the cosmopolitan review

by Irene Tomaszewski

Noted while browsing:

While scanning the CBC website recently I came across an article headlined “Anti-spanking laws around the world” and noted the following paragraph in particular:

Sweden was the first country in the world to introduce anti-spanking legislation, in 1979. Finland, Norway and Austria followed suit over the next decade. As of March 2009, 24 countries had introduced a full ban on corporal punishment for children — both at home and in school. Italy and Nepal have yet to confirm legislation that would outlaw corporal punishment for children, although both countries have supreme court rulings in favour of prohibition.

I fully expected to see Poland among the 24 enlightened countries, and would have liked to see some mention of the fact that such a law existed in Poland before the war but it seems not even Poland is aware of the existence of this progressive law in its interwar period.

A while ago a reader asked me to devote a column to the concept of a civil society. For a number of reasons, the time is ripe for me to oblige. To look at civil society we need, I figure, at least two experts. One can be Plato, who is an old guy who had too much time around the 4^th century BC and remains the undisputed expert on the subject of creating a perfect state that can never exist. The other expert is my Polish grandma who came to Canada two months ago and is currently living with me, making sure I eat enough beets.

Here’s what the two of them would probably say if they got my reader’s inquiring email.

by Anya Ogórkiewicz

Three years after graduating, I gained employment managing the marketing and business development of a lobby firm in Warsaw. Although not a lobbyist myself, this rich experience provided me with a bird’s eye view of the profession, its practitioners and the backdrop to my coming of age as a “re-immigrant” in the country of my forefathers.

Ever since picking up my first copy of The Economist, its fast-paced kaleidoscope of economics and politics was just the stuff my teenage dreams and ambitions were made of. Yet I never imagined that I would work one day in the lobbying industry and, as a second-generation Polish-American, especially not back in my forefathers’ country. In high school after all, being a “Lobbyist” was a slur on par with being a “Nazi” or, for that matter, a “Capitalist”. Even today in the industry, most prefer the neutral “public affairs professional” or “government relations specialist” designation. Given that I’m on a crusade to reclaim the name, I make a point of introducing myself as a lobbyist at social events often to the surprise of my audience. However in truth, I am not a lobbyist; I simply happen to work for some of the best and brightest in Poland.

By Kinia Adamczyk, editor-in-chief

editor [at] cosmopolitanreview.com

On the train between WARSAW & GDAŃSK, Poland -- I was on the verge of tears when the ticket controller finally decided not to fine me. There was a man at the table next to me (in his late forties) who was having his fifth beer (I’m estimating) since the train left Gdańsk for Warsaw at 9:25. It must have been around noon. He was looking at me, less and less discreetly. I was shouting, louder and louder.

"I will NOT sign the fine. I'm a European citizen and I have the right to have a student discount. This is bloody discrimination," I said. "European law precludes Polish law when they are in conflict! Here, I have the EU Treaty in front of me."

"I don't care," the controller said. He and his assistant didn't accept my ISIC card + my student ID + Polish passport as legitimate proof that I'm a student. These days, it seems three pieces of ID just don’t cut it.

By David Judson

editor-in-chief, Hurriyet Daily News

Sopot, POLAND- Some years ago, I began working on a plan to get rid of the month of December. I still have a bit of refining to do, but the basic outline I came up with was for 11 months of eight-day weeks. The goal here was to go straight from November into January. I suppose we would still have to contend with some kind of New Year's event but my idea would have eliminated a large measure of other holiday nonsense. This plan also would have excised my birthday from the calendar.

Ultimately I abandoned the idea. Not, as you might imagine, because of the obvious problems of convincing the rest of the world to go along with my "ban December" scheme. No, the real reason was that the mid-life melancholy that prompted all this plotting passed of its own accord. January came and I decided to just accept the existence of December. But after a decade or so of doing just fine in the month of the winter solstice, I found myself returning to this plot a few days ago during a walk on what happens to be Europe's longest wooden pier, extending out into the frigid Baltic from the tiny resort town of Sopot.

By Patrycja Romanowska, 2006 PitR alumna

patrycja[at]cosmopolitanreview.com

EDMONTON, Alberta -- On floor number eight, in the first apartment to the left of the elevator lives a beautiful little girl from India. Charmed by her stunning smile and friendly manner, I invited her over for an afternoon. The sight of her playing with my blue-eyed, Polish-Canadian son gladdened my multi-cultural, immigrant’s heart. How we all can get along …

After playing for about a half an hour, my five-year-old neighbour came up to me and, not wavering her glance for even a moment, said: “Your house is dirty.”