MIDWEST NOTES (12/27/87)

MIDWEST NOTES

by Marianna Liss

U.S.-Soviet radio bridge

"Midday," the news discussion program hosted by Sondra Gair airs the twice monthly radio bridge to the USSR on WBEZ (90.1) FM, a public radio station in Chicago. The show features many experts from both countries who discuss U.S.-Soviet relations. Lately, though, the efforts to get a broad range of Soviet and American citizenry to speak together on the air has met a few obstacles.

Twice, when discussions have turned to things Ukrainian, mysteriously the line from Kiev either went dead or was never connected.

In September, when the Rev. Andriy Chirovsky representing Ukrainian Catholics in Chicago was about to ask questions of clerics in Kiev, the telephone line disconnected.

Other U.S. clergymen, though, were able to talk to their Soviet counterparts just before the Rev. Chirovsky was to speak. The live radio program was broadcasting to Kiev and about 9 million people in that metropolitan area before the line was cut-off.

The Rev. Chirovsky, then commented that it was strange that the problems with the phone line occurred coincidentally when a Ukrainian Catholic priest was about to get into the discussion. The rest of the program centered around Ukrainian problems within the Soviet system.

In order to be fair, the program's moderator, Ms. Gair, invited the Rev. Chirovsky to participate in another live radio bridge from Chicago to the Soviet Union to be aired on a Monday, December 14, at noon.

Meanwhile, the next regularly scheduled Kiev/Chicago bridge on November 16 failed to materialize. With two American experts waiting on live radio, the telephone hook-up never came through from Kiev.

The Kiev/Chicago radio bridge floundered a week after the ouster of Boris Yeltsin, the Moscow party boss who was an outspoken supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev's stated policies of glasnost and perestroika.

Mr. Yeltsin's ouster, by the way, was announced to Western audiences first on "Midday" during the Moscow/Chicago radio bridge, November 11, within 20 minutes of the action. On the same program Sergei Ivanko, from Moskovski Novosti, also made the point that the criminal code reforms announced in the West, which included stopping the use of internal exile as a punishment, was only applicable to the Russian SFSR. "Each republic," said Mr. Ivanko, "has its own criminal code."

He also contradicted accounts given by human rights groups, saying: "There are not hundreds and hundreds of political prisoners as is reported in the Western press," rather "not more than only 20 or 30 persons still in prison."

A week later, November 18, Mike McGuire, foreign editor at the Chicago Sun-Times, said on Ms. Gair's show that the Communist government in the Latvian SSR was rather upset with the recent Congressional resolution which gave moral support to the aspirations of the Baltic peoples for independence. The Latvian Communist government called the resolution an interference of the U.S. into internal Latvian affairs.

UNWLA literary evening

A literary evening was held by Chicago Branch 29 of the Ukrainian National Women's League of America featuring the poetry of Kateryna Perelisna. The event took place at Ss. Volodymyr and Olha Ukrainian Catholic Church Hall on Saturday, November 14.

Children from several Ukrainian schools sang selections of the poet's works, which were set to music by Volodymyr Kassaraba.

The evening served, in fact, as a premier for a new edition of Ms. Perelisna's poetry, published by Branch 29, and for the new compositions, as well as introduction to the book's illustrator and artist, Martha Hirniak Voyevidka.

Ulana Lubovych, editor of Our Life, the UNWLA-sponsored women's magazine, presented a brief biographical sketch about the poet. Ms. Perelisna's generation, Mrs. Lubovych stated, was the first fruit of the Ukrainian renaissance of the post-revolutionary era. That generation included major writers, composers and leaders of the Ukrainian community both in Ukraine and abroad.

Ironically enough, despite the cultural renewal, the poet faced many obstacles in getting a Ukrainian education because of governmental anti-Ukrainian policies. Despite school closings, Ms. Perelisna became an editor of Ukrainian books, an author and children's dramatist and an educator in Ukraine. Once living in the diaspora she remained a prolific writer.

Her poetry inspired, Ms. Lubovych pointed out, many Ukrainian composers in the U.S., most notably the late Hryhory Kytasty of the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus and now Mr. Kassaraba.

Living in North America, Ms. Perelisna's most pressing concern was for Ukrainian children, "who," she said, "must learn the language uprooted from their nation."

The participating children's groups were St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic School Children's Choir, the Ukrainian language school students of St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral, The Cherry Orchard Preschool of UNWLA Branch 6, Bell Kindergarten of Ss. Volodymyr and Olha Ukrainian Catholic Church and the Ballet School at Ss. Volodymyr and Olha, as well as students from outlying suburban schools.

Yarema Kawka, a student of the Ukrainian language and culture school, "Ridna Shkola," and Marta Smolynska of the Ukrainian School at St. Joseph Ukrainian Catholic Church were soloists. Children from the suburban Ukrainian school in Palatine, Ill., at the Immaculate Conception Ukrainian Catholic Church also took part in the musical program.

The director of the combined children's choir was Marta Stadnyk, and Maria Ruchtycka created several costumes. And based upon the illustrations of Ms. Voyevidka, Yaroslava Kuchma decorated the stage. The entire program was organized by the women of Branch 29.

| Home Page |