2011 Vol. 3 No. 4 — Winter

Bogusław Schaeffer: Poland’s Renaissance Man
2011 Vol. 3 No. 4 — Winter / Features

Bogusław Schaeffer: Poland’s Renaissance Man

Pushing the boundaries for the past six decades, Bogusław Schaeffer was still blazing the way at the Edinburgh Fringe last year with “one of the best productions since the festival was launched several dozen years ago.” Magda Romanska profiles a Renaissance man.

Agnieszka Holland talks to Eva Stachniak at the Toronto International Film Festival
2011 Vol. 3 No. 4 — Winter / Films / Interviews

Agnieszka Holland talks to Eva Stachniak at the Toronto International Film Festival

The director of In Darkness speaks about films, music, identity, and the challenge of making a complex story simple, but not simplistic.

Hacienda Santa Rosa: a Polish Refuge in Mexico
2011 Vol. 3 No. 4 — Winter / Features

Hacienda Santa Rosa: a Polish Refuge in Mexico

A harrowing 20-thousand kilometer odyssey ended with an unforgettable welcome in Mexico. Piotr Piwowarczyk, who is making a film about it, tells the story.

Polish Global Village Happy Hour
2011 Vol. 3 No. 4 — Winter / Features

Polish Global Village Happy Hour

Polish Happy Hour in DC has a community-building aspect to it but it’s an event without speeches. Co-founder Marcin Zmudzki, who also started the Polish Global Village mailing list, stresses the spontaneity and inclusiveness. Justine Jablonska attended on assignment – but is going back for the sheer pleasure of it.

Iskra
2011 Vol. 3 No. 4 — Winter / Features

Iskra

College graduates look back on their freshman year and know this: Wouldn’t it have been great to have a network right from the start? A spark. An idea, A conversation. Action. A new initiative in Canada’s Hamilton-Toronto area – and it’s spreading.

Our Stories, Our Voices
2011 Vol. 3 No. 4 — Winter / Commentary

Our Stories, Our Voices

Stories are like literary genetics, essential to one’s identity. But how does a storyteller rise above competing voices, break through non-stop background noise, and seduce an audience? Justine Jablonska looks at the issues and offers some possibilities.

Chatting with Chicago WTTW’s Dan Soles
2011 Vol. 3 No. 4 — Winter / Interviews

Chatting with Chicago WTTW’s Dan Soles

Are we ready to celebrate Polish-American Heritage Month? Chicago’s PBS station WTTW is. Justine Jablonska speaks to station Chief Television Content Officer Dan Soles and reports on what we can contribute.

Nowhere Places: Mining the Polish Experience
2011 Vol. 3 No. 4 — Winter / Commentary

Nowhere Places: Mining the Polish Experience

…there’s a symmetry between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the French-English multicultural country I’ve grown up in… and it seems fitting that Polish and Canadian troops often fought side by side in WWII. That’s a good place to start rebuilding a sense of who I am, says Andrew Borkowski.

The Winter Palace
2011 Vol. 3 No. 4 — Winter / Books

The Winter Palace

Award-winning author Eva Stachniak’s dazzles with a tale of intrigue, ambition, spying, treachery, flattery, conflict and fear in St. Peterburg’s Winter Palace.

Starring Madame Modjeska: On Tour in Poland and America
2011 Vol. 3 No. 4 — Winter / Books

Starring Madame Modjeska: On Tour in Poland and America

Helena Modjeska, a great 19th century Polish actress who came to the US at age 30, learned enough English in six months to play Ophelia, except for the mad scene which was too difficult. So she played that in Polish and wowed them. Aren’t all madwomen incoherent anyway? Margaret Araneo reviews Beth Holmgren’s great book about the very talented, and very independent, Madame Modjeska.

Be Not Afraid: The Polish (R)evolution, “Solidarity”
2011 Vol. 3 No. 4 — Winter / Books

Be Not Afraid: The Polish (R)evolution, “Solidarity”

Powerful, peaceful and quintessentially Polish: Solidarity. Canadian author Heather Kirk spotlights the many facets of a world-changing revolution that killed “precisely no one.”

Manya, The Living History of Marie Skłodowska Curie
2011 Vol. 3 No. 4 — Winter / Features

Manya, The Living History of Marie Skłodowska Curie

A spellbinding performance by a master storyteller.

Quodlibet with Cardinals and A Letter to Serafin
2011 Vol. 3 No. 4 — Winter / Poetry

Quodlibet with Cardinals and A Letter to Serafin

Poetry by John Minczeski; introduced by John Guzlowski