Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Nicholas, patron saint of children, sailors, scholars, laborers, travelers & more. His generosity to those in need is his most defining trait, and has led to his association with gift giving. Did you receive a visit from St. Nicholas today?

Long ago, when I used to carry mail in suburban Chicago, I didn’t get to meet a lot of my customers—since I was delivering during the day when many were at work. But even without knowing them, it’s easy to develop a relationship (of sorts) with them… 1/thread

2/ I felt like I knew them, just from their mail. But the customers that were home occasionally would always be around to have a quick conversation—or longer discussions about life and family. I came to share in the joys and trials of my customers.

3/ I was sad to find out Steve lost his job—and happy when he found another… Proud of Nancy’s oldest, who became HS Valedictorian, and fought against the school’s antiquated “customs”. And just as proud when she went to Yale Law. And just as proud when she came out.

4/ Over time, my kids became classmates and friends with Suzanne and Dan’s kids. And, as often happens, I became friends with Suzanne Lavin and Dan. And mourned with our whole community when they both died. (I still miss Suzanne’s positive energy.)

5/ Anyway, there was a retired professor that lived on my route. I could tell that, even though he just left @UIC, he must have been a pretty big deal in his native Poland. He always had letters and books that he had to sign for. And the first thing I noticed was his missing hand

6/I never dared to ask him about the hand. He looked like he was my parents’ age, so I created a whole life for him in my head: he was some dashing romantic writer, wearing a beret, who lost it in a fire-fight with the Nazis while he was in the Polish Resistance.

7/ Maybe had to flee his homeland because his writing was such a threat to the Communist government that the police cut it off, thinking it would stop him from writing.

8/ In those days, before Amazon, it was still the U.S. Postal Service letter carrier that served as the lifeline of millions, connecting them to the larger world. Dr. Benjamin Franklin’s contrivance, enshrined in the US Constitution, was our living, breathing internet.

9/ And several times a week, I had a package, or some other important communication, for the old Professor. (My Anglo tongue has not perfected Slavic pronunciations, so I just called him “Professor”.) He would always invite me in and offer me tea in the winter or water in summer

10/ And his living room was all you needed to know that he was a serious man of letters—there was no bare vertical space that was not occupied by a bookshelf and books heaving from them. Piles of books and files on the floor.

11/ I’m sure that his wife would have been just as happy with just a sofa and a couple of chairs in the living room (I think she preferred the garden anyway).

12/ I wished that I could read something that he wrote in his native language—there was no Google Translate in these days either. But it seems that I can now! And now I find out that my sweet little Professor was actually a giant in modern Polish literature and poetry.

13/ And I was reminded by another local Chicago treasure, Dan Pogorzelski ✶, that today is the 100th anniversary of Professor Dr. Tymoteusz Karpowicz’s birth. Happy birthday, Professor! m.facebook.com/Tymoteusz-Karp…

Avondale residents are pushing to rename a plaza in honor of the neighborhood's vanishing Polish identity. buff.ly/3qKHqhJ

City of Chicago: Landmark St. Michael the Archangel Church! - Sign the Petition! chng.it/Rb2fVHhGYd via Change.org

Congratulations to the Polish Museum on its 85th Anniversary! I hope you can visit soon to celebrate. Learn more 👇 bit.ly/3GCqbGk

Today we honor the legacy and dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

As #HolocaustRemembranceDay nears, let’s recall WITOLD PILECKI. In the Polish Underground, he allowed himself to be sent to #Auschwitz as an inmate. He organized resistance there. Then, after escaping, he revealed German extermination of Jews. In a word, he defined heroism.

Kolmar Park rededication in honor of poet and Holocaust victim closer to happening after today’s Chicago ParkDistrict board vote nadignewspapers.com/2022/01/26/kol…