Poland in the Rockies Announces 2010 Symposium.
Poland in the Rockies, the 10-day Polish studies symposium in Canada's Rocky Mountains, is set for July 21-31, 2010. The slate of speakers is already posted on the website and includes such luminaries as Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Alex Storozynski who managed to take on the presidency of the New York-based Kosciuszko Foundation while writing a critically-acclaimed book,ThePeasant Prince, a biography of Tadeusz Kosciuszko.
Also on the list are perennial favorites, Bill Johnston, whose translations of modern Polish literature have garnered him many awards, and Tamara Trojanowska who runs the Center for Polish Literature and Language at the University of Toronto. "It is amazing to watch a Trojanowska or Johnston class," said curriculum director Irene Tomaszewski. "They are addressing a group of Americans and Canadians, young people who have likely never read any Polish literature, but a few hours later, quite a few are planning a year of study in Poland!" New to PitR in 2010 will be historians Karen Majewski, from Orchard Lake, Michigan; Neal Pease from Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and author Shana Penn from San Francisco. San Franciso-based filmmaker Mary Skinner will be on hand to present her new documentary, In the Name of their Mothers, a film about Irena Sendler and the women of Zegota.
Poland in the Rockies would not be complete without speakers from Poland. Confirmed to date is the Solidarity activist, distinguished journalist and educator, Krzysztof Stanowski and Rev. Slawomir Nowosad, a noted authority on ecumenism from the Catholic University of Lublin. One more speaker is still to be announced.
With a couple of other guests still to confirm their attendance, PitR can guarantee the liveliest exchange of ideas to be found anywhere between the Rockies and the Tatras.
PitR's success has increased the number of applicants and, significantly, the average age of applicants is rising. Not only are there more graduate- and postgraduate students applying but young professionals have taken note and want to be included too. "It should be easy to see why," said Anna Kisielewska who attended PitR in 2008. "Where else would you find such impressive speakers in one place? The intellectual level is high; it's stimulating; you find yourself part of a network that includes Canada, the United States and Europe."
Several alumni will attend PitR 2010 to help out with various aspects of the program, while a number of others have mentioned that they'll be dropping by for a visit.
"We've advanced the application deadline by a month because last year we had a hard time dealing with so many in so little time," said Tony Muszynski, Director of Poland in the Rockies. "We were certainly pleased when, after his first visit, Norman Davies said that ‘PitR has hit exactly on the right formula.' We intend to live up to that high praise."
For complete information on how to apply - and how to support PitR -- check out the PitR website,www.polandintherockies.com.
I didn’t quite know what to expect when I signed up to attend Quo Vadis? Polish-Canadian Youth Leadership Challenge that took place the weekend of May 1st in Ottawa, Canada. Organized by members of the Polish Students’ Society of the University of Ottawa led by Kamil Mrόz and Magdalena Sułżycka, Quo Vadis seemed like a good place to meet young Polish-Canadian leaders who are involved in their communities. It proved to be that and much, much more.
Thirty university students and young professionals from Canada and the United States attended the first School for Leaders of the North America Polish Community (Szkoła Liderów Polonijnych Ameryki Północnej), organized June 29-July 12 under the patronage of the Speaker of the Polish Senate, Bogdan Borusewicz. A second session for young people from Western Europe is planned for August 24-September 6. (Picture: with Lech Wałęsa)
Entering the inner courtyard of Galeria Jabłkowskich in mid-July 2009, I immediately got the strange feeling of crossing the very thin line between dreams and reality. Mannequins -- and almost solely mannequins -- are virtually everywhere, in every single photograph. Some of them smiling mysteriously or, with hostility? Bizarre grimaces, faces looking dazed, absent; others almost transparent or invisible and desperately staring ahead. All of them inhabited somewhat unspecified mysterious places: empty streets, decadent cafés, stylized shop displays, bourgeois lofts, modish ateliers. Looking at them, one had the impression of being placed in a kind fin de siècle era, decadent, melancholy, with an air of deep uncertainty. But what is in fact the idea behind the exhibition?
“Lech – Lech – Lech!” The crowd chants as Lech Wałęsa, co-founder of Solidarity and former President of Poland, walks onto the Pritzker Pavilion outdoor stage in Chicago’s Millennium Park. He is the honorary guest here at “Freedom ’89,” a multi-media concert celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of Communism in Poland.
By Judith Browne, 2008 PitR alumna
