This is a moment when I desperately wish my novel MOTHER TONGUE: LINGUA CORSA was translated into French. And not just because Yvan Colonna wrote me from prison that he would translate it into Lingua Corsa if I could first get it translated into French. He must feel a great joy today and look forward to the march through many countries that will be held on his behalf (he continues to protest his innocence in the 1998 assassination of Claude Erignac) after the first of the year.
But for all Corsicans who read English and are Nationalist supporters, please consider celebrating your victory with me by reading my suspense novel about the Nationalist movement, set in 1996 at the time of the attack on Bordeaux and many other acts of defiance by the FLNC.
I think you can get the gist of the story from the TRAILER I made for the novel. You can find the trailer, the opening chapter, a synopsis in the best French I can muster, an excerpt about the mazzeri, and read about my initial visit to Corsica in 1963 when my imagination was completely captured by the island’s rugged beauty, compelling politics, and courageous people, who have now found success at the ballot box after decades of marches and acts of separatist violence.
The information below is from report below posted by Europe1.fr on December 13th:
FB video of election celebration:
This Sunday, December 13th, the Nationalist party, led by Gilbert Simeoni, won a historic victory in the Corsican regional elections with 37% of the vote compared to 28.9% for leftist Paul Giacobbi and 25.4% for the candidate on the right. The FN (the Front National radical far right party) had below 10% (8.7%) of the vote even though it was suprisingly successful in many areas of mainland France.
“It is the victory for Corsica and for all Corsicans,” said the nationalist leader Gilles Simeoni, as he announced the results. His victory was hailed with shouts and chants of thousands of supporters and sympathizers waving the white Corsican Moor’s head flag in the streets of Ajaccio, Bastia and other cities on the island.
Dedicating this victory to the “prisoners and those still pursued”, separatist leader Jean-Guy Talamoni said that “it took a long walk of 40 years to get here.” “We will be elected by all of our people,” added Talamoni, stressing that “Corsica is not a single French administrative district, but one country, one nation, one people”.
French report from Europe1.fr:
La liste emmenée par Gilbert Simeoni remporte 37% des voix contre 28,9% au divers gauche Paul Giacobbi et 25,4% à la droite. Le FN est en dessous des 10% (8,7%)
Les nationalistes ont remporté dimanche une victoire historique aux élections territoriales en Corse, battant nettement la gauche sortante et la droite victime de ses divisions. La liste “Per a Corsica” (Pour la Corse), issue de la fusion au second tour des autonomistes (17,62% au 1er tour) et des indépendantistes (7,72%), a obtenu 35,50% des voix. Les nationalistes devancent nettement la gauche conduite par le président DVG sortant de l’exécutif territorial Paul Giacobbi (28,76%), député de Haute-Corse, et la droite emmenée par l’ancien ministre José Rossi (26,69%).
“Nous serons les élus de l’ensemble de notre peuple”. “C’est la victoire de la Corse et de tous les Corses”, a déclaré le chef de file nationaliste Giles Simeoni, à l’annonce des résultats. Sa victoire a été acclamée par les cris et les chants de milliers de partisans et sympathisants agitant des drapeaux corses blancs à tête de Maure dans les rues d’Ajaccio, de Bastia et des autres villes de l’île.
Dédiant cette victoire aux “prisonniers et aux recherchés”, le dirigeant indépendantiste Jean-Guy Talamoni a déclaré qu'”il a fallu une longue marche de 40 ans pour en arriver là”. “Nous serons les élus de l’ensemble de notre peuple”, a ajouté Talamoni, soulignant que “la Corse n’est pas une simple circonscription administrative française, mais un pays, une nation, un peuple”.
I enjoyed a delightful interview with Indy and Formula driver Danny Sullivan at the
Danny was one of the first professional drivers to fully understand that he had to take his image and reputation beyond the racing world and into the more general world in order to find sponsors and rides, even as far as Hollywood and starring on an episode of Miami Vice in 1986 and appearing in other films.
And after the event it was fun to again spend some time viewing the European Model Train Enthusiasts fabulous layout and trains, sponsored again by the 
shock flashes through a clear Berkeley sky
Unexpected adventures sometimes lie close at hand. My first intention was to follow a good friend’s advice and check out the North Berkeley Senior Center. I had resisted crossing that threshold into senior-dom but circled the blocks north of UC Berkeley campus and found a parking spot, duly registered, and even ventured into the dining room filled with a couple hundred seniors waiting patiently for a nutritious, if not gourmet, lunch for the bargain price of $3. I headed for a table occupied by three more spritely-looking women only to discover that they were all speaking Turkish, having immigrated to the US in recent years. The one English speaker was kind enough to engage me in conversation and generously offered me the homemade Middle Eastern salad she had brought to share with her friends. These women knew how spice up life.
At 12:30 sharp, I headed upstairs to the Center’s library, stocked by a generation that knows good literature and history, to what was advertised as the “Mixed Poets” class. No one arrived. So instead, I selected a slim volume in French, deciding that I could improve my French with a bit of translating. But I needed to find a French-English dictionary (forgetting that my iPhone had a translating app). Where to go? I drove back over to campus and headed for the Bancroft Library reading room with its thousands of reference volumes at hand. Passing under Sather Gate, I was transported back to 1963 and my sophomore year of college. I passed Wheeler Hall where I had taken a French literature class. Actually, I had only stepped into the classroom one time but had dutifully read Madame Bovary and the other selections on my own. To my dismay I discovered that 50% of the final would be based on class lectures. So I had gone to the Bancroft library, grabbed the Encyclopedia Britannica volume on French literature, boned up and passed the class with a B+. I walked passed other buildings where classes had been missed, phony excuses for non-attendance made up, and last minute cramming had taken place. Once ensconced in the beautiful vaulted reading room, I spent a few minutes using my newly found dictionary to translate the opening pages of what appeared to be a mystery novel, but then remembered my iPhone and took the easier route.
Before our conversation ended, he insisted I take one of his authentic Gaelic bracelets as a gift. I thought of going to the ATM to get cash to pay him but then decided that only gracious acceptance was called for. The real gift was allowing myself an afternoon of being open to the small miracles that come our way when we keep our eyes, hearts, and minds open to what life offers. And, yes, I’ll return that French novel to the Senior Center library after I finish the translation. If I learn enough French, I’ll be able to understand what my three and five-year-old granddaughters are whispering about in the back seat of my car on the way to their French school.
Dr. Karen Stephen aka Doc Flamingo 