EDITORIAL Cosmopolitan Review Turns One
Work on this issue was in full swing before we suddenly realized that this is actually an anniversary issue. Cosmopolitan Review has turned one year old. Thanks for joining us on this adventure and stick around. It's going to be a fun ride. MORE
FEATURE Pessimism and Optimism: 1989 and 2009 Children Consider their Elders' Attitudes
“Koniec swiata!” they exclaimed. “The end of the world!” I shifted uneasily with my notebook in hand, scrambling to capture such an effective headline as we sat along a concrete barrier separating the school’s asphalt pitch from a small playground. I could barely keep up. Speaking to a visiting journalist may be interesting when you are in the fifth grade, but it is best to do so quickly... By Kris Kotarski MORE
REVIEWS Poles in Barcelona and Their Stories
From Barcelona comes a vibrant, moving account of hope and resilience in the form of visually stimulating, richly illustrated trilingual book entitled in Catalan Polonesos A Barcelona: Un Munt d'Histories L'acolliment de la ciutat als nens robats pels Nazis (1946-1956) (Poles in Barcelona and Their Stories: How the City Welcomed Polish Children Stolen by the Nazis (1946-1956)). Reviewed by Anna Kisielewska MORE
EVENTS 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 it guarantees the liveliest exchange of ideas to be found anywhere between the Rockies and the Tatras. MORE
FEATURE Americans in Warsaw
What can I say about Poland, after one month in Warsaw? That the Poles have become more American than the Americans? If not entirely accurate, like other facile observations, there's a grain of truth here. Part of the reason is that Poles are doing well these days. By Wanda Urbanska MORE
REVIEWS The Polish Review
Someone once joked that the best thing about reading Reviews is that you can discuss the books at dinner parties without actually having to read them. Well, if you read the very best of the Reviews there is an element of truth in that, though do bear in mind that not all Reviews are created equal... MORE
REVIEWS The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt: War Through a Woman's Eyes
Anyone who's ever read memoirs written during or immediately after the war knows how very different they are from those written many years later. The writing is vivid, unembellished, adrenalin charged. Memories have not yet faded, been tampered with. There is no editorializing. War is an experience unlike any other. Nobody comes out of it unchanged. When these experiences are recorded by gifted writers - and Rulka Langer certainly was that -- they are at once harrowing, inspiring and breathtaking. MORE
CR RECOMMENDS Publishing the Greatest Story Never Told
A great cover and a good review are often enough to get someone interested in a book, but it is not often that the book leads to curiosity about the publisher. Yet that is exactly what The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt did. Who published this beautiful book? Aquila Polonica? A new publishing house dedicated to the Polish World War II story? Who are they, and why this focus? By Irene Tomaszewski MORE
CONVERSATIONS A few questions for...Prof. Marek Suszko
As we reflect on the 20 years since the fall of communism in Europe and ponder what the future may hold, CR recently had a chance to ask a few questions of Professor Marek Suszko, who teaches at the Department of History at Loyola University in Chicago. He shared some insight about the positive developments that have taken place in Poland since 1989, the country's role in the EU and its relationship with the United States. MORE
FEATURE When Decency Meant Heroism
In early November, just in time for Holocaust Education Week, a special delegation from Poland arrived in Canada. Three Righteous Gentiles, who between them saved seven Jews from Nazi terror and helped countless others and a child Holocaust survivor, sheltered and later adopted by a Christian couple, came to tell Canadians their stories. As they met with the Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper...by Anna Kisielewska MORE
HISTORY The Noble and Compassionate Heart of the Maharaja Jam Saheb Digvijay Sinhi
Between August 1942 and November 1946, close to 1,000 Polish children and their guardians lived in idyllic settlements on the Kathiawar Peninsula in India not far from the summer residence of the Maharaja Jam Saheb Digvijay Sinhi. They had come at the Maharaja's invitation from orphanages in Ashkabad, the capital of Turkmenistan, and Samarkand ... by Irene Tomaszewski MORE
FOOD for thought Google, Poland, cultural projections
Artist Ian Wojtowicz, a 2008 PitR alumnus, has put together an interactive animation inviting reflection about identity. TRY it
Op-Ed The Pole Position: be like Dexter and tap into your inner glee for success
Young professionals face a tough climb. They're full of ambition, talent and determination, but the climb is often a tough one. The competition is plentiful and opportunities sparse. How than do you stand out from among the crowd? A hard work ethic and wisdom is important; but people also like working with those that they find interesting. By Filip Terlecki MORE
biPOLar Spy versus Spy: a Kuklinski Saga
It could be said that conflict between opposites ultimately assumes a new place in the universe. One can arrive at many examples of opposing forces taking on transformations, even often fleeting ones - evil versus good, black versus white, women versus men, yin versus yang, communism versus capitalism, etc. Who would think that my surname, Kuklinski, could be poised in such a contest of antipodal proportions? By Peter Kuklinski MORE
Op-Ed Business or pleasure?
"Is the purpose of your trip business or pleasure?" The probing question posed by the US INS agent quickly shook me out of my 5am haze at Ottawa's MacDonald Cartier International Airport. "Pleasure," I muttered; the caffeine from my first cup of coffee showing little effect. By Andrzej Antoszkiewicz MORE
CR RECOMMENDS NY Performing Arts Exhibition Highlights Revolutionary Voices
From November 2009 until 2010, the New York-based exhibition examines how performances attempted to break boundaries set by the communist state's cultural politicians and censors. Poland is represented by theatre and music performances and material documenting artistic activity. MORE
CR RECOMMENDS The Art Scene in London, Paris, Dusseldorf
In London, Miroslaw Balka has an installation at the Tate Modern practically filling the interior space of Turbine Hall. In Dusseldorf, until January 11, 2010, admire a survey of paintings, 75 in all, by Krakow painter Wilhelm Sasnal. And coming up in early 2010 in Paris, the Galerie Thaddeus Ropac will show another Krakow painter... MORE
EVENTS From Totalitarianism to Democracy: A Twisted and Unfinished Road
The McGill University campus in Montreal, Canada was the setting of a recent international conference organized by the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in Canada on the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism in Europe. From Totalitarianism to Democracy: Twisted and Unfinished Road took place on October 21-22, 2009 and featured seventeen speakers from Canada, the United States, Poland, Germany and Australia. MORE
REVIEWS Blending Portuguese Nostalgia Into Eastern Fabric: Stasiuk's Fado
Fado is a Portuguese folk song that speaks of nostalgia and sadness, but also of hope. Andrzej Stasiuk in his book evocatively titled Fado takes the reader on a thought provoking adventure through both space and time in order to reveal the very personal way in which he has experienced Eastern Europe. Reviewed by Agnieszka Macoch MORE
REVIEWS The Black Madonna of Derby
An interview with Joanna Czechowska in The Guardian sparked CR's instant interest in her book, The Black Madonna of Derby. Although her mother was English, Czechowska was raised in her father’s Polish community, complete with Saturday schools, scout groups and dances in the Polish Hall. Since her mother worked, Czechowska was raised by her adored and adoring Polish grandmother, who spoke several languages but none of them English. MORE
CONVERSATIONS WITH...Joanna Czechowska
CR gleaned some background information about Joanna Czechowska, the author of The Black Madonna of Derby, from published interviews. We knew she was born in England to a Polish airman father and an English mother, and that in her early childhood she was not only raised by her Polish grandmother but spend the first ten years of her life in a community with postwar Polish refugees in the UK. MORE
FEATURE The Anthracite Coal Region: a Living Portrait of Poland's History
“This place is like a time capsule. You guys still talk about Lemkos and Galicia. We don’t even talk about that stuff,” said exchange student Lyudmyla Sonchak during an ethnic festival near Minersville, Pennsylvania. She was from the Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk, once the Polish city of Stanisawow, an important center of Polish, Jewish and Armenian culture... by Vincent Chesney MORE
TRAVEL Barcelona in Detail
Barcelona is a city that begs to be enjoyed-visually, intellectually, and culinarily. It is also a city of endless and varying details: the curve of a Gaudi railing; a centuries-old wooden shutter in the Gothic Quarter; a crystallized cherry blossom on a fragrant pastry; a stone gargoyle smiling at the spires of the neighboring Cathedral. By Justine Jablonska MORE
TRAVEL Brussels: A City of Happiness?
I really like Brussels, contrary to conventional opinion. What I find completely pointless is that people often compare it with Paris. Brussels is definitely not as glamorous as the French capital, but it could undoubtedly be considered its "little sister" as it can offer everything the most cosmopolitan creature may dream of. By Aleksandra Stys MORE
MUSINGS Mom, Poland and Me
Imagine being a sixth grader and your mom telling you that you would have to leave your country for a year. Would you be scared? I was, when my mom announced her plan. It was a normal day, and I had just come home from school in Mount Airy... by Henry Urbanski Levering MORE
biPOLar Of Hospitality, Independence and New Beginnings
When I found out that I was awarded a Fulbright Full Research Grant for 2009-10 in Poland, I could hardly wait to begin my work on a subject that had interested me for so long: human trafficking from the former Soviet republics to Europe and beyond. Eager to get to work, I had to arrange my housing and other practical issues so that I could then concentrate on my research. Since I had little first-hand knowledge of living in Poland... by Katherine Cioch MORE
MUSINGS Something New and Sometimes Blue
I still remember my first friend ever. Her name was Alicja and we used to play in the dirt outside blocky grey communist-era buildings. We would make "secrets" by placing flowers and pretty rocks and anything else that we could find that was interesting into shallow holes we dug in the dirt. Then we would cover our little treasures with pieces of broken coloured glass and bury them again, to be found by some very important people many years from now. By Patrycja Romanowska for the Edmonton Sun. MORE
CR RECOMMENDS An Encounter with History in Chicago
Poland in the Rockies alumna Justine Jablonska reports about a commemoration ceremony which took place on November 11, 2009. "November 11 holds dual significance for many Polish-Americans: It’s not only Veterans Day, but also the anniversary of Polish independence in 1918 after 123 years of partition," she wrote for Medill Reports MORE
