Genealogy / Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - my Lithuanian ancestry? [10]

I read that most of the Lithuainian elite were "Polanized" in a linguistic-cultural sense. J. Pilsudski was example of this. Don't know how true this is since I've only come across it in secondary sources.

History / The Piast dynasty did most for Poland [24]

I don't know much about the Piast dynasty and found 2 books in English on the subject. Which is the better of the two books; Gronowicz's or Jasienica's?

Polonia / What similarities would you say there are between Poles and Mexicans? [132]

My cousin has her last name hyphenated to combine her maiden and married surnames:
Kopaczewski-Gonzalez, I hope she doesn't have to say it too many times in a row, she would be out of breath.

Polonia / What similarities would you say there are between Poles and Mexicans? [132]


My wife and I were members of a Mexican parish when we lived in Arizona. The pastor was a Spanish speaking Polish priest.

Polonia / What similarities would you say there are between Poles and Mexicans? [132]

One would have to distinguish between Poles and Mexicans and Polish Americans and Mexican Americans. I'm Polish American and my wife is Mexican American. We're both devout Catholics and from hard working families. Her and her mother both like Polish food better than Mexican while I enjoy Mexican food more. We both like Polkas (not a real Polish dance). The old ethnic joke is: "What do you get when you cross a Mexican and a Polak? You get a kid who spray paints his name on chain link fences."

News / Poland - Third World Country?? [300]

The USA has first and third world areas within its borders. Appalaccia, many Indian reservations and inner city areas would be third world. I've never been to Poland. I have family members who have. I visited the old USSR in spring of 1973 and was in Vietnam for a year 1969-70and in Mexico many times. USSR was not as well off as USA, Canada or western Europe, but seemed to be better off than Vietnam or Mexico.

Love / What do Asian boys think about Polish girls? :) (and vice versa) [150]


I guess there is some truth to this. My wife is Mexican and we were initially drawn together because of religion (both devout Catholics) and class (both working class). There were homemade tortillas and kiełbasa at our wedding.

Life / How popular is Radio Maryja in Poland? [163]

Sounds kind of like Fox news.

News / "Shale Gas Revolution" will make Poland a Leading Country in Europe! [202]

Oil shale was mined in this area. All the operations were closed down in the early 80s, the process to extract the oil from the shale was just too expensive. They've since come up with a more cost effective methold, but I guess it isn't that much cheaper, because they never reopened the operations. However, the oil companies continued drilling for oil and natural gas. Helped both the legal and illegal economies for a while (drillers love their meth). Then a few years ago the drilling stopped. Oil companies claimed Colorado taxed them too much and the environmental laws were too strict. In reality there are no major pipe lines or refineries nearby so they just drill here when gas prices go way up.