"Nothing is better, nothing is worse, it's just different..."

Thursday May 7th, 2015

I believe that to me the zenith of this trip was the conference about Radio Legislation in Poland. Having had the experience of my earlier development in Europe, I had thought, so far, that the European Union had become an amalgamation of diverse –and yet similar- nations but, I was about to find out that I was wrong. I attended this conference with many expectations; the first and most important one was: how consensus is made in countries with such wounded history such as Poland. For my delight, we took the tram from the Hotel to The Jagellionian University Campus. Fordham Students dressed accordingly to the occasion for we were advised that high-rank personalities would attend. At first I thought I had arrived to the wrong location. I have never seen such display of Mercedes Benz, BMWs, Volvos and Bodyguards in such a small parking lot. It was more like a high-end car expo. As soon as I opened the door to enter the university facilities I realised that the conference that I was about to attend was not uncle Joe being interviewed by communication students; it was easier to pass the security line at the Latin Billboard Awards that getting close to the table where coffee break was set, not because cookies had been a gift from the Queen of England, but because Mr. Minister of Culture of Poland was having coffee there.

I was amazed as well on how everyone had their place defined in the audience. Important people –such as Ministers and their group- were seated in the first row; Professors and University Guests were seated between the second and the third row; Fordham Students were seated at the fourth row and the rest of mortals were seated in the back of the room.

The event started 11 minutes passed the official time. High Hierarchy needed extra time to settle down and stopped talking about official and essential topics concerning business matters, family, holidays and lunch after the conference.

I will divide the presentation in 3 parts. The first one consisted of professors explaining in very elegant, eloquent and subtle ways the cultural nuances between the Polish and American Public Media System. Such Professors were only missing a cup of tea and some candles to have a sophisticated and yet, academic and scholar "soiree"; therefore, I called the first part “Downton Abbey”. Mister Minister dominated the second part; his tone-imposed respect for it was a consolidation of a dominant personality with marinated experience in the field of Polish Public Media. His ideas of licensing fees and ways to collect them are good; Gonzalez Camarena would be so happy to implement them, we just need to go back in time and I am sure all these ideas would work. Thus, I called the second part “Back to the Polish Future”. I am sure that Michael J. Fox would be happy to take Mister Minister to the past to implement such archaic ideas. Finally, my favourite part arrived I called it “Jurassic Polish Park”. A Professor from Ukraine gave a very short- yet controversial presentation- on how the Media Public System is doomed there. The state-controlled structure only allows 3 minutes of commercials for every hour of broadcasting. A media professor from the University gave a presentation full of arcane and blurry messages. Just like when the T-rex in Jurassic Park ate the goat, nobody saw it but it was a brutal truth. Interestingly, that fact unleashed the wrath of the Gods; students were providing opinions and challenging the system; radio personalities were also expressing their concerns about the future of traditional public media. I was amused, the conference went from Downton Abbey to Jurassic Polish Park in no time. I wanted to ask something to Mister Minister but I could not for time was up. The main conclusion was: We –Polish System- do not want to change; and although new generations are raising their voices, we [Polish System] believe that this scheme could be sustainable for a long time. I am not judging the latter statement; it’s just the perception that I got.

Once the conference was terminated, we proceed for lunch with the majority of the members of the conference. The meal offered was a gastronomic subjective experience embedded in an erudite and political environment.

In the evening we had dinner with 2 host students from the University. I had the chance to interact with Cuba. His understanding of America –as a continent- is very elevated but not necessarily accurate. We discussed how history defined the course of history of North and South America and how developing countries i.e. Brazil, Mexico and Chile are becoming big players in this game that we call Capitalism.

I ended my day listening to music from the 80’s involved in a reflective state of melancholy for I was standing in the main square of a City that had seen many changes through history, and I just happened to be there contemplating the stars the same way Nicolas Copernicus was in a distant night in the past.