Professor Edward - Edi - Gobetz, Ph. D. WHY WE ARE PROUD TO BE SLOVENIAN AMERICANS Published on the occasion of “Proud to be Slovenian Day” at Slovenska Pristava in Harpersfield, Ohio, on June 30, 2019. Maksim Gaspari, Mati Slovenija - Mother Slovenia By Slovenian Research Center of America, Inc. (
[email protected]) and Slovenian American Times 33977 Chardon Road Ste 120 Willoughby Hills, OH 44094 1 Cover photo Mother Slovenia, by Maxim Gaspari (1883-1980), is one of his favorite paintings. It was commissioned by Slovenian Americans. In 1942, the American painter Shirley Braithwaite used Gaspari’s original to paint the stage curtain for the Slovenian National Home on St. Clair Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. Dressed in Slovenian national costume and sitting under a majestic tree at the idyllic Slovenian Alpine Lake Bled, Mother Slovenia is surrounded by Slovenian children and farmers, and by a few leading representatives of Slovenian culture: the poets Bishop Anton Martin Slomšek, Anton Aškerc, Simon Gregorčič at left and Dr. France Prešeren at far right; and, in the middle, by writers Ivan Cankar and Ivan Tavčar and the painter Ivan Grohar. The painting symbolically unites Slovenian Americans with the country of their roots, Slovenia and her culture. Copyright © 2019 Slovenian Research Center of America, Inc. (
[email protected]) Printed with compliments of Peter and Sue Osenar First printing June 2019 Second printing July 2019 Booklet Production Tom Percic, PCVCS Inc. www.perciccreative.com 2 Foreword Soon after my arrival in America. I noticed — in addition to many wonderful things — that, like most of the world, Americans had al- most no knowledge about Slovenia and confused her with Slovakia or even with some Soviet republic.