April; 2008
Issue
49
In This
Issue:
*Consul General's message
*American Writers Photo Exhibit
*Young Learners Resource Center
*Narrative Graphics Festival
*Videoconference on Missile Defense
*Modern Tourism Management
*American West Exhibit
*E-journalUSA
March was an exciting month for us at the US Consulate, and April is shaping up to be quite busy as well. We enjoyed some wonderful programs on American blues and choral music from the US. We also had several meetings with students about the upcoming presidential elections. I talked with students at Tischner University and was impressed by how closely our election is being followed in Poland. Audiences were extremely knowledgeable about the intricacies of our primary process—something we Americans sometimes have trouble following!
We also had the US men’s national soccer team here for a match, as many of you saw. Ambassador Ashe and I had a chance to watch the team practice, and I know they enjoyed their warm welcome in Krakow. We were fortunate to have Ambassador Ashe in our region three times in March, visiting Opole, Silesia and Malopolska. He met with governors and marshals in the regions.
I was in Wroclaw on March 26 for a unique event—a conference on corporate social responsibility co-organized by the American company UPS, the US Consulate, and the American Chamber of Commerce. UPS has been a leader in corporate social responsibility, sponsoring several development projects in Poland and Ukraine. The event was held at our American Corner, a library and cultural space for us in Wroclaw. We have many exciting things happening at the Corner, and I invite you to learn more about their activities at their website: http://www.amcorners.pl/wroclaw/ .
In April we will be back at the American Corner in Wroclaw for the launch of our Young Learner’s Resource Center, which will be a place where teachers of students in grades 0-4 can find instructional materials in English. We think this will be another great use for our American Corner. We also have another new development for teachers: our web resources page for teachers is now live. You can access it on the home page on our web site. This site is geared towards middle and high school English teachers and features a variety of lesson plans and material on American culture, government, history and geography.
We are looking forward to Earth Day, April 22, as we have a big national parks conference planned in Magurski National Park. We have been working with parks in the region over the past few years on tourism management and conservation with some great results. The conference will be a chance for parks to meet and learn about best practices. We are delighted that Mr. Vaughn Baker from Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado will be joining us. There will be more information on the conference later on in the newsletter.
Best wishes as we move into spring.
American Writers Photo Exhibit
An exhibit of 43 photographs of contemporary American writers by Nancy Crampton will open at Biblioteka Slaska, Plac Rady Europy 1 in Katowice in April. Nancy Crampton, the photographer who created the exhibit, has been a photographer of literary artists for thirty-five years. Her exhibition features portraits of major American novelists, poets and playwrights. Each photograph is paired with a text from the writer including his thoughts on the craft, recollections of the moments which influenced his writing or a discussion of the social importance of writing. Many of the subjects of the photographs are well-known, such as Saul Bellow, Norman Mailer, Toni Morrison and John Cheever. Nancy Crampton collected more than a hundred of these portraits in the book, “WRITERS”, published in 2005. To celebrate the book, exhibitions of many of the photographs were held in New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia.
The photo exhibit in the Katowice library will be the part of the celebration of International Book Day. Other events will include lectures, film shows and book exhibits. US Consul for Press and Culture Susan Parker-Burns will give a presentation on multiculturalism in contemporary American literature on April 23 at 6:00 p.m.
For more details please contact the library at tel: 032 20 83 875
Opening of the Young Learners Resource Center at the American Corner
The U.S. Consulate General would like to bring to your attention to a new center for elementary school teachers of English The Young Learners Resource Center that will open at the American Corner in Wroclaw, Rynek 58 on April 17 at 4:00 p.m. The Center provides teachers with an opportunity to improve their teaching methodologies and curricula for teaching English to young learners. The collection includes books on teaching methodology that can be borrowed or copied, as well as handouts with practical materials for classroom use, including lesson plans.
The Resource Center has a “processing place “ where teachers are able to use the die cut machine or laminator to allow them to prepare their own teaching materials for classroom use. The center enables teachers to work together, exchange ideas, and establish a sense of community among elementary school English teachers. All resources are free of charge.
More information about the YLRC: http://poland.usembassy.gov/poland/young_learners_center.html
Festival of Graphic Narration "Alias 2008"
The Festival of Graphic Narration "Alias 2008" will take place in Wroc³aw on April 18 and April 25-26, 2008. Part of the program takes place at the American Corner at the Dolnoslaska Public Library in Wroclaw, Rynek 58 and includes exhibitions and lectures on American comics.
Please contact the American Corner in Wroclaw for more details 071 3352 215.
Videoconference on Missile Defense
The U.S. Consulate General in Krakow and the Association of Students of International Relations at the Jagiellonian University will hold a videoconference on missile defense on April 23 at Stolarska 9 in Krakow. The American panelist will be Keith Englander, Deputy for Engineering at Missile Defense Agency.
Panelist's Bio http://www.ndia.org/Content/ContentGroups/Divisions1/Missile_Defense/Englanderbio.pdf
Please contact the U.S. Consulate if you would like to attend: tel 12 42451 43.
Modern Tourism Management-"How to Make Natural Parks Accessible to Tourists?”
To celebrate Earth Day 2008 the U.S. Consulate General in Krakow and the Alumni Association at the US Embassy in Warsaw, in cooperation with the Magurski and Tatrzanski National Parks are organizing a two-day international conference on: "Modern Tourism Management: How to Make Natural Parks Accessible to Tourists?”. The conference will be run under the Polish Ministry of Environment patronage and it will bring together some of the best Polish and foreign specialists in national parks management and nature conservancy, among others Mr. Vaughn Baker, Director of the Rocky Mountain National Park in the United States. The conference will be held at the Magurski National Park in Krempna on April 21 - 22, 2008 and it will be opened by Jan Szafranski, Director of the Magurski National Park, Anne Hall, the Consul General and by Jacek Nieckula, President of the Alumni Association Board.
The American West exhibit of landscape photographs taken by Polish-American photographer Wieslaw Pikul will be on display at the Rzeszow University library from April 28 to May 26, 2008. The exhibition, entitled “American West”, features breathtaking photographs taken in the western United States that show the diversity and beauty of the American western landscape. The opening ceremony will be held on Monday April 28 at 13:00 and it will mark Library Week in Rzeszow.
This issue of eJournal USA delves into what those familiar with the history of the environmental movement in the United States might see as a surprising trend — the way U.S. corporations in recent years have embraced environmentally friendly ways of doing business. What prompts a corporation to "go green"?
PDF version of the journal (6.8 MB): http://www.america.gov/media/pdf/ejs/0308.pdf#popup
HTML version: http://www.america.gov/publications/ejournalusa/0308.html
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