Comments on: Places in the Heart http://www.commonties.com/blog/2007/04/05/places-in-the-heart/ Listen to stories on anything from honeymoons to WWII, from award-winning journalists to first-time writers alike, from anywhere in the world. Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:14:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: Barbara Krystal http://www.commonties.com/blog/2007/04/05/places-in-the-heart/#comment-25914 Sun, 22 Jul 2007 22:47:28 +0000 http://www.commonties.com/blog/2007/04/05/places-in-the-heart/#comment-25914 Yes, one ring can carry with it the weight of a lifetime of memories. Yes, one ring can carry with it the weight of a lifetime of memories.

]]> by: Lia http://www.commonties.com/blog/2007/04/05/places-in-the-heart/#comment-11484 Fri, 13 Apr 2007 02:58:00 +0000 http://www.commonties.com/blog/2007/04/05/places-in-the-heart/#comment-11484 Wonderful writing, I enjoyed this so much. I choked a little at "I wanted to give you something with warm hands"... I also have a mother with bipolar disorder and the "symptom" of extravagent buying was very easy to relate to... Besides this, my family on my mother's side spent a good ten years living in Vilnius, in the 60's (thankfully my grandparents escaped the worst ravages of WWII- they lived in the far provinces of Vladivostok and Uzbekistan). Anyhow... I love the way you write... the opening paragraphs (the line about your mother keeping the eulogy, and how she loves what you write, especially when you write about her, really got me) plus the analysis of the "5th C" really gave the account a deeper significance... And to Jay: Vilnius, as you should know, changed hands many times. Much of what is now Lithuania was once Polish, and vice versa, and much of the border region is still considered Polish territory if you ask a Pole, and Lithuanian territory if you ask a Lithuanian. So there. Wonderful writing, I enjoyed this so much. I choked a little at “I wanted to give you something with warm hands”… I also have a mother with bipolar disorder and the “symptom” of extravagent buying was very easy to relate to… Besides this, my family on my mother’s side spent a good ten years living in Vilnius, in the 60’s (thankfully my grandparents escaped the worst ravages of WWII- they lived in the far provinces of Vladivostok and Uzbekistan). Anyhow… I love the way you write… the opening paragraphs (the line about your mother keeping the eulogy, and how she loves what you write, especially when you write about her, really got me) plus the analysis of the “5th C” really gave the account a deeper significance…

And to Jay: Vilnius, as you should know, changed hands many times. Much of what is now Lithuania was once Polish, and vice versa, and much of the border region is still considered Polish territory if you ask a Pole, and Lithuanian territory if you ask a Lithuanian. So there.

]]> by: Roberta Beach Jacobson http://www.commonties.com/blog/2007/04/05/places-in-the-heart/#comment-10737 Sun, 08 Apr 2007 16:38:46 +0000 http://www.commonties.com/blog/2007/04/05/places-in-the-heart/#comment-10737 Memorable. Touching. Sort of creepy. Your story will haunt me whenever I see a friend wearing her late mother's (or grandmother's) ring or bracelet. Memorable. Touching. Sort of creepy. Your story will haunt me whenever I see a friend wearing her late mother’s (or grandmother’s) ring or bracelet.

]]> by: Tami C Ryan http://www.commonties.com/blog/2007/04/05/places-in-the-heart/#comment-10042 Sat, 07 Apr 2007 00:07:29 +0000 http://www.commonties.com/blog/2007/04/05/places-in-the-heart/#comment-10042 This story reminds me so much of my own grandmother and the weeks it took my mother, my sisters and me to sort through her drawers and drawers of costume jewelry after she passed. I, too, have several pieces that belonged to her and, while most are worth only pennies, I have fond memories of my grandmother each time I look at them. Tami This story reminds me so much of my own grandmother and the weeks it took my mother, my sisters and me to sort through her drawers and drawers of costume jewelry after she passed. I, too, have several pieces that belonged to her and, while most are worth only pennies, I have fond memories of my grandmother each time I look at them.

Tami

]]> by: Jay D. Homnick http://www.commonties.com/blog/2007/04/05/places-in-the-heart/#comment-9988 Fri, 06 Apr 2007 15:06:34 +0000 http://www.commonties.com/blog/2007/04/05/places-in-the-heart/#comment-9988 Completely apart from the poignancy of this piece, forgive me if I raise a technical matter. Vilna is not in Poland. In fact, you won't find a place named Vilna on any map. The Jews had different names for the cities they lived in, usually slightly different than the official name, often very different. Vilna was a great Jewish city, renowned for its scholarship. Its general name is Vilnius and it is the capital of Lithuania. It is a metropolitan and cosmopolitan place, with a current population of over half a million. Lithuanian Jews and Polish Jews are radically, astonishingly different. The governess and the university education was characteristic of Lithuania, where Jews had more of a Western European mentality. In Poland this scenario would have been unlikely. Poignant, like I said. Completely apart from the poignancy of this piece, forgive me if I raise a technical matter.

Vilna is not in Poland. In fact, you won’t find a place named Vilna on any map. The Jews had different names for the cities they lived in, usually slightly different than the official name, often very different.

Vilna was a great Jewish city, renowned for its scholarship. Its general name is Vilnius and it is the capital of Lithuania. It is a metropolitan and cosmopolitan place, with a current population of over half a million.

Lithuanian Jews and Polish Jews are radically, astonishingly different. The governess and the university education was characteristic of Lithuania, where Jews had more of a Western European mentality. In Poland this scenario would have been unlikely.

Poignant, like I said.

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