Brak grafiki
Komunikaty~Announcements

May 3rd Polish Constitution Day Parade Grand Marshall Call for Nominations

The May 3rd Parade Committee announces that it will be accepting nominations for the Grand Marshall of the 2009 Parade.  Candidates should be of Polish descent and have rendered notable service to Polonia.

 

Nominations should be in writing and include the name of the nominee and a brief description of his/her accomplishments, as well as the name and contact information of the person or organization submitting the nomination.

 

Nominations will be accepted from organizations and individuals.  All nominations may be submitted in person at the general open parade meeting on Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 7:30 PM at the Alliance of Polish Clubs, 5835 W. Diversey Ave, Chicago, IL. by mail or by fax to 773-745-7278. All candidates will be screened by a Nomination Committee which will choose two or three finalists.  Final voting for the Grand Marshall will be held at the general Parade meeting in March 2009.

[…]

Brak grafiki
Komunikaty~Announcements

Illinois Veterans’ Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth Reminds Children of Combat Veterans About University of Illinois Scholarship

Children of Veterans Tuition Waiver available for up to six children per county – application deadline is March 1


CHICAGO
Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs (IDVA) Director L. Tammy Duckworth is reminding the children of Illinois’ combat Veterans to take advantage of the 2009-2010 Children of Veterans Tuition Waiver at the University of Illinois.  Every year, up to six tuition waivers are available in each county throughout Illinois for the child of a Veteran from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.  This year’s application deadline is March 1, 2009.

 

“Families across Illinois are facing financial difficulties and with the cost of a college tuition rising, it can be extremely difficult for Veterans and their families to afford college.  The University of Illinois’ waiver program is a great benefit for our Veterans’ children, and I want to encourage all children with a parent who is a combat Veteran, to apply for the scholarship,” said Director Duckworth.  “Every child deserves to have the opportunity to pursue a college education.”


[…]

Brak grafiki
Komunikaty~Announcements

10TH POLISH CONSTITUTION DAY ART CONTEST

Organized by The Polish Museum of America

Sponsored by Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Chicago

THEME:   Days of Triumph:  The 20th Anniversary of the Downfall of Communism in Poland; the 10th Anniversary of Poland’s Entry into NATO and the 5th Anniversary of Poland’s Admission to the European Union.

Create a picture presenting the positive changes in Poland during the last two decades.  You can show a person or an event. Please present positive achievements and successes.

Be creative.  Use many colors.  Use any medium you like. Since the winning artwork will be framed, the size must be 36 x 24 in. and it must be done on posterboard or heavy cardboard but not on canvas.

[…]

Brak grafiki
Zdrowie~Health

State health director urges consumers to be aware of recalled peanut butter products

Illinois reports six cases of salmonella matching the nationwide outbreak

 

SPRINGFIELD – Dr. Damon T. Arnold, state public health director, is asking consumers to let store managers and their local health department know when they see items on grocery store, in vending machines, gas station or convenience stores shelves that have been recalled because of the nationwide Salmonella outbreak.  The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) is working with local health departments across the state to check stores for recalled products, but the number of recalled items continues to grow and it can be difficult to keep pace.

 

The most recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) list of products being recalled in relation to the nationwide Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak can be found on the IDPH Web site.   Information from both the Minnesota and Connecticut state health departments, along with the results available from laboratory testing and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) epidemiological analysis, have now led the FDA to confirm that the source of this outbreak is peanut butter and peanut paste produced by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) at its Blakely, Ga. processing plant.


[…]

strusinska2
Muzyka~Music

Ewa Strusińska – dyrygent

strusinska2 Kobieta – dyrygent, jak się Pani czuje w tym „męskim świecie”?

To rzeczywiście męski świat, ale zmienia się bardzo wiele na tym polu. Jestem przekonana, że za dwadzieścia lat nikt nie będzie zadawał takiego pytania, i to będzie znak, że skończyły się czasy „dyskryminacji” płci w tym zawodzie. Jest bardzo wiele utalentowanych dyrygentek, a Polska jest zagłębiem takich talentów – zwłaszcza jeśli chodzi o młodsze pokolenie, do którego ja też należę. Ostatnio prowadziłam kurs w jednym z polskich miast, większość studentów, to były dyrygentki, i to one były najlepsze. W zawodzie dyrygenta szczyt kariery osiąga się w wieku około 50 lat. To jest bardzo długa droga. Jeśli pomyślimy o kobietach – dyrygentkach, które jakiś czas temu zaczęły się kształcić, to efekty ich edukacji będziemy widzieć za kilkadziesiąt lat.

Co było dla Pani impulsem do podjęcia takiej drogi życiowej, tradycje rodzinne?


Dla każdego istotne jest to, żeby ten zawód był podbudowany „muzycznymi genami”, moja mama jest związana ze światem muzycznym -tańczy, mój tata uczył, dyrygował, więc to musiało we mnie tkwić. W szkole średniej stwierdziłam, że to jest cudowny zawód.

[…]

carnavale
Polish Tradition

Co warto wiedzieć o ostatkach

carnavale Zapusty, ostatki, mięsopusty to tradycyjne staropolskie nazwy karnawału. W wielu krajach Europy, a już zwłaszcza we Włoszech, które są kolebką zabaw karnawałowych, nazywano tak czas liczony od Nowego Roku aż do wtorku poprzedzającego środę popielcową.

Nazwa pochodzi od łacińsko-włoskiego carnavale. Człony tego słowa caro – mięso i vale – bywaj zdrów oznaczają razem czas ucztowania i zabawy, w związku z nadchodzącym Wielkim Postem. Słowo „karnawał” nawiązuje także do łacińskiego carrus navalis. W starożytnym Rzymie nazywano tak łódź na kołach, którą należała do boga wina i winobrania Dionizosa. Europejskie zabawy karnawałowe mają bowiem swe początki w starożytnych obrzędach zimowych odprawianych ku czci bogów urodzaju, szczęścia, dobrobytu, słońca życia i światła.

Już w wiekach średnich w całej niemal Europie obchodzono karnawał z wielkim przepychem. W X wieku z zabaw karnawałowych słynęła Wenecja. W XVIII wieku wsławił się nimi Rzym. Świętowano hucznie karnawał w Hiszpanii, Portugalii, we Francji, w Niemczech, na Rusi i na Bałkanach.

[…]

Logo Circuit Court
Ekonomia~Economy

Clerk Dorothy Brown Reports: Cook County Mortgage Foreclosures Spike to 338%: A Ten-Year High

Logo Circuit Court Chicago — The Honorable Dorothy Brown, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, has announced that the county’s rate of mortgage foreclosures has increased by 338% since 1999.

As the nation is in the throes of a severe economic downturn, Clerk Brown has been monitoring the rates of Cook County mortgage foreclosures, which are filed in the Chancery Division of the Clerk’s Office. By the end of 2008, the year’s total number of mortgage foreclosures soared to 43,726. In contrast, in 1999, there were only 12, 935 foreclosures filed for the entire year.

“We are now processing almost four times the number of mortgage foreclosures in the Clerk’s Office than we were in 1999. That statistic is alarming and a critical indicator of just how dire our country’s financial crisis is,” said Clerk Brown.  

Clerk Brown noticed that Cook County’s mortgage foreclosure rates began to steadily rise beginning in 2006, which recorded 18,916 mortgage foreclosures. The number spiked to 32,269 mortgage foreclosures in 2007, and the rate continued to increase on through the end of 2008.

[…]

Logo
Sztuka~Art

The International Chamber Artists Announce January Performances

Logo CHICAGO, IL: The fourth season of the International Chamber Artists (ICA, www.ICAMusic.org), one of Chicago’s premiere chamber music ensembles, kicks off with “French & Viennese Keys” on Sunday, January 25, 2009 at 4:00pm, located at St. Gregory the Great Church (5535 N. Paulina St., Chicago) and Monday, January 26, 2009 at 7:00pm, at Ganz Hall at Roosevelt University (430 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago). The enticing musical selections will include Gabriel Faure’s Piano Quintet No. 2 in C minor, Op. 115, Francis’s Poulenc’s Trio for Piano, Oboe and Bassoon, and more.

In addition to these electrifying concerts, ICA will be performing selected works of Poulenc, Previn, and Diamond live on 98.7 WFMT from the Morse Theatre on Sunday, February 1, 2009 at 11:00am.

Upcoming events for the season include April’s “Tuba or Not Tuba?” with works that will finally give this commanding brass instrument the spotlight it deserves. And finally, kick off the summer in June with “Prokofiev is to Ballet as Debussy is to Drama,” a fascinating compilation of works by Frederic Chopin, Claude Debussy, Alan Hovhaness and Sergei Prokofiev.

[…]

Brazilian Acai Berry
Zdrowie~Health

BBB Warns About the Small Print Trapping Those Wanting a Smaller Waist

Brazilian Acai Berry Chicago, IL- January 6, 2009–Ads promoting pills containing Brazilian Acai Berry for weight loss are very common online. Trial samples of the products are touted as “risk free” for only shipping and handling charges by credit card.  However, at the bottom of the ads, in print smaller than most people would ever want their waists to be, is the notice that the recipient must return any unused portion of the product within a very narrow period of time.  If they don’t the companies may automatically begin charging the consumer reoccurring monthly fees or enter them into memberships that range from $39 to $100 a month. 
 
In November alone, more than 1.5 million people searched for the term on Google. Online ads and Web sites often include a photo of a celebrity – such as Oprah and Rachel Ray – and claim that she endorses acai as a weight loss miracle.
 
“The BBB strongly encourages consumers to make sure to read all the fine print and terms & conditions while purchasing any product, and be especially cautious with free trial offers,” said Steve J. Bernas, president & CEO of The Better Business Bureau of Chicago and Northern Illinois.

[…]

Polityka~Politics

Dialog między syjonistą i politologiem

Iwo Cyprian Pogonowski

Na programie „Democracy Now” z 8go stycznia 2009, prowadzonym przez odważną wnuczkę rabina, Amy Goodman, dwu Żydów pochodzących z Polski dyskutowało napad Izraela na teren Gazy i rolę USA w tym konflikcie. Syjonista, były ambasador USA w Izraelu, Martin Indyk bronił napadu, a profesor Norman Finkelstein ostro napad ten krytykował, jako powód rosnącego kryzysu humanitarnego, w którym ostatnio zginęło ponad 700 Arabów, a tysiące zostało poranionych, podczas gdy w tym samym czasie dziesięciu Żydów straciło życie. Czterech Żydów było zabitych przez pomyłkę przez atakujące Gazę wojska Izraela.

Bardzo ciężkie bombardowania Gazy z powietrza są nadal w toku. Mimo tego ambasador Indyk popiera długotrwałe pertraktacje pokojowe między USA, Izraelem, Hamas’em, Syrią i Libanem, bez względu na przeciąganie bombardowań przez Izrael w czasie umyślnie przewlekłego przygotowywania zawieszenia broni, podobnie jak to wcześniej miało miejsce w Libanie.

[…]