Post Tagged with: "identity"

A Conversation with Stuart Dybek
2014 Vol. 6 No. 3 — Fall-Winter / Interviews

A Conversation with Stuart Dybek

Growing up in “a port of entry neighborhood,” Stuart Dybek added magic to realism in the divide between “American reality and immigrant soul.”

Poland’s Daughter: How I Met Basia, Hitchhiked to Italy and Learned About Love, War and Exile
2014 Vol. 6 No. 1 — Winter-Spring / Books

Poland’s Daughter: How I Met Basia, Hitchhiked to Italy and Learned About Love, War and Exile

A many layered story about the sentimental education of an American student in post-war Europe told with wit, sensitivity and elegance.

The flavours of Paul Kunigis
2013 Vol. 5 No. 3 — Fall / Features

Blending In, Tasting Harmony: A Journey into Paul Kunigis’s Kitchen and Soul

Musician, poet, writer and chef, all of it in Polish, Hebrew, Arabic, German, French and English.

Aladdin, Drohiczyn and Me
2013 Vol. 5 No. 3 — Fall / Features

Aladdin, Drohiczyn and Me

As she walks in the pathways of preceding generations and breathes in the fresh air of Drohiczyn, Susanne Wladysiuk celebrates family and recalls what Jasmine said to Aladdin: “People like you don’t come out of thin air.”

Copernicus Avenue
2011 Vol. 3 No. 3 — Fall / Books

Copernicus Avenue

It’s only been since my father’s generation has begun to pass away that I’ve come to recognize that their stories are the richest part of my inheritance…
– Andrew J. Borkowski

Passage from England: A Memoir
2011 Vol. 3 No. 3 — Fall / Books

Passage from England: A Memoir

Frank Zajaczkowski’s memoir about growing up in a dysfunctional family and eventually learning his father’s story and coming to understand it.

Spy versus Spy: a Kuklinski Saga
2009 — Winter / Features

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?

My Two Polish Grandfathers
2009 — Spring / Books

My Two Polish Grandfathers

“I should have been a true Pole rather than a make-believe Scot” writes Witold Rybczynski in his latest book, the beautifully written My Two Polish Grandfathers. Anna Kisielewska reviews Rybczynski’s latest chef d’oeuvre.

From 1683 to 2009: the [Secret] Link Between the Battle of Vienna & Poland’s “Lack of Positive Spirit”
2009 — Spring / Features

From 1683 to 2009: the [Secret] Link Between the Battle of Vienna & Poland’s “Lack of Positive Spirit”

Poles have been accused of “selling their soul to the devil” to join the EU and then of making no efforts while finally in. Is this accurate? The author probes Marc Maresceau, a lawyer and Gorbachev-era specialist.

Sensing My Childhood – Crossing the Oder River
2009 — Spring / Commentary

Sensing My Childhood – Crossing the Oder River

The smell of the wet football pitch and the taste of homemade żurek take Krzysztof Rutkowski back to his Polish childhood in Germany.

A Few Questions for… Translator Bill Johnston
2008 / Interviews

A Few Questions for… Translator Bill Johnston

There is little in life that is more pleasant than spending a chilly November evening in a pub nestled in the heart of Kraków’s Stare Miasto. Recently, I found myself in such a pub, seated across from one of the most remarkable people I’ve met – Dr. Bill Johnston. Over coffee, beer, and the ever-present cigarettes we spoke about his current work in Poland.

Sleepless in the Rockies
2008 / Features

Sleepless in the Rockies

True friends are known in misfortune, author Adam Mickiewicz wrote. What about true Poles? They are often found far from their homeland, busy looking for their roots as exiles. And there is no better place to be an uprooted Pole (or polonophile) than at Poland in the Rockies, a biennial conference taking place in Canmore, Western Canada.