About Lifesventures.com

Jennifer Klanika is the idealist, creator, designer, photographer, webmaster and owner of Lifesventures.com. You probably wonder why she put such a site together. Well, here is the "why":

Life's Ventures is my personal journal where I explore ways to revitalize and promote the heritage of the Czech, Polish, and Slovak in today's generations of America. America is a huge melting pot, however if ethnicity is not somewhat preserved and passed on to future generations, then each individual loses part of their identity in today's fast-moving society. Main topics covered will be Culture, Food, Family, Music, Travel, and Special Events--all will find ways to relate to today's generations in their everyday life and in today's technological world.

I am a third generation Czech American who has always been interested in my family's heritage, passing on the Czech American culture, as well as learning more about the country my great-grandparents left so many years ago. I have traveled to the Czech Republic twice, and have personally visited the villages where my ancestors lived. I have visited Slovakia and Poland as well. I will dive into this at certain points on Life's Ventures, so watch for it.

In addition to the Czech Americans, Life's Ventures includes preservation tactics and promotion for America's generations from another couple of Slavic countries, Poland and the Slovak Republic.

Jana Vaculik is a guest writer for Life's Ventures and the producer for the monthly Texas Czech Show on Czech American TV. She is a first-generation Czech American who was born and raised in West, Texas, north of Waco, to parents who emigrated from Czechoslovakia in 1968 and 1980. Her parents and grandparents came to the United States during communism and shared their Czech culture and experiences with her and her brother.

Jana speaks fluent Czech and has traveled to Czech Republic numerous times, her first time when she was eight in May 1990. For the past three years Jana is also the youth director for the McLennan-Hill chapter of the Czech Heritage Society of Texas. In October during Czech Heritage month in Texas she speaks to 300-500 students about the history, language, life, geography, and culture of the Czech Republic. She hopes to pass her passion of Czech heritage to young students and to try to create an open dialogue between the generations. Her theme for 2009 is “Tell them what you learned today" and wants the students to go to their parents and grandparents and tell them about the presentations.

She also assists with the Miss Texas Czech-Slovak US pageant for the past seven years and during the Westfest Polka Festival each Labor Day weekend assists in the Parade of Authentic Czech-Moravian kroj and


genealogy booth. Her monthly Texas Czech Show on Czech American TV is broadcasted in a live internet web stream format on the second Friday of each month at 8 pm CST. Visit Czech American TV for more information.

Life's Ventures is a work in the making and will be grow as time goes by. Guest authors will be added in the near future. If you have any ideas or comments then please submit them via the Contact page.