Austrian Information November-December 2005

From the Editor

2007-02-15T20:58:43Z

Dear Readers,

As the year 2005 draws to a close, I would like to offer you my personal recipe for this holiday season. It is for the famous Grenadine Punch à la Alice which should make you sail right through to the next year.

(for two persons):
1 red-cheeked pomegranate
2 tbsp. lime juice
1/2 cup squeezed orange juice
1/3 cup brown rum
1 jigger of angostura
4 tbsp. crushed ice

Halve the pomegranate and squeeze the juice out. Pour into cocktail glass. Add orange and lime juice, rum and angostura. Stir thoroughly. Put two tbsp. of crushed ice per portion into cocktail glass and pour the punch over it. Garnish the rim of each glass with an orange peel and a slice of lime and lemon.

Season's Greetings,
Christoph Meran

New U.S. Ambassador

2007-02-15T20:56:22Z

Susan Rasinski McCaw was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to Austria by United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O' Connor on November 30, 2005. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice presided over the swearing-in ceremony. Mrs. McCaw will officially assume her duties as Ambassador upon presentation of her diplomatic credentials to Austrian Federal President Heinz Fischer in January, 2006.

Highlights of Fall Visits

2007-02-15T20:51:53Z

In preparation of Austria's six-month Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) starting on January 1, 2006, the months of October through December were highlighted by various visits of official Austrian delegations to Washington, D.C.

An Interview with Peter Eisenman

2007-02-15T02:02:44Z

To this day Peter Eisenman, born 1932 in New Jersey and educated at Cornell, Columbia and Cambridge universities, remains one of the most radical contemporary architects and a source of constant irritation. This was reconfirmed by the reactions to his Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin.

Shake the Chill with

2007-02-15T01:57:20Z

with Austrian High Altitude Drinks

Challenged by an Alpine terrain and seasonal snows and cold, Austria has a tradition of hot winter drinks that defy wet feet and shake the chill. As the holiday season approaches, one of the true pleasures of banning winter is finding an excuse to sip pleasurable brews that turn the chill into living the dolce vita. Some of these drinks have interesting histories which are shared by other European countries; each has its own name, twist and turn, but some remain distinctly Austrian. We report on a few of them.

Entartete Musik Resurrected

2007-02-15T01:54:15Z

In the early 20th century an experimental wave of modernism swept over Central Europe. A multitude of isms sought to supply the answer to society’s needs: Socialism, Fascism and Communism, together with other schools of thought. Personalities like Freud came up with intellectual answers to seemingly impossible questions about human behavior. Artists like Klimt and the erotic paintings of the Viennese Jugendstil responded in kind by appealing to the taboos of sensuality and the subconscious. Composers like Schoenberg and Mahler wrote music that sounded abrasive in its use of atonality and complex polyphony.

Returning to New Orleans

2007-02-15T01:47:50Z

I visited New Orleans today. Like Northern France after World War I, Hurricane Katrina left a virtual waste land (T.S. Elliot) in many parts of town. I dreaded the trip but finally went to the Lakefront campus at the University of New Orleans (UNO) and drove around town, not exactly knowing what to expect. I knew it would be emotional, like New Orleans always is with its strangely attractive traits.

Roswitha Novak (1958-2005)

2007-02-15T01:45:26Z

In the morning hours of September 17, 2005, a beloved friend and colleague, Roswitha Novak, passed away in Vienna. She had been diagnosed with cancer in the spring of 2004. Rose of Life being the meaning of her name, it was almost as if destiny had made a mistake in claiming Roswitha at the early age of 47. In search of a cure, she explored various roads and walked all of them with great courage. She bravely coped with the frailty and the suffering of the body, and her hope did not falter until the end.

Leo Sternbach

2007-02-15T01:39:11Z

Father of Mother’s Little Helper

Even in the 1970s, before the days of the internet, life for many was living in the fast lane. And like everything else, research also moved along at a clipping pace, and very quickly it had devised a drug that attempted to liberate the mind from the stress and anxiety that have become soul mates to the 20th century man.

Christmas Pageant of Peace

2007-02-15T01:31:29Z

White House Christmas tree donated by New Mexico, with Washington Monument to the right.

In November 1923, First Lady Grace Coolidge gave permission for the DC Public Schools to erect a Christmas tree on the Ellipse south of the White House. The organizers named the tree the National Christmas Tree. That Christmas Eve, President Calvin Coolidge walked to the Ellipse and pushed the button to light the 48-foot Balsam fir, as 3,000 enthusiastic spectators looked on.

In 1954, local civic and business groups created the Christmas Pageant of Peace. The 2005 Christmas Pageant of Peace runs from December 1, through January 1, with free evening musical presentations.