[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 86 (Friday, May 23, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1091-E1092]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO KORYNE KANESKI HORBAL

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. KEITH ELLISON

                             of minnesota-

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 22, 2008

  Mr. ELLISON. Madam Speaker , I rise today to pay tribute to two of my 
constituents including one of the most remarkable women I know--and the 
extraordinary things she has done and continues to do. Koryne Kaneski 
Horbal of Columbia Heights, Minnesota, is a tireless force for equality 
who defines the word trailblazer.
  She has served as Chairwoman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor 
(DFL) Party, founder of the DFL Feminist Caucus, and a Member of the 
Minnesota Democratic National Committee (DNC) where she started the 
DNC's Women's Caucus. President Jimmy Carter named her Ambassador to 
the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women where she served 
for four years. During that time she, and noted author and feminist, 
Gloria Steinem, became good friends and have since worked together on 
many projects. Koryne has been a contributing writer to MS. Magazine, 
and now serves as a consultant to Augsburg College, in Minneapolis. In 
recognition of Koryne's contribution to society, Augsburg College 
established the Koryne Horbal Lecture Series to continue opening the 
windows of opportunity for young women and men that reflect Koryne's 
commitment to a gender equal society. Fittingly, next month Koryne 
Horbal will receive a ``Humane With Respect'' honorary college degree 
from Augsburg College that she didn't have the opportunity to acquire 
in her younger years.
  Koryne is a loyal and dear friend--and a loving grandmother. If you 
asked Koryne, of all her renowned accomplishments; all the barriers 
she's broken down; all the glass ceilings she's shattered; all the 
myths she's proven wrong; what she is most proud of? Undoubtedly, and 
without hesitation, she would say loving grandmother--to a young man 
named Bryce Horbal whom she has raised since infancy. Bryce is a 13 
year old honors student at Columbia Heights Middle School in my 
district. This young man, who towers over his grandmother at over 6 
feet, reflects the values that have shaped his young life--instilled in 
him with a nurturing and loving hand by his grandmother. Almost three 
years ago, this young man wrote a poem that shows us why the accolades 
and accomplishments Koryne has achieved pale in comparison to the 
grandson she has raised. Bryce Horbal is a young man of whom much will 
be expected.
  Madam Speaker, Bryce Horbal's poem:
  ``I am the homeless man who lives on the corner of main street asking 
for spare change holding a bottle of scotch in my hand;

[[Page E1092]]

  I am the child whose mother and father left them in an orphanage 
because they couldn't handle the responsibility;
  I am the person peering over the edge of a building considering to 
jump off because life is too hard to live;
  I am the soldier in Iraq who gets killed by a road-side bomb fighting 
for the United States of America;
  I am the little kid in Africa with HIV fighting to live without food 
or water on their own.
  I am the person holding out my hand to the homeless man on main 
street giving him my spare change;
  I am the new family to the child in the orphanage who I have just 
adopted;
  I am the arm that pulls the person peering over the edge backwards to 
the thing we call `hope;'
  I am the person who jumps in front of bullets to save our troops in 
Iraq because every person in this world means something;
  I am the cure for HIV and I have just gone into the little child in 
Africa along with food and water;
  I am each and every one of you who cares about others.''

                          ____________________