2009 — Summer

Second Language Poems
2009 — Summer / Poetry

Second Language Poems

CR’s Poetry Editor shares some of his “Kitchen Polish.”

1967. A Polish Visit for Witold Rybczynski
2009 — Summer / Features

1967. A Polish Visit for Witold Rybczynski

It was 1967. I was twenty-four, a freshly-minted architecture graduate spending a year abroad. After driving through France and Spain, and an idyllic several months on the island of Formentera, I was back in Paris, staying with my uncle and aunt, before returning to Canada. But first, I wanted to visit Poland… Architecture critic Witold Rybczynski reminisces.

Reminiscences: Fathers, Socks and “Figi”
2009 — Summer / Features

Reminiscences: Fathers, Socks and “Figi”

I recently reminisced about my son’s visit to England when he was eighteen. He took his bike with him and had his itinerary well planned. It included a trip to Hatherleigh, a little town in Devon where my family spent a year when my parents were reunited after their long wartime separation.

Katyń: A Crime Without Punishment
2009 — Summer / Books

Katyń: A Crime Without Punishment

Katyń: A Crime Without Punishment is the latest volume in “The Annals of Communism” series published by Yale University Press. Rightly described as the most important publishing project currently in progress in the United States, it documents the 70-year reign of terror that began with the Communist revolution in Russia and has been largely ignored by western intellectuals – when not actively indulged by them.

Great Reading from Ohio University Press
2009 — Summer / Books

Great Reading from Ohio University Press

From Ohio University Press:
• Two Novellas of Emigration and Exile by Danuta Mostwin
• The Exile Mission: The Polish Political Diaspora and Polish Americans, 1939–1956 by Anna D. Jaroszynska-Kirchmann
• Traitors and True Poles by Karen Majewski

The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kościuszko and the Age of Revolution
2009 — Summer / Books

The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kościuszko and the Age of Revolution

Peasant Prince provides a readable, in-depth biography of Kościuszko, from boyhood to death, and is recommended to anyone with a love for history and a penchant for freedom.

Polish Football: a Survival Guide
2009 — Summer / Travel

Polish Football: a Survival Guide

An “Alphabet of Polish Football” to prepare fans for the 2012 European Championships, which will be co-hosted by Poland.

A Pole at the Head of the European Parliament
2009 — Summer / Commentary

A Pole at the Head of the European Parliament

This year Poles celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of Communism in Poland: the roundtable talks and the first democratic parliamentary elections, bringing about almost unbelievable changes to Europe. With the election of Jerzy Buzek as the President of the European Parliament, the last remaining symbols of the old divisions are dropping.

To Spank [Your Child in Poland] or Not?
2009 — Summer / Commentary

To Spank [Your Child in Poland] or Not?

On anti-spanking laws around the world – and in Poland’s interwar period.

The Cinnamon Shops – Mannequins
2009 — Summer / Features

The Cinnamon Shops – Mannequins

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.

Notes from a Concert: Freedom ’89
2009 — Summer / Features

Notes from a Concert: Freedom ’89

“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.

Life Advice: Plato vs. Grandma
2009 — Summer / Commentary

Life Advice: Plato vs. Grandma

A while ago a reader asked me to devote a column to the concept of a civil society. For a number of reasons, the time is ripe for me to oblige.

Horses and Bourbon and Hats, Oh My!
2009 — Summer / Travel

Horses and Bourbon and Hats, Oh My!

I’m at the Churchill Downs race track in Louisville, Kentucky, experiencing my very first Kentucky Derby. Thus far, I’ve downed the obligatory mint julep; explored the enormous infield; placed a single, tenuous bet, admired elegant horses being led onto a track for the day’s second run; watched a few races on a massive screen…