May; 2008
Issue
50
In This
Issue:
*Consul General's message
*Dance Ensemble
*Trio Concert
*Lectures on U.S. Elections and Foreign
Policy
*Conference on American Ethnicity
*American Blues
*Documentary Back to Gombin
*E-journalUSA
Greetings from Krakow!
May started in Poland with a long weekend in celebration of Labor Day and Constitution Day. It is wonderful to see so many Polish flags dotting the city.
We have had a special group in Krakow over the long weekend. The Achilles Freedom Team of Wounded Veterans was here, and five disabled U.S. veterans participated in the Krakow city marathon on Sunday May 4. Founder of the team Mary Bryant accompanied the group along with former New York City Fire Chief and September 11th hero Daniel Daly. We are so proud of our veterans for their service, their sacrifice and their achievements as part of the Achilles Freedom team.
The annual March of the Living at Auschwitz also took place at the start of the long weekend on May 1. U.S. Ambassador to Poland Victor Ashe participated along with Consul Stephen Barneby. U.S. Ambassador to Hungary April Foley and Naval Commander Tom Williamson also took part in the March.
As you may know, we celebrated Earth Day in April, and we marked the occasion with a special focus on national parks. I was fortunate enough to visit two of Poland’s wonderful national parks during the month of April, Karkonoski National Park and Magurski National Park. The visit at Magurski was in conjunction with a conference on parks management and sustainable tourism that was cosponsored by the U.S. Mission to Poland and the State Department Alumni Association. Rocky Mountain Park Director Vaughn Baker also joined us for the conference. Vaughn shared the American view on managing tourism and protecting the environment. Polish parks are such a terrific resource, and we look forward to more cooperation between American and Polish parks.
Earth Day was also an opportunity for us at the Consulate to "green" our office with an enhanced recycling program and energy-saving techniques. The American Chamber of Commerce in Poland has named 2008 its "Green Year", and we are doing our part!
We are looking forward to a busy May with our State Department Alumni Conference May 18 and 19, concerts, dance performances and more. For details, please see the rest of this newsletter and our website.
Brigham Young University Dance Ensemble to Perform in Nowa Huta
The Brigham Young University International Folk Dance Ensemble will be performing at the Nowohuckie Centrum Kultury under the Honorary Patronage of U.S. Consulate General in Krakow on May 10th at 18:00. The BYU Ensemble is touring Central Europe in April and May 2008.
With a beautiful array of ethnic costumes, the International Folk Dance Ensemble presents a concert program of dances from more than a dozen nations, including Ukraine, Russia, Korea, Poland, Mexico, and the United States.
Since 1964 the ensemble has represented the United States and American culture at folk dance festivals throughout the world, including the festival held in conjunction with the 1988 Seoul Olympics and festivals in Haifa, Israel; Confolens, France; and Billingham, England. In addition, the group regularly presents its international repertoire throughout the United States and Canada. Regardless of focus --international or American-- the BYU Folk Dance Ensemble is acclaimed by thousands for their skillful dancing and energy.
Tickets may be purchased at C.K. "Dworek Białopr±dnicki", Kraków, Papiernicza 2, or at the City Information Center , Sw. Jana 2.
More information on the
Ensemble is available at:
http:www.dworek.krakow.pl/aktualnosci
or at http://pam.byu.edu/similarpage.asp?title=International%20Folk%20Dance%20Ensemble
International Folk Dance Ensemble
Americans to Play during "Felix Mendelssohn Days" at Center for Jewish Culture
The third annual "Felix Mendelssohn Music Days" will take place from May 9-16, 2008. This year's edition includes a chamber music concert with two performers from the United States: Kaja Danczowska/violin (Poland), Jeremy Findlay/cello (USA) and Elena Braslavsky/piano (USA). The concert will take place on May 10th, 2008 at 19:00, Centrum Kultury Żydowskiej, Meiselsa 17. The concert program includes Robert Schumann's Fantasy Pieces Op. 73 for cello and piano, Samuel Barber's Sonata Op.6 and Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's Piano Trio No 2 in C minor Op. 66.
More information available at: www.judaica.pl
Jeremy Findlay's website: www.jeremyfindlay.com
Lectures on U.S. Elections and U.S. Foreign Policy
John Karaagac, an author of several books on American politics, will lecture in Krakow in May. His books include: "Between Promise and Policy: Ronald Reagan and Conservative Reformism", "John McCain: An Essay in Military and Political History", "The Bush Paradox", "The Fate of the Father". His interests include the American presidency, domestic and foreign policy and political culture. He holds degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, Cambridge University and Johns Hopkins University. Currently he lectures on Public Policy at Indiana University's School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) and in American Foreign Policy at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington DC.
John Karaagac's schedule in Krakow:
May 12 at 15:30 "U.S. Elections in 2008"
Venue: U.S. Consulate, Stolarska 9.
May 13 at 13:00 "Major Issues in
American Foreign Policy"
Venue: KSW Campus, Herlinga Grudzinskiego 1,
Building B, Hall 019
Conference on American Ethnicity
The American Studies Institute of Jagiellonian University, The Alumni Association in Poland, The U.S. Mission in Poland and The Immigration and Ethnic History Society in the United States are organizing two-day conference entitled “American Ethnicity: Rethinking Old Issues, Asking New Questions”. The conference will be held in Krakow at Collegium Maius, Sala Bobrzynskiego on Monday, May 19 and at the Institute of American Studies, Rynek 34 on Tuesday, May 20. The conference will gather leading scholars of American ethnic and migration studies who share basic theoretical and methodological assumptions. There will be presentations on more general topics such as ethnicity and the U.S. election as well as opportunities to discuss ongoing research in the field. The speakers of the conference will be specialists in Ethnic Studies from the United States, Poland, Germany, Austria and Mexico.
The first day of the conference is oriented towards a general audience and will cover the topics of American ethnicity. The second day of the conference will be devoted to a more scholarly discussion of the current issues in American ethnicity.
For more details and the conference program, please contact the Consulate at tel: 012 424 5190 and see the Consulate’s website.
Chicago-born blues musician Khalif "Wailin" Walter, guitarist, composer and singer will be giving an interactive lecture/performance on the history of the blues for Polish audiences on May 20th at 12:00 in Ruda Slaska Hoover School, ul. Orzegowska 25. Free entry.
History of Jewish Shtetl in a Film Documentary "Back to Gombin"
Minna Zielonka-Packer, American filmmaker and Fulbright scholar, will present her film “Back to Gombin” at the Auschwitz Jewish Center, Pl Ks. Jana Skarbka 3-5 in Oswiecim on May 28 at 11:00 a.m. and at Galicia Museum, Dajwor 18 in Krakow on May 27 at 7:00 p.m. Ms. Zielonka-Packer, a child of Holocaust survivors, chronicles the tragic history of the Jews from the town of Gombin (G±bin), a small town in central Poland that is the birthplace of her father. The documentary includes interviews with surviving residents of the town. Their stories are interwoven with illuminating, historic footage filmed in 1937 by Sam Rafel on his trip to Gombin as a chairman of the Gombin Relief Committee. After the film showing, Ms. Zielonka-Packer will give a short talk on the film. Entry is free.
The Olympic Games remind us of certain universal human values. Every Olympian has a story that echoes the shared human struggle for excellence and our devotion to pursue purpose in life. In this issue of eJournal USA, we celebrate the Olympics through the individual experiences and insights of athletes who share their memories of the Olympic Experience.
HTML version: http://www.america.gov/publications/ejournalusa/0408.html
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U.S. Consulate General, ul.
Stolarska 9, Krakow, tel.: 12 424-5100
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