian House in Riverwoods.  The party began with a social hour with Ernie Sandquist playing Christmas songs and Finnish favorites on his accordion.  Lauha Doren with the help of Cindy Berg had the Finnish merchandise table ready for holiday shopping. 

  The dinner was catered by Wikstrom’s and included many traditional Finnish foods.  Following dinner, Santa Claus, a. k. a. Oscar Forsman, with the help of elves Anna Berg, Taru Berg, Lee Hoofnagle, Eeva Kallio, Elli Murphy, and Christina Turcsan distributed gifts. 
 
 The party ended with dancing to the music of the De Kalb Footstompers.  Special thanks to John Berg, who served as MC. 

  The Finnish American Chamber of Commerce held its Christmas Party at the Newberry Library’s Fellows Lounge in Chicago.  Following a dinner catered by Wikstrom’s, featuring many Finnish foods, Arto Saarinen, the Chamber’s President, offered the toast, and spoke about the organization’s activities.  Pianist Toumas Kivisto from Finland, who is doing graduate work at Roosevelt University, performed several musical selections.  Tina Seppalainen was the winner of two airline tickets to Finland courtesy of SAS. 

  Arthur W. Putkonen, age 86, of Northbrook passed away December 23rd.  He was the husband of Liisa (Kolehmainen) and the late Vieno.  Other survivors include his sister Esther Brown, and stepchildren Tapani and Raija.  Services were held at the Kolssak Funeral Home in Wheeling on December 29th.  Interment will be in Finland. 

  Luke Kaspar, 52, husband of Susan, nee Elo, and son-in-law of Marylin and the late Allan Elo, passed away in early December.  He is also survived by his son Luke, mother Dorothy Case Kaspar, and several brothers and sisters.  Services were held Wednesday, December 7th, at St. Mary of the Woods Church in Chicago. 

  Former Chicagoan, Seija Lehtonen Paulson, 69, of Cape Coral, Florida, died December 12th.  Survivors include her husband Ralph, and son Kenneth.  A memorial visitation was held at the Cyprus Funeral Home in Glendale Heights, Illinois, December 27th. 

January 31st  2006 •Vol VII • No 3

On being Finnish in Florida

The local newspaper (Palm Beach Post) used to have stories about Finns, written by an American of Finnish roots, in its weekly supplement. I read those before anything else in the paper. I remember best the report about the most important things in the daily life of Finnish people. It all sounded good and respectable, though the writer left out sauna. To me that seemed a major flaw in the narrative. Ancient Finns used to build a sauna before starting the main building. I chose our condominium because it has a sauna in the right place, and the sauna has proven even better than I expected. Almost nobody else ever comes there, and I enjoy the luxury of privacy, heat, sweat, old memories, and new ideas.

 The list in the paper was about items that make Finnish people happy: a clean house, friends you can trust and smaller items like good coffee and pulla (coffee bread), rye bread, licorice candy and salmiakki (an indescrible black substance that we imagine as cough drop). It did not list the opposite items about the Finns. Some say that they are prone to jealousy, prejudice and gossip, that they are not enterprising or enthusiastic and that they do not know how to cooperate. On the other hans, an insurance agent complains that the local Finnish people do not buy long-term care contracts because they have their own network of help and care, long term.

 The Finns have at least as many vices as merits. Even their sulky, stolid looks from the high-cheeked faces have always irritated the fine sculptured Swedes. Their language sounds like it came from behind the Ural Mountains, which it did, and in reality is grammatically worse than it looks and sounds. They say that Finnish was used in the Korean War as a communication language. No secret cryptography was needed. However, the Finns adore their language and sing its high glory every week in the local halls and churches. This person in the newspaper had a Finnish name but did not know the language and probably was too scared to learn.

 In Florida, it is imperative to learn English, and all the Finns that I meet have at least a working knowledge of it. Many are fluent in both languages. In addition, they have developed a new version of speech: “fingliska” and I listen and read it for fun. You need to know both languages to enjoy it, as many words are the same in appearance but humorously different in meaning. E.g., “peili” means “mirror” in Finnish, but in fingliska “pail.” A woman tells her friend that a cow kicked her so that her “peili” flew to the wall. (Silloin se lehma potkasi mua niin etta peili lensi toisehen seinahan).

 ”Raitti” is a twist from English ”ride”, but has also a Finnish meaning of road. This fingliska sentence gives an idea how English words are adapted into Finnish: “Kraatsis on justihin fiksattu paisikkeli, ota silla raittia.” (In garage is just fixed bicycle, take a ride on it). It does not ask the visitor to take the road!

 Contact with different languages has always been my hobby. It was easy for me to study foreign languages at school. When I went to Tammisaari (Ekenas) to polish my Swedish, I became Swedish. All my daily activities were in my head in Swedish. This took place while staying with Tant Karin as a teenager.

 When I learned to speak English in college in Philadelphia, my head ached a lot and my nightly drems mixed languages with events. Eventually English sank deep enough that I did not translate any more and I had the next word at the tip of my tongue. The accent, of course, never changes. People ask me every time when I speak: “Where are you from?”

 Most Finns in Florida have lived their lives with two or more languages. I do not know if they still feel the same as I used to when I was a kid and still do at times: no matter what language people speak, everybody thinks in Finnish!

IRJA PRABA - LAKE WORTH

Many Finns live in West Palm Beach, Florida.

February 14th  2006 •Vol VII • No 4

President of Finlandia University addresses FALA

On Friday January 27, 2006, over sixty people attended a Finnish American Lawyers’ Association (FALA) cocktail party/buffet dinner at the Estonia House in New York City. Robert Alan Saasto, FALA President, acted as the emcee. His first order of business was to introduce the numerous dignitaries attending: the Consul General of Finland to the United States in New York, Osmo Lipponen; the Honorary Consul General of Upper Michigan and main speaker Dr. Robert Ubbelohde; the recently retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in Nevada, Miriam Shearing (FALA member); New York State Third Department Appellate Judge John Lahtinen; Nassau County Supreme Court Justice Stephen Bucaria; Nassau County Family Court Justices John Pessala (FALA executive director) and John Marks; Westbury Village (N.Y.) Court Justice Elizabeth Pessala (FALA member); and Massapequa Park Village (N.Y.) Court Justice Steven Leventhal.

Special recognition was extended to FALA members coming literally from abroad and other states: Liisa Maarit Lischak (currently practicing law in London); Hammoud Karim ( just returned from North Korea where he partook in negotiations on behalf of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization); Dale Aho and Steven Pence (Michigan); Julie Badel (Chicago); Nels Ylitalo (Connecticut); Pasi Mantyla ( FALA web site manager) and Michael Stewart (New Jersey).

Kaiku performed several numbers

Additional FALA members not already mentioned in attendance from New York were Nicholas Tishler (Niskayuna NY, NYS Bar Assoc. Vice President 4th Judicial Dist.); Ernest Saasto (general practice, Long Island); Mika Hallakorpi (admiralty NYC); and Jans Johansson (immigration, NYC). Business leaders in attendance were Robert Bishop Esq. (Lobbyist in NYS Legislature); Jukka Jumisko(CFO,PolarElectro); Mauri Leppala(Finnair); and Alan Lahti (Federal Standard Abstract).

 After introductions,  the Finlandia Foundations Performer of the Year 2006, Kaiku, performed several numbers in Finnish to the absolute delight of the audience. The vocalists Jaana Kantola and Paula Jaakola were accompanied by an accordionist, Will Holshauser, a celloist, Chris Hoffman, and John Hadfield, percussions. Their unique soundtracks can be heard on the internet at www.kaikumusic.com.

Over 100,000 citicens with Finnsih ancestry in Michigan

The main speaker was Dr. Robert Ubbelohde, President of Finlandia University. Robert Ubbelohde obtained his PhD. in Philosophy and Education. In the last fifteen years as President, he has been instrumental in  repositioning the former Suomi College from a struggling two-year school to a progressive  baccalaureate degree-granting university. In  over 50 trips to Finland, he has built academic partnerships with Finland’s universities to adopt contemporary Finnish models for education, rural economic development and business to Hancock Michigan, where there is a large concentration of Finnish Americans.  In response to a request for a summarization of his speech, Dr. Ubbelohde responded as follows:

  “The State of Michigan has over 100,000 citizens of Finnish ancestry while Upper Peninsula of Michigan is home to over 50,000 Finnish Americans.  The street signs in Hancock, Michigan (home of Finlandia University) are in Finnish and English and the City flies both American and Finnish flags to celebrate holidays and special events.  Many of the Finnish Americans living in other parts of the United States have family roots in the Upper Peninsula.

  This may explain why Finlandia University, the only institution of higher education outside of Finland founded by Finns in 1896, has developed a unique product and graphic design program grounded in a Finnish Model.  It may also explain why we have fourteen higher education partners in Finland including the Universities of Turku and Tampere.

Finnish model can be exported to larger nations

We are also promoting the ‘Finnish Model’ of economic growth and development as we work in our local community to promote sustainable development.  On the Finnish model, government, business, labor and education working together have developed sector strategic plans including product design, technology and bio-medical research to promote the long-term well-being of the Finnish nation.  We believe, contrary to prevailing opinions, that this model can be exported to larger nations such as the United States by focusing on regional rather than national sustainable development”.

 Following a question and answer session with Dr. Ubbelohde, The Honorable John Pessala presented the flag of Nassau County to Captain John Ostman as a token of appreciation for  his seventeen years of service in the Marines. Captain Ostman’s mother’s maiden name  is Kento. He was born in Duluth, Minnesota and served in the Gulf War as well as the Iraq War. He is currently in charge of the Marine recruiting station in Garden City, Nassau County, New York. Assisting Judge Pessala in presenting the flag were the other Justices present from Nassau County: Justices Stephen Bucaria, John Marks, and Steven Leventhal.

 As always, the FALA seeks new members. Over the last several years the association has expanded to include numerous members from several states as well as in Europe and Finland.

Pictures of this event as well as information about the FALA can be obtained by going to their web site at finnishamericanlawyer.org

ROBERT SAASTO - NEW YORK

Robert Saasto welcomes the main speaker Dr. Robert Ubbelohde.

February 28th  2006 •Vol VII • No 5

The Finnish-American Club of Tucson is 40 years old

We decided to let the Finnish community hear from us, the desert Finns of the Finnish American Club of Tucson, Arizona, since we are celebrating our 40^th anniversary on February 17^th. There might be some who still remembers Lillian Luhtala, 98, (Ishpeming, MN) one of the founding members of the Suomi Klubi here in 1966. Lillian is strong and well.

It so happened that some Finnish Americans were attending a concert by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra at the University of Arizona auditorium in February 1966, when to their surprise they heard Finnish spoken around them- and they met each other!

Away from home, from Minnesota’s lakes and Michigan’s auto industry, these American Finns must have felt “found” by some long lost relatives. Eleven of them started meeting weekly in eachother’s homes to compare notes, play cards and to have coffee and “nisu” (pulla, now). Out of the 11 founders grew a group now consisting of 90 members. There are three generations of family in the club.

The Club grew and expanded, started to contribute to local, then national Finnish American causes. A special thing we did three years ago was “Tapestry of Tucson”.

In 2003 the Mayor and the City Council of Tucson with the European Multiethnic Alliance of Tucson (EMAT) accomplished its project “Tapestry of Tucson” consisting of looking into ethnic (European) pioneers in Tucson history. We did our share. The project is displayed on a plasma screen at the Convention center and can be viewed on www.emat.tucson.org (Finland). It features three main local Finnish / Finnish Americans and their contributions:

Dr.Alvar Wilska, physicist, medical doctor, who was professor of physics at the University of Arizona for 23 years.

Oliver Laine, Ph.D., was the founding president of Pima Community College (’66), witch today has some 66,000 enrollees on six campuses.

Leila Saari McPheeters, daughter of Finnish immigrants Ed and Hilja Saari (first president). She grew up in the Finn Hall on his parents property. Laila is a “nurturer of plants and relationships” in her family’s plant nursery in town.

Our Club has a brand new board of directors in 2006, an addition of three new members, digital-age dynamos, that have started new winds blowing. (Uudet tuulet puhaltavat). Let’s see if we can hold on! We are preparing for our anniversary celebration with Ulla Suokko, the magnificent flutist and storyteller who is coming to entertain us. The Honorary Consul for Finland in Arizona, Gloria J. Jackson will be our guest speaker. (Now the dilemma is: are more people coming to hear Ulla than we can accommodate!).

A week after our anniversary, is our European Fair. Baking pulla loaves and selling them takes place plus selling Finnish Tupla chocolates and Jalostaja mustard, Koivu shampoo etc., etc. We carry Finland’s flag in the parade, and we promote Finnish and Finnish-American literature, pass out Finnish American periodicals and pamphlets from the Consulate in LA. We are upholding our culture also with home made plays, (“The Evacuees” ’96, my story, is being performed in Rutland, MA, soon, Anita Smiley from FAHS tells me. This is the third show on the East Coast.) Pikkujoulu and juhannus are favorites; our grandchildren love them and seem to be contributing to the feeling of “Finn Hall” in our parties. It has become a custom to celebrate juhannus on our back patio even when the temperatures stay above 100 degrees F., and when the evening sky turns dark blue and the stars appear. There’s no midnight sun here, but there is sauna and swimming, singing and accordion’s summer sound, good food and company. No one has ever complained of being too hot. Our huge mesquite tree provides a complete shade over the patio by 6 pm. Something to brag about: of all the ethnic groups in EMAT we had the first web page, which is now being revamped; the Newsletter just might go on the web soon, too. (www.azstarnet.com/nonprofit/finnclub). We also have a composer - Edward Mattila who composed an electronic piece called “Sisu” and dedicated it to the Club. Kathi Huhtaluhta (Lucey) is into her Sami roots and will sing at the FinnFest in Naselle, WA. And I have written my story for all to read: “The Finn in Me” that is now out of print. “Suomi Specialties…” is still out there, though.

We send our warmest (72 degrees right now on 2/12/06) greetings to all in the Finnish America!

The Finnish-American club's project can be seen on a plasma screen at the Tucson Convention Center.