Breast Cancer
Zdrowie~Health

Blagojevich Administration Raises Awareness at Annual Polish American Breast Cancer Forum

State Public Health Director encourages women to get screened for breast cancer

Breast CancerCHICAGO – On behalf of Governor Rod R. Blagojevich, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Damon T. Arnold today spoke at the annual Polish American Breast Cancer Awareness Forum to help educate women about the importance of routine breast and cervical cancer screenings. Dr. Arnold also encouraged uninsured women to sign up for the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program (IBCCP). The Breast Forum, held at Illinois Masonic Medical Center, served as an open discussion between members of the community, physicians, healthcare advocates, breast cancer survivors, and patients. 

Created to increase awareness about breast cancer in Chicago’s Polish Community and encourage women to get annual breast exams, the Polish American Breast Cancer Awareness Program offered free breast exams throughout the day to conference attendees.

“It is extremely important for us to encourage the women in our lives to go and get screened for breast and cervical cancer,” said Governor Blagojevich. “In many cases, early detection of breast cancer can mean the difference between life and death. I urge all women in Illinois to make an appointment to get screened.”

[…]

Sandra Froman
Polityka~Politics

Obama Promises Supreme Court That Will Destroy Second Amendment

By Sandy Froman

Sandra FromanSenator Barack Obama says he will respect gun owners, but campaign talk is cheap. What gun owners must know before they vote is that Obama promises to appoint a U.S. Supreme Court that will eradicate the Second Amendment from the Constitution.

On June 26, in the case District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court held in a split 5-4 decision that the Second Amendment secures a right to keep and bear arms for private citizens, and struck down the D.C. law that banned all handguns and readily-usable firearms, even in your own home.  

That decision turned on a single vote. The four liberal justices on the Supreme Court voted against the Second Amendment and to uphold the gun ban. They wrote that the Second Amendment confers no right whatsoever on private citizens, that Americans have no personal right to own guns of any sort, and the government can confiscate or ban them at will.

[…]

election
Polityka~Politics

Obama Vows Blood for the Bloodthirsty

By J. Matt Barber

electionIt’s a day like any other.  The kids are safe at school and you’re at work wishing you weren’t.  All is as it should be.  Then your cell phone rings.  On the other end is your twelve-year-old daughter’s junior high school guidance counselor.  Amid nervous hemming and hawing you detect that something’s horribly wrong.  Then the words, “I’m sorry, she didn’t make it.” 

At first it doesn’t register.  Then it clicks and your soul is pierced.  The room begins to spin and rapidly close in.  You sink deep and grab for something.  But nothing on this earth will hold you up.

Nightmare becomes reality as you learn that your little girl has just bled to death – alone and afraid – on a cold slab at the local Planned Parenthood clinic, the victim of a botched abortion.  She was driven there, unbeknownst to you, by the very guidance counselor to whom you speak.   

[…]

Polish Tradition

Nasze Polskie Zaduszki AD 2008

Jak co roku, tradycyjnie w całej  Polsce  będziemy obchdzić święta Wszystkich Świętych i Dzień Zaduszny. Nasze cmentarze „miasta umarłych” będą w tych dniach wyglądać jak przepięknie ukwiecone ogrody z wieloma palącymi się na uporządkowanych grobach zniczami. Ze wszystkich zakątków naszej Ojczyzny i całego świata zjadą rodziny i przyjaciele by w tym dniu stanąć nad mogiłami swoich najbliższych. Opuszczą oczy ku ziemi i w zadumie obejmą modlitwą wszystkich tych, którzy już odeszli do Naszego Pana. Wielu podda się zadumie nad własnym życiem.

Pamiętamy zwłaszcza w tych dniach o miejscach polskich tragedii. Wszędzie tam, gdzie są groby naszych bohaterów, będzie podobnie. Przypomnimy sobie miłość naszych wielkich Rodaków, którzy oddali swe często młode życie w obronie Krzyża i Najjaśniejszej Rzeczypospolitej, byśmy dziś żyli w niepodległej Ojczyźnie.

[…]

znicze
Polish Tradition

Cmentarz na Wszystkich Świętych

znicze1 listopada. Pogoda, niepomna wcześniejszych słonecznych dni, jest szara i ponura. Paskudny, dokuczliwy deszczyk wdziera się uporczywie za podniesione kołnierze płaszczy i kurtek. Złota polska jesień w Dniu Wszystkich Świętych ustąpiła tradycyjnej, smutnej i błotnistej. Można to nazwać złośliwością losu, że własnie tego dnia zrobiło się tak brzydko, ale ja bym raczej nazwała to “dopasowaniem” – pogoda po prostu dostosowała się do panującego tego dnia nastroju. Nie da się, bowiem ukryć, że dla Polaków 1 listopada to święto nie tylko zadumy, ale również smutku. Trochę trudno to zrozumieć, bo przecież wierzymy, że po śmierci czeka nas o wiele lepsze życie, bez trosk i problemów. Zamiast radować się,  że nasi najbliżsi znajdują siępo drugiej stronie, wolni i szczęśliwi, przychodzimy na ich groby i wzdychamy boleściwie. Nie jesteśmy w stanie wyjść ponad tesknotę i własny ból i spojrzeć na śmierć jak na przepustkę do lepszego świata. Potrafą to uczynić Romowie, dla których Święto Zmarłych to okazja do zabawy.

Pierwsi zawsze pojawiają się mężczyźni, którzy przynoszą ze sobą znicze, kwiaty i,  co szczególnie gorszy starsze panie, wódkę. Dużo później przyjeżdżają kobiety z jedzeniem, i zaczyna się świętowanie. Wódka krąży w plastikowych kubeczkach, jedzenie podawane jest z rąk do rąk. Wesołe rozmowy i śmiechy wywołują niesmak na twarzach przechodniów i zgryźliwe uwagi o nieposzanowaniu zmarłych.

[…]

Polish Tradition

Dzień Wszystkich Świętych w Poezji

Poniżyszy wiersz poświęwiecony zaduszkom łyczakowskim napisany został w charakterystycznym ” lwowskim balaku”, przez Witolda Szolgini.

znicze

PIERWSZY LISTUPADA

Złota jesiń … Pugodni – dyszcz wcali ni pada,
Cichu, ciepłu, senni, woń grzybów i mienty.
A to już dzień przeciz pirszy listupada,
Dzień tych, co udeszli – świentu Wszystkich Świentych …

Zmierzch szybku nadchodzi, wnet robi si ciemnu,
I już cały niebu chmury zacingaju;
Gwiazd dziś szukać na nim – całkim nadaremnu,
Ali, tu, na ziemi, już si rozjarzaju.

[…]

Komunikaty~Announcements

2nd Generationers to Gather on All Souls Day

Families of Poles who came to Buffalo as a result of WWII will gather at St. Stanislaus B. & M. Cemetery on Sunday, November 2 at 2pm to commemorate their dearly departed.

All Saints and All Souls days are when Poles travel to their ancestors’ graves to pray for their souls. Candles and flowers (mums, asters, fall flowers) are left at the graves. Candles are so numerous that one can see cemeteries glowing from afar at dusk.

In the Buffalo area, all children, grandchildren and spouses of deceased post-WWII immigrants are invited to gather at the Polish Veterans Plot at St. Stan’s cemetery on Pine Ridge Rd. in Cheektowaga. Those who do not have relatives buried at the plot are also encouraged to stop by on their way to or from their own parents’ or grandparents’ graves.

[…]

Polish Tradition

All Saints/All Souls Day in Polonia

By Robert Strybel, Our Warsaw Correspondent


November 1st and 2nd have for centuries been celebrated by Catholics world-wide, and
Poland (together with some Romance-language nations) has observed it with particular devotion. The custom came over to America with Polonia’s immigrant pioneers who celebrated the first two days of November, November 2nd being the holy day of obligation. In a sense, both feastdays have been set aside to honor those who have gone on to their eternal reward. All Saints Day is the day people pray to their officially canonized patron saints as well honoring all those unknown and unnamed souls who have gone to heaven. Since no mortals know what the fate of those who have ‘crossed over’ may be, All Souls’ Day (Zaduszki or Dzien Zaduszny) has been devoted to honoring one’s own dearly departed and praying to God to show mercy to the poor souls in purgatory.

[…]

Galeria Postcard
Sztuka~Art

Artist’s Insightful New Work Inspired by Mentally Challenged Brother

Milford, Mich.October 27, 2008 – Sculptor Evelyn Bachorski-Bowman will exhibit her newest work in a show entitled “Insights” at The Galeria at The Orchard Lake Schools in Orchard Lake, Mich. From November 2 through November 30.  The show features ten new pieces and six selected works from Bachorski-Bowman’s portfolio.  It is the first time the new pieces will be shown.

The Galeria is open Saturdays and Sundays from 12:30 until 5 p.m. or by appointment.  The address is Building 8 at the Orchard Lake Schools, 3535 Indian Trail, Orchard Lake, MI 48324. The phone number is 248-683-0345.

Mentally challenged brother is inspiration for the newest pieces. Unlike her previous work, this series focuses less on the physical likeness, and more on the emotive portrait. Bachorski-Bowman’s newest series called “Portraits of a Soul” was inspired by her brother.  “He is special; mentally challenged,” said   Bachorski-Bowman’s “He is a remarkable individual, who has greatly impacted my life.  He is unable to converse, yet is full of emotions he is unable to express verbally.  He is an adult by years; an innocent, a child, by experience.  The new work is inspired by the raw emotions I’ve seen in him.”

[…]

Brak grafiki
Komunikaty~Announcements

Halloween Charity Event on the River Celebrates 23rd Year

For 22 years the site of Chicago’s most unusual and well-attended annual Halloween Parties has been Golan Studios on the banks of the Chicago River just south of North Avenue. The looming array of gothic warehouses, soundstages, walled courtyards and odd nooks and crannies is perfectly suited for the sprawling haunted house owner Ari Golan creates each year with macabre intensity.

This year’s party, titled “Dark Fright,” comes alive Saturday, November 1 from 8 PM until “dawn,” at 1501 N. Magnolia, Chicago. 100% of the proceeds will benefit Adaptive Adventures, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of children and adults with disabilities and their families through outdoor sports & recreation. www.adaptiveadventures.org For those who have never attended this annual Halloween Event, here are the top 5 reasons to go:

[…]