The first was red socks. I grew up in communist Poland, and I knew few people who didn’t dream of leaving. I was one of them, and I emigrated as soon as the ban on traveling to the West was lifted. The place we all wanted to live was the United States of America, the greatest country in the world….
Continue reading →My parents unanimously condemned the idea. They didn’t want me to take the risk. We argued. The liar’s punishment is,not in the least that he is not believed,but that he cannot believe anyone else.George Bernard Shaw In March, when Donald J. Trump tweeted that his predecessor, Barack Obama, had illegally wiretapped Trump Tower before the election, I quickly concluded that…
Continue reading →The power of the image lies in its silence, because the silence turns the witness into an active participant. That we could, as we do, live in the realm of eternal mirrors,working our way at the same time through unmowed grasses. Czesław Miłosz When on December 13th, 1991—the tenth anniversary of martial law being declared in communist Poland to crush the…
Continue reading →The absurdity of the judge’s order threw us back into our Kafkaesque reality. That we could, as we do, live in the realm of eternal mirrors,working our way at the same time through unmowed grasses. Czesław Miłosz When on December 13th, 1991—the tenth anniversary of martial law being declared in communist Poland to crush the political opposition—I stepped on the tarmac…
Continue reading →The birds come in waves as if pushed by a strong wind–cardinals, robins, bright yellow goldfinches, wrens with tails sticking up. We even have a woodpecker with a red head and white and black stripes running down its back. They descend fast and stay in the bird feeder for a long time. I stand in the kitchen window with the…
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