Polish Badass

 
Polish paratrooper - no further comment

Jayden Maiava

Jayden Ikaika Maiava is an American college football quarterback for the USC Trojans. He previously played for the UNLV Rebels.

In the 2024 Las Vegas Bowl, Maiava threw for 295 yards, four touchdowns, and three interceptions, leading the Trojans to a 35–31 comeback victory.

Wilna Hervey & Nan Mason

Wilna Hervey & Nan Mason are a same-sex couple who lived in Woodstock, one of the few American communities where they could feel comfortable in the early-mid 20th century.

As artists, Hervey, a former actress known for her tall stature, and Mason, whose father worked on stage with Hervey, evolved into accomplished and imaginative talents, exploring a wide variety of genres over the course of their long careers. Seven years after the Maverick Festival was forced out of commission, the couple picked up the reins, renaming it the Full Moon Costume Picnic.

They kept the festival alive from 1938 to 1962, paving the way for the Woodstock Festival of 1969.

Jason Kelce

Jason Daniel Kelce (1987) is an American former professional football center who spent his entire 13-year career with the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). Kelce played college football for the Cincinnati Bearcats and was selected by the Eagles in the sixth round of the 2011 NFL draft. He won Super Bowl LII, was a seven-time Pro Bowl selection, and six-time first-team All-Pro selection. Kelce is often regarded as one of the greatest centers in NFL history.

Outside of football, Kelce and his brother, Travis, co-host the podcast New Heights, on which they discuss their playing careers and various other topics. In November 2024, Apple announced that New Heights was the 8th most popular podcast show on Apple Podcasts in 2024.

Jason Kelce and Self-Portrait with a Beret, by Claude Monet, 1886

In 2024, Kelce joined the ESPN's Monday Night Countdown pregame crew.

Zofia Stryjeńska

Zofia Stryjeńska (née Lubańska; 1891 –1976) was a Polish painter, graphic designer, illustrator, stage designer, and a representative of art deco. Along with Olga Boznańska and Tamara de Lempicka, she was one of the best-known Polish women artists of the interwar period. In the 1930s she was nominated for the prestigious Golden Laurel of the Polish Academy of Literature but declined the offer.

In the first half of the 1930s she was a forgotten artist. Stryjeńska did not want to seek recognition. She desperately needed money, as she sold few paintings. Only in 1938 did she receive several orders from the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including one for a kilim for the Emperor of Japan Hirohito. She took part in the interior decoration of the Polish passenger ships "Batory"and "Pilsudski" and the interior decoration of Wedel's cafe. People started buying her paintings of Slavic and historical themes again.

Beggar with Child, 1937

She spent the second world war in Kraków. In 1943 she discovered she had syphilis, which affected her eyes so that at times she could not paint. In the beginning of 1945 the Russians entered the city, instituting a communist regime and she refused to join the communist-run Polish Writers' Union. Stryjeńska decided to leave Poland. She joined her children in Geneva.

Refused entry to the US, she continued to live very modestly in Geneva, helped by her children. She remained emotionally connected with Poland and the Polish culture, Switzerland remained a foreign country to her. She died on 28 February 1976 in Geneva at the age of 84 and was buried in the local Chêne-Bourg cemetery.

Jalen Hurts

Jalen Alexander Hurts (1998) is an American professional football quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He began his college football career with the Alabama Crimson Tide, leading the team to consecutive College Football Playoff National Championship appearances in 2016 and 2017.

In the 2024 season, Hurts led the Eagles to victory in Super Bowl LIX, winning Super Bowl MVP and becoming the first Eagles quarterback to make multiple Super Bowl appearances and the fourth Black quarterback to win the Super Bowl. He is also one of only four starting quarterbacks to ever win a Super Bowl and an NCAA National Championship.

Aziz Bekkaoui

At a time that is loudly quiet on Palestine, Aziz Bekkaoui brings the keffiyeh and Palestinian flag into the world of fashion (and berets too, as it is...).

Aziz Bekkaoui (1969) is a Dutch fashion designer.

Bekkaoui came to the Netherlands from Morocco at the age of six. He studied fashion design at the Arnhem School of the Arts and graduated in 1995. The following year he won the fashion prize in Hyères and his designs were shown as the preliminary program at the Paco Rabanne fashion show. Bekkaoui then focused on his own label AZIZ and sales outlets.

Bekkaoui did not participate in Amsterdam Fashion Week until 2014. In 2015, Bekkaoui hosted the opening of this week. Bekkaoui organized the exhibition Reflect in Wow in 2014.

Jürgen Habermas

Jürgen Habermas (1929) is a German philosopher and social theorist in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. His work addresses communicative rationality and the public sphere.

Habermas offered some early criticisms in an essay, "Modernity versus Postmodernity" (1981). In that essay, Habermas raises the issue of whether, in light of the failures of the twentieth century, we "should try to hold on to the intentions of the Enlightenment, feeble as they may be, or should we declare the entire project of modernity a lost cause?" Habermas refuses to give up on the possibility of a rational, "scientific" understanding of the life-world.

Brother Frans

Last month my brother Frans made it to Down Under and despite our often daily email and WhatsApp contact, great to see each other in real life again!

It is not often that I walk around Wellington with another boinero, let alone one that sports a white beard and smokes a pipe (were a dying breed...).

Inseparable of his Merino d'Arles beret, he found himself another fashion icon in a Swanndri bush jacket - a New Zealand traditional (and perfect match for a beret).

Frans also took up the job of my other brother The Beret Spy; no easy task in this country, but he found a few (like pictured above).

Walking & talking, talking & walking, marked most of our days together, alternated with coffee and Belgian or NZ beers.

Three boineros together, Frans pictured here with my good friend Alan, luthier and maker of the finest string instruments in the southern hemisphere: 

Lod Lavki

This photo was sent to me by my brother's friend Jan Claes, depicting the Lod Lavki Scout Group at the Hasselt (Belgium) City Hall, in 1934.

A time that cubs wore caps and all older scouts wore berets....

Lod Lavki was a pseudonym of Ludovic Van Winkel (1893 –1954). Lod Lavki was a Flemish writer, priest and teacher in Hasselt (1920–1954) and chaplain of the Limburg scouts, one of the most widely read Flemish children's book writers of his time.

Thanks Jan

Julio Ángel Marenales Sainz

Julio Ángel Marenales Sainz (1930 - 2019) was a Uruguayan politician and member of the National Liberation Movement-Tupamaros. He was known as "el viejo Julio".

Originally a radical activist of the Socialist Party, who entered politics in 1946, he participated in the founding of the Tupamaros guerrilla group in the late 1960s, during the government of Jorge Pacheco Areco.

Amnestied in 1985, after thirteen years of military detention and torture, he participated in the founding of the Popular Participation Movement (MPP), without having any responsibilities in the latter where he remained a grassroots activist, while he remained in the leadership of the MLN-T.

At the end of 2009, in the face of the electoral victory of the Tupamaro candidate José Mujica, he raised the possibility of ideological debates within his political force and proposed that his militants join government positions.

He died on May 24, 2019 in the Uruguayan city of Salto, at the age of 89.

Robert C. Hirschfield

Robert C. Hirschfield is a New York-based haiku poet and journalist. He publishes haiku and stories on haiku poets in journals here and abroad.

"I  write stories on haiku poets. Haiku is kind of a sub-genre of Western poetry, but it’s the sub-genre I practice. I am interested in introducing readers of poetry to poets who write English language haiku, as their styles, personalities, and abilities should interest anyone drawn to imagistic poetry.

My idea came by way of an inspiration: nothing is known of the haiku poets I love. I was determined to change that by writing about the lives and work of as many as I could."

A 300 Years Old Scottish Beret

On the Isle of Lewis, in the early 1700s, a young man was mortally injured in mysterious circumstances. His body was buried just off the main road. Over 300 years later, his clothed remains with a few small possessions were recovered, preserved in the peat.

The man was found on 23 May 1964. Forensic analysis revealed that the person was a man, around 20 to 25 years old and 1.64m tall. A fracture to the back of his head led at the time to a suggestion that he had been murdered. 

His clothing and personal possessions were given into the care of National Museums Scotland. They are remarkably well-preserved, which gives us a rare insight into the type of dress being worn in the Outer Hebrides in the early 1700s. Through studying the fabrics, we can learn more about woven cloth and its making. 

The first item found was the beret, or bonnet which remains in good condition. It is a traditional Scottish knitted bonnet, round in shape, and made of a firm felted wool that is now brownish green in colour. Dye analysis shows the presence of indigo, which suggests the bonnet used to be dark blue. Around its rim is a row of red wool knots at two-stitch intervals, which created a pattern like that of the red-checked bands that became popular later on in the 1700s.

Greta Torpadie

Greta Torpadie (also known as Greta Torpadie Bratt or Greta Hervor Lisbeth Torpadie) was an American soprano (1890-1982).

She was immortalized by Hedvig Gustava Lagercrantz, generally known as Ava de Lagercrantz, a prominent Swedish portrait painter who was active in New York, Stockholm and Paris. A cousin of Sweden's envoy to Washington, Herman Lagercrantz, she prospered in New York from portrait commissions.

Jean - Shepherd

At 91 years old, Jean is still practicing his profession as a breeder. 

Every day he takes care of his 80 animals, on his own, and shares his philosophy of life.

Nadau

Nadau, or Los de Nadau, is a Gascon - Béarnais music group created in 1973 celebrating Gascon and more broadly Occitan culture.

Nadau's longevity and notoriety are unmatched in the Occitan musical landscape. Nadau goes far beyond the borders of its Béarnese and Gascon base, to become the very symbol of Occitan music and one of the emblematic groups of Occitania.

Nadau performs here a song in which poor Little Peter, as penniless as a rat, but a poet at heart, expresses all his love for Catherine, as beautiful as the morning, who chose him rather than the king's son.

Simon Kieffer - Cheesemaker

Alsatian cheesemaker Simon Kieffer, who keeps a tiny herd of Vosgiennes and makes cheeses very traditionally in La Salcée.

Chloé and Kevin Prost

It's an old-fashioned sawmill. A traditional workshop like no other, where automation isn't yet operational.

The sharpening machines are very dusty, the imposing bandsaw dates from the last century, and the logging tractor is far from new.

A vision of happiness for Chloé and Kevin Prost, who couldn't have dreamed of anything better. "We like old equipment," he says. "It's also about perpetuating a tradition," she adds, proud not to saw her logs "on a computer."

Elie Honig

Elie Honig (1975) is an American attorney and legal commentator. He is the senior legal analyst for CNN. Prior to CNN, Honig was an assistant US Attorney.

He is Jewish and two of his grandparents survived the Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust.

But, he is not the only Elie Honig. 

Pablo Dreams of Cats

Pablo dreams of painting cats. But his pack doesn’t approve and the cats just dash away from him. Will this painter ever be able to make the art he dreams of?

Dutch artist Timo Kuilder’s first children’s book introduces us to an imaginative dog who is infatuated with cats, celebrating diversity and inviting all animals to conquer their misconceptions, and embrace everyone.

Timo Kuilder is an Amsterdam-based illustrator and artist. His work has been published in Vogue, NY Times, and Google. He released an illustrative mobile game called Kontrast in 2019, blurring the lines between - game and illustration.

Josep Maria Domènech

Josep Maria Domènech was born on November 19, 1931 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

He was an actor, known for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), Policías, en el corazón de la calle (2000) and Es muß nicht immer Kaviar sein (1977).

He died on November 23, 2017 in Mataró, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

Omali Yeshitela

Omali Yeshitela (born Joseph Waller, October 9, 1941) is an American political activist and author. 

Yeshitela belongs to what historian Donna Murch calls "the Black Power Generation", black working-class activists who came of age between the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till and the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X. 

Yeshitela is less than two months younger than Till and was 13 years old when the 14-year-old Till was lynched in Drew, Mississippi on August 28, 1955. Yeshitela has noted that the lynching of Till impacted his worldview, and the worldview of Black People in the United States.

He is a co-founder and current chairman of the African People's Socialist Party (formed in 1972) which leads the Uhuru Movement. Yeshitela has advocated for reparations as a "People's Advocate" at the First International Tribunal on Reparations to Black People in the U.S., held in Brooklyn, New York, in 1982.

In (pre Donald Trump) September 2024 Yeshitela was convicted in U.S. federal court of conspiring to act as an agent of the Russian government. Yeshitela conspired with Alexander Ionov, a Russian agent taking directions from the FSB to spread pro-Russian propaganda in the United States. In December 2024, Yeshitela was sentenced to three years' probation and 300 hours of community service.