– by Andre Woloshuk –
Inspired by the famous TED Talk by novelist Chimamanda Adichie, this summer, Fulbright ETAs share their experiences challenging or affirming the Single Story of the USA. Read the full series here.
Poland can be quite cold too.
In my hometown, roads were frozen, pipes burst, and schools were closed this past month. My mom told me while we were Facetiming recently that our dog, an energetic lab-border collie mix, didn’t even want to go outside for a walk. Indiana, just like much of the Midwest and East Coast, was experiencing record low temperatures as part of the “bomb cyclone” that brought cities from Maine to Florida to a standstill. Having experienced two “polar vortexes” myself, I wasn’t too surprised except that I learned about it from my Polish coworkers.
First, a few of the graduate students asked me whether I’d heard about the snowstorms. I told them I had only heard some inklings about it on Facebook. I was surprised they were following the weather in the US, but didn’t think too much of it. Then, my advisor and other people in my office asked me about it too. As I was walking down the hall, some staff I rarely talked to asked if I had heard about the crazy weather in my country. Over lunch, I finally asked a friend if this was some inside joke that I had missed. He responded that last night TVP (the government-run TV channel) had shown an unusual segment about US news and that most of the country had probably seen that clip. Also included in this segment was a piece summarizing President Trump in Michael Wolff’s new book, Fire and Fury.
A discussion with a few secondary school students after a presentation about life in American high schools. Many of the students will go abroad for their studies, including to the US.
Before I can talk about the single story of the United States, I need to talk about my own single story of Poland. Growing up, I’d been taught a singular view of communism and the people living under it, and I couldn’t appreciate that someone could lead a satisfying life. That changed after a conversation with my co-worker’s father, a passionate and proud automotive engineer who lived through the Solidarity Movement. When he was younger, he said his main concerns were advancing in his career, starting a family, and being happy. The effects of a movement that began in the northern city of Gdansk were not felt as strongly in Radlin, his hometown near the Czech border. It was just another time of his life, and I was struck by the similarity of our goals. One of the dangers of a single story is that we forget our shared humanity. The opportunity to have that extended conversation has helped me understand an entire generation of Poles.
A view of my university, where I teach English presentation and speaking skills to engineering doctoral candidates
The story of the United States is something I often encounter in Poland. Do all Americans own a gun?, support Donald Trump?, drive a huge car?, live near New York or LA?, go to college?, have the newest iPhone? These sorts of questions are easier to address in the classroom, where my answers can prompt a new discussion. With students that are curious and reflective, opinions and debates come freely and serve as yet another opportunity to improve their mastery of English. Outside of the classroom, these inquiries can seem like first sentences of a lawyer’s closing argument. In these situations, I’ve found a few well-placed questions about growing up in Poland make for a friendlier discussion. The fondness of the similar memories reminds me of our shared humanity, and the troubles of years gone by seem less fervent in comparison. Still, I often find myself trying to balance my responses.
A view of five similar apartment buildings in my neighborhood.
Part of the challenge in addressing the story of the United States in Poland is being critical in the right ways. It’s easy for me to talk about things I want to improve in my local community or country as a whole, such as shifting to more locally-grown foods and increasing access to primary health care. Additionally, describing a flawless picture of the US would be more dangerous than saying nothing at all. But I often need to remind myself that I need to share the things I love about my home, too, like my family’s Thanksgiving traditions or the professors who inspired me to do Fulbright in the first place. This balance is especially hard to achieve in short meetings or after the whole country has heard the same news segment.
As a response, my emphasis has shifted towards developing longitudinal relationships with my students, colleagues, and friends in Poland. I know that I am rarely the first American most people talk to, and I definitely will not be the last. Despite this, part of my responsibility in Poland is to show my story; the story that they won’t see on TVP in the evening. My students and community members continue to motivate and support me by wanting to learn more about my life. I hope that through this we can, in the words of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “reject the single story… and regain a kind of paradise.”
After spending Christmas with this welcoming and generous family, I gained a new perspective of life in Poland before the Solidarity movement.
This piece was written by Andre Woloshuk. He is from West Lafayette, Indiana and currently teaches English in Gliwice, Poland. He graduated Purdue University in 2017 with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering. After Fulbright, he will attend Indiana University School of Medicine.