November; 2007
Issue
44
In This
Issue:
*Consul General's message
*International Education Week
*American Writers exhibit
*Human Rights Film Festival
*"Diversity-Media-Dialogue"
*E-journalUSA on Elections
October has been a challenging month here in Krakow in terms of the weather, but fortunately the warmth of the Polish people more than make up for the rain and cold. The highlight of this month for me was certainly the trip I took to the Podkarpackie Region with Ambassador Ashe. We met with mayors in eleven towns, from Przemysl and Jaroslaw, through Jaslo and Krosno, to Sanok and Ustrzyki Dolne. These mayors have far-reaching goals and development plans for tourism and economic investment in the region. We also had the opportunity to visit wooden churches in Podkarpackie, which are truly some of Poland’s greatest treasures. During the trip, we met with officials in Magurski National Park in preparation for a seminar we will co-host with the Park Educational Center in April on “Parks Management – Sustainable Tourism.” It was a delight for us to spend so much time in this part of our consular district.
Our visit to Podkarpackie came immediately after the Polish elections, and we enjoyed speaking with local politicians about the election results. It was especially noteworthy, I think, that Poland had such a high election turnout. Good voter turnout is always a sign of a strong democracy.
We have had a tremendous series of visitors in October, including American astronaut Shannon Lucid, who met with young people all over Poland and talked about the future of the space program. Dr. Kenneth Katzman of the Congressional Research Service also spoke with university students in Krakow about Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Our Deputy Chief of Mission from Warsaw, Kenneth Hillas, was in Katowice at the University of Silesia to meet with political science students about the proposed missile defense system in Poland. In Wroclaw, Mr. Hillas was joined by American security expert Peter Brookes, and the two met with students at Wroclaw University. We hope to continue these open meeting on this important topic. For more information on missile defense, I’d encourage you to visit the US Embassy in Warsaw’s web site at http://poland.usembassy.gov/missile-defense.html
On the cultural side this month, we’ve opened two art exhibitions, both of which are currently on display. “Living On” features photographs and stories from Holocaust survivors and liberators now residing in the state of Tennessee. The exhibition is now at the Auschwitz Jewish Museum in Oswiecim through November. At the Dabrowa Gornicza public library, there is an exhibition called “American Writers” that features photographs of some of the United States' best known contemporary writers. That exhibition will be at our American Corner in the Dolnoslaska Public Library in Wroclaw in mid-November.
I hope you have a chance to visit the exhibits!
International Education Week is a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education to promote programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and attract students from abroad to study, learn, and exchange experiences in the United States.
American institutions interested in international education and exchange activities including schools, colleges and universities, embassies, international organizations join in a series of events, including workshops, seminars and meetings, to explain the benefits of international education and encourage young people to study abroad. The dates for this year's International Education Week are November 12-16.
The Fulbright Commission in Warsaw together with the U.S. Consulate General in Krakow are preparing a series of workshops devoted to Education in the US.
There will be three seminars for students (at Warsaw University, Krakow Economic University and Silesian School of Economics in Katowice) explaining university admission procedures and possibilities of student financial assistance from U.S. universities.
For more information, please contact the educational advisers at 012 424 5140 or 022 628 7950
American Writers Exhibit in Wroclaw
The photography exhibition “American Writers” will open on November 14 at 17:30 at the Dolnoslaska Public Library in Wroclaw, Rynek 58. The exhibit features 43 photographs of major American novelists, poets and playwrights by the prominent American photographer Nancy Crampton, who has been a photographer of literary artists for thirty-five years. 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 exhibit will be open until the end of November 2007.
Website of the Dolnoslaska Public Library http://www.wbp.wroc.pl/
The Helsinki Foundation Human Rights Film Festival has been organized in Warsaw since 2001 to raise public awareness to human rights issues in Poland. Since 2003 the festival has also traveled to other Polish cities.
The Krakow edition of the festival this year is organized by Kino pod Baranami with the support of the Helsinki Foundation and U.S. Consulate General as well as a few other organizations. It is planned for November 15-18. The organizers will show about 60 films in thematic blocs: Cuba, Asia, Republic of South Africa, India, Elections and Panorama.
For more information on the festival, please see: http://www.hfhrpol.waw.pl/festival/
The full program is available at: http://www.kinopodbaranami.pl/film.php?film_id=4938
The US Consulate General, Tischner European University, Goethe Institute and Tygodnik Powszechny are organizing an international conference within the framework of the Bridges of Tolerance Project on November 27-28.
This year the topic of the conference is "Diversity-Media-Dialogue”. The conference will be a forum for discussions on cross border journalism, responsibility of foreign correspondents as well as media coverage of homosexuality and people with disabilities.
The two day program, held at the Tischner European University auditorium in Westerplatte 11, will bring together some leading Polish and foreign journalists, media experts, academics and students.
This edition of eJournal USA presents an introduction to the upcoming 2008 U.S. elections. In these elections, U.S. voters will have the opportunity to vote for President and Vice President, Congressional representatives, state and local officials, and ballot initiatives. The journal describes aspects of this election which make it different from most recent elections and includes a pro-con debate of the Electoral College.
PDF version of the journal: http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itdhr/1007/ijde/ijde1007.pdf
in Ohio use an electronic voting
machine to vote during the 2006 election.
©AP Images/Amy Sancetta
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