A great man is one who collects knowledge the way a bee collects honey and uses it to help people overcome the difficulties they endure - hunger, ignorance and disease!
- Nikola Tesla

Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.
- Franklin Roosevelt

While their territory has been devastated and their homes despoiled, the spirit of the Serbian people has not been broken.
- Woodrow Wilson

Charles Simic

Charles Simic (born May 9th, 1938) is an American poet. He was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Republic of Serbia), his childhood was very traumatic, as in the WWII Nazi and Allied bombers ravaged his homeland. Simic emigrated to the USA in 1953 to rejoin his father, who was living in New York City. They moved to Chicago shortly after his arrival. Simic first started to write poetry in high school, when he realized "that one of my friends was attracting the best-looking girls by writing them sappy love poems".

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His first poems were published in 1959, when he was twenty-one. Simic was drafted into the army in 1961. In 1966, he graduated from New York University while working nights to pay for his tuition.

Since that time, Simic has written prolifically, producing over 60 books of published both in the US and abroad. In 1973, Simic moved to New Hampshire, where he is now a professor of English at the University of New Hampshire. He and his wife, Helenne, have two children, Anna and Phillipe. In 1990, Simic won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry for his collection The World Doesn't End: Prose Poems. He has also won awards for his works Walking the Black Cat and Classic Ballroom Dances. Simic was elected to The American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1995, which can be considered the highest formal recognition of artistic merit in the United States. Simic served as the Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 2000 until 2002.


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People Directory

Jasmina Bojić

Jasmina Bojic was born and raised in the former Yugoslavia. She attended law school in that country and soon thereafter became a well-known radio and television reporter.

At Stanford, Jasmina teaches documentary filmmaking with a focus on human rights issues. To that end, ten years ago, in 1997, she created the United Nations Association Film Festival. This Festival is an all-volunteer effort by Jasmina, its founder and executive director, and the student members of the Stanford Film Society. .

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Publishing

All Roads Lead to Jackson

Serbian American Contributions in Amador County, California, since the Gold Rush
Milina Jovanović offers a unique compilation of individual and family immigration stories that include enormous contributions to the development of California and significant community involvement. In this version of people’s history she chronicles how Serbian Americans have strengthened community, region, state, and country through the endeavors and struggles of 150 years. This book also focuses on women’s contributions that are too often overlooked. Ms. Jovanović’s study reveals that Jackson not only remains an original and symbolic home to Serbian Americans and Serbian Orthodox religion, but also an oasis where the Serbian community has preserved its positive reputation and social influence.

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