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JB

August '24 River pebble, you lie smooth And firm, washed by currents of Hot and cold. I sweep my hand up and down Your skin and memorise your Swooping slopes. I lower my lips along your shadowy chest and down to soft moss. I take your face in my hands And see your grey river eyes, "When again...?" Lublin - late summer, blooming, fresh breeze we kiss in your room under the John Paul II calendar and Mary icon. we have three hours left. what time is it? We have an hour, half, 15 minutes. left.  see you sometime. maybe. London - early autumn, bronzed, tinged, abundant, rich, soaked, full we kiss in the Royal Academy, Royal Albert Hall, St. James' Park, National Gallery, Westminster, Houses of Parliament. In view of westminster tower. Kaffee und kuchen in V&A. 'If I'm not careful, I'm going to fall in love with you'. see you in a week. Riga - autumn we kiss under the red traffic light waiting for it to turn green. leopard print sheets. we kiss on the pe...
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Tracing 700 Years of Armenian Heritage in Poland

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Tracing 700 years of Armenian heritage in Poland Cemeteries, khachkars, churches and bakeries all point to the Armenian presence in Poland which stretches far back to medieval times. Though often overlooked, Armenian communities once played a vital role in trade, diplomacy and culture, traces of which remain in cities dotted around Poland. A new wave of Armenian migration is mixing with the ‘Old Polish Armenian’ communities, adding a fresh influence to the enduring legacy of Armenian heritage in Poland. If you want to glimpse a country's multicultural heritage, a cemetery is a good place to start. On a snowy winter's afternoon in Warsaw's Powązki Cemetery, I read scraps of evidence relating to Poland's ethnic compositions, links to empires, wars and border shifts. Dr Zahorowski (1802-1878) was born in Vilnius and died in Warsaw (all cities named are using the contemporary spelling - author’s note); Leopold Kronenberg (1812-1878) was a Jewish banker in the Russian partit...
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Fighting Global Authoritarianism

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  An interview with Samuel Chu, a community organizer for human rights and democracy. OTTILIE TABBERER: You are an internationally wanted fugitive. How does it feel to have such a label? SAMUEL CHU: I've had a lot of opportunities to reflect on my status. It's been almost four years and I think it reflects the fact that fighting and organizing for democracy works. It threatens across borders the regimes that are being targeted. I didn't set out to be a wanted fugitive. It was never my career goal. But what I have always been, looking back on my career, is a serial offender when it comes to making democracy work in places where it hasn't. And that's true particularly in the United States, where I've spent most of my adult life. Does this give you a boost, a cause for hope? I am always in this tension, I don't necessarily consider myself an optimist or idealist, I think a lot of people think that I sound like an idealist because I constantly see opportu...
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