Just another Dracula book?

30 mai 2010

Wrote about this book in December last year - now here it is again, and with James Rosapepe speaking about Roumania and its people. How marvellous to read something so positive and open-hearted for once:

From The Examiner:

"Dracula is Dead"- A Book About Romania Seen Through American Eyes

James Rosapepe is currently a Maryland State Democratic Senator representing the 21st District (Prince George's and Anne Arundel Counties), sitting on the Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee and serving as a Deputy Majority Whip.

His wife, Sheilah Kast, is an experienced journalist, well known to viewers of PBS, ABC and CNN and to listeners of National Public Radio. For ABC, she reported on the tumultuous moment of the collapse of Communism from Moscow and Tbilisi, and was part of the media team that covered Hillary Clinton’s first trip to Eastern Europe. She currently hosts AARP’s weekly newsmaker cable TV show, Inside E Street, as well as her own daily magazine show on WYPR, the public radio station in Maryland .

I met the two mingling with the Romanian- American crowd at the Romanian Film Festival at Stanford last week, where they came to launch their new book, " Dracula is Dead. How Romanians Survived Communism, Ended It, and Emerged since 1989 as the New Italy". On Saturday night, a reception in honor of the two distinguished guests gave the Romanian community in the San Francisco area a chance to meet them and reminisce about the country that they now have a lot in common with.

The book is the result of what they describe as "one of the most complex experiences of our lives", namely the three years that they spent in Romania between 1998-2001, while Mr. Rosapepe served as the US ambassador to that country. The Festival was the perfect opportunity for the two authors to introduce their book and sign copies for readers from the San Francisco Bay Area curious about the Romania that the the American couple had experienced and described.

In the opening of the Festival, Mr. Rosapepe spoke warmly about the Romanian culture, the way he and his wife got to experience it while living there. He encouraged the public to watch the movies presented at the Stanford Film Festival, assuring them that they will find out things that they did not know about Romania. He pointed out the fact that it was the intention of the book, as well, to introduce a more realistic picture of Romania to the American public and also for the authors to show their gratitude for the wonderful experiences they had the chance to live during the three years that they spent away.

A lot of people showed up at the Stanford Book Store on Saturday at the book signing event. Some were Romanian, interested in what the two Americans had to say about their home land, but quite a few Americans, as well, eager to get the book and find out what was there to be said about a country that they did not know much about other than the few general facts presented by the media over the years.

Mr. Rosapepe and Mrs. Kast were gracious hosts. They talked to each and every one of the people that came to get the book and got to meet them. Stories were told about various places that the fans were from and that the two writers had also visited while in Romania. To the readers' delight, all books were signed with personalized messages to each one of them.

Once the book signing was over, I had the pleasure of sitting down and talking to the two authors who seemed happy to share some of their thoughts of the day with me. I asked them what they thought of the book signing that day and Mr. Rosapepe said that he was thrilled about the turnout:
"We sold all the books that the bookstore had in stock and also the ones that we had brought with us, so I can say it was very successful!"...

Asked to talk about the book, Mr. Rosapepe presented it as " a travel literature book, to give Americans a more realistic picture of Romania."

"What most Americans know about Romania is: Dracula, Ceausescu and abandoned children. That is like thinking of America and only considering drug addiction, obesity and Mickey Mouse. Even though all those things might be true, they do not define either country. So we wanted to tell the story of the Romania we saw, from the culture to the music, to the religion, to the food, to the people, to their high tech skills and their sense of humor. We wanted to help thrust a stake through the heart of Dracula as well as all the other few general and superficial assumptions about Romania. We thought we could give something back to a country that had been so good to us as visitors and also share our experiences with others, who had never visited it."

Then, Mr. Rosapepe spoke about the things that most impressed him about Romania:
"One of the things that we thought was most impressive was the very high level of education. I think that the literacy rate in Romania may be higher than in the US...".

In support of that idea, the former ambassador mentioned an encounter that he had once with a 19 year old Romanian who had just relocated to America and was now attending the community college in Arizona. When asked to name the difference between school in US and Romania, after a moment of hesitation, the boy answered : "well...it is just a lot easier in the US...".

"We were also very much impressed with the fact that a lot of Romanians speak more than one language. If you walk in the street and you are an American and you are looking for an English speaker, you are much more likely to find one there than, let's say, Italy or France..."

Mr. Rosapepe then pointed out the fact that sometimes Romanians tend to overlook their own qualities and that there are a lot of competitive advantages that they could draw from identifying and recognizing them.
"Romanians see mostly the difficulties and the problems. And, there are problems, but being well educated, having great language skills, having a very warm an open culture and personality, is really not the worst thing in the world....".

Their intention with the book, Mr. Rosapepe said, was "to help Romanians see themselves with other eyes, to make them more aware of the things that they should be proud of."

Mrs. Kast added another quality to those listed by her husband: "Romanian hospitality also was a most impressive quality", she said.
When they wrote about that in the book they actually had some funny stories to tell about the way Romanians were constantly trying to make them feel welcome. Even though some people might say "of course they were nice to you, you were the American ambassador there", Mrs. Kast said that there was no surprise that every time they met other Americans that had visited Romania, they all agreed with them: "Oh, you are right! It's just amazing how welcome we felt at all times!".
"I consider this quality of the Romanians as something very special and it is funny to see that they actually consider that normal there. Most Americans are not like that, they are not as considerate about others...", she said.

Asked what kind of readers they had in mind when they wrote the book, Mrs. Kast confessed:
" We wrote it in English, for the English speakers like us and also from an American perspective so American readers will be able to relate to our story. We, in fact, saw it as our pleasure but also as our duty, since American tax payers paid for Jim's office as an ambassador to Romania, so it only seemed normal that we gave something back in return."

Mr. Rosapepe then expressed his excitement at the fact that their book signing that day was part of the events of the Stanford Romanian Film Festival. He saluted the initiative and the effort of the organizers and pointed out the fact that both their book and the movies featured at Stanford were great ways of showcasing realities about Romania to the world.

He also made mention about the Romanian communities that he had come to meet over the years all over US and expressed the wish of keeping in touch with them, especially now, with the occasion of spreading the word about "Dracula is Dead".

Mr. Rosapepe and Mrs. Kast were also back in Romania last November, for the Romanian launching of the book at The Gaudeamus Book Festival, where they met with the press and attended a series of receptions and events in their honor. The book is now available in Romania at a variety of bookstores that carry English books and it can actually be purchased from anywhere in the world on the official website, http://www.DraculaIsDead.com, where readers can get an autographed copy, as well as on Amazon.com.

Asked what their message to their Romanian readers was, Mr. Rosapepe said:
"What we tried to do with the book is paint for the people in the US that do not know much about Romania, a realistic picture of that country. We want them to know the bad but also the good things. In that respect, because we want Romania to be better known here and around the world, we encourage the readers to constantly share with Americans and other Romanians what they know about Romania, their own experiences there. We want them to do that on their own but also on our website where we have created a page called "My Romania", where we invite people to tell their own stories about Romania. We encourage them to a kind of "positive sharing", we want to hear all their good an funny stories. I strongly believe this to be the best way for Romanians to help their country be known here, in the US. "

Most Romanians will agree with the two distinguished authors of 'Dracula is Dead"-the best way of expressing love for their country is tell others about it in a positive way and recognize the value in all their unique features and assets.

"Dracula is Dead" is, in a way, a gracious exercise of both deconstruction of superficial preconceptions about Romania, and of painting a more real picture of a country that has reasons to stand proud in the world.

For more information about the book, its authors and critical reviews, visit http://www.DraculaIsDead.com or its Facebook page, http://facebook.com/pages/Dracula-is-Dead and read the book- the stories told in it are both funny and meaningful and the people that populate it are very good examples of the Romanian spirit, as experienced by the two American travelers who came back to share their Romanian stories with the world.

Book Signing of "Dracula is Dead" at Stanford