December 2013 | Issue No. 12
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 Dear Friends of the BBLA, With Thanksgiving celebrations coming to a close, we have started the usual end of the year marathon of festivities, religious events and celebrations, making the month of December a quite hectic one. It is also a time best spent with friends and family, reflecting on what the year has brought us and how we will want to shape the upcoming one.
By following the perspective "more is better", we have indeed outperformed the previous period. What brings me great pride is the fact that according to all the accolades I have heard and am constantly hearing, the quality of the programs our organizations have hosted is much higher, more interesting, and simply better. So, indeed, better is even more "better" in this case.
Our extended BBLA family is very proud with all of the work our individual organizations have accomplished within this year.
I want to personally congratulate and thank you all for your contributions and effort. I want to also thank my fellow trustees and board members and I definitely must thank and salute our amazing office team for their great work.
I hope to see you all between now and the end of the year.
Happy Holidays.
Yours,
 Joseph Balaz, President Bohemian Benevolent & Literary Association |
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Illustration by Peter Sis, photo from the book Conference of the Birds.
Peter Sis' Conference of the Birds
If you would want to find the Truth of the Universe stated in the most simple, most comprehensible story, then this is it - Peter Sis' Conference of the Birds. Written and illustrated as if to be a children's book, the Conference of the Birds is an odyssey and search for the meaning of existence.
"Birds!" he says, "look at the troubles happening in our world! Anarchy -- discontent -- upheaval! Desperate fights over territory, water, and food! Posioned air! Unhappiness! I fear we are lost. We must do something! ... I know of a king who has all the answers. We must go and find him." >> Read more... Peter Sis is a renowned illustrator and author of more than twenty books and the seven-time recipient of the New York Times Book Review's Best Illustrated Book of the Year award. (Photo on the right: Peter Sis in front of his sister's tea house in Prague.)
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Thomas Ort Explores Art and Life in Modernist Prague
Tracing the roots of novelist and playwright Karel Capek's generation to cubist art and turn-of-the-century philosophy, Thomas Ort shows that the form of modernism they championed led not into the thickets of fascism or communism but in fact closer to liberal political ideals.
His new book Art and Life in Modernist Prague: Karel Capek and His Generation, 1911-1938 highlights a generation of Czech writers and artists distinguished by their affirmative encounter with the modern world in the first decades of the 20th century. >> Read more...
Thomas Ort is Assistant Professor of History at Queens College-City University of New York.
Paperback edition is coming soon.
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 HERE IS WHAT'S HAPPENING IN DECEMBER
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November 29 - December 15 
THE REPUBLIC, or My Dinner with Socratestheater play
Tickets available online. Click here.
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Tuesday, December 10, 6:30 - 8:30 pm 
CELEBRATING PRINT: Masters of Czech and Slovak Printmakingexhibition opening
Free and open to the public.
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Friday, December 13, 7:00 - 11:00 pm 
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Top photograph: View of the Bryant Park, by Katerina Kyselica.
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Pearls of the Deep, Daisies, A Report on the Party and Guests, Return of the Prodigal Son, Capricious Summer, The Joke...
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With Miroslav Donutil, Jiri Kodet, Simona Stasova and others.
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Bohemian Benevolent & Literary Association | 321 East 73rd Street, 3rd floor | New York, NY 10021
(212) 988-1733 | www.bohemianbenevolent.org | info@bohemianbenevolent.org
BBLA is a not-for-profit organization established in 1891 in New York City as an umbrella organization for almost eighty Czech and Slovak immigrant organizations. The mission of BBLA is to preserve and support Czech and Slovak culture in New York City. BBLA's member organizations include American Fund for Czech and Slovak Leadership Studies, Association of Free Czechoslovak Sportsmen, Czech and Slovak Solidarity Council, Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences in America, Dvorak American Heritage Association and Sokol New York. BBLA is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization.
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