Another look at Polish and American culture

C01

 

The students from 2a talked to Patrick Lahey from the USA and discussed some important details of his life in America and Poland. As the interview took almost 90 minutes, we would like to present just a fraction of what took place.



How long have you been in Poland?
In total I have spent 13 years in Poland. Most recently I came in July 2001, but I also spent four and a half years in Poland from 1990 to 1994.

What do you think about the first issue of Zabierzów Bugle?
I think that’s fabulous and wonderful because the news media is one of the most important institutions in any democratic society. It's important to have a newspaper so the people know what's going on in their community. It's important to have meaningful news so the people know what's happening from an unbiased standpoint.

What have you been doing in Poland?
I worked for the Embassy in Warsaw and I was the Cultural Attaché for four and a half years. I finished that work in 2006 and I now work for Knights of Columbus, an American Catholic organisation that serves the Church in a variety of different ways. We have existed in the United States for over 100 years and we are just beginning to start the activity in Poland.

Where are you from?
That's a difficult question. I was born in Illinois. I grew up in Saint Louis (Missouri). I went to High School in Florida. I went to University in Iowa, then I worked in Chicago for three years and spent one year in Atlanta (Georgia). I started to go to University in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) for one year, but higher education in the United States is very expensive and I ran out of money, so I went back to Atlanta for another year. Then I worked in Miami (Florida) and after three years there I spent almost a year in Washington. So where am I from????!!!! (you can find the places on the map at www.zabierzowbugle.org).

What do you think about the Nobel Prize for Obama?
I agree with the majority of people who have commented on that. It's very interesting because there are lot of people who like Obama and lot of people who don’t like Obama very much. The people who don’t like him say he didn’t deserve it. The people who do like Obama say he didn’t deserve it. Obama said: I don’t deserve it. It’s very controversial because he hasn't accomplished much as far as world peace is concerned.

Have you ever read a book written by a Polish writer?
My Polish is so weak that I get very badly confused if I try to read very much in Polish. So I haven't really read a great deal of Polish literature. I will say however, that one of my favourite authors is Joseph Conrad who is a Pole who wrote in English.

Thank you very much for talking to us.

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