In the section „Young Culture” we present the best three interviews conducted by our e-Trainees. They show elderly people satisfying their passions. Actively involved with cultural events in their regions. We invite you to look at “Culture 50+”, as seen by the eyes of young people.

Professor Włodzimierz Wójcik, a teacher called ‘the professor of all professors’, a researcher and the admirer of literature and the internet, although already retired – still very active. A legend of the Silesian University, the creator of the Department of Contemporary Literature. The  list is endless, and this interview is definitely too short.

A popular saying warns: May you teach somebody else’s children. Have you ever regretted that you chose a career in teaching?

To work in this profession you have to love your partners. I’m committed to young people, but I also discipline them. I don’t drill them. I respect them, but I don’t crawl to them. That’s why I was very close to Father Jan Twardowski. I am on very friendly terms with all my graduates. And my heart and door are always open to the students who were not lucky enough to attend my lectures.
 
Your authority is Kazimierz Wyka as he was the one who admitted ‘a miner’ digging tradition deposits. How is this ‘digging’ going?

I don’t have any special recipes. I have lived in the Silesia-Zaglembie region for thirty years, here I dig ‘the coal of my profession’. A scholar, a teacher, and a writer never retire. Giving up teaching is a chance for a more active life. I just can’t imagine myself seating my backside in front of a TV and watching TV series 16 hours a day.

How did you discover literature?

I learned to read by reading shop-signs and slogans before the war, e.g. “Sugar is revitalizing” or “A store of all goods”. Then “Płomyk” (The Flame) and the fascinating “Morze” (The Sea), poems by Or-Ott, Lenartowicz, Pol, Kasprowicz, Tetmajer. Finally, apart from “Rycerz Niepokalanej” (The Virgin’s Knight) I started reading “Odrodzenie” (The Revival) and “Ku¼nica” (The Smithy). What a paradox! Before I become the enthusiastic promoter of the honorary degree for Ró¿ewicz, I struggled through “Niepokój” (Anxiety). Then I started writing myself.

Why did you take to the internet?

I have a friend in Canada. Florian Śmieja is a Polish poet, a retired Spanish philologist. He was born in the Silesia, I was born in Zaglembie. For many years we have been talking, sending articles for evaluation or our new books via the internet. We have been telling jokes in Polish and in the dialect, exchanging photos. Click - and the message has gone. Packing, going to post-offices, waiting in queues – horror! I have travelled around Europe quite a lot. When I miss something, I bring it back in photograms. Here is the knowledge I have multiplied myself – of my friend Jan Twardowski and of Stanisław Baliński. This is the world of the products of human hands, hearts and muscles, and it is uplifting. I was the one who “infected” all my workmates with the internet. Now the ‘students’ have surpassed me. Such is the duty of masters. Sometimes I ask them where to click to carry out an operation. They are eager to explain. It’s great!  

What have you been doing recently?

I am now reading anew Wyspiański’s works which I have been reading for 60 years now. Many things I have discovered make me happy. I will write about them if Saint Peter allows me to. Let him not hurry, though.

Let’s hope he won’t. Thank you and good luck.

An interview by Agnieszka Czempiel

An interview with Barbara Jasińska, the president and founder of the Association of Folk Art Lovers DOMAN

Barbara Jasińska is one of those people who, although in their 50s, haven’t lost energy and enthusiasm for work; on the contrary, she infects much younger people with this enthusiasm. She and her husband were not the indigenous people of Ślesin, the village where she is now living, but they were the people who spurred the local community into action.

What is DOMAN and how did you come up with the idea to found it?

DOMAN is an Association of Folk Art Lovers. It’s based in Krajna and brings together folk artists, as well as the organizers of cultural activities and culture vultures in the districts Nakło and Sadki. It is a young organization. The idea to found the association was born in February 2006, and it got the status of a legal entity in April that year. It was a joint idea – mine and Iwona Pyra’s. We thought there were many cultural organizations, but all of them neglected folk culture, so we decided to change that.

How does DOMAN promote works of folk artists?

At the end of 2006 we organized an exhibition in the Museum of the Krajno District in Nakło entitled: “You too can become a Nikifor” . We showed works of folk artists which were made within the project: “The devil is not so black…(as he is painted)”. The idea was that the association members learned the craft which was new to them, for example making straw spiders (ornaments of straw and tissue paper usually hung on the ceiling), low relief carving in wood or traditional glass painting.

Was the exhibition popular with the public?

Yes, the most interested were the French tourists who visited the museum at that time. They invited us to organize the Polish Days in Lorraine, which were held in March this year. We found the preparations gruelling as we had to make traditional Polish dishes, collect the works of our folk artists, set up a folk dance group Pałuki in Kcynia, and finally transport all that to France. We succeeded thanks to our sponsors who supported the whole initiative.  
 
What impact does DOMAN have on the community of Ślesin?

We are trying to stimulate the local people, both the young and the older ones. This year we are doing a project entitled: “The Future is Today, Only a Little Further”, within which we organized a fashion show to present the whole range of the 20th century trends, and children taught their parents and grandparents how to operate the computer. I think that the dialogue between generations is important because we live in the times when children can learn from older people and vice versa. At the beginning it was difficult to encourage people to participate in such events, but they are slowly beginning to take to the idea. Naturally, it’s young people that are most easily spurred, and they can be reached through education. Besides, young people got actively involved in collecting ethnographic materials for a book about our region which DOMAN plans to publish. They went round houses, collecting photographs, recipes and interviewing the oldest people in the village about local habits.

What made you start educating young people in art?

I was retired on medical grounds some time ago and I thought that working with children and young people would be more interesting than sitting in front of a telly. I believe that the content of art classes at school is rather poor, based mainly on drawing, and drawing is not everything, is it? I want to show that art is something more, and at the same time I can focus on my own passion – plastic mass modelling.

An interview by Sara Kosmowska

A 50+-year-old student? It’s possible! The members of the university government and the director of the UTA - Dr Helena Hrapkiewicz - are speaking about the Silesian University of the Third Age.

What are the goals of the University of the Third Age?

The university’s goals match its students, and they are people who have already retired, but still feel the need to develop. When you finally stop doing your job, you suddenly feel pushed aside, deprived of information and separated from other people, the number of your friends decreases. You still have home, but it’s empty sometimes, because the children have left to start their own families, and your spouse and some of your friends have passed away. And then the need to come out of your shell arises. Our students wish to broaden their knowledge and develop their skills, and the university makes it possible, but first of all it gives them a chance to meet other people who are in the same situation, who have similar problems; it offers them a chance to make acquaintances and friends. The courses become a sort of mental and physical therapy.
 
What classes does the UTA offer to its students?

We provide lectures, seminars and language classes in the whole range of topics, because the students are different. We offer classes in psychology, lectures on medicine, physics and sociology, but also on poetry and culture. The culture topics include history, the history of art, which is extremely popular, and the history of church, and their interest in those subjects attests to the students’ curiosity and openness to the world. As for the physical exercises, they can take up swimming, gymnastics, also in water, dance and yoga. We also organize study trips which are very popular.
 
What  forms does the cultural activity of  your students take?

First of all, we are the audience – we often go out to theatres, exhibitions or  concerts. The UTA also provides poetry workshops for students who so far have been writing for their pleasure only. As for the promotion of the students’ artistic activity, those who paint, take photographs or write poems can show their works and have them evaluated on our website, in the “Cultural Activity” section.

Are your students resourceful?

The resourcefulness of older students is different than the resourcefulness of young people. First of all, the UTA students execute their passions and try to find answers to the questions which have bothered them all their lives, and which they haven’t had time to answer. They also do all sort of work for the university – for example, they provide other seniors with information on various areas of life, on their rights and privileges.

What is the attitude of the elderly students to new technologies?

Well, we have been teaching computer classes for a few years now, and they are very popular with our students, there are more interested than places. So the students seem interested in technological development.

Are older students more sensitive to art?

In my opinion there is no sensitivity of the old and the young. Entirely different people may understand and feel art in a similar way, regardless of age, because they are or are not sensitive to art.   
How does the age of your students influence their attitude to studying?

We are sure they aren’t studying to pass exams and to complete the course, but because they want to broaden their knowledge and to develop. Our lecturers are happy with the response they get from the UTA students.

What are the characteristics of an elderly student?

Curiosity about the world and courage.

An interview by Ewa M. Walewska