Kevin's Photoblog

Here is the grave of a Polish soldier who died in Afghanistan, in support of the American work there after 9-11.

Have visited my old neighbors, and that means another visit to the cemetery.  Poles LOVE cemeteries, and they are pretty sites to visit, since there are flowers everywhere.  No grave – except the German – goes unadorned.  I think these cemeteries tie the Poles to their personal and collective histories.  The first two pictures here show Polish graves from the Battle of Szczecin, along with the monument that celebrates the liberation (well, sort of, this was then a German city being taken over by the Russians and Poles; note the date (April 26^th) – this battle was being fought concurrently with the Battle of Berlin.  A great many people dies so that Hitler could have a few more days of life.

The third pictures is a monument dedicated to the Poles who died in concentration camps – gulags – in Russia.  This picture is of part of that monument, off to the right is a long, long list of such camps.

We can see the concert from large screens and very good (and must be immense) speakers.  At the venue, there are several dozen cameras that show the concert from every angle, all very well blended into a live video, including backdrops of the tall ships, the lights of the amusement rides, and the cathedraled cityscape of Szczecin.

One my first night here – me very tired from the long trip here – my Rotary friend Alex and his Brazilian buddy Roger have taken me to an evening concert at these races.  We find ourselves in the midst of a huge party, surrounded by tall ships and amusement rides that are of gargantuan scales. There must be several hundred thousand people here, I have no idea exactly where the concert is but this must nearby, perhaps most of a kilometer away.  There are people bungee-jumping from cranes that must be most of 100 meters above the ground, with Ferris wheels and other rides of similar sizes.  The second picture (fuzzy, sorry) is of the bungee jumped who had just jumped out of the vat near the top of the crane.

The Tall Ships Festival is one of the biggest festivals in Poland.   There are Tall Ships here – three-masted sailing ships with crews perhaps in the multiple hundred, maybe a dozen of these altogether, with many smaller ships, along several kilometers of both banks of the Oder River in Szczecin, itself just off the Baltic Sea.

Whenever we did not have any kids around the table, I need only sit down and start drawing a planet and the kids stop to see what is going on: they seem attracted by a strange guy in a NASA hat who is not a good drawer and speaks terrible Polish.  The kids themselves, by the way, often speak pretty good English (this is taught in kindergarden).  The parents often wanted to pose with me for pictures.  I also spent time talking with potential volunteers about how Planet Head Day works in Maine.

Fundraising in Maine is much different from the US.  There is no “walkathon” tradition in Poland and Poles are uncomfortable asking others for individual donations.  I have a tough time explaining the PHD idea, as done in Maine.  However, Poles seem to relate more easily to this odd scientist who shaves and paints his head as a planet to acknowledge a friend with cancer.  The organization uses a video of me dedicating my shaved head to Jeanie McGowan, this not long after she died of cancer, and the Poles love memorials.

I have long been surprised by the number of children who participate in our PHD, and I can see that there will be even more of this in Poland.  Informal Science (and Cancer) Education: I love it!

Basically, we ask kids and their parents as they come past the tent if they wish to paint planets (Malujesz planeta?).  Many – hundreds – stopped and the children got to work; I think the parents well appreciated the parents well appreciated the opportunity for the children to sit down.

I have returned to Poland for two weeks in August 2017.  The main event that brings me back is an international scientific conference in Szczecen, but members of the Szczecin community have asked me to come early and be part of a Planet Head Day (PHD) display at the Tall Ships Races in Szczecin, August 5-8.

The display is in a small tent, but is well thought out.  Various posters have been prepared that include a Planet Head Day logo (which I think we will adopt for our event in Maine) and pictures from our Maine PHD as well as from when I had my head shaved and painted earlier this year in Szczecin.

The planned event in Poland will be on the same day and of similar structure to what we do in Maine, and will benefit a local cancer children’s hospital.  The Polish PHD is organized by a group of Rotarians and the Society of Parents of Children with illness.

I arrived just in time for the University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI) graduation.  This is me, ready to lead, as mace bearer, the platform party into the graduation.  Behind me are the school president, local politicians, graduation speaker and so forth.  This concludes my Fulbright year.

I arrived on May 8^th, and this snow in my back yard.