February; 2008
Issue
47
In This
Issue:
*Consul General's message
*Panel on Missile Defense
*Lectures on Edward Hopper
*America.gov
*E-journalUSA
We’ve had a warm and mild January in Krakow, allowing us to get out and visit different parts of our region. I traveled to Opole in mid-January to meet with Ryszard Wilczyński, the newly appointed governor, as well as Archbishop Alfons Nossol and Opole Mayor Ryszard Zembaczyński. We talked about U.S. investment in the region, and I met an American investor first-hand, Mike Gostomsky of Minnesota, who owns the Namysłów Brewery outside of Opole. I also recently visited Wroclaw to open the exhibition "Living On / Którzy przeżyli" at the Wroclaw Public Library on January 28. The exhibit was co-organized with the White Stork Synagogue and The Center for Jewish Culture and Education to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day. "Living On" delivers an inspiring message of the victory of life over death by telling the stories of Holocaust survivors, liberators, prisoners of war, and witnesses who came from or moved to the state of Tennessee. Most of the photographs shown feature individuals born within the borders of pre-World War II Poland or whose major experience of the war was on Polish soil. "Living On / Którzy przeżyli" will be shown at the Wroclaw Public Library until the end of February.
Consulate staff also traveled to Rzeszow, meeting with students and participating in a panel discussion on "Overlapping Culture in the Current Time and Space" at the Radio Rzeszow studios on January 22. Together with the Rzeszów University of Information Technology and Management, the Consulate organized a discussion on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr on January 23. Dr. King’s birthday is an American holiday each year and was celebrated this year on January 21. The exhibition entitled "American Writers" by photographer Nancy Crampton also opened at the Rzeszów University of Information Technology and Management. The exhibition features photographs of well-known writers such as Toni Morrison, Saul Bellow, John Irving and Maya Angelou, accompanied by the writers' thoughts on the craft of writing. The exhibition will be at the school through mid-February.
We are looking forward to an exciting series of speakers coming to Poland in February and March, including Baker Spring from the Heritage Foundation and Robert Bell, former US National Security Council Senior Director for Defense Policy and Arms Control. They both will be speaking on missile defense. Prominent American political journalists Susan Spencer and John Oliphant will be in Poland in early March to talk about the US elections. We will also have two experts on American literature and art, Gail Levin and John van Sickle, joining us. For these and other upcoming programs, please see our website.
As I write this, the US is in the midst of our primary season as the drama of Super Tuesday (Tuesday, February 5) unfolds -- a day where over 20 states hold their primaries. I know many of our contacts here in Poland are also interested in the American elections, and I invite you to visit a new web site called America.gov (www.america.gov), which features in-depth analysis and explanations of the US primary and general election process.
In the midst of Polish and American discussions on missile defense, the US Consulate General and the Institute of Strategic Studies would like to invite guests for a panel discussion with Mr. Baker Spring, a US specialist in security and international affairs. Mr. Spring, F.M. Research Fellow in National Security Policy at the Heritage Foundation, will be giving his presentation on "Missile Defense and Its Role in European Security" on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at 10:30 in the Institute of Strategic Studies in Krakow, Mikolajska 4.
Gail Levin, Professor of 20th-Century American Art and John van Sickle, a Professor of Classical Studies and Comparative Literature will lecture in Krakow, Katowice, Warsaw and Łódź between February 25 and March 1, 2008.
Professor Levin will speak on "Edward Hopper, Metaphor and Meaning: A Biographer's View of His Art and the Life that Inspired It" at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow and at the Institute of American Studies of Jagiellonian University and on Jewish Women Artists in 20th and 21st-Century America at Bunkier Sztuki. Professor Gail Levin holds a Ph.D. from Rutgers University and is currently teaching Art History, American Studies, and Women Studies at Baruch College and the Graduate Center of City University of New York. Her research centers on American modernism, specifically the works of Edward Hopper and Marsden Hartley. Gail Levin, an author of the major studies of Edward Hopper's work and a curator of many exhibitions that explored his development and cultural context, has also written the artist’s biography based on his unpublished letters and diaries.
Professor John van Sickle will lecture about American poems inspired by Edward Hopper's paintings and on American poets the artist admired: Robert Frost and Ralph Waldo Emerson. His lectures will take place at the Institute of British and American Literature at the University of Silesia and the Institute of English Philology at Jagiellonian University. Professor John van Sickle holds a Ph.D. from Harvard and is currently affiliated with the Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center at CUNY. He specializes in classical and comparative literature and is the author of numerous books on classical Roman and Greek literature and its influence on the works of American writers.
For more details on dates and hours please contact Public Affairs Office of the Consulate at tel: 012 424 5140
In January the Bureau of International Information Programs went live with "America.gov"; a multi-layered, highly interactive site that provides in-depth material on U.S. policies, culture and values, incorporating the latest in multi-media, video, forum discussions, polls, and quizzes. We would like to recommend especially its "U.S. Elections" section, which features a daily election blog, detailed information on the candidates and their stands on the issues, video segments, podcasts, interactive maps, timelines and more. A goal of the website is to provide a platform for a two-way conversation between Americans and people in other countries.
Please visit America.gov at http://www.america.gov/
Innovation is the art of creating something new, and everyday in the U.S. and around the world, scientists, students, and everyday people are working to bring to life an idea that is theirs alone. This edition of eJournal USA tells the story of innovators and their creations.
PDF version of the journal: http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itsv/0108/ijse/ijse0108.pdf
created by Vincent Hughes
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U.S. Consulate General, ul.
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