la bomba shelter

Learning a bit about Mark Begich’s roots

Begich, the current Mayor of Anchorage who recently took down US Senator Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican Senator in history has Croatian ancestors:

Begich didn’t emphasize his Croatian roots. But Croatian newspapers closely covered his election, calling him the first U.S. senator of Croatian origin.

Begich’s grandfather left the small village of Podlapaca in central Croatia almost a century ago to seek a better life in America.

Croatian Nikola Begic, who says he’s the new senator’s cousin, was quoted by one paper as saying their extended family had endured poverty and wars in the past, so the senator’s victory “may be God’s reward now.”

Begich’s father, US House Representative of Alaska Nick Begich was killed in a plane crash outside Juneau in 1972.

Neat story.  Many of us are connected to an Old World parallel universe but we don’t often hear a lot about it.