1997: THE YEAR IN REVIEW: Meanwhile, back at The Weekly ... (12/28/97)

1997: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Meanwhile, back at The Weekly ...

Certainly, the biggest news during 1997 at The Ukrainian Weekly was our move from Jersey City to Parsippany [see "The UNA: moves, mergers and missions"]. It was difficult to leave the Ukrainian National Association's headquarters building at 30 Montgomery St., (it was the UNA that had begun the urban renewal in this part of the city when it broke ground in 1970 for its new headquarters building), the place we had called home for the last 23 years. After all, this was where The Ukrainian Weekly grew up, literally. That edifice holds many precious memories, for it was there that our paper's first 16-page tabloid issue came out on July 4, 1976, on our new offset printing press; it was there that we published our book dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Great Famine in Ukraine and countless special issues dedicated to the Ukrainian Helsinki Monitoring Group, Ukraine's independence, the Chornobyl nuclear accident; it was there that our paper grew to 24 pages.

We wondered in a special pictorial tribute to our old home: "How do you say good-bye to a building? Especially one that was so much a part of your history?"

We're in our new offices now; Weekly staffers are enjoying the view of a wooded area outside our windows. First we marveled at the glorious fall colors, and later we looked out at pristine snow, (we managed to take some time out for photos and a snowball fight on our first snow day). But still, some of our boxes remain unpacked.

Despite our temporary displacement in this place/state of being we call "Parsippanivschyna," we managed to put out an issue every week in 1997, without skipping a beat.

* * *

We started the year off with news that the January issue of the NJEA Review, the official publication of the New Jersey Education Association, focused on the genocide curriculum mandated to be taught in the state's schools. Among the genocides that could be studied under the state curriculum (though the law does not specify which genocides must be taught) is the Ukrainian famine, which Dr. Paul Winkler, executive director of the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education, described as "the planned starvation of a group of people.... [which] happened between 1932 and 1933 when the Soviet Union carried out a policy that led to the starvation of up to 10 million Ukrainian people." In looking for illustrations to accompany Dr. Winkler's article, editor Martha Onuferko DeBlieu telephoned The Ukrainian Weekly for a copy of its booklet on "The Great Famine in Ukraine: The Unknown Holocaust" published in 1983 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of that genocide. The cover and two of its pages were reproduced in the magazine, and readers were informed that copies of the booklet are still available from the Svoboda Press.

Next came some sobering news: The Weekly continued to experience a drop in subscribers. This was noted by UNA President Ulana Diachuk in February in a letter to Weekly readers published on "The Ukrainian National Association Forum" page. People were reading and writing in, but still the number of paying readers fell off. We suspect, as subscriptions were expiring after the 200 percent rate hike enacted back in 1996, readers were not renewing. So, people were reading other's copies instead of buying their own. Ergo, our new ads: "Are you still reading your mother's copy of The Ukrainian Weekly? How adult of you ..."

Also in February, we introduced our new monthly columnist, Andrew Fedynsky, who writes "Perspectives." In August "The Things We Do," a column by our longtime contributor Orysia Paszczak-Tracz, made its debut. They joined our other columnists: Myron B. Kuropas ("Faces and Places") and Christopher Guly ("Canada Courier"), as well as the Ukrainian National Information Service's occasional column called "Washington Notebook," plus the columns periodically written by our staffers who serve in the Kyiv bureau, and "Letter from Kyiv," contributed from time to time by our former associate editor Marta Kolomayets.

We also have two sports columnists: Ihor Stelmach, who writes primarily about hockey ("Ukrainian Pro Hockey Update"), and Mr. Wynnyckyj, who is the author of "Sportsline." Helen Smindak writes on cultural matters and the arts in "Dateline New York," while a music column is occasionally written by Roman Sawycky ("Sounds and Views") and music reviews are penned by Oles Kuzyszyn.

At this point, it would be good to note, for the record, that the staff of The Ukrainian Weekly in 1997 included: Editor-in-Chief Roma Hadzewycz, Assistant Editor Khristina Lew, and Staff Editors Roman Woronowycz and Andrij Wynnyckyj, who is stationed in our Toronto Press Bureau. Since mid-December 1996 Irene Jarosewich has worked on The Weekly editorial staff as an independent consultant. Ika Koznarska Casanova continues as our part-time editorial staffer and our de facto arts editor. Also employed by The Weekly during 1997 was Yarema Bachynsky, who helped us out as an editorial assistant during the summer. The Kyiv Press Bureau was served during the report period by Mr. Woronowycz (September 1996-July 1997 and September 1997 to date) and Ms. Lew (July-August 1997).

The Weekly is extremely lucky to have two key employees on the production side. Awilda Rolon continues as our typesetter (she's been with us for 17 years), and Serhiy Polishchuk is our layout artist and computer specialist/troubleshooter (he has been with The Weekly for just about five years now, since early 1993).

Our regular correspondents included two of the most dependable and dedicated of free-lancers: Yaro Bihun, who writes from Washington, and Mr. Guly, who is based in the Canadian capital, Ottawa.

On the personal side, we must report news about our two staff editors.

Mr. Woronowycz married Viktoria Punchak on January 25, at the Orthodox Monastery of St. Feodosius in Kyiv. Mr. Woronowycz is currently stationed at the Kyiv Press Bureau. Ms. Punchak is a paralegal for a Kyiv-based law firm. The couple met at a political seminar in the Carpathian Mountains three years ago when Mr. Woronowycz was on his first tour of duty in Ukraine for The Weekly.

At year's end there was some wonderful news on December 18, the eve of St. Nicholas Feast Day. Little Yarynka (well, not so little, weighing in at 9 pounds and measuring a tad more than 23 inches in length) - or more properly Yaryna Maria (Magdalena) Kudla - was born to our Canadian editor Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj and his wife, Zirka Kudla. And, we might add, she made it on deadline for this yearend issue.

In addition to our regular issues, which contained a mix of material covering news and features from Ukraine, the United States, Canada and just about anywhere else Ukrainians were active, special issues during 1997 were: "A Ukrainian Summer," published on May 4 as an eight-page pullout section; "Ukraine's Independence: The Sixth Anniversary," published in August; a Veterans' Day issue published on November 16; the UNA scholarships issue released in mid-December and, well, this huge issue featuring a round-up of the year's top events.

Our summer issue was especially successful, and we thanked out readers for that in an editorial: " 'A Ukrainian Summer' ... hinged on your cooperation. We turned to readers via several announcements of the upcoming special issue and you responded. You made that issue come alive. ... One reader commented that the issue illustrated the connections among our community members and showed that our 'hromada' has so much to offer. Another reader wrote: "The Ukrainian Summer section looks great! Where did you find all those bylines?" The answer: our readers came through.

During 1997 we tried to refocus on our communities here, via editorials that asked us all to take a look inward and consider how we can help our communities better serve our needs, coverage of conferences that discussed the future of our community (e.g., the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Federation's August convention, which discussed the direction of the community in the 21st century, and The Washington Group's October 1997 Leadership Conference, whose topic insisted "We Can Do Better" in terms of our Ukrainian American activity). We tried to spotlight our communities through various features, such as special graduation pages featuring students of our parochial schools and Ukrainian studies schools, and we introduced a new section for news from local communities, "Community Chronicle," which includes photos with captions and news items in a brief, readable format.

* * *

In conclusion, it is only fitting to express gratitude and appreciation to the following:

The Svoboda Press administration and print shop, which have provided exemplary cooperation during 1997 as always - especially after our move to Parsippany, now that our editorial, circulation, typesetting and layout operations are in one place, while our printing and mailing facilities are in another.
Our many correspondents and free-lancers, who have contributed to enriching the pages of our newspaper. We must note also the contributions of our many readers who are, in effect, an extension of our editorial staff when they submit news stories and photos from their local community events.
Our subscribers, who have stayed with us through several price increases and continue to support us. (It is gratifying to receive letters to the editor signed by "your devoted reader," or "your faithful and constant reader" - we do get quite a number of these.)
Our readers who helped support the work of the Kyiv Press Bureau via donations to the UNA's Fund for the Rebirth of Ukraine.
The UNA General Assembly for understanding the importance of The Ukrainian Weekly to the Ukrainian National Association, its members, our Ukrainian community in North America and to Ukraine. The support of the majority of General Assembly members has enabled our newspaper to continue to do the job it was established to do: to keep our community informed and in touch.

Certainly, we at The Weekly believe there is a future for our Ukrainian American and Ukrainian Canadian communities, and we pledge to continue serving them both in 1998 - our 65th anniversary year - and beyond that. We meant it when we wrote in our May 11 editorial that The Ukrainian Weekly is "our community newspaper." That was true in 1933, and that remains the case today, as through the decades The Weekly changed with the needs of its readers and with the challenges faced by our community. The newspaper continues to adapt, striving to offer readers the latest news from Ukraine, news that concerns and affects our community, as well as news from our communities throughout the United States and Canada.

To all our readers and our correspondents we send best wishes for the New Year. May 1998 bring you good fortune, good health, much happiness and the fulfillment of your dreams and ambitions.

| Home Page |