Latest news with #Norbert
Chicago Tribune
22-04-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Niles trustees, mayor remember resident Norbert Johnson as ‘one in a million … epitome of being a volunteer'
The Niles Village Board offered a posthumous tribute to a revered resident and former county deputy sheriff known for his local volunteerism and community camaraderie. Norbert Johnson died in February at the age of 94. The board approved at a recent meeting adoption of a proclamation in his honor – which was read aloud – recognizing his life's work 'Norbert was definitely one in a million,' mayor George Alpogianis said in an interview with Pioneer Press. 'He was the epitome of being a volunteer and giving back to the community. He was one of those citizens we cannot ever forget.' According to a biography on Johnson, he was a Cook County deputy sheriff, a clerk for Cook County probate court in the Daley Center for 27 years and was the owner of Johnson Real Estate Co. Additionally, he was president of the Niles Lions Club 10 times, co-founded the Niles Crime Stoppers, and was a member of the Niles Optimist Club, St. John Brebeuf and the Niles Senior Center Men's Club. Johnson was also a life member of the Loyal Order of the Moose and the Niles Historical Society, and a dedicated volunteer at Misericordia, according to his bio. 'Norbert Johnson's life stands as an example of selflessness, service, and leadership, his contributions enriching the lives of so many individuals in Niles and beyond, leaving a legacy that will inspire future generations to serve their communities with the same passion and dedication,' president pro-tem John Jekot read from the village proclamation during the March 25 meeting. Alpogianis had proclaimed March 25 'Norbert Johnson Day' in Niles. 'We need, as a community, to recognize people like Norbert who touch the hearts of people, so we can inspire others to do the same thing,' Alpogianis told Pioneer Press, recognizing Johnson for his 'old school dedication' and loyalty to volunteering with clubs such as the Lions Club. 'It takes a village, that's what we're doing in recognizing Norbert who died in the community and was part of the nucleus of what makes Niles, Niles,' the mayor said. Johnson also served on various committees of the Niles Chamber of Commerce and was honored as the Ken Scheel Chamber Member of the Year in 2007, and was a recipient of the Robert C. Wordel Living Legend Award in 2017. Since 2000, Johnson had managed the Clark Halladay Memorial Foundation, securing over $90,000 in grants for numerous local organizations, according to his bio.
The Guardian
09-03-2025
- The Guardian
‘You are free again': farewell letters of executed Belgian resistance fighters found, 80 years on
Christel Van Iseghem was sitting in a radio studio when she heard the last words of her great uncle Norbert, murdered by the Nazis for his role in the Belgian resistance. 'My heart stood still,' said the 71-year-old from Kallo in Flanders. 'This was something I didn't know existed. I sat there shaking, my hands trembling … It means so much to me. He will not be forgotten.' Before his execution in Munich on 27 October 1944, alongside his friend Noël Boydens, 19-year-old Norbert Vanbeveren wrote to his parents that he felt 'a kind of peace and satisfaction in my heart, because our death will have served a purpose after all: that you are free again and no longer have to live under occupation'. Vanbeveren was one of 1,500 Belgian resistance fighters allowed to write to his loved ones before the Nazis murdered him. His letter is one of about 20 that recently surfaced thanks to the Last Words project, a collaboration between the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), the Heroes of the Resistance remembrance association and 15 volunteers, adding to an archive of some 350 letters. Dany Neudt, co-founder of Heroes of the Resistance, read aloud Norbert's words on Belgian radio and is calling for a reappraisal of resistance groups, whose heroism he believes was forgotten in a traumatised silence after the war, while collaboration – including by Flemish nationalists – was seen more sympathetically. Neudt posts every day on social media the story of one 'hero' and organises 'resistance cafe' evenings to share their tales. He wants more people to search attics and archives for examples of these letters of last words. 'War brings out the worst in people … but also the best in humanity, and that is what you see in the stories of resistance.' The liberation of Belgium had begun by the time Vanbeveren was killed, but his father was dead and the letter did not reach his mother. Van Iseghem, his great niece, was the first family member to hear his words, eight decades later. Neudt's search for this archive began after his father died during the pandemic and he began researching his grandfather, Henri Neudt, part of the Geheim Leger [secret army] resistance group, who narrowly escaped deportation to Germany on the 'ghost' train. 'It was the last train going to the Neuengamme concentration camp, but was attacked by the resistance and went back,' he said. 'My grandfather was on that train but nothing was ever said in my family. What a strange situation it is that in Flanders, we know about collaborators but we don't know names of people in the resistance. Even for me, as a historian, this is a blind spot.' Many modern historians believe the fragmented Belgian resistance movement suffered a postwar image problem, according to Nel de Mûelenaere, VUB professor of contemporary history and chair of the Traces of the Resistance project. 'The Flemish-nationalist collaborators, more unified and with support of Flemish-nationalist and Catholic politicians, falsely portrayed themselves as misled young men who were seduced by anti-communism and unjustly punished after the war by the resistance, who were opportunists, criminals, communists,' she said. 'In France, you had General de Gaulle, the idea that France liberated itself by the resistance; in the Netherlands you have Hannie Schaft. In Belgium, it was very much a fractured movement and fractured memory … [of] trauma and repression.' Others, like Ellen De Soete, whose uncle, Albert Serreyn, was executed, argue for a revival of the 8 Mayliberation day public holiday. 'Especially in Flanders, there was a lot of collaboration, and some political parties thought if the stories were forgotten, in a few generations people would not know,' she said. 'It was a way of wiping stories from the collective memory. But now young people do want to know, and a new wind is blowing.'Dr Samuël Kruizinga, historian of 20th-century war and violence at the University of Amsterdam, said reviving resistance stories could be a way for Belgium to move away from black-and-white thinking. 'Acts of resistance were after the second world war quite consciously framed as acts in favour of the Belgian unitary state,' he said. 'There's also the memory of the first world war where Belgium is also under German occupation, and the formal instructions given to Belgians by the government in exile were that swift resistance will only provoke retaliation. This is very consciously trying to reframe and rediscover the enormous personal heroism of people resisting Nazi rule.' De Mûelenaere said that with talk of war in western Europe returning, these letters resonate. 'I was reading one yesterday evening, and it was of a man who lived in a little village very near where my family is from,' she said. 'At the end of the letter, it said: greetings to the family de Mûelenaere. It's a world we can almost touch. We need those stories … and the almost healing idea that ordinary people said no to an authoritarian regime.'
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Pink Parrot Media Boards Animated Flick ‘Ultraduck' & Live-Action Comedy ‘Graduation Heist' — EFM
EXCLUSIVE: Montreal and Madrid-based international sales and distribution company Pink Parrot Media (PPM) has acquired worldwide rights for two new projects, Laniakea Pictures' live-action teen action comedy Graduation Heist and the animated flick Ultraduck from Arcana Studio. PPM will present both titles at the upcoming European Film Market. More from Deadline Pink Parrot Media Boards Animated Comedies 'Norbert' & 'The Bottanix' Sony Taking Japanese Format '100 Choices' To London TV Screenings; Scaneta & Rosner Tries On 'Stiletto' At EFM; Turkish Flick 'The Coffee Table' Wraps - Global Briefs Studiocanal CEO Anna Marsh Talks Growth For Pan-European Giant, Recent IPO, Africa Investment & Plans For More 'Paddington' Movies Produced by Laniakea Pictures with Ekipa Holding and Watchout Studio co-producing, Graduation Heist is directed by Mikołaj Piszczan with a script from Łukasz Zdanowski. The project is co-financed by the Polish Film Institute. The producers are Anna Zychowicz and Mateusz Kowalczyk. Cezary Stolecki is the DOP. The film will be released theatrically in Poland on 28 February by Next Film. Tania Pinto Da Cunha, Partner, Vice-President, and Head of International Sales and Acquisitions at Pink Parrot Media, described said the film is 'brimming with authentic characters, comedic storylines, and a vibrant style, while also exploring the universal challenges teens face as they begin stepping into adulthood.' Currently in production and set to be delivered in Q4 2025, Ultraduck is based on the source material of a graphic novel written by acclaimed Marvel artist Edgar Delgado that has been translated and published in over a dozen countries. The feature, which is being produced through Arcana Studio, is targeted at a co-viewing audience and kids aged 10-12 years old. Tania Pinto Da Cunha said the project brings 'strong in-built global awareness, nostalgia, and a fresh spin on superhero movies, so we're sure it will delight both kids and adults alike.' PPM's slate for EFM also includes the recently completed Norbert, which was recently released in Spain by Buena Vista International, alongside two titles now in production, Unstable and The Bottanix. Best of Deadline Everything We Know About Christopher Nolan's Next Film – 'The Odyssey': Release Date, Cast And More 2025 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Oscars, Spirits, Grammys, Tonys, Guilds & More 2024 Hollywood & Media Deaths: Photo Gallery & Obituaries
New York Times
08-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
The Agony of Adoring Online Dogs
Norbert was practically a stuffed animal come to life. The three-pound mixed-breed internet-famous therapy dog dispensed joy simply by existing. Julie Steines started posting photos of Norbert on Instagram more than a decade ago: of him volunteering at children's hospitals, nursing homes and schools; of him dressed as a wizard or a reindeer, wearing a beanie or a tie. His tiny pink tongue hung out of his mouth much of the time. Soon you could buy plush toys in his likeness, with profits going to charity. His mission as a therapy dog, according to his website, was simple: 'to spread smiles, inspire kindness and bring comfort to those in need.' It turns out that I, along with many of his nearly one million followers on Instagram alone, was among those in need. Any time I felt blue, I'd seek out his page for an infusion of happiness. And when I saw him pop up in my feed at random, a wave of endorphins flooded my brain. When Norbert died last week, just shy of 16 years old, tens of thousands of comments and tributes poured in. 'My family is heartbroken,' Steines wrote as part of a lengthy announcement. Pet content remains one of the last bastions of joy on social media. Norbert and many other beloved online dogs — all blissfully unaware of their internet fame, or the internet at all — cut through a digital landscape growing less hospitable by the day. As petty fights and bizarre bots increasingly overwhelm online spaces, I find myself following more dogs and fewer people. Instagram turns 15 years old this year, as will my oldest pup at home. When introduced, the platform, with its focus on photos and videos, elevated pet content to greater heights than any service that came before. It didn't take long for Instagram to become populated with accounts dedicated to dogs — personal pages where the dogs were not the sidekicks but the stars, their humans the accessories. These accounts would often be verified, like those of celebrities and politicians. There's something distinct and humbling about forming a parasocial relationship with, and experiencing heartbreak from, an animal you've never met. Now that many of us have been on social media for a decade or more, it's becoming impossible to not brace for the inevitable. And when these animals 'cross the rainbow bridge,' as it's said, I've scrambled to place my sadness as the families behind the pets come into focus, as does their grief, usually in a heart-wrenching caption. When Henry the Colorado Dog died suddenly in 2022, leaving his best friend, a cat named Baloo, grief-stricken, I was inconsolable. Their page, with 2.3 million followers, had been a celebration of cinematic adventures: Henry and Baloo cuddling in a tent in the Rocky Mountains or floating in a boat on a river at sunset. With Henry gone, Baloo stopped eating and was floundering. Then I watched a triumphant story arc unfold as his family found Pan, a new canine companion who is as intrepid as Henry was and who'd go on to bond deeply with Baloo, softening the hurt but not replacing Henry, whose memory remains a strong presence on the page. When Kabosu, the Shiba Inu who helped define the Doge meme, died last year at the age of 18, The New York Times published a proper obituary. When Bodhi, a Shiba Inu known online simply as the Menswear Dog and who modeled for Coach, died last year at age 15, he, too, was the subject of an article. This inclination to honor such losses more officially can in part be attributed to the novelty of celebrity, but human's best friend seems to have taken on greater personal and cultural significance in general in recent years. Most dog owners consider their pets family, and some are even seeking ways to foster richer interspecies communication. Policies that allow workers time off to care for a sick pet or to grieve the loss of one are also gaining steam. As is sometimes the case with the pages of notable people who die, the accounts of pets often endure, but forever with an asterisk. Though unlike these people — whom fans can honor by watching their movies, reading their books, listening to their music — the photos and videos taken of dogs are the 'art' that they offered, and social media the stage on which they were admired. At least for a while, I imagine the sight of Norbert's pricked gray ears and black button nose will cause only sadness. But eventually, I will return ready to delight again in his soul-restoring magic, which, at least for me and those who never knew him in real life, is the gift he always provided.
