Bartek Lenon returns to Poland.

This summer Bartek Lenon has been an integral part of Regensburg street life. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say he's better known by Alte Stadt residents than the Bürgermeister. Tuesday he takes a train back to Uniwersytet Wrocławski where he'll start work on his thesis dealing with Alexis de Tocqueville's meaning in contemporary American political discourse.

Last night we sat at a sidewalk cafe cheaply occupying seats which the proprietor would have rather seen filled by better-heeled patrons. He talked for hours of his work as a performer (which he take very seriously), of his trips to the United States, of Daoism and Zen, of the incredible changes in Poland since the Fall of Communism when he was four, and of hope for a better world.

He promised to email his thesis to me when it’s done and I promised to read it. I’ll miss him and so will all the children who took flowers from his hand.