Tag Archives: life in Poland
Stuck on the Night Shift
Here’s an abbreviated version on the real source of the current problems with judicial reform in Poland. First two bits of background. A parting gift of the communists was an unwieldy electoral system with no practical electoral threshhold. This meant … Continue reading
The Wages of (Not) Dealing with the Past
What’s going on now in Poland is not really about the court sysem. It’s probably the last death throes of a conflict that for most people ended in 1992. For lots of reasons, communist Poland from around 1960 on was … Continue reading
The Meaning Barrier
I was in a small grocery chain around the corner waiting behind a woman who was bending the ear of the cashier (a late middle aged lady). It was weird because while I could understand the words the sentences didn’t … Continue reading
Mr. Trump Goes to Warsaw
Trump is visiting Poland today which means I have to institute a Polish media blackout because the whole sorry spectacle is too painful/boring to pay attention to. Poland is, of course, historically one of the more…. fervent pro-American countries though … Continue reading
Intonation and Meaning…
I went to a monthly outdoor fleamarket today. There was a musician busking at the entrance (playing the trumpet over taped backing). I usually toss a couple of zloties to whoever’s busking. As I did so he stopped playing a … Continue reading
More Holidays than Strictly Necessary…
A total of four and a half days of my classes are cancelled at my institution between Maundy Thursday and May 10 (aka Sports Day*) and three more days (that I don’t have classes on) get the chop as well. … Continue reading
Poland’s Missing Other
This has me thinking a bit more about the Other. Of course all people’s have multiple others that exist at different levels of abstraction. When I said that Poland’s Others are Russia and Germany (usually in that order though sometimes … Continue reading
