Come Here, Chodż Tutaj (or, A Tribute to Mother Courage)

Joe Wagner

Come Here, Chodż Tutaj (or, A Tribute to Mother Courage) is a three-part essay that revolves around the author’s experience in Warsaw in 1980 and 1981 as a twelve-year-old boy, as well as the life of Anna Walentynowicz, the Polish activist who inspired Solidarity. It explores notions of memory, language, history, and labor unions with several literary references along the way.

Come Here - Part Three

Joe Wagner

On April 10th 2010, Polish President Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria boarded a Soviet-made Tupolev Tu-154...

Come Here - Part Two

Joe Wagner

Our apartment in Warsaw was a grey, cement building—like all the others I remember in that neighborhood...

Come Here - Part One

Joe Wagner

In August of 1980, aged twelve, I found myself going to school in Warsaw, Poland. I didn’t speak a word of Polish...