Mustache at the PACC

 

            I have a soft spot for performances given by kids. Since am not a parent, I think I experience it at a different level: watching children sing and perform is like a time machine for me as it lets me go back to my childhood. On Saturday, November 11th, I was able to sing the songs I learned in Poland when I was seven yet again. American Veterans’ Day is also Polish Independence Day. For this reason, students from the Maria Konopnicka Polish School gave a very nice performance commemorating Polish independence and one of the major heroes of that time – Jozef Pilsudski. To my delight, parents got involved and acted together with children. 

            When I lived in Poland, parents would sometimes help with food or costumes, but never be a part of the performance itself. Seeing them on stage with the little ones added to the sense of community we try to build here. If I saw my mom or dad learning poems or songs by heart and then act with me on stage, I would have treated it differently. It is an incredibly important thing to feel that learning patriotic poems is not just something that you have to do because your teachers tells you so. It is refreshing to see that being a real patriot does not mean walking in a march and shouting supremacist slogans. So here’s to the brave young actors and singers, and to the “bigger kids” who were not afraid to show up, put fake mustache on (Jozef Pilsudski), and give a brilliant patriotic show. Bravo!

 

Maria Sladewski